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Posted: May 21, 2018

Level Cross fire station gathers steam

from the Level Cross Community Center.

Chief Stephen “Steve” Russell said in an interview the move is a necessity.

“We’ve just outgrown the old location,” he said.

The existing fire department was built in 1970, Russell said, with an addition made to the structure 10 years ago. In 1970, the department was staffed by volunteers who came in for fire emergencies but then went back home, he said. Today, the department has two full-time firefighters, three part-time firefighters and 22 volunteers.

His staff has to participate in on-going classes each Tuesday and sometimes on Saturday. However, the old building has only one room for such activities. It has an occupancy capacity of 15. The same space has to serve as a meeting room, day room and kitchen in addition to being a classroom, Russell said.

Then, there is the nature of fire engines in the new millennium, Russell said. The old building has bays with 10-by-10-foot doors. Russell’s fire engines are much larger than they were in 1970. His staff has to be especially careful as they pull the 9-foot, 8-inch truck in and out of that 10-foot-tall door.

In fact, Russell said, the department purchased a new fire engine in 2016 but had to have it modified to fit the old station doors.

Russell said the new facility will provide plenty of room for all of the department’s existing requirements plus give it room to grow.

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Posted: May 21, 2018

Region: Judge orders Vancouver teen charged for starting Eagle Creek Fire to pay $36.6M in restitution

A Hood River County Circuit Court judge ordered the teen responsible for starting the Eagle Creek Fire to pay more than $36.6 million in restitution to cover the damage caused by the fire. A judge was expected to make a decision on the restitution on Thursday, May 17, but delayed his decision in order to review the constitutionality of issuing such a large fine on the minor.
- PUB DATE: 5/21/2018 10:52:12 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 and Radio 1000
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Posted: May 21, 2018

dye-red-oak-texas-pierce-pumper-gallery

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Posted: May 21, 2018

Emergency Reporting Training Is Now Eligible for GoArmyEd Funding

Emergency Reporting

Emergency Reporting® (ER), a leader in cloud-based Fire and EMS records management software, announced today they are now a vendor for GoArmyEd, so members of GoArmyEd can apply to have their Emergency Reporting training paid for by this government tuition assistance program. This will allow Emergency Reporting’s customers to access training money without having to budget through their individual departments.

Emergency Reporting offers 5-8 Regional Training Academies (RTA) per year. The RTAs are three-day comprehensive training events held in major cities across the United States and are designed for ER users who want to get the most out of their records management software. They offer one-on-one training with customers during the day and allow and encourage networking and social time in the evenings.

The RTAs are led by Emergency Reporting’s experienced trainers, who are all active or recently retired public safety professionals with over 250 years of combined firefighting and EMS experience. ER’s Training Manager, Mark “Mac” McKleroy, says that customers who have attended previous RTAs have found the experience to be invaluable. “Our software is the easiest-to-use in the industry, by far, and our Regional Training Academies allow users to become even more advanced in using the software,” he says.

To learn more or register for an upcoming RTA, visit https://explore.emergencyreporting.com/rtaoverview/. Emergency Reporting also offers other training opportunities for customers, including customized on-site training, Partner Webinars, and more. For more information about Emergency Reporting’s Fire & EMS Records Management System, visit www.emergencyreporting.com.

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Posted: May 21, 2018

​Out of My Mind: Proving You’re on the A-Team

By Richard Marinucci

Every fire department should strive to provide the best possible service it can. We all know that people don’t have a choice as to which fire department will arrive, and as some people have said, “There is no 912!!”. If this is the case, then everyone’s goal should be to be the “A” team, that is to say that they are at the top of their class and have exceeded the minimums regarding performance. Over the course of many years I have had the vast majority of fire service personnel tell me that they have a great fire department. That is good, and they should brag about their organization. But unfortunately for many there is no clear-cut measure of overall capabilities and effectiveness. There are some measurements, but they have their flaws, and there is difficulty in gaining consensus as to what is the best and fairest way to evaluate the final grade.

Before I get into some concepts on evaluation and metrics, we first need to look at response times. While by itself response time is not a great measurement, it is an important consideration. Regardless of a department’s capabilities, if it does not arrive in the moments that matter—that is when the outcomes will be affected—it does not matter how good they are. Even if you have superhuman powers, arriving late to save the day will not be of benefit. Also, response time is not drive time. Good organizations consider the entire response system to include call processing, dispatching, turn-out time, response time (drive time), and setup time (getting in position to deliver service.) This is the real standard that should be measured. I realize some departments have no control over their dispatch function, but that is a discussion for another time. But if you want to be a really good service provider, you must arrive when you can do the most good. To put it another way, you can have the best sports team ever but if you are late to the game, you forfeit and cannot prove your talents.

Another consideration of performance is staffing. You need enough hands to do the job. I have had members of understaffed departments tell me how good they are. There is no doubt that they give good effort and have great people. But if you don’t have adequate staffing for the job at hand, you cannot get to peak performance. You probably would not agree to heart surgery if the surgical team was understaffed no matter how good the doctor was. Even if you have nine talented football players, you will not be able to compete with 11 in the same league. I think you get the point. I cannot concede that an understaffed department is an A-team regardless of how great the individuals are.


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So, if we have a good response time and proper staffing, how would we know if we could “walk the talk?” There must be some type of fair measurement or metrics that assess meaningful performance. It shouldn’t be too hard to develop a list of individual and team skills that are essential in delivering service. Members should be able to don PPE and SCBA within a specific timeframe. Even prior to that, they should have a standard turnout time th

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