The Flashing Beacon

New Staff Firefighter/EMT's

The District has hired two new employees, Shannon Poland and Ken Motsenbocker. Currently their schedules are being developed to meet the District’s needs. Shannon is now working 12-hour shifts on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings starting at 14:00 hours. Shannon’s primary duty is to emergency response, vehicle checks, and data entry. Ken is working during the days including Saturday. His primary duties include emergency response, vehicle checks and coordination for the Wildfire Season. Later in this newsletter is an article by Ken on the forthcoming Wildland fire season. Welcome aboard Shannon and Ken!

New or Old Mechanic?

The Fire District operates five engines, one ladder, five tenders, three ambulances, two brush trucks, two squads, and three pickups, two vans, and one jeep. This large fleet is used for emergency operations 24/7/365. The large fleet we operate requires significant repair and preventive maintenance.

For years Kevin Greene has worked on our apparatus through his own shop. Ron and the District Board have decided to hire Kevin as part of the staff of the Fire District. Kevin operates out of Station 1. He has an office in the compressor room at Station 1. If there is any maintenance questions or problems please contact him. If you don't see him he has a dry erase board in his office. Welcome aboard Kevin!

We are starting to gear up for another potentially serious wildfire season. In the spirit of our theme, "prevention and preparedness", our primary focus will be educating the public through speaking at Home Owner Association meetings, conducting site visits, our web site, radio announcements and by attending various public meetings. Last year we personally spoke with over 700 residents in our District and hopefully reached a lot more with radio and newspaper announcements. Based on the comments we received from the public the program was a huge success last year. I believe it was well received in part because of the approach that was taken by Chief Leach, in that, "we do not want to be alarmists, but we have to be realists". Remember that as a member of the Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District what you say to people, concerning fire danger, may carry more weight then you might think. We do not want the public to get the impression that we would never try to save their home because the area they live in is thick with fuels. However, we can tactfully explain how we triage a subdivision. We do not want to scare people, but we need to educate them on the potential dangers of wildfire because of where we live.

Thanks!     Ken

We have several new software programs, which are loaded on the computers in the training room. Check them out, if you would like to borrow any of them to load on your computer at home see me.

EMT Basic Study Help Test bank. Build a test chapter by chapter or on the entire book. It will keep score for you and give the correct answers.

EMT Intermediate Study Help test bank same as the EMT-Basic program.

ICS Self Study Course A good review for filling out some of the forms

National Fire Academy ICS Simulations. A whole group of incident scenarios, progressively more difficult, that will challenge your decision making abilities. Start with the Ranch House Fire then progress through the Mansion Fire, Townhouse Fire, Casper Hall Dorm and when you think you have it mastered try the Strip Mall Hostage/Arson Fire. Oh Boy!!

NFA Wildland Series. Good practice in working through a wildfire scenario and the forms.

Some other computer programs I have but are not yet loaded in the training room include:

See me to borrow any of these, Frank

EMS Training in March

March 17- Skills Night with a focus on Intubations and Glucometer use

March 24- EMS Training- HIPAA Required Training for all EMS providers (You and me)

Fire Training in March

March 5- Map reading, GPS, Air Ops

March 12- Wildland Tabletop part 2 a.k.a., "sorry Ray you’re IC again"

March 19, 22 +26 S130/190 Wildland Firefighter Training and Intro to Wildland Fire Behavior

Driver Training will have to be rescheduled due to the 9 Health fair falling on April 5^th.

BLS Instructor March 3^rd and 14^th books are in so see me get yours

P.A.L.S.- April 16, 17 The class is being moved to CMC spring valley

A.C.L.S. April 18, 19

Haz Mat Awareness April 26^th Basalt FD

S215 Fire Operations in the Urban Interface. Basalt FD is working on putting on a class, tentative dates are May 9,10,11. Let me know if you are interested

Recruitment and Retention Workshop May 16 St 1 Attracting and retaining volunteers here and now

February was a short month, but a full month. We finished CPR and AED Training; we had a visit from Dr. Stahl, a rescue on Red Hill and finished the month with a rash of car accidents.

Responses: We had a rope rescue off of Red Hill this month. A patient was struck on the head by a rock. The department responded with 16 people. The initial personnel assessed the patient and prepared him for the trip down the hill. The patient was placed in a stokes and brought down the hill using ropes. This incident went very smoothly and was a good team approach of technical rescue and EMS. During the incident we also had a rollover accident by CRMS and a report of a wildland fire on County Road 100. There has also been a rash of auto accidents that have included a significant number of rollover accidents during February. We also responded to I-70 at No-Name on a mutual aid with Glenwood Springs Fire Department.

EMT Renewals (All Levels): The EMS Division has a new form for renewing all levels of EMTs. The process is still the same, just that there are new forms. You must use the new form when renewing. You should talk with Frank at least 120 days prior to your expiration to get the process started. There is specific information that you must obtain and document prior to renewing. In addition you must take a two stage practical and a written.

EMT Intermediates Students: The Intermediate students are completing their classroom work and getting very involved with their clinicals. There is an end in sight, but they don’t see it yet. A few words of encouragement can go a long way with this group, Frank, Ken, Jessica, Allan, and Jeanette.

EMT Basics: The EMT Basic class is also progressing well. They too have started their practical. If you are on scene with them, please give them an opportunity to do whatever they can with the patients. They are Vern, Kevin, Lisa Wagner, and Jake. They are all good students, and full of questions.

Hepatitis Vaccinations and Testing: We will be doing testing for TB and giving HEP B vaccinations or testing in March. Testing will start at 18:30 before the business meeting, on March 10. If you have questions, please contact Carl

TB Testing: The 2003 TB testing also starts in March. You should be tested for TB once a year. We will offer it in March and again this fall. This testing will also be prior to the Business Meeting on the 10^th.

CPR & AED: THANKS to all of you. We completed the CPR and AED Training for the year!

Intermediate Acts Allowed: The Department of Health, Board of Medical Advisors has basically adopted the 1999 DOT Acts and Drugs of Intermediates. They did modify the accepted skills allowed. A formal list is not yet available. When it is we will send all Intermediates a copy. The next step is protocol development and then training. Frank and I will be working on this with Dr. Stahl during the spring and early summer. You will be kept informed as we move through these changes.

CHANNEL 9 HEALTH FAIR - APRIL 5, 2003- We will need your help again this year.

Week: OCO:           Crew:

3/3       Leach          Cornelius, Mattorano, Nuckols

3/10     Rafferty        Smith, Domer, Melendez, Jensen

3/17     Keegan        Newcomb, Wadley, Sauvey

3/24     Handville      Gavette, Heuer, Ware, Cornelius

3/31     Lackey         Luttrell, Green, Spaulding

4/7       Shank          Poland, Cornelius, Ingram

We will be able to activate Initial Attack teams again during the wildfire season. The positions will be temporary, but will be paid. If this season lives up to its potential we will be using two teams, with one patrolling in the Missouri Heights area and the other in the Southern end of the District. This part of the program will receive a boost this year as we have made an arrangement with the Colorado State Forest Service to get one for certain and maybe two additional Type 6 brush trucks. This should allow our I/A teams to respond quicker and will save wear and tear on Engines 2 and 5. The teams and shifts will be dependent upon the severity of the conditions, but may run up to eight hours a day, seven days a week. If you’re interested in working a shift let Ken know as soon as possible. The minimum requirements to be a member on the I/A team will S-130/190, a red card, and a current CPR card.

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