Chief’s Message

     Spring is in the air, even if there is still snow on the ground.  With warmer weather on the way there will be more and more opportunities to gather outside and enjoy grilling meals.  The spring and into the summer are peak months for grilling food.  Let’s do our best to keep all grill masters and family and friends safe by following a few easy tips when it comes to grilling.  Most grill fires start due to something combustible being too close to the grill.   Before pulling out and firing up your grill this spring, please check the tubes and hoses underneath to assure they are connected and in good working order.  Clean and remove any debris inside and around the outside of the grill.   Never use a grill indoors, including garages and sheds, and never leave it unattended while in operation.  Be safe and enjoy!  

     We had another high call volume response month in March that kept crews busy.  In March I had the opportunity to present to our Roseville City Council; I always appreciate their time and the opportunity to present to this group.  Video of the presentation can be viewed here:

https://webstreaming.ctv15.org/viewer.php?streamid=6207

I focused my messaging on a few topics impacting the Fire Department right now:

• High Call Volume and Sustainable Staffing
• Multi-Family Licensing Inspections and Fire Prevention Efforts
• The First Six Months of Providing Advanced Life Support (ALS) First Response.

     Another quick reminder of our upcoming Friday’s with Firefighters this summer. Everyone gets so busy in the spring and summer, I want to make sure these make your family calendar!  Always from 10AM-Noon:

• Friday, June 23
• Friday, July 21
• Friday, August 18

In March we had a great month of training. Our EMS topics were "report documentation" and "Cardiac Monitors".  Our Firefighting topic was "Search and Rescue".  

Each call for service that the Fire Department responds to requires a report to be completed.  Some of the details that go into these reports are: the nature of the call, who responded, what we found on our arrival, what we did, the outcome of the call, etc.  These reports are reviewed by our EMS Medical Directors for medical calls and the State of MN for Fire calls.  We also spent some time reviewing and utilizing our new Cardiac Monitors.  These monitors assist our members with a wide variety of calls.  They are used to determine vital signs, analyze heart rhythm and administer shock when necessary.  These monitors are a vital piece of our newly implemented "Advanced Life Support" program.  

On the Fire side of training, we spent the month focusing on "Search and Rescue."  The last few months we worked on technique for victim rescue/removal from a fire.  This month we turned up the stress level and difficulty for our crews.  We incorporated our victim removal techniques into a larger scale search and rescue evolution.