City of Eden Prairie Blogs

Last weekend the Fire Department along with our Police Department’s ERU team conducted joint training.  The training was highly successful and covered a broad range of potential situations where firefighters and ERU members would need to work together to rescue victims.

 

In the picture included with this blog, firefighters are receiving a protective escort from ERU team members to effect a rescue while in a hostile environment. 

Eden Prairie police and fire training together has become a standard around here, although it is unique by most other public safety standards.  We are very proud of the joint training efforts we have undertaken together.  While we hope we never encounter the need to use this kind of training in a real world situation, if we have to, we will be prepared to perform our roles effectively jointly. 

My sincere appreciation to those police officers and firefighters who took time from their weekends to further their skills in operating together under these potentially dynamic circumstances. 

For the past few weeks we have been conducting Ice Rescue training on our area lakes. This is a good time of year for the training, the ice is generally not as thick and the temperatures are a little more moderate.

This year we are testing a new technology that allows the rescuers to carry a small inflatable boat out to the victim and then inflate the device when open water is reached. This is a new technology and we have been fortunate enough to have been selected to try it out. The new technology is highly effective, our training with it was a big success.

Like all of our training we hope we never encounter a ife threatening situation that requires getting people out of icy waters, but if it does happen, our regular trainng along with the effective use of new technologies gives us a better chance of a positive outcome for both rescuers and victims.

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to say a few words to the newly formed Eden Prairie Fire and Police Department Auxiliary.  The group is being formed by Police and Fire family and friends to provide support and social opportunities to each other.  It isn’t always easy living with the demands of being a public safety professional.  As a police officer I new of the challenges of the profession and gladly accepted them.  For family members the concessions are not always easy to accept or understand.  This group is being formed to help support family members through those challenges….and have some fun socially to boot.  

 As often is the case, what I have to say often pales in comparison to those I am speaking to.  An example: 

When there was discussion about activities for the group a firefighter’s wife suggested that the group sponsor some Eden Prairie Community cooking classes.   At first the group was a bit confused.  She went on to explain, one of the biggest inconveniences of being a firefighter is getting called from home to respond to a fire call just as the family is sitting down to dinner.  Since the vast majority of fire calls that come in at dinner time are caused by burnt food, quality firefighter family meal time would greatly increase if Eden Prairie residents were better cooks. 

So….support your local firefighters and their families, don’t burn dinner!  In fact, support the local economy and eat out!  (Just drive safe, the cops want their dinners too!) 

Maybe this cheating a little, but I used up a lot of my creative juices lately on my Eden Prairie News commentary.  So if you want to see what’s been crossing my mind and my desk lately, click on the EP news above.

Almost 40 members of our CERT program showed up last night to get some SkyWarn Training. Our trainer for the night was Jim Flanders, Assistant Chief with the Minnetonka Fire Department. Jim is very knowledgeable about the subject matter and an excellent trainer to boot. In the photo above two CERT members discuss some specific topics with Jim after class.

Our CERT members are an integral part of our public safety team, after class some CERT members toured our new Rescue-Pumpers and our new Fire/Rescue Boat to keep abreast of equipment changes within the Fire Department. The photo below shows the equipment tour underway. Click photos to enlarge.

Both Assistant Chief Scott Taylor (left photo) and Assistant Chief Steve Koering (right photo) received their Emergency Management Certificates today at the Governor’s Conference for Emergency Management. (Click photos to enlarge.)

Presenting the certificate of completion was Kris Eide, Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for the State of Minnesota. It has been a long journey consisting of both classroom and on-line classes totaling more than 200 hours. These two have spent a lot of time together while cementing this valuable knowledge, and yet they still remain close freinds! Our city government’s operations and our citizens in general are better off thanks to their dedication. Nicely done, Steve and Scott!

Last Friday was the water testing day for our new Fire/Rescue boat, a few minor items were discovered that needed tending to so another session took place today, Friday. Click the thumbnails to enlarge.

The boat performed exceptionally well and is now back in Eden Prairie for some final details that our Fleet Services staff performs so well; wiring the emergency lighting, and final hook-up of the communications systems.

I was in Eden Prairie Police Chief Dan Carlson’s office when we recorded this short audio via my cell phone, to show him how easy it is to do. It’s particularly advantageous to someone like Dan who’s typing skills are pathetic marginally adequate. Click the photo for proof.

Posting to a weblog from a device other than a PC is often referred to as moblogging. When it’s voice, it’s an audioblog. A podcast is when the audioblogging becomes a show that can be subscribed to.

Here I sit, blog coach by my side, new technology.  By the way, I’m ticking Griff off with my IT incompetencies, but he does handle the stress well.  Time for photo class…. I got the tree on my roof, wrapped the text,