2008: Did you meet or exceed your goals for your department for the year?

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Permalink Reply by Diamond Chief on January 10, 2009 at 7:13pm

I think we accomplished most of what we set out to do last year. We wanted to get a fireboat for our district, which has a recreational lake that is a big hit in the summer. We now have a fireboat stationed at a marina close to our substation. One other thing that really has improved is our on scene structure. This is directly from aggressive training that we have steadily increased the last few years.

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Permalink Reply by Jim on January 10, 2009 at 10:52pm

Failed miserably....I meant to win a Powerball..

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Permalink Reply by Capt 723 on January 10, 2009 at 10:58pm

Let's see...Everyone came home from every call, no civilian deaths, no crashes...I'd say we had a good year.

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Permalink Reply by C.Reed 9-26 on January 11, 2009 at 3:13am

We had our first spaghetti dinner fundraiser this past spring. Huge success there. My wife came out of that with a nickname
"Spaghetti Bender" because she mostly ran the show. We got a grant to replace the extremely efficient single pane windows and a few old steel doors in the hall so we only have to heat in the inside of the building now. Bonus being free training props.
We formed a comittee to aquire a new(er) rescue unit. We're in the process of moving out of the used ambulance for a rescue stage in our "life" and looking to get a "big boy" truck .. er .. more rescue specific apparatus.
We're in the process of interviewing a few new members. One guy seems to have alot of interest and training in fire police and traffic control.

I personally completed all my EMT-B Con-Eds and get to play that game for another 3 years. WOOT !
Like 723 said, no one got hurt and we didn't break anything important.
2009 hopefully will be a big year for us. New rescue, more training, and more spaghetti, sweet delicious spaghetti. mmmm:P

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Permalink Reply by Asst. 29 on January 11, 2009 at 12:26pm

For my first year as Assistant Chief my goal was to increase the amount of training within the company. I believe it was successful, We now have weekly drills and a training committee that sets up certification and specialized training classes. I also put out to better the moral of the guys It had seemed to work until lately when a few older members started creating waves. so I would have to say it was not a success but still a work in progress.

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Permalink Reply by firechief911 on January 11, 2009 at 1:01pm

My department nobody got hurt we made a lot of friends. only a few structure fires no lives lost around 50 calls. One 2 fatality vechile accident we extracted 7 people from .
We finally got a fema grant for a new tanker pumper $ 239,383.00. been tring 6 years . I said when i first tried to get one id quit if i could get the dept a new truck . The guys told me to quit saying that so i did . Two years i can retire, now i can't quit . Maybe that was what i was doing wrong all along.
With the new truck coming we long for almost no equipment . we have new packs , new turn outs, leather boots, new york style helmets. on an 18,000.00 budget per yr. with fuel prices i think we have been blessed. thanks to ebay and bargins
We have trained more this last year than we ever have , and look forward to a lot of good training this year. we even got an other dept. to join us in training . We have 20 certifed firefighters with 20 on roster . my main goal was to get the guys more involved in things .
This year training and more training and 20 good friends to share it with
Roy Dison Chief Calion vol fire dept Calion Arkansas 17.5 years service

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Permalink Reply by turk182 on January 11, 2009 at 1:26pm

Training was our biggest thing in 2008 we was training twice a month and a couple certified class.

This year I have the essentials class, structual burn, and am in process of setting up FF1 for the ones in the essentials class.

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Permalink Reply by Captain Frazier on January 11, 2009 at 1:44pm

I believe our district met and exceeded its expectations. We successfully completed remodel of 3 of our 9 stations, built a new Station 2 and added Station 10. We also took delivery of 4 new KME engines, 5 new Ford brush trucks, and 1 new Midwest tanker and 1 new RVI rescue. This year is looking to be a good year too as we are to take delivery of a brand new air support unit and 2 new command vehicles.

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Permalink Reply by KRISTEN on January 11, 2009 at 1:59pm

I am working on
my goal by finishing up my
school stuff that i need then i can become a paramedic
I know what i want and i will not give up my dreams or goals

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Permalink Reply by Mike on January 11, 2009 at 2:16pm

For us some areas of the year were a success, others not so much so. On bringing everyone home in one piece from every call and not having any major incidents of our own we were successful. We were successful in updating our fleet some with the addition of a new UTV for wildland fire and rescue operations and also purchased a new (to us) pumper with a fully enclosed cab. We were also successful in improving our relations with some of our surrounding departments and increased the amount of mutual aid that we run with them.

Where we have not been as successful is in moving the "attitude" of the department forward. The average age of our group is about 55+ and they continue to fight fire in 1968. The new engine is a classic example in that we got a much newer piece of equipment but they want to lay it out the same way they have been doing things for the last 50 years. Its been difficult to get new members in (and keep them) because of the "old" outlook of the department. And as is typical of a small town fire department the election of officers was more of a popularity contest than one of who is the more qualified for the job. Although we did manage to remove the husband and wife team that had been the president and secretary for 102 years that had been part of the group trying to hold the department in the last millennium. So hopefully that will improve some of the outlook for 2009.

For 2009 my primary task, since I'm no longer a chief officer, is going to be to build up the department's rescue capabilities. The chief has tasked me with getting our rescue engine certified as a QRS unit as well as state certified as a basic rescue. While this may not sound too difficult, it is going to be a challenge because of the mindset of the "older" members ("we don't need no stinkin' rescue"). All in all, it should prove to be an interesting year.

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Permalink Reply by Diamond Chief on January 11, 2009 at 8:34pm

Mike, believe me, I feel your pain. We also are a small town department with a mayor who doesn't understand why we respond to an mva. We also have had the old mindset of "the way we have always done things", but am happy to say is almost gone now. We have dismissed a few in the past year and I can see a real change happening before us.

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Permalink Reply by Pat Griffin on January 11, 2009 at 2:36pm

We set out to get to the 100% level of FF1. A few months ago after the written results came back we found out that we have accomplished that. This year has had alot of fires and mva's. No firefighter injuries this year. We finally got a dilervery date for a new mini pumper from KME. Check my page for dilevery in April.

I met my 2008 goals for myself. It was a year of training for me. I completed my essentials of firefighting and took my first burn class with my essentials class. Soon after I took Hazmat Ops and a burn class with my department. About a month later I took my pratcical and written exams for FF1. I just took and passed evoc and a wildland search and rescue class along with a advanced grid seach class. Starting 2009 with rope 1 and elevator search.

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