RE: HCFFA Monthly Minutes - next meeting: Dec 14 at Sedgwick at North Sedgwick station
Lisa Winger
Hancock County Fire Fighter’s Association
Monthly Meeting Minutes
November 16, 2010
Hosted by Mariaville
Secretary’s Report: Accepted as sent out
Treasurer’s Report: $2350.71
Communication: None to report
Committee Reports:
County Coordinator –
West tower has had problems, still being worked on along with RCC
District 3 –
Blue Hill has spare repeater that can be set up to use – motion to take it to browns to have it serviced & can be used on any tower – Chief Denny Robertson said “it is not a new horse but it can still trot”
Chief Marshall stated that there is money in the radio fund so it can be taken care of; also Chief Marshall stated that he will call for a bill for the already ordered antenna – RCC Director Wellman stated that she had also received some bills so they should be compared.
Blue hill had a fire last week which the Fire Marshall’s office came to – the FM office introduced the Plans Review they have in the office and it includes information on construction permits, egress, ADA information, etc. All plans reviewed under NFPA 101 Life Safety Code 200 Edition. This information can be seen on line at www.mainefiremarshall.com
Chief Robertson –Blue Hill also asked the membership to start thinking about whether we should be planning and event of some kind for next September which will be the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
Also, Orland has offered Frenchboro their brush truck
Radio Committee: No report at this time
Budget Committee: Chief Marshall stated that we seem to have made it through the budge process.
Current Reserve Accounts are:
Current Reserve account totals are:
Radio Reserve $47,606
Building Reserve $ 4,004 (radio building)
Equipment Maint. Reserve $17,386 (formerly cascade account)
Training Reserve $333
Approved 2011 Budget
Personnel-Hazmat stipends $0 ($1,000 decrease from 2010)
Supplies – Fire Prevention $1,000
Utilities – LP $800
Maintenance & Repairs
-Equipment $1,500
-Radios $5,000 ($500 increase from 2010)
Reserves
-Radio $2,500
-Building $200
-Equipment $0
-Training $25,000 ($1,000 increase from 2010)
Total 2011 Budget $36,000 ( $500 increase from 2010)
If people have cascade systems to be serviced, send Chief Marshall the bills for maintenance and this can covered through this account.
Chief Marshall mentioned that they do their air testing every quarter, found that it is less expensive. They do it as Grade “D” air – company sends Ellsworth the kit and Ellsworth draws the air and sends back to the company who then sends the certificate back to Ellsworth.
Training & Education –
The October training seemed to go quite well with the pumps class and the EVOC classes filled, and the Scene Photography class had a number of students.
Fire Academy was slow in receiving registrations but at this time, we have received approximately 30 applications.
The Committee also has discussed the upcoming trainings – the Explorer bus has been released to us, so we will be coordinating an advanced extrication training with this bus and school buses. Also, Chief Grindle has secured a house that we have been discussing utilizing for interior burns and rural water supply. This training will take place in the spring and we are looking at off weekends for the academy or a weekend where the academy has classroom only so that we can utilize county wide resources and not deplete the resources.
Chief Robertson – Blue Hill mentioned that Brooksville recently had sponsored a pumps class and some of the stuff was very bogged down. Chief Robertson – Penobscot stated that a lot of non related pump stuff in the 2 ½ days. The state was running two different programs, one in Brooksville and one in Farmington, the instructors were top notch, but they really need to revamp the content.
The Training & Education Committee has bought a trailer and is currently outfitting it with equipment that can be used for the academy but also trainings around the county. We are looking for pike poles, halogens & flat headed axes. Thank you to Mariaville for donating a lot of hose and miscellaneous tools to us.
Communication Class – Renee and Bob are still working on it for December for District 3. Clear, Concise and pertinent will be the content.
Fire Marshall’s Office – No report
Forestry – No report, only that there had been a recent fire in Hartford
Acadia National Park – Doug Jones, Retired ANP Fire Officer introduced his replacement, Andy Mitchell who came here from Yellowstone.
Maine Federation: Bim Snow stated that the yearbooks should be in next month
Maine Chief’s Association – Annual Meeting had a good attendance; Chief Marshall was
elected as 2nd Vice President of Chief’s Association; in light of this, Hancock County needs to replace Chief Marshall which was announced last month at the HCFFA County Meeting. Chief Mike Bender – Mt. Desert
Department of Labor Hearing on November 11 started at 9 a.m. and was closed 5 minutes later – no one came to make comments. DOL will establish minimum requirements with only one change – EVOC or licensed CDL; will be chief’s responsibility and drivers license will be need to reviewed every three years. It will take one year until it goes into effect and enforced. CD with sample SOGs and mandatory paperwork will be made available to each department.
LAST Update: Chaplin Dan Coffin had been on leave and since the line of duty death support program had been spinning their wheels; Association has created a committee to take care of this. Goal: Recruit reps from each county to take the LAST training (2 days). Therese folks will need to be available for training, meetings and respond to incidents. LAST is to make sure the family and department receive the support needed to get benefits. There will be more going around for a chance to be a part of this.
Emergency Management Agency – No report
HCRCC – ESCB has put to the legislature that HC is no longer a conditional status; encouraged HC to work on consolidation. Limited radio communication in Bucksport & Orland, so this is being looked at.
North side of county – Blue Hill may have a tower being put up and the County Commissioners may be requiring them to give a little.
Director Wellman also mentioned that she is looking for grant money which tends to be more towards law enforcement vs. fire, but may be able to make it work for all.
Sick Call: Red Sarna
Unfinished Business: None
New Business: It was discussed that Secretary Winger can purchase membership cards which we have now run out of.
Deputy Chief Richard Tupper proposed to form an Accountability Committee so we can all be on the same page – if any one wishes to be a member and to bring ideas.
Next meeting: Sedgwick at North Sedgwick with meal and program
Report of incidents:
Lamoine - Structure fire was a wood stove with wood close by, fire got into wall and got into the ceiling. Appreciated the help from Trenton, Hancock and Ellsworth with the new Automatic mutual aid.
Blue Hill – apartments for the elderly had a fire, some of the elderly did not want to leave, just a reminder to that emergency plans for many of the situations that can happen since most of these have electric heat and most do not have managers to take care of situations. Also, most of these apartments have all the contents from the resident’s previous house, which was much larger.
Plans to call Red Cross should be set up as well. Master key would not get into two of the apartments. What the Fire Marshall’s office found was that the fire was started by a toe heater and with common duct work that was interconnected. Most small towns don’t have a person for inspections and it usually only happens once there is a fire.
Mariaville – EMTs Karen Murray and Everett Austin helped deliver a baby this morning in the fire department parking lot.
Ellsworth – Jim’s Auto – Automatic Aid worked well, middle of the day – Trenton, Lamoine and Ellsworth all came; compressed foam worked well.
Penobscot – Fatal accident involved a MMA coach and one of the first FFs on scene knew him and told Chief Robertson that he had to leave. This was a situation where they were asked to do things that later on, he realized that they could have asked others at the scene to do instead of having the FFs responsible for it. Also, had a critical debriefing for all involved.
The next morning, it was probably for the best, they had a planned fire at a three story chicken barn – once it was set, it was 16 minutes later there was full collapse. Might have been a blessing to keep everyone busy.
Southwest Harbor went to a training burn in Mt. Desert – nice small house, top notch crew showed up. Chief Bender even went in and worked; Jack and Jen Martell had a chance to go in together to work.
Equipment update:
Tanker scheduled to be here by February
Ellsworth’s aerial is scheduled to be here by end of November/first of December
Orland has received their truck – it only needs shelving at this time.
Good for the Company –
Ellsworth has two raffles going on – one for a pedal car and a 31 Gun Raffle (one gun a day for the month of May)
Isleford is collecting equipment for their fire department that is starting up once again.
Respectfully submitted,
Lisa Winger, HCFFA Secretary