The Fire Chief’s Blog

As I mentioned in an earlier Blog, Lake Vermilion is a place that I go to relax and get away. Last Thursday I headed up to do some fishing with a few of my close friends. The fishing was fair, but the time with friends was exceptional. Many old stories were retold and some new lasting memories were made.

Roughing it in the woods. Marv’s trailer deep in the woods near the lake.

Not a lot of neighbors

Scott Taylor and Tom Montgomery two long-time fishing buddies get their sleeping quarters ready. The trailer only had room for two

The other member of our fishing party, Marv Lahti. He doesn’t like being photographed.

But, with my paparazzi like determination I got this quick shot of the elusive one driving his new boat. Marv is a retired Eden Prairie firefighter, he is also retired from many years at Northwest Airlines. This is his first year with all 52 weeks off, last year he only had 48 weeks off and was challenged to get all of his recreational needs met.

Lots of little Walleyes like this one were the rule of the day and got released for another time when they get bigger. Tom did catch a 3 pounder a little later in the day.

Police Chief Dan Carlson: ” Hey George what is that white stuff coming out of the hose line on your car fire video?”

Answer: “Dan, we use ‘Class A’ foam on virtually all fires. This product increases the knockdown power of water by a factor of 3x. Getting the fire out quickly reduces the chance for injury to firefighters and also reduces property loss.”

Chief Carlson is a loyal reader of my Blog as I am of his.

Here is some video footage I shot at a recent car fire in Eden Prairie. Our firefighters made a textbook attack on this fire and the result was a rapid and safe extinguishment.

Just before I arrived one of our police officers pushed the burning vehicle safely away from the gas pumps. This was an excellent decision and another example of the teamwork involved in providing excellent public safety services to our citizens and the people that pass through Eden Prairie.

The remainder of this week I will be gone to Lake Vermilion to pursue the elusive Walleye. I have spent countless hours on this beautiful northern Minnesota Lake since the age of 8.

The lake is a special place for me with many pleasant memories and more to come. I will post some pictures upon my return.

Yesterday afternoon our police department got a call for a horse on the loose in the area of Pioneer Trail and Eden Prairie Road. This turned out to be true and the young horse had a lot of energy and wasn’t going to be caught easily.

After a trip down Eden Prairie Road the horse was in the area of Timber Lakes Drive, I was enroute home for the day when the scene came upon me.

Along with several police officers, an animal control officer, two Assistant Fire Chiefs, an Eden Prairie Zoning Official, a Fire Inspector and a fire department lieutenant the horse was brought under control.

A bridal was placed on the horse by a fire department lieutenant who also raises and trains Saddlebred horses as his full-time job. This whole event was a success because of the efforts of all the people involved.

I am amazed, however at the wide variety of talent within our volunteer fire department and how that variety of expertise comes into play on almost a daily basis.

Lieutenant Jay Wood of the Eden Prairie Fire Department shortly after he helped to get the wayward horse back under control.

This past weekend the Fire Department conducted live fire training in a house that is in the path of a development project. Every time we get one of these house to train in it allows us to push our training to a slightly more intense level, this is a good thing.

Joining 20 Eden Prairie’s firefighters were four Edina firefighters. We like to train with our regular mutual aid partners, it helps keep the faces familiar to one another. Additionally we meet with our most regular mutual aid partners on a monthly basis to discuss areas where we can make adjustments in our operational guidelines to add consistency to the way we all do things on the fire ground. This regular meeting is called a “Joint Operations” meeting and includes, Eden Prairie, Edina, Hopkins, St. Louis Park, Richfield and the fire department from the Airport. Our goal is to operate as separate fire departments on a routine basis, but be able to operate as one big department when some or all of us are called to a large scale event.

Some pictures and a short movie clip of this weekend’s activity.

One of the hard working Police Reserve Officers blocking traffic on Pioneer Trail during the burn. These dedicated people are invaluable during these kinds of events, and also when a real fire strikes. We are lucky to have such a great group of people to help us out.

How many people does it take to run one of these live fire training drills? We like to have at least 6 teams with 4 firefighters on each team. The teams take turns with the following duties: Initial Entry team, back-up entry team, Rapid Intervention Team (they are standing by in case a rescue is needed), Support team (they perform tasks like getting more material to burn into the structure), Ventilation Team (helps clear the smoke after the fire is extinguished so we can get to the next burn more rapidly), Team in the Relief Area (this is the team that was the initial entry team on the previous burn, they are resting and getting fluids) Additionally we have a team of 3 people that are permanently assigned to properly light each fire, and the Chief Officers perform other tasks like Safety Officer, meeting with neighbors and other observers as well as other tasks assigned by the Officer in charge of the burn.

The fire is lit using cardboard, wooden pallets and straw. This picture was taken about 30 seconds after ignition. See this 11 second movie/video clip immediately after this picture was snapped. The movie ends with me getting out of the adjacent room as the heat and fire spread was getting close.

There is a tradition in the fire service of having your picture taken with the training fire raging in the background. This is a shot of Eden Prairie’s “Command Staff” From left to right: Rick Hammerschmidt, Tom Schmitz, Me, Scott Taylor and Steve Koering.