norfolk fire division annual report 2008
TRANSCRIPT
NORFOLK FIRE DIVISION ANNUAL
REPORT
2008
OPERATIONS BUREAU
It was a challenging year for the Operations
Bureau. Fire personnel responded to 2,150
emergency calls. This call load along with
maintaining the operational readiness of our
staff, equipment, and facilities made for a very
busy year.
SPECIALIZED TRAINING IN 2008
All paid and reserve staff participated in the
annual Multiple Company Night Drill. Mutual
aid towns Madison, Battle Creek, and Hadar
also participated. The 2008 drill was a hostage
situation at a school with multiple causalities.
Other participants in the drill were LifeNet,
American Red Cross, Region 11 Emergency
Management, Elkhorn/Logan Valley Health
Department and Faith Regional Health Services.
Faith Regional Medical Explorers also
participated as patients.
We continued with our training program of
bringing in off-duty staff to cover first line calls
while the on-duty shift trains. This program
allows paid staff to receive three hours of
uninterrupted training each month. This
monthly training is centered on drills taking
several hours to complete and/or drills
requiring the shift to train as a unit.
Paramedic refresher training was conducted
through Northeast Community College. All
paramedics received 24 hours of annual
refresher training. This training is mandatory
for maintaining a paramedic license.
Two staff officers attended a two day class on
preparing our department for a line of duty
death. Two staff members attended a 12 hour
course on the Art of Reading Smoke and one
staff member took a two day course on
Technical Rope Rescue.
NORFOLK FIRE DIVISION ANNUAL
REPORT
2008
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS TRAINING
Monthly training was conducted on hazardous
materials. Staff members attended an 8 hour
course on HazMat standards NFPA 472, an 80
hour HazMat Technician course, a 24 hour
HazMat refresher course and a 3 hour course
on gas pipe line awareness.
In 2008 members of our Hazardous Materials
Team were asked to present decontamination
classes to regional hospitals. The classes were
presented to six different hospitals, focusing on
mass casualty and emergency decontamination
of self reporting victims.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES
Emergency medical services continued to be the
most demanding level of service for the
Operations Bureau in 2008. We responded to
1,810 rescue calls, encountering 2,061 patients.
The division was staffed with 26 paramedics, 7
EMTs and 27 Reserve fire fighters in 2008.
The types of run responses made by the rescue
units are reflected on graph.
In 2008 all paramedics were taught how to use
a new piece of equipment called the EZ-IO. The
EZ-IO is a life-saving device used to establish a
fluid or medication line directly into a patient’s
bone marrow in critical situations where the
patient’s veins have either collapsed or
otherwise not accessible by a typical
intravenous needle. Essentially, a battery-
powered drill is affixed with a needle which is
drilled through the bone and introduced into
the bone marrow which contains a network of
venous sinusoids. This allows access to a
patient’s central circulatory system in critical
cases where fluid replacement and/or
medication administration are paramount.
NORFOLK FIRE DIVISION ANNUAL
REPORT
2008
SINGLE POINT ENTRY FOR FIRE AND EMS
REPORTS
The Norfolk Fire Division is utilizing Image
Trend software for Fire and Emergency
Medical Service (EMS) incident reporting.
The program is Internet based and links two
report types, resulting in single data entry.
The process has been successful from field
entry of incident data by the responders, to
storage of the data on our host server, to
electronic reporting of the respective data
to the State of Nebraska Health and Human
Services and Fire Marshal’s office, as
statutorily required.
On April 15, the Norfolk Fire Division began
using Image Trend’s Fire Bridge (Norfolk
Bridge trial software) to collect data for the
National Fire Incident Reporting System
(NFIRS). Startup was smooth and no
redundancy on our prior program was
necessary. We successfully downloaded the
first data from Image Trend software to the
Nebraska Fire Marshal’s office and have
continued without complications.
In order to utilize the Field Bridge for EMS
reporting, our Information Management
staff made the necessary secure wireless
connections available in both stations and
while in the field.
On May 12, the Norfolk Fire Division began
EMS reporting on Image Trend’s Norfolk
Bridge trial software. We continue to utilize
the Field Bridge for data entry and post
each run to the Norfolk Bridge. After the
EMS run is posted to the Norfolk Bridge it is
then associated to a NFIRS report and
completed. The data elements common to
the EMS report are transferred into the
NFIRS report, achieving true single point
entry of data.
Currently we are posting ENARSIS
(ambulance reports) in weekly batches.
Once runs are posted our ambulance billing
can be done off the ENARSIS site.
Image Trend’s software accomplished the
combined emergency medical services and
fire incident reporting the Nebraska fire
service has long sought. Norfolk took the
lead in this endeavor becoming the first in
the state to reach the goal of single point
data entry. They continue to add features
to this software as part of the ongoing
expansion process. Among other things a
fire inspection module is currently being
developed and will be implemented when
available. We look forward to working with
the Department of Health and Human
Services and the State Fire Marshal’s Office
in developing new cutting edge software for
the fire service.
NEW EQUIPMENT PLACED IN
SERVICE IN 2008
Two new pieces of equipment were added to
the fleet in 2008. They were a Zodiac Boat and
a 4x4 ATV.
NORFOLK FIRE DIVISION ANNUAL
REPORT
2008
The ATV is the property of the Nebraska State
Fire Marshal’s Office; however, it is stored at
our main station. In exchange, it is available for
our use when needed. In 2008 we were able to
respond to five different calls along the cowboy
trail using the ATV. It is also used as a quick
response unit during parades and the Big Bang
Boom celebration at Skyview Lake.
The Zodiac is a 15’ 5” inflatable boat which has
a payload of 2800 lbs, and is powered by a 25
HP four stroke Suzuki motor. The boat’s
primary use is for dive and swift water rescue
operations. In 2008 it was used for two rescue
responses. One was a successful rescue of a
boater at Skyview Lake who had capsized his
sailboat in the middle of the lake and was
clinging to his boat. The second was in
response to a possible rescue of several people
who had canoed the flood waters of the Elkhorn
River. Zodiacs are proven to be very stable for
swift water rescue operations and would have
been a valuable asset if this rescue would have
necessitated it. The Zodiac was purchased with
money from an Emergency Management
Program Grant.
On July 18 the Norfolk Fire Division received
grant approval from the Department of
Homeland Security for the Assistance to
Firefighters Grant. We were approved for a
90/10 share of $78,340 for the purchase of 36
sets of personal protective equipment.
The Operations Bureau is looking forward to
2009 and the challenges it will bring. Through
continual learning and vigilant preparation, we
feel confident we can meet those challenges.
FIRE/RESCUE STATISTICS
The above graph reveals the dollar fire loss
for the past five years. The loss for 2008
was lower than the prior three years but
higher than 2004. The largest fire loss in
2008 was a rural farm residence which was
a complete loss. A fire at Don’s Auto
Repair, 1215 S. Logan also incurred over
$100,000 damage.
NORFOLK FIRE DIVISION ANNUAL
REPORT
2008
There were 108 actual fires during 2008.
Damage was also caused by lightning and
defective electrical ballasts during the year.
The following graph breaks down the type
of fire responses that occurred in 2008.
REGION 11
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
Region 11 continued strengthening
relationships with the twelve county Northeast
Region of emergency management during 2008.
The State of Nebraska encourages statewide
regionalization for communication, response
and training purposes. In February, Region 11
participated in a northeast region two-day
exercise involving an agricultural disaster. This
exercise not only brought together the 12
counties, but also members of law
enforcement, elected and appointed officials
and livestock officials.
The Homeland Security grant program
continued its goal of interoperable
communications statewide, as well as fully
equipped and trained hazardous materials
teams. Region 11 has been fortunate with the
amount grant dollars that have been available
for extensive equipment purchases, training
and exercises.
Region 11 also continues its agreement with the
Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District to
work with JEO Consulting to create a hazard
mitigation plan for the district. The plan
includes demographics, history, hazard
assessments and mitigation strategies for 49
communities and 13 counties. The plan will be
reviewed and finalized by all entities during
2009.
NORFOLK PLANNING
COMMISSION
The Norfolk Planning Commission held
twenty nine public hearings, approving
eleven zoning district changes, seven
conditional use permits, five amendments
to the comprehensive plan and a variety of
other actions. Seven of the zone changes
were to commercial designation and four
were to residential.
The commission approved five final plats
comprised of 19 lots. This is an unusually
low number of plat approvals which may be
a reflection of the general slowdown in the
economy.
The commission also recommended
approval of the one and six year street plan,
the wellhead protection study, the capital
improvement program and the blighted and
substandard study of the Roman’s
Development Area.
With the election of the former chair of the
Planning Commission, Sue Fuchtman, to
NORFOLK FIRE DIVISION ANNUAL
REPORT
2008
Mayor of Norfolk, a new commissioner was
appointed. Mechele Grimes fulfilled
Fuchtman’s term which expired in February
of 2009 and agreed to serve a full three
year term. The other members of the
commission are Suzanne Davis, Scott
Adams, Brian Lundy, Maynard Ohl, Ken
Boyer, Merlin Milander and Garry Murren.
J.J. Snodgrass serves as chair.
PREVENTION BUREAU
A total 405 building permits were issued in
2008, compared with 426 in 2007. The majority
of those permits were issued for alterations and
additions to one and two family dwellings. The
number of single family dwelling permits
increased from 33 to 54. The following reflects
permits issued by type of structure for 2007 and
2008 (not including permits for alterations and
additions).
The Fire Marshal’s office completed 616 fire
inspections and 88 fire investigations. The
Prevention Office conducted 46 programs to
3,371 people. Twenty three school programs
were conducted encountering 2,536 students.
The valuation of buildings permits issued
increased from $52,187,785.00 in 2007 to
$87,329,439.00 in 2008 although the number of
building permits fees decreased. The highest
permit valuations issued were $54,000,000 for
the bed tower addition at Faith Regional Health
Service, $7,777,500 for the new welcome
center at Northeast College and $1,400,000 for
the new Peterbuilt structure at 13th and
Monroe Avenue. The valuation of single family
dwellings was $8,470,659 for the year
compared to $7,019,160 for 2007. The
following is the average cost for a single family
dwelling for the past 10 years.