The Fire Chief’s Blog

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.