The Fire Chief’s Blog

Okay all you women out there, you now have a great opportunity to “try before you buy” when it comes to the fire service. The Northstar Womens Firefighter Association is holding their third annual Womens Fire Expo. The expo will be held on May 31st and it is FREE. You must register though, by May 23rd. Click on this link to get your FREE registration completed.

For more details on being a women firefighter check out this link to a story that aired on women in the fire service yesterday afternoon on KSTP’s Twin Cities Live program. The program features Eden Prairie Firefighter Kim Cummings and gives a little insight into being a women in the fire service. Last year there were 30 women that took part in the expo and some became firefighters in Eden Prairie and elsewhere in the metro. The Womens Expo is put on by the Northstar Womens Firefighter Association and is sponsored in part by fire departments from: Bloomington, Chanhassen, Eden Prairie, Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Plymouth, St. Louis Park, Savage and Victoria. Also supporting the event are our friends at Hennepin Technical college.

So come on, try it, you might like it and either way it will be a great experience!

Last week firefighters Kim Cummings(left) and Lee Schneider(right) gave a fire truck ride to school to three lucky Eden Prairie kids. The Fire Department donates these truck rides to school fundraisers for their silent auctions. The Spanish Immersion School got three certificates for truck rides and these kid’s parents were one set of the lucky winners. Last year each of the three truck rides raised $700.00 and this year the bidding was even more fevered and each ride went for $800.00, wow that is some great support for the school!

As part of the truck ride, the kids got a T-shirt, donated by Eaton Corporation. Eaton is a big supporter of the Fire Department’s fire prevention efforts. The kids also got to dress up in kid sized turnout gear and then ride from their Eden Prairie home to this Eden Prairie Spanish Immersion School. Once they arrived, Lee and Kim gave a brief fire prevention talk and answered questions from the kids.

Fire prevention is a key component in our efforts to reduce fire damage and injury. Hopefully these kids will learn from the information passed along to them during the visit and be a part of the next generation that has a better fire safety record than previous generations have had.

Today, Fire Inspectors Tony Liddell, Scott Taylor and Rick Hammerschmidt conducted fire extinguisher training for the employees of The Scott Lewis School of Cosmetology. Our Fire Prevention staff does a lot of this kind of training. Most people have never used a fire extinguisher before and this is one case where on the job training is NOT recommended. When a fire breaks out in your home or business, that is not the time to learn the skills necessary for the safe and effective operation of a fire extinguisher.

The hands-on training provided to people by our Fire Inspectors is first class and very real. In the first picture below, you see Fire Inspectors Scott Taylor and Tony Liddell getting ready to put on the class. The second picture is of Tony Liddell giving an overview of the training and talking about, and demonstrating the proper technique for fire extinguisher use. In the third picture, Rick Hammerschmidt lights the “Burn Pan” so each person can actually put out a small fire. In the last picture a Scott Lewis employee successfully uses her fire extinguisher to put the fire out.

By inviting our Fire Prevention staff to conduct this valuable training, Scott Lewis Schools is showing their employees and students that this is an important skill, hats off to them for their forethought! Also thank you to Tony, Scott and Rick, they always do an excellent job!

This past Saturday, April 19th, saw the first grass fire of the season for 2008. This fire, approximately 5 acres, was called into the tower at Flying Cloud Airport by a passing plane. The fire was relatively slow moving and there weren’t any structures in its path, both are good things.

Assistant Chief, Tom Schmitz took command and positioned himself at the old overlook spot off of Highway 212 just below the Airport property. Below is a picture of the fire off in the distance as seen from the “Command Post”, and also the makeshift command set-up including a rock to hold a map down so it wouldn’t blow away in the wind. This is a common in field set-up for grass fire operations and not too different than the many meetings I saw taking place over the hood of a truck while I was out in Burns, Oregon last summer observing large scale wild land firefighting.

Contrary to popular belief, most grass fires are set or are due to careless burning of brush or trash. This fire appears to have been the former, someone lit it and then ran off…..

Last night Minnesota unleashed a Spring storm that brought rain, sleet and snow to Eden Prairie. One resident lost control of his vehicle on a slick road and landed in a small pond. Luckily for the driver he was able to escape with no damage except for getting in a very cold swim.

The mini-van wasn’t so lucky, having eventually sunk up to it’s roof line. Firefighters assisted Matt’s auto with the pull out process by getting into survival suits and connecting the tow cables to the partially submerged van. All in all, it was good practice for the Fire Department’s water rescue operations, nobody got hurt and insurance will hopefully take care of a new van for the driver.

At the Fire Department’s March Business Meeting, Firefighter Kurt Schendel was honored for his 17 years of extraordinary and selfless service to the citizens of Eden Prairie and his fellow firefighters. Kurt came to the Fire Department 17 years ago with firefighting in his blood, as they say. Kurt’s father was a long-time firefighter in Beloit, Wisconsin who rose to the rank of Assistant Chief there.

I had the privilege of working directly with Kurt for much of his time here, when we both responded out of Fire Station Three. Kurt and I both lived close to the fire station and often times rode together on the first truck out of there to numerous emergency calls. Through those kinds of shared experiences a close bond often forms and those bonds last a lifetime, as I am certain mine and Kurt’s will.

As you can see from the picture below, Kurt has many close friends in the organization. From left to right are: Firefighter Chuck Siebert, Firefighter Aaron Casper and Firefighter Kurt Schendel. Thanks again, Kurt for your dedicated service!

Several weeks ago a team made up of three Eden Prairie firefighters and two Eden Prairie police officers played in the Excelsior Fire Department’s “4 on 4 Hockey Challenge”. The Eden Prairie team also played in the tournament last year, taking second.

Well this year the Eden Prairie team took first place! I have heard from a couple of our players them that they were a bit sore for a few days, but it always feels a little less painful when you win. This is just another shining example of what happens when fire and police are on the same team! Way to go guys, could this be a dynasty in the making? The pressure is on for next year.

Players on the team are pictured below and from left to right are: Assistant Fire Chief, Rick Hammerschmidt, Firefighter Eric Meiners, Fire Lieutenant Glenn Toewe, Police Officer Zach Hessel and Police Officer Travis Serafin.

Pete Carlson, son of former Eden Prairie Police chief Dan Carlson, is shaving his head again this year for an organization called St. Baldricks, and all the money raised goes to help research for childhood cancer. The “Shavees”, shave their heads in honor of the brave kids that very often loose their hair due to the treatments used.

In Fairbanks where Pete goes to college, the fire service is very active in this event, they are the main sponsor
and everyone in the fire service makes some sort of contribution to the cause.

Pete is an active member of the fire service in the Fairbanks area, working part-time for the Steese Fire Department, and wants to become a full-time firefighter at some point in the future. Pete is asking that you sponsor him, his team, or the event as a whole by donating a little extra money so that these kids get helped out. To help out, please go to www.stbaldricks.org and click on either the “Find a Participant” button on the top navigation bar, or the “donate now” button and type in either Pete Carlson’s name or Steese Fire Department (the team that Pete is on). Below is a picture of Pete at last year’s event.

Even with his head shaved he looks better than his Dad!

Last week at the Annual Governors conference for Emergency Managers, Eden Prairie Fire Lieutenant Bill Beumer received his Emergency Management Certificate. Bill has worked very hard to gain this prestigious certification over the past few years. It takes a lot of effort to get through the extensive array of classes while balancing full-time work, family and Bill’s Eden Prairie Fire Department responsibilities.

Eden Prairie Fire now has a good number of certified emergency managers, that is a good thing, especially if we get a significant event that requires a lot of expertise to bring the event to a successful conclusion.

Pictured below is Lt. Beumer along with the State’s Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Kris Eide. Way to go Bill!

Last week we had a “little snow event” that created some big traffic problems. Luckily for the two passengers in the car pictured below, they had their seatbelts on and escaped this rollover without even a scratch. The car was totaled.

In Minnesota, a little snow can mean big problems on the roadways.

A few weeks ago several Eden Prairie Firefighters decided to participate in a stair climb at a downtown Minneapolis office building. They made the climb of 39 Floors in just over 12 minutes in full gear, quite the accomplishment! I am glad they didn’t ask me to participate with them, I doubt their time would have been anywhere near the astonishing feat of 12 minutes, old guys aren’t going to set many records climbing 39 flights of stairs. Nice going to everyone involved!

Lately I have gotten a lot of questions about how a single candle can cause such large scale fires. Well, the truth of the matter is, that almost all fires start out small. And the single flame of a candle is very capable of starting any nearby combustible on fire and then the fire grows from there and the rest, as they say, is history. The “Big Three” for starting fires are: Cooking, Improperly Discarded Smoking Materials and Candles. If we could, as a society, wipe out those three causes we could eliminate probably 90% of all fires.

Below is a picture taken at a house fire in Chanhassen, this past weekend. It was Sunday evening and temps were already below zero, cold temperatures make a fire fight especially challenging. Equipment and people freeze up quickly so fire crews need to be rotated faster than normal. Eden Prairie along with Victoria, Excelsior and Chaska assisted Chanhassen.

The house suffered major damage and the preliminary cause appears to be, yes you guessed it, candles. I have written about this topic before, but it bears a review since the same causes keep dominating the list of why fires start. This is not new news but the same old news repeated time and time again across the Country. Think about what you can do to avoid becoming a contributor to the “Big Three” and take action.

Last night the Fire Department was called to a car fire involving three vehicles. This is not a usual occurrence in our every day responses. The first car was occupied when it abruptly caught on fire, parked immediately next to the first car was a second car, which also happened to be down wind and down hill from the first car. When cars catch fire they burn very rapidly and a lot of combustible fluids leak out and run, in this case down hill to the next car. The third car was down hill and down wind of the second car, not good. Aiding in fire spread was a moderate wind.

Below are three pictures taken in sequence to show the volume of fire that is generated when a fire like this gets going and how crazy the visibility gets when firefighters attack the fire.

Another item of note, in the second and third pictures, is the fact that there are three different colored helmets visible. The red helmet is the Lieutenant, the yellow is for a probationary firefighter and the black helmet is a more veteran firefighter.

Despite the amount of fire present, nobody got hurt and that is always a good thing. In the modern age of vehicles it doesn’t take much to render them as “totals”, very little fire is needed and even the newest car is not worth repairing once it gets even a little exposure to fire. I am glad to report that nobody was injured in the fire, and that is always a good thing!

I received a note from an FDNY(New York Fire) Lieutenant, John Finucane Ret, who has written a positively reviewed book on the firefighting exploits that took place in the 1960’s and 1970’s in New York City. Lt. Finucane served in the South Bronx during those crazy times and provides a first-hand look for the readers.

The book brings the readers right into the dynamics of firefighting back then, a time when there were a lot of fires taking place in the Bronx. I have ordered the book and look forward to reading this new book. If you are interested in reading more you can go to this link, and see for yourself.

Saturday morning the Fire Department was called to the report of smoke coming from an electrical appliance in the basement of a residence. Before he even arrived, Assistant Fire Chief Rick Hammerschmidt could see smoke billowing from the neighborhood. This was substantially more than a smoking appliance.

Sometimes those initial reports can be misleading, clearly this fire had gotten a good head start before it was discovered by the occupants of the house. Good fortune was in play and everyone, including pets, was out of the home before this fire mushroomed into the blaze it quickly became.

While the house is not a total loss, at least part of it will be salvaged, the destruction of personal items was almost complete. Fire, smoke and water damage all take a large toll on personal property. Total loss on this fire is estimated to be around $350,000, eclipsing last year’s entire fire loss total of $249,000. Although the exact cause is still under investigation it appears to be accidental in nature.

I hope the next eleven months are a lot less eventful and we can have another low fire loss year. Below is a picture taken shortly after the first trucks arrived. As you can see there is a lot of smoke and steam emitting from virtually every opening of the home.