WFD101 August 07 Newsletter
Webmaster
During the past month our maintenance garage has been busy updating
the radios in several pieces of our equipment. The newer radios will
replace several reaching the end of their service life. The newer
units also have newer technologies allowing more flexibility and
programming. These changes will also allow us to communicate better
with many neighboring departments.
Our reserve medic unit is still being repaired after an accident
several months ago. Additional damages were found during repairs
and more parts needed to be ordered.
Our primary EMS vehicle developed an oil leak during this time. Our
garage was hoping to put off the repair until our reserve unit
returned, but the leak worsened and could not be delayed. As a
result, Norwich Twp. FD was kind enough to loan us the use of one of
their vehicles for approximately 1 week so we could keep 2 EMS vehicle
available for service.
2) Buildings
As part of our regular duties, crews go through business and
commercial building in our area to obtain information and familiarity
in the event of a fire. Because of run activity, hydrants, and hose
testing, we had been falling behind a bit on those assignments. Much
of July has been spent catching up on these assignments.
3) Outdoor Cooking
With summer in full swing, we'd like to remind everyone about the
importance of safely using outdoor grills. We've prepared a safety
page we hope you'll take a few minutes to read:
http://wfd101.com/newsbin/grills.html
4) Pull to Right for Sirens and Lights....
ER101 was involved in a collision while responding to an emergency on
July 31. This is the second accident of this type for our apparatus
in about 3 months. Both accidents involved motorists that failed to
yield to our lights and sirens. In fact, in both cases, the motorists
were trying to pull around other vehicles who did pull over and stop.
Aside from the risks to life at the time of these accidents
(fortunately nobody was seriously injured), accidents take our
apparatus out of service. The last vehicle involved in an accident
has been out of service for almost 3 months.
We'd like to ask everyone to take a few moments and review the safety
information at http://wfd101.com/newsbin/lights-siren.html. If
nothing else, consider that if other vehicles around you are pulling
over or stopping - there's probably a good reason and you shouldn't
automatically try pulling around everyone!