White River Township Fire Department

                                                Senior Staff Meeting

           

                                                Thursday, June 2, 2005

 

 

                       

Present:

Chief Tibbetts

Chief Cassin

Chief Slauter

Chief Wilson

Chief Brown

Chief Thacker

Chief Engmark

Kim Clawson

 

 

  1. Hiring process is completed.  Eric Wiseman and Kyle Brooks finished first and second, respectively.   A new list has been created with the remaining candidates.  Chief Thacker has made all appropriate notifications.  Chief Thacker notified Eric & Kyle that they are hired, beginning July 5th or 11th, pending PERF results.  Chief Slauter asked if we will be opening the current openings to our own personnel first for trades.  Chief Thacker stated that we would do that, then place Eric & Kyle where they were needed.  Chief Tibbetts commended everyone, especially Chief Thacker, for a flawless process.

 

  1. Chief Thacker distributed a schedule for the blood work portion of the upcoming physicals.  Third week of July will be the actual physical at Public Safety Medical.

 

  1. IAFF and IAFC has requested a “Stand Down For Firefighter Safety” is in effect the week of June 20th.  Chief Thacker will have safety-focused trainings that week.  Already this year, 53 firefighters have died in the line of duty.

 

  1. Chief Thacker reiterated that all staff, when responding to incidents, should follow the same requirements for gear on scenes as the firefighting personnel do.  If staff is not needed, they shouldn’t be responding.  He also asked that if you will be responding on runs, that you begin attending trainings; that is where we discuss operations guidelines and safety issues.  He stated that this has only been an issue on a couple of recent runs and he has received no complaints from anyone.  If you’re in command and not near patients or the center of the incident, this is probably not an issue.  Chief Thacker just asked that everyone use common sense.

 

  1. Chief Tibbetts requested that on incidents, Chief Thacker be assigned to the safety officer instead of being assigned to operations.

 

  1. Fire service accreditation looks at over 250 items and most of it is self assessment.  It’s a three year process and representatives from out of state departments who have received accreditation will review our standing.  Chief Thacker would like to see us try for this.  The initial registration cost is $250.  This may assist more in receiving grants and may help to lower our ISO rating.  Some insurance agencies are moving away from the ISO rating and to this accreditation standard.  Everyone agreed that we should pursue this.  Chief Thacker feels that he should not be the project manager for this.  He will try to get a representative from Clay Twp FD down to talk to us about their accreditation process.

 

  1. Chief Brown feels that once the new water tower goes in service, we should be able to better our ISO rating. 

 

  1. Chief Cassin has developed a staff In/Out program for Jackie to use.  Please tell Jackie when you are leaving so she can keep track of it.  Chief Tibbetts stated that he is unsure why she is having so many problems knowing who is here and who is not.

 

  1. Chief Slauter met with Chief Parker of the New Whiteland Fire Department, who is wanting us to increase our mutual aid response with them.  Chief Slauter will continue working with them.

 

  1. Chief Slauter stated that we are to wait until we are dispatched before responding with Morgan County, even if we hear them on their radio frequency request us.

 

  1. Chief Thompson (Bargersville FD) has told Chief Slauter that they will no longer cover our stations if they don’t have a minimum of 5 people on station

 

  1. Decon trailer update:  initial costs are a bit higher than what they anticipated originally.  Trailer will probably be a 22’ walk in with an outside boom and heating and air conditioning.  Non-ambulatory people will not be decontaminated by us.  This can also be used as a rehab trailer.  There will be a six month build time.  County will always provide replacement equipment for county wide incidents.  If it is a non county incident, then we are responsible for it.

 

  1. WRTFD will be hiring a part time, temporary, information technology person.  This will begin after the Strawberry Festival is over.

 

  1. NIMS will be done in house and everyone can take the quiz online.

 

  1. Chief Engmark requested that we initiate training with Greenwood FD for our haz mat techs.