The Fire Chief’s Blog

Last night members of the Fire Department were on stand-by at Life Touch, Inc. Life Touch is a major employer based in Eden Prairie and was celebrating it’s 75th year in business. As I understand it this was a week long event that ended yesterday with a large scale carnival and a fireworks show. Several of our crews were there to provide fire protection during the fireworks, this is standard procedure within our city and provides a hands-on crew in the event something goes wrong.

Captain Tony Liddell took a few photos for me to blog with. The first is a shot of the barge that was used to shoot the fireworks from, also shown in that picture is our zodiac rescue boat. The shooters used the boat to work at a safe distance during the actual launch process. The fireworks are set off remotely using a sophisticated electronics board to time the launch of each shell.

The second picture is from a nearby rooftop and shows the scale of the carnival. Everybody had a good time and the fireworks display went off without a hitch.

Several weeks ago Assistant Chief Scott Taylor and firefighter Kurt Schendel went flying. Kurt is a licensed pilot and a business owner at the Flying Cloud Airport. While Kurt and Scott were up they flew over the fire station #4 construction site. Kind of a unique view of the project and the surrounding area. I have been told that these aerial shots might become a regular process going forward.

Thanks to excellent weather the construction process is moving along at a brisk pace, there is a lot more completed as of today that just 2 weeks ago when this shot was taken. As a frame of reference, that is Dell road in the foreground and the new blacktop is Miller Parkway going east into Miller Park. Thank you Kurt and Scott!

Nate Wiley is one of our firefighters and is currently on a 12 month assignment in Iraq. Nate is assigned to protection of visitors to the region, like all duty in Iraq this is a hazardous job. The fire department has an initiative underway to collect useful items for Nate while he is in Iraq. If you are interested in donating some small items to the cause send me an email and I will send you the updated list.

Nate is due to return next March, in the meantime he is continually in our thoughts and we are doing what we can for him.

For months now a dedicated team of Park & Rec staff, Police staff and Fire staff have been planning the many details involved in putting on the Annual Safety Camp for 180 Third Graders. Yesterday was day one of the two day event. From my brief visit there today and yesterday the camp is as engaging as ever for both the campers and the staff.

Below is a picture of just one of the many little tasks that need to be done, setting up a shelter from the burning sun. Pictured prominently is Telecomunicator Beth Sams. Also helping out were police officers, park staff and firefighters. Teamwork is what drives this successful program.