The Fire Chief’s Blog

Police Officer Jim Kline retired from the Eden Prairie Police Department today after serving for 23 years. Ever since I joined the Fire Department I have known Jim, professionally and personally.

I will truly miss Jim, his professionalism and knowledge has always been a useful resource at emergency scenes. Jim always made it a point to bring new officers to the fire stations during calls and introduce them to the firefighters. Jim placed a well deserved priority on the Police and Fire relationship here.

There are many pages that I could write about all the good things Jim Kline represents to the City of Eden Prairie and it’s Police and Fire Departments, and even more would be deserved.

I just want to say, “Thank you, Jim, for being a friend, confident and someone I could always trust to be honest with me, no matter how painful it might have been.”

You’ll be missed!

This morning two cars pulled up to Fire Station #1 and 7 small children and two adults piled out and headed for the door. I asked the two other firefighters standing near the door with me if there was a birthday party or tour scheduled, neither one thought so.

Up came the children with two boxes of donuts as a thank you to the department for attending their block party earlier this month. The kids ranged in ages from about 3 months to 4 or 5 years old. (not pictured was the littlest one, he was sleeping) A set of triplets included! What a great way to start Friday morning off.

We gave the kids a quick tour of the trucks and handed out some kid sized fire helmets. One of the parents even took interest in joining our organization and left with a recruit packet.

This visit is just one of the many reasons that being a firefighter is a great career whether it’s as a volunteer or as a full-time career. Thank you for the visit, the donuts were good too!

This data seems to indicate that our recent emphasis on reducing false fire alarms is working. In 2002 our rate of false alarms was 41%, 2003 was 32%, 2004 was 35% and so far this year we are tracking at a rate of 30%.

This is an important effort as we try and reduce the wear and tear on our firefighters. Taking our people away from family and jobs to respond to a false alarm is a waste of valuable resources and can also create a “Cry Wolf” syndrome with respect to alarm calls.

Our long-range goal is to get the rate to under 20%. As we get farther down the rate, the reductions may get tougher to achieve, but I believe we will get there with a continued strong effort by all members of the Fire Department.

The process of reduction begins with an accurate account of each false alarm responded to. The Inspections staff then follows-up with a phone call and visit. Fines are also a part of the equation as a further incentive to offenders to work on their systems and processes to eliminate the needless alarms.

Hats off to the entire staff for the efforts so far, we must also continue the process to see additional reductions. I am confident that together we will be successful

Last week the Fire Department was called to a power pole on fire. When I arrived I caught the light show with my digital camera.

The little explosions went on for over an hour, until the crews from Excel Energy were able to get on scene and remove the energy from the pole. These situations have the potential for some damage to nearby objects, mostly though they end harmlessly.

One of the our biggest concerns is bystanders. Unprotected and sometimes unaware people can get in the way of a falling molten chunk of metal or a line can snap and shock.

This event went as well as could be hoped for, no injuries to civilians or responders. The video gives a little idea of the power of the energy involved. Turn on your sound for the best effect.

Last week the process to get the site for the new fire station ready for construction began in earnest. The site needs infrastructure, gas lines, sewer, water and power.

In this picture an excavator is digging a trench for the sewer lines to the fire station site, as well as the residual piece for sale latter on.

If all goes well, we should be breaking ground on the structure in early October of this year.