April - June 2024

Fire Department Updates

Chief’s Message

The Roseville Fire Department has had a very active 2^nd quarter of 2024. Our call volume continues to track ahead of 2023 by about 8% keeping the on-duty shifts quite busy serving the community. In addition to emergency response, we have also had some great opportunities for training and community outreach in the last few months.

In May each of our three shifts had live fire training. These were live fire scenarios that allowed each crew to focus individually on their first 5-10 minutes of deployment and tactics of a structure fire. We were able to replicate residential and multi-family response tactics. The live fire training was the main focus for this quarter, but our firefighters continued to perform their regularly scheduled training on-shift. In addition, we have had some EMS-focused training with our medical direction, Regions EMS. They have provided us cardiac monitoring and EMS continuing education training at the advanced life support (ALS) level. Some other exciting news in the world of training and development, our two fire cadets, Fire Cadet Rousso and Fire Cadet Schultz, both completed their Firefighter I and Firefighter II formal training as well as successful completion of the state licensing examination. Both cadets have completed their formal Fire Cadet training with the department.

On May 20^th Fire Administration presented to the City Council in regards to current emergency call volume, overlapping calls, and our staffing level to meet the current emergency demand of the community as well as discuss future demand and staffing. The City Council was incredibly responsive and supportive of the Fire Department. The Council asked the department to reach out to and assess the costs and deliverables to hire a consultant to perform a staffing study for the City. The study would provide an assessment of appropriate staffing levels and deployment models to better address current and future response needs. Fire Administration will return to present to the Council later this summer and seek direction on what the best next steps are.

We had our first Friday’s with Firefighters on June 14^th. Around 300 people joined us for the event and go to spray the fire hose, climb in the trucks, and enjoy the bounce house. We were joined by the Ramsey County Homeland Security and Emergency Management; who handed out home safety tips and information. We have two Friday’s with Firefighters remaining on the calendar for this summer. Friday August 9th is the next one, from 10:00 am to Noon. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Thank you for your continued support of the Roseville Fire Department. And thank you for checking out our quarterly report.

Community Outreach

Fridays with Firefighters

In June we had our first Fridays with Firefighters of 2024, and it was a hit! We love opening our doors to the community and getting to interact with residents.

We are always looking to change things up a bit, and have special guests at each event. Our last event even had Johnny Pops swing by to give out popsicles! Make sure you make it out to our last one in August to see who stops by!

School Visits

At the end of the school year the City always welcomes a few different elementary school groups to learn more about City jobs. We saw over 200 kids and were able to answers some great questions asked by the young students. If you know any school classes that would like to visit the station please reach out to Emily at 651-792-7309.

Blood Drive

In May the Fire Department hosted a joint blood drive with Amira Choice. We were able to exceed our goal for units of blood given, and want to thank the community for coming out to donate! Blood donations are always needed, and we try to have one or two events here at the first station each year. Keep an eye on our social media pages for the next one, or you can always check out The Red Cross to see if they have a drive near you!

RAHS Forensics Class

We were able to continue our relationship with the Roseville Area High School Forensics Class during the spring. Students learned about fire investigation and other aspects of fire prevention. Thereapy K9 Ashes also joined Battalion Chief Chris DuBay and Lieutenant Joe Selby at RAHS as part of the forensics class. Ashes provided a great distraction to the teams in class who were not conducting their mock investigations.

RAHS Career Fair

Firefighter Kristi Sjostrom and Therapy K9 Ashes were able to speak with dozens of high school seniors at the career fair in May. They talked about our different programs like Fire Explorers and the Cadet Program that are available for young people interested in the fire service. If you know anyone with interest in a career in the fire service reach out to Emily at 651-792-7309 for more information!

Duck Rescues

Late spring and early summer always bring out the duckling rescues! We had dozens of calls this year to help rescue ducks out of sewer grates. We always urge residents to call our non emergency number 651-266-7702 instead of getting into the sewers themselves. Thanks to our firefighters the ducklings were able to waddle away with their moms!

Child Passenger Law - August 1st

Beginning August 1, 2024 children from birth to at least 2 years old must be rear-facing and in an infant or convertible child safety seat. Children who are at least 2 year old and have outgrown the rear-facing sear with internal harness by height or weight should be in a forward-facing with an internal harness. And children under 13 must ride in the back seat if possible. If you have questions about car seats, both the Roseville Police Department and Fire Department have child seat technicians on staff.

Therapy K9 Ashes

Ashes has had an incredibly busy last quarter. The most significant milestone was achieving her Service K9 certification, both of Ashes’ handlers had to certify individually with her and are now each certified as a Service/Therapy K9 team with Ashes. It has taken hundreds of hours of training since Ashes joined RFD last October to get to this incredible milestone and while an incredible step, it is only one small piece to the training that Ashes will continue to receive to be the most effective Therapy K9 she can be.

Ashes has managed to attend a large number of activities this quarter, a few of these are shown in pictures but a general list which is not all encompassing is below:

Two Friday’s with Firefighters Events being visited by hundreds of visitors.
Attended a fire sprinkler training event hosted by the Minnesota State Fire Marshal’s Office
Joined her handlers/family in the White Bear Lake Parade (and received a Pup Cup from Cup n Cone in White Bear as a reward)
Took a weeklong vacation with her handlers family to Voyageurs National Park
Spent time at the Minnesota State Capitol to support several key initiatives and share the importance of Therapy K9 work as part of our departments comprehensive Mental Health Program
Responded to a house fire on Lake Owasso and provided check-ins with the responders on scene.
Responded to a gasoline tanker incident and provided check-ins with the responders on scene.
Answers a call for Therapy K9 support for the Minneapolis Police Departments 5^th Precinct after the death of Officer Mitchell. Ashes provided support to the officers as they worked to process the events of this tragedy.
Ashes enjoyed her first 4^th of July with her handlers and their family – Not only was this a time for Ashes to play in the lake and relax, it was also used as a valuable training opportunity to help her grow accustomed to the noise associated with Fireworks.

Notable Events

House Fire

Crews responded to a house fire on Lake Owasso in April. The fire was likely the result of the lightning from a storm in the area. Crews were able to quick conduct searches of the home to confirm all occupants were out of the home, while also working to quickly extinguish the flames.

Cat Rescue

You've probably heard the old stories of firefighters saving a cat from a tree. Well it's true! Crews were able to assist a resident with rescuing their family cat out of a tree – happy to report the feisty feline was rescued without incident an unharmed.

Car Crash into Transformer

Firefighters responded to a single vehicle accident at 2925 Lincoln Drive with a vehicle on fire. Upon arrival crews found a vehicle fire as a result of a single vehicle crashing into two large ground mounted power transformers. Injuries to the driver were minor and crews were able to extinguish the fire before it could spread to the nearby building.

Maplewood Response

Firefighters assisted Maplewood Fire with a small commercial fire just off of 35E and Roselawn. This multi-agency response provided the necessary resources to quickly extinguish the fire preventing further damage/loss to the business owner.

HazMat Responses

The Fire Department recently had two significant hazardous materials response incidents:

The first incident occurred at Linde Gas company with a hydrogen leak developing at the facility. With the assistance of the St. Paul Fire Department HazMat team the leak was safely mitigated and the business returned to normal operation.

The second incident occurred at a US Bank location within Roseville with a report of a suspicious smelling package left in an overnight drop box. Upon arrival by Roseville Firefighters it was quickly determined that the item would required the specialized training of the St. Paul Fire Department HazMat team as part of the Statewide Response Team program. SPFD units arrived and conducted the necessary operations to evaluate and isolate the item. It was determined no significant hazard was present and the item removed for further evaluation.

The partnership between Roseville Fire and St. Paul Fire as well as the Statewide Response Teams is a crucial partnership allowing for highly specialized and training hazmat team members to provide their expertise at these types of infrequent emergencies. We are grateful for this partnership for the significant benefit it provides to our firefighters and entire community.

Training Events

Live Burn

As mentioned in the Chief's message, all of our firefighters were able to have live burn training this spring. This is some of our most important training each year and really allows firefighter to observe how a fire in a structure reacts within its environment.

This Battalion Level live burn was a part of our new hire academy which we help this quarter. This training covers all aspects of daily operations from EMS and Fire Response to how we conduct our community events, etc.

EMS training -

In the second quarter the department continued their training on cardiac monitoring and EMS continuing education training at the advanced life support (ALS) level.

Sprinkler Trailer - State Fire Marshal

In may the State Fire Marshal's office stopped by with their Sprinkler Trailer to teach our crews about sprinkler systems. This was an exceptional opportunity for firefighters to learn all about the the different systems and how they work. You'd be surprised how much there is to know about sprinkler systems! Thanks again to the SFM for stopping by!