It’s been a rough, but productive year for the Northfield Fire Department, says Public Safety Director Mark Taylor.
“We’ve made extreme progress over the last year or so,” Taylor said. “There’s been a lot of change in a short amount of time.”
Those changes include a new operations manual that was implemented recently and a closer look at the Fire Department Relief Association, which faced scrutiny earlier this year. Some new hires and a new fire truck are also in the works.
The department’s new Standard Operating Procedure Manual defines department functions, including the chain of command, how staff are trained and safety guidelines, Taylor said.
“It’s so everyone’s on the same page and trained the same way,” Taylor said. “It clarifies the organization.”
Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements directed the department to come up with a manual by July 2011. A revised edition was distributed to all department members on Oct. 15.
“[Staff] will not only just read it, but learn it and know it,” Fire Chief Gerry Franek said at the council’s Oct. 23 work session. “It’s a work in progress, but we do have solid foundation.”
Taylor said the Chanhassen Fire Department was used as a model, as the committee started the manual from scratch.
Fire Department’s
Relief Association
Currently, representatives from the Fire Department’s Relief Association are working with an auditor and an attorney to get the group up to date on its best practices after being scrutinized for lack of transparency, according to the city’s Finance Director Kathleen McBride.
“The attorney, along with the [city’s] auditor and the board of trustees and board for the rescue squad are involved to get things in line, up to date and transparent,” McBride said. “[Having] best practices is what they are shooting for.”
Tom Nelson, assistant fire chief, said the association will soon report its findings to the city council.
New fire truck
The plans for the new $720,000 fire truck will soon go to the city council for formal approval.
The fire truck committee chose the bid from E-One Fire Apparatus Manufacturing of Ocala, Fla., for a 78-foot rear mount quest aluminum aerial ladder truck, according to materials prepared by the committee for the council’s Oct. 23 work session.
Fire Safety USA in Rochester, Minn., is the dealer. Trading in the old truck would take $5,000 off of the total price.
With approval from the council, several representatives from the committee will inspect the truck’s specifications at the Florida manufacturer.
Road map
A February 2011 OSHA audit, a June 2011 outside consultant study and a 2012 Insurance Services Office study drove the development of a road map to identify what issues the department needed to address.
“A lot of things in the road map have been accomplished,” Taylor said.
He said many of the changes took care of liability and safety issues.
“This is to protect the fire fighters,” he said.
Several committees were formed to accomplish the department’s goals.
An update on the road map of the department was presented to city council on Sept. 25.
The department has already marked some issues off the checklist, include the SOP manual that replaced outdated bylaws, distribution and implementation of the city’s employee handbook, fixing OSHA violations, cleaning up the fire barn and living quarters., and upgrading technology.
In 2013, the department will implement selected command officers and a training board, upgrade equipment, and hire several new firefighters, the update said.
The department, which serves Northfield, Dundas and the rural Northfield area, is composed of about 30 staff members who are all paid, on-call volunteers.
Reach reporter Kaitlyn Walsh at 645-1117.