Glendale Fire Department

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Cecil Lawson
5 years ago
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1 Glendale Fire Department 1) The Glendale Fire Department has had two fire engines or pumpers since the twenties. 2) The primary issue is the responsibility to provide a safe and effective operation for our firefighters. The availability of a two engine response greatly reduces the risk to all of our firefighters. There is no guarantee of how quickly our next crews will be arriving on scene so we prepare and control our own destiny. 3) ISO rating is set with the use of both front line engines being in service. We will get a reduction in points that could potentially lower our rating to a Class 3. We have worked very hard to achieve the Class 2 status. That would be a shot to the morale of the fire department. 4) Two front line engines allow us to manage incidents in the village with our equipment for initial fire attack. Even with the mutual aid agreements in place, all fire departments are helping each other now more than ever. That has created an issue by having the pumpers out of the station more than in the past. All of our neighbors staff for first round response only. Their reasoning is based on manpower costs. In our case our only cost is the one-time expense of equipment. This cost is drastically lower than personnel cost which have to be factored in for the time the employees are on staff. 5) With the new dispatch system in place there also can potentially have longer response times by neighboring communities. 6) In the fire service today, departments today find themselves staffing to the minimum requirements. Even when they call for off duty people to respond in to assist there are only one or two departments that have people who are willing to respond back in to staff equipment. This is the area that both Greenhills and Glendale excel in doing. Since most of our people live outside of the village, the timing works out on a structure response to staff the second tier truck. We often have more people on the second truck than we do on the first. We then staff for Glendale and ALL of our mutual aid departments until the solutions are resolved. Failure to keep two front line response engines will impact the idea of how we value our off duty volunteers to respond in. 7) With the two engines we typically have more people available than any of our neighbors. Just for example Woodlawn has 6 firefighters on duty, Springdale has 12, and Evendale has 10. 8) Allows faster implementation of hose deployment in long lay situations. When we have water main issues we can basically lay an above ground water main in minutes. We have fire hydrants from Cincinnati Water Works that cross in Glendale which give us a greater amount of water flow for fire suppression. 9) Allows Fire Department to always have at least 1 Engine In-Service at all times. Whether the trucks are due for service or any other issue we stay in service. 10) Increases independence from neighboring communities. We always need to prepare for what we are faced with. Glendale emergencies are going to be Glendale fixes.

2 11) Expands fire department operations within the Village of Glendale and to surrounding departments. 12) Conforms to NFPA Standard a710 and 1720 which state the need of two separate and distinct water sources. In this village it is even more important with the water system issues we are faced with. 13) Follows ISO recommended practices which calls out our maximum water flow of 3500 gallons of water per minute in a continuous pumping situation. 14) When 1 Engine is on a detail or response the second truck maintains fire protection in the Village 15) ISO s last report stated "For maximum credit in the schedule, 2 Engine companies are needed in your Village 16) Last report also stated that we only received 6 points for Engine 45 and.5 points for Engine ) The ISO report further recommends that 1 fully equipped reserve pumper or second front line pumper is needed. The reasoning is to maintain fire protection in any given community. 18) NFPA 1720 states: A minimum of 2 engines shall respond to all fires in structures of any type, hazardous materials incidents, rescues and mass casualty incidents. 19) NFPA 1901 states that an Engine Company shall have apparatus available to replace a front line apparatus in the event of a failure or service as result of a failure. 20) Two apparatus will facilitate a dual response by GFD. Alternate routes of travel and two separate fire crews to provide fire attack. 21) Front line apparatus will be able to have any needed service or repair accomplished while maintaining the minimum standard without loss of service to the Village of Glendale. 22) Catastrophic failures can occur. Should this event happen a fully operational reserve truck can be placed in service to provide fire suppression to the Village while repairs or replacement is accomplished. While emergency appropriations can occur they typically are done without the practice of acquiring the best apparatus for the best price. 23) Safety to the members of the Glendale FD must be of paramount importance and cannot be short changed. Whether it be for dual truck response or to have a reliable backup, firefighters must rely on the dependability of their equipment. Firefighting is a hazardous endeavor in any situation and any way we can reduce potential issues are a positive approach to proper administration. 24) Vehicular accidents are the second leading cause of firefighter fatalities. We need to be proactive in providing the safest equipment available to our people. We need to offer the best protection to the Volunteers to minimize any risk associated with equipment operation. 25) Two fully capable apparatus allows for rotation of apparatus to minimize full response loads to a single truck. Rotation schedules help to reduce maintenance costs to front line apparatus. While not lengthening the replacement schedule, operating and maintenance costs are definitely reduced.

3 26) NFPA 1901 states that any fire apparatus more than 24 years old be replaced. With technology in today's world the safety features have been addressed more than any single item in fire apparatus construction. NFPA has used the 24 year service life as apparatus at that age will be functionally obsolete at that point. 27) Mutual aid requires mutual assistance. We have to provide something in return for communities to help out when we need it. We have consistently provided a full engine crew when called by other departments for assistance. 28) Any fire service incident management resource book cites the need of two water sources. This can only be accomplished by two pumping engines. This is a safety issue. 29) Would you consider taking away 2 police cars from the police, or two dump trucks from public works or reduce the water pump size to one half of what it currently is? We have all arrived where we are based on our knowledge, experience and training to have the equipment we need to do our jobs. Going from two engines to one is reducing our capabilities by half. The previous leaders of the Glendale Fire Department also realized the importance of keeping two trucks in house. We live in a world of being prepared. The fire service leads that race more than any other. We plan for all situations. If you stay in the fire service long enough you will see many issues of various types. It all comes back to being prepared. 30) Two trucks allows for the leadership of the fire department to manage most situations. We can t always prepare for all event scenarios but we can do the right thing by preparing for most. Keeping two fire engines is the responsible thing to do. The safety of firefighters being part of that as is the safety of the residents of the Village of Glendale.

4 The way fire departments currently operate on automatic dispatch: Glendale Fire Woodlawn Engine 3 person minimum Forest Park Engine 3 person minimum Sharonville Ladder 3 person minimum West Chester Ladder 3 person minimum Springdale Medic 2 person minimum Glendale Fire SECOND DISPATCH Greenhills Engine 3 person minimum Evendale Engine 3 person minimum Lincoln Heights Engine 3 person minimum Wyoming Ladder 3 person minimum Reading Ladder 3 person minimum Springdale Medic 2 person minimum Sharonville Ladder 87-3 person minimum Forest Park Fire Forest Park Engine 3 person minimum Woodlawn Engine 3 person minimum

5 Greenhills Ladder 3 person minimum Colerain Township Ladder 3 person minimum Forest Park Medic 2 person minimum Woodlawn Fire Woodlawn Ladder 3 person minimum Lincoln Heights Engine 3 person minimum Woodlawn Medic 2 person minimum Wyoming Engine 3 person minimum

Dispatching Apparatus and Personnel

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