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2015 Annual Report

Be m id j i F i re De pa rt m en t

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2015 Annual Report TABLE OF CONTENTS

Description Page No

Services Provided ............................................................................................................................. 3

Calls for Service by Type ................................................................................................................... 4

Calls for Service by Local Government Units ..................................................................................... 5

Mutual Aid ...................................................................................................................................... 6

Recruitment ..................................................................................................................................... 7

New Firefighters .............................................................................................................................. 8

Firefighter Training .......................................................................................................................... 9

Training Hours ............................................................................................................................... 10

Hands on Training .......................................................................................................................... 11

Fire Prevention .............................................................................................................................. 12

Alternative Funding ....................................................................................................................... 13

Fire Injuries, Deaths & Property Loss .............................................................................................. 13

Improved Training Facility ............................................................................................................. 14

Fire Station 2 Project ..................................................................................................................... 15

Emergency Siren System ................................................................................................................ 16

ISO Information ............................................................................................................................. 17

ISO Classification and Impact on Insurance .................................................................................... 17

Service Area Map .......................................................................................................................... 18

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2015 Annual Report

The Bemidji Fire Department provides fire protection, fire prevention, technical rescue and emergency services to the following: Beltrami County:

Cities of Bemidji, Turtle River and Wilton Townships of Durand, Liberty, Turtle Lake, Port Hope, Eckles, Northern, Turtle River, Grant Valley, Bemidji

and Frohn Hubbard County:

Townships of Fern, Rockwood, Helga, Lake Hattie and Schoolcraft Bemidji Firefighters also provide:

Non-transport emergency medical services to the City of Bemidji Fire protection and Rescue services to the Bemidji Regional Airport Dedicated and non-dedicated Fire, Rescue, and/or EMS stand-by at numerous community events through-

out the year

SERVICES PROVIDED

David A. Hoefer Fire Chief

MISSION STATEMENT

Our mission is to provide the best fire, rescue and emergen-cy medical services possible to our community and fire pro-

tection area.

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2015 Annual Report Calls for Service by TYPE

Dry hydrant installation on the Mis-

sissippi River Bridge on Becida Road

completed in 2015.

97

(22 Building fires)

(36 Wildland fires)

(17 Vehicle fires)

563

(377 Medicals)

(37 Sanford EMS)

91

1169

(1,114 ARFF)

44

181

0

Special Incident Type/Overpressure Rupture (No Fire) 7

2,152

Severe weather or natural disasters, wind

storm, flood assistance, and lightning strikes

Total Calls for 2015

location, and investigations

False Alarm & False Calls

Malicious/non-malicious false calls,

system malfunction, smoke detectors,

bomb scares, and unintentional notifications

Severe Weather & Natural Disaster

Fires

Building fires, chimney fires, dumpster fires,

vehicle fires, and grass fires

Prescribed fire, smoke/steam scare, wrong

Rescue & Emergency Medical Services

Vehicle Crashes with injuries, lock in/out,

confined space rescues, high angle

rescues, water or ice rescues, and medicals

Hazardous Conditions (No Fire)

Carbon Monoxide incidents, gas/fuel spills,

gas ruptures, downed power lines, ballasts

Service Calls

Water problem, assist police, animal rescue,

assist public, unauthorized burning, ARFF coverage

Good Intent Calls

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Past Years:

Fires Total Calls

2014: 93 2010

2013: 102 2108

2012: 136 2213

2011: 84 2308

2010: 98 2656

2009: 77 2600

2008: 100 2836

2007: 102 2770

2006: 112 2961

2005: 136 3560

Calls for Service by Local Government Units (LGUS)

Because the Bemidji Fire Depart-ment services a large geographic ar-ea, the calls for service can be bro-ken down by the 15 townships and three cities that we cover (LGUs). The rural LGUs are part of the Be-midji Rural Fire Association (BRFA). The BRFA has a fire protection agree-ment with the City of Bemidji to pro-vide joint fire and rescue services to their respective residents.

2015 Annual Report

Fires

Rescues

Hazard

ous

Conditio

ns

Serv

ice C

alls

Good I

nte

nt

Fals

e C

alls

Severe

Weath

er

Specia

l

Incid

ent

Type

To

tal

Call

s

Bemidji, Twp 2 14 3 2 3 5 29

Bemidji, City 31 502 60 1158 26 146 4 1927

Durand 1 2 1 4

Eckles 9 13 5 3 6 1 37

Fern 1 1

Frohn 8 2 2 2 1 15

Grant Valley 12 3 4 2 2 2 25

Helga 8 2 1 11

Lake Hattie 0

Liberty 1 1 2 3 7

Northern 8 17 11 1 7 9 53

Port Hope 1 2 1 1 5

Rockwood 1 1 1 3

Schoolcraft 1 1 2

Turtle Lake 1 1 4 6

Turtle River, City 1 1

Turtle River, Twp 2 1 2 1 1 2 9

Wilton 1 1 2

Out of Area 10 3 2 15

Grand Total for 2015 97 563 91 1169 44 181 0 7 2152

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Mutual Aid is a term used to describe when our services and/or equipment is requested by, or rendered to, an-other fire department/agency. Most fire departments throughout the country rely on these relationships when extenuating circumstances arise, or when resources are out of position. The department has 10 local mutual aid agreements and is a member of the intrastate mutual aid plan. The Bemidji Fire Department re-ceived mutual aid 15 times and rendered mutual aid 34 times in 2015.

Fire Department/Agency Received Given

Alaska Fire Department 1 -

Bagley Fire Department - -

Blackduck Fire Department - -

Cass Lake Fire Department 1 5

Kelliher Fire Department - 1

Lake George Fire Department 2 -

Lakeport Fire Department - 1

Minnesota DNR Forestry 6 24

Shevlin Fire Department - -

Solway Fire Department 5 3

Totals 15 34

Sprinkler Saves In 2014 there were 80 sprinkler saves in Min-nesota. This means that every month there were almost seven fires extinguished by au-tomatic fire sprinkler systems. These sprin-kler activations saved 80 buildings from dev-astation by fire, minimized property loss, greatly reduced business interruption and potentially saved lives. In Bemidji, one Ho-tel/Motel was saved by sprinkler activation. -Minnesota State Fire Marshal 2014 Report

2015 Annual Report Mutual aid

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Every year in August we begin our hiring process to fill vacant POC positions. In the past two years we have been faced with a large number of vacancies. In 2014 we had nine vacancies and after the process was com-plete we were only able to fill five positions. With several members retiring and a few others moving on, we again were faced with nine vacancies on the roster in 2015. The Membership Committee set out with a goal to fill all of the vacancies but knew we had to find other ways of getting the word out. The traditional way was to advertise in the classifieds of the local paper and by word of mouth. In 2014 we included advertisements in an additional local paper, Craigslist, and Facebook along with putting flyers in the BSU dormitories. We continued this in 2015 and also added a large sign on the front of Station 1 and a radio interview on KB101’s “Chat About”. For the first time, we also hosted an Open House for anyone interested in applying to come with their families to ask our firefighters and their families any questions they may have in regards to being a POC firefighter. All the above methods were successful, as each year we saw an increase in the number of applicants. To determine which of the above methods were most successful we did a survey of the 2015 applicants. Those results showed that radio seemed to be the most effective and we plan on utilizing this resource more in the coming years. If our current staffing levels stay unchanged the Membership Committee will only be faced with filling one position in 2016. The recruitment was a huge success for us and our efforts to maintain a full roster will continue to be difficult as the recruitment and retention of POC or volunteer firefighters is a national issue. Increased training requirements, more duties, squeezed family lives and less-flexible employers have all con-tributed to a decrease in the number of people willing to be able to drop everything and pick up a hose.

2015 Annual Report Recruitment

Chris Loebs, Assistant Chief

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In 2015 we had more successful candidates complete the process and we were able to fill eight of the nine vacancies. The candidates are currently be-ing trained in our four month long training program and will have to satisfactorily complete their one year probation.

Chad Gerads Zachary White Paul Schrems Lee Kalkbrenner

Nathan Preuss Andrew Raitz Tyler Hemp Elias Hendrickson

2015 Annual Report

New firefighters

Did you know that:

There were 6,242 structure fires in Minnesota in 2014.

44 fire deaths statewide in 2014.

Unattended cooking is the leading

cause of structure fires in Minnesota.

Most common place for a fire in

Minnesota is our homes.

Source: 2014 State Fire Marshal Report

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firefighter Training

Mike Mischke, Training Officer

2015 Annual Report

Our training mission is to provide our members with the knowledge and skills necessary to safely and effectively meet the needs and expectations of our community and region, providing the highest level of service possible.

We were excited to host multiple regional course offerings in 2015, including an Ice Rescue Technician course instruct-ed by Atlas Outfitters that was attended by firefighters from Bemidji, Bagley, Solway, Blackduck, and Kelliher. The technician-level training provided impacts 41 townships covering over 1600 square miles, definitively meeting our re-gional training objectives. We also hosted a National Fire Academy officer-development course, Decision Making for the Initial Company Officer (DMICO,) with the region again well represented.

2015 brought about some much needed improvements and additions to our training grounds, including the modifica-tion of our original container and the acquisition of a second intermodal container to be used for live fire training, and the start of construction on a multi-story training platform to be used for all types of training, including ladder and rope rescue evolutions.

2016 Goals Expand use of our training grounds Introduce our new mobile training prop (nearing completion) for company-level operations training Conduct more live burn evolutions Continue to host regional training opportunities

Firefighters responded to this motor

vehicle accident in Helga Township

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2015 Annual Report

BFD personnel completed 3655 hours of training in 2015. Paid-on-call firefighters averaged 69.5 hours of train-ing and career firefighters averaged 141 hours of training for the year, in a wide range of topics. Training goals and objectives are achieved through a combination of in-house training, outside instruction, and conferences and workshops.

Training hours

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2015 Annual Report Hands on training

Ice Rescue Training

Annual Aircraft Rescue Firefighting Training Interior Fire Training

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2015 Annual Report fire prevention

Fire prevention continues to be a top priority of the Bemidji Fire Department. It is a proactive method of reducing emergencies and the damage caused by them. All successful fire prevention programs involve education and code en-forcement. The goal of public fire education is to educate the public to take precautions to prevent fires, and to be educated about surviving them. In 2015 we conducted numerous Public Fire Education events. They included the use of our fire safety house, elementary school visits, educational tours of our station, and public service to professional and civic groups throughout our community. Although Fire Prevention Month is in the month of October, education is a year-round campaign. Bemidji Firefighters conducted multiple fire safety inspections throughout the year; these included plan reviews, pre-planning, and general fire code inspections of new and existing structures located throughout our service area. Bemidji Firefighters completed annual inspections of licensed liquor establishments, gas stations, multi-unit apart-ments and assisted living facilities.

Firefighters responded to this

grass fire started by an un-

attended open burning ring

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Fire Injuries, Deaths and Property Loss

The Bemidji area had no lives lost and three injuries due

to fire in 2015

The estimated dollar loss to property from fire in 2015

was $1,162,050

The estimated dollar value saved from fires in 2015 was

$820,200

Alternative Funding

The primary revenue source for the fire department is property taxes, however the department is always looking for alternative funding options such as grants and donations.

In 2015 the department secured over $21,242.16 in alternative funding. Some of the purchases and funding included:

Gas powered circular saw (Enbridge donation) Training (State of Minnesota and Koch Refinery) EMS supplies, training, equipment (Northwest EMS grant)

BFD Quick Facts

522 Square Mile Coverage Area 3 Cities and 15 Townships Served 35,000 Permanent Residents Operate from Three Fire Stations 48 Firefighters and Fire Officers ISO Class 4/7 2,152 Calls for Service in 2015 97 Fire Calls in 2015 22 Building Fires in 2015

2015 Annual Report

Black Helmet Ceremony for John Schliauter, Karl Mork and Trent Edens after completing their

one year probationary period.

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2015 Annual Report Improved Training facilities

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2015 Annual Report Fire Station 2 Project

The department has been working on adding a southeast fire station for many years. In 2013 the city purchased a vacant lot at 312 Lake Ave SE for the new Fire Station 2 site. The fire department completed design of the fire station and site in 2015. The building will feature a residential design to blend in with the neighborhood. The station will address emergency response needs for the department along with storage of equipment. The station is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2016.

Residential Concept Design for Fire Station 2

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Minnesota Fire Departments with 90 or more fire responses in 2014 Installation of a new outdoor emergency siren system was complet-

ed in 2015. The project included replacing the old six siren system,

which had reached the end of its useful life, with a new eight siren

system. The new system will allow for easy expansion in the future

and will provide many years of reliable service to our community.

2015 Annual Report Emergency siren system

1 St. Paul 1224

2 Minneapolis 1154

3 Brooklyn Park 283

4 Duluth 259

5 St. Cloud 195

6 Bloomington 179

7 Rochester 178

8 Plymouth 166

9 SBM 159

10 West Metro 142

11 South Metro 139

12 St. Louis Park 136

13 Mankato 127

14 Brooklyn Center 118

15 Austin 114

16 Inver Grove Heights 112

17 Fridley 110

18 Coon Rapids 109

19 Burnsville 107

20 Eagan 105

21 Maple Grove 100

22 Shakopee 97

23 Apple Valley 94

24 Bemidji 93

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2015 Annual Report iso information

The Bemidji Fire Department’s ISO Public Protection Classification:

Class 4 for properties within 5 road miles of a recognized fire station and within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant. Class 7 for properties beyond 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant but within 5 road miles of a recognized fire station. Class 10 applies to properties over 5 road miles of a recognized fire station.

Bemidji Fire Department operates from three ISO recognized fire stations strategically located within the Bemidji area. The locations of our fire stations are:

Fire Station #1: 318 5th St NW Fire Station #2: 1915 5th St SE Fire Station #3: 3810 Moberg Dr NW

iso classification and impact on insurance

ISO uses a 1 to 10 number system for it’s classifica-tions with “1” representing the best. ISO’s Public Protection Classification Program (PPC) plays an important role in the underwriting process at in-surance companies. In fact, most U. S. insurers use PPC information as part of their decision making when deciding what coverage’s to offer or prices to charge for personal or commercial property in-surance.

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2015 Annual Report service area map