The Fire Chief’s Blog

One of my favorite places to hang out is Lake Vermilion near Tower, MN. I have been going there since 1968, when my parents built a cabin on the roadless side of the lake. The lake has over 300 islands and nearly 4000 miles of shoreline and most of the lake is still undeveloped.

The fishing is good and varied, with plentiful amounts of Bass, Walleye and Northern Pike. The panfish action is good too.

With the end of Winter in sight, I start to get excited about fishing on the big lake. I have spent hours on the water up there and can never get enough, no matter what the weather or fishing conditions are like. A few years ago I had a 1955 Chris-Craft restored and I keep that on the lake too. When I’m not fishing I can usually be found “rumbling” around the lake in this classic boat. I do enjoy Winter, but spending time on Lake Vermilion is my passion.

Here’s hoping for an early ice-out and another season of adventure on Lake Vermilion.

On the Lake in the Fall of 2000. In the boat with me is Tom Montgomery a long-time Assistant Chief for Eden Prairie Fire. Tom has since retired but is still a frequent companion for all fishing and boating activities.

Frequently I get asked at fire scenes and during fire staiton tours what the various firefighter helmet colors are for. Throughout the country fire departments use colored helmets to generally classify firefighter rank. There are a few differences but generally yellow or black is for firefighter, red is for Lieutenant and Captain and white is for Assistant Chief, Deputy Chief and Chief.

The coloring system comes in handy when you arrive at a scene and are seeking out the decision makers. The colors are easy to identify in the smoke and mist laden atmosphere that is frequently present at a fire scene.

Eden Praire is no different. Below is a picture of the four basic helmet colors we use in our operations. Yellow is for Recruit in training, black for Firefighter, red for Captain or Lieutenant and white for Assistant Chief or Chief. One of our Fire Chaplains also wears a white helmet, as a sign of respect.

The color scheme also applies to our turn-out gear, the protective gear firefighters wear. Tan is for everybody at the rank of Captain or below. White is for Assistant Chiefs and Chief. The media has learned this color scheme and will almost always go to the white helmet(s) for information when the arrive on the scene.

If you’d like to join our ranks and work your way up the color scheme, stop by our website and get information on our current recruiting process. Change lives. Starting with yours. Volunteer.

Recruit, firefighter, Lieutenant/Captain, Assistant Chief and Chief

Yesterday our Fire Marshal, Allen Nelson, received a call from an insurance company official praising the work of Eden Prairie’s firefighters. The message was that our staff’s extra effort to use tarps to cover furniture and other homeowner belongings combined with our use of “Class A” suppression foam at a recent attic fire saved over $20,000 in damages.

Our department has a history of going out of its way to care for the well being of the victims of fire. Our efforts begin from the moment we arrive at a fire scene. Saving lives is our first priority, once that has been addressed we move on to protecting those areas not already being consumed by the fire. Part of that process is providing tarps to protect valuables from the smoke and water that are natural byproducts of the fire scene.

Further enhancing our protection efforts is the use of “Class A” suppression foam. I won’t bore you with the details, but this is a product that is injected into the firetruck’s pump to aid in the knockdown and extinguishment of fires. The product increases waters ability to put out fire threefold. Quicker knockdown means less damage. The foam also provides a blanket of extinguishing agent that remains in place for a few hours and thus keeps the chances of a fire restarting to a minimum.

It is always a pleasant surprise when the little extra things done are recognized by people outside the organization. Our staff is a caring and hardworking bunch of people, neighbors in fact, that have volunteered to provide the best Fire Department possible.

Community Emergency Response Team is a national initiative to get more people involved in helping to keep their communities safe. Eden Prairie received a grant in 2003 and kicked off our initial CERT program by training two classes of citizens in the CERT curriculum. We now have a total of 36 CERT members. Our long-term goal is 100 members.

CERT has three main objectives. First to teach individual members how to effectively evaluate whether or not a given situation is a true emergency needing immediate response from Fire or Police. This knowledge can be especially helpful in the event of a widespread disaster that taxes Fire and Police resources. Keeping requests for immediate response to situations that truly require it can help improve emergency response.

The second objective of the CERT program is to have trained members in the community that can help assess whether or not other people in their neighborhoods or apartment complexes are in need of immediate help. CERT members are trained in basic life safety procedures and can render assistance to those in need.

The third and final objective of the CERT program is to have trained citizens that can assist Police and Fire staff in managing longer-term disasters. CERT members achieve this objective by gaining an understanding of our processes and then being able to work productively within the scope of our operations assisting incoming agencies, helping coordinate volunteer labor and managing donated goods, to name just a few functions.

One of our CERT members Mohamed Osman Duale put his training into action this weekend. The fire alarm sounded in his building and as he was exiting the building a neighbor ran towards him and told him that her apartment had a fire in it. Mohamed immediately went about the task of evacuating the entire building. When Assistant Fire Chief, Scott Taylor arrived Mohamed gave him the location of the fire and informed him that residents had been notified and evacuated. Having performed those tasks Mohamed saved the fire department a lot of time and allowed our operations to focus on getting the fire out. While the fire turned out to be rather small, the assistance Mohamed provided was BIG. Mohamed was also able to provide assistance with interviewing the resident, since English was not her native language.

Thank you, Mohamed for a job well done. If you would like to become a member of our CERT program you can email Mark Krueger our Volunteer Coordinator by clicking on his name.

Recently the Police Chief, Dan Carlson and I visited an ambitious housing project taking shape. This is a classic example of the old saying, “Where there is a will, there is a way”. This house is called the “WHAHLT house”. “WHAHLT” stands for West Hennepin Affordable Housing Land Trust. The house is a cooperative project that includes cooperative efforts from The City of Eden Prairie, Hennepin Technical College, they built the house using the talents of their students in the Carpentry Program, Habitat for Technology (providing business donations to the project) and WHAHLT.

Of special interest to me was the inclusion of a residential sprinkler system in the construction of the house. Residential sprinkler systems are near and dear to my heart. These systems put out a lot of fire and can extinguish a fire or hold a blaze in check until the Fire Department arrives. The systems not only save property from the ravages of fire, but they are also a key element in buying time for occupants to safely exit their dwelling. Working smoke detectors are the other key element in saving lives. In new construction the cost of adding a residential sprinkler system is approximately $1.75/square foot or $3500 in a 2000 square foot house. The costs are slightly more in an existing structure. Exact costs depend on many variables including the overall finish of the structure and whether or not the basement has finished ceilings. In any case, the life safety advantages to a residential sprinkler system are many fold.

For more information on these residential sprinkler systems you can click on this highlighted link. Be a trend setter in your neighborhood while providing the maximum life safety technology for you and your family.

For information about purchasing this house, contact Homes Within Reach: www.homeswithinreach.org

The Police Chief as Tour Guide-he is pointing to a pipe that will attach to a sprinkler head in the living-room area of the house. Each room in the house has at least on sprinkler head.

An Exterior View of the House - It is located next to Little Red at Eden Prairie Rd and Valley View Road

Several hours later, the fire is out

Recently I received an email from a resident who wanted to know what I spent my time doing during the day to keep busy. After all, this person stated, “this was just a Volunteer Fire Department.”

Without getting into the nitty gritty of my daily assignments and responsibilities I outlined a few of the things that keep me more than busy every week. I have broken down my responsibilities into four separate but related areas. Those areas are: The Building Department, Fire Prevention/Inspections, Fire Suppression and Emergency Preparedness.

Today I would like to focus on the Building Department.

Our city is very progressive in that the Building Department reports to the Fire Chief. We still have a Building Official, Kevin Schmieg. Kevin is very highly regarded in his field of expertise and he and I have an excellent relationship. Kevin has been with the City for nearly 22 years. Kevin is a visionary, as evidenced by our city’s early adoption of the e-permit process. This new in 2004 service, allows certain building and fire permits to be acquired using the internet and avoiding having to commit the time come into City Hall.

Having both departments working out of the same organizational structure fosters the kind of cohesive communication that leads to a very high quality inspections and enforcement program. Building Inspectors and Fire Inspectors are often seen working together on the various challenges that they face daily in the field. An excellent working relationship between the two Inspections groups results in a high quality and long lasting end product in our stock of buildings. Keeping our city’s building stock to its highest possible level is a factor in retaining the overall quality of our city’s image. Everything ties together.