2009 Fire Prevention Open House a Success!

For once, the weathermen were right - it was going to be a gloomy, drizzly Saturday.  But nonetheless, the Westfield Fire Department Open House was a big success!  It's estimated that a few hundred people stopped in to get a sense for what firefighting is like and to understand a little more about fire prevention.  The smoke room was a big hit this year, with a large number of parents going in to see what it's like to be in an unfamiliar space, fully charged with smoke (training smoke).  Tied to this little "lesson," firefighters helped guests don a full set of gear and grab a set of irons and a water can.  Quote of the day - "Wow!  That's REALLY heavy!"  Yes folks, the stuff we use is heavy.  Many thanks to all the WFD members who came out to lend a hand for the event!  Some photos below.  Speical thanks to Lt. Nick DeJohn who captured the days events by taking over 250 photos.

Friends of Assistant Chief Ponzio enjoy the Open House. Yes Amelia and Andrew, you can come back any time you want.

FF Craig Butterworth takes visitors up for a ride in Ladder 6. Sweet.

Past Chief Joe Augeri trains one of the new recruits.  Joe - don't let the balloon string get caught.

FF Matt Caffrey shows some guests what we look/sound like with all our gear on.

FF Caffrey - quite impressive in all that gear!

Two guests "take the knob" and attack the fire.

FF Aaron Boyce shows 10-5-3(b) a few things about handling a hoseline.  Seems the future Captain was unimpressed.

2009 Fire Prevention Week Open House

The Westfield Fire Department is kicking off Fire Prevention Week on Saturday October 3rd with an Open House.  The event opens to the public at 11:00 a.m. and continues until 2:00 p.m.  Westfield Fire encourages all residents within the Westfield District (and their children!) as well as others in the area to come visit the firehouse.  While there, visitors can chat with firefighters about fire prevention, try their hands on a charged hose line, check out the apparatus, try on gear, experience the disorientation of a smoke-filled room and see what it's like to be immobilized on a backboard!

For the rest of Fire Prevention Week the Westfield Fire Marshal's Office will be holding a series of events at local schools, day care facilities and businesses.  For information about anything related to Fire Prevention Week please call the firehouse (contact info to the right) or email FM Art Higgins and DFM Mike Giantonio in the Fire Marshal's office - fmo@westfieldfire.net or dfm@westfieldfire.net.  

Also, on the afternoon of October 10th, Westfield Fire will be in their "Class A's" as we join Middlefield Fire at a parade celebrating their 75th Anniversary.  Congratulations Middlefield Fire!

Busy Weekend!

The last full weekend of August proved to be a busy one for Westfield Fire. Beyond the various medicals and false alarms, WFD responded 2 motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) - 1 requiring extended extrication - and 1 working structure fire in Cromwell.

Saturday

The 1st of 2 MVAs came in at approximately 2:00 a.m. on Saturday August 29. Connecticut State Police (CSP) on-scene reported 1 car off the road with a tree on top of it on I91 southbound between exits 21 and 20. On arrival, Chief John Lockwood confirmed the 1 car MVA and reported 2 trapped occupants, including 1 possible DOA. The vehicle was lying on its roof. With the arrival of Westfield Rescue 3, Assistant Chief Darrell Ponzio and his crew worked on intial stabilization of the vehicle followed by removal of the fallen tree and then by extrication of the passenger using spreaders, cutters, the omni tool and several rams. Westfield Tanker 4 arrived soon after with Lt. Nick DeJohn and his crew who assisted in extrication efforts on the passenger side. Given the obvious extended timeframe the extrication would take, Chief Lockwood called Rescues from Cromwell and Middletown to assist. He also called Engines from East Berlin and Middletown to Westfield's station for coverage. Cromwell's crew, led by Assistant Chief Don Quick provided additional stabilization of the vehicle and then set to work extricating the driver.

Middletown's crew, led by Assistant Chief Jay Woron aided crews on the passenger side. The extended and technically complicated extrication required a collaborative, well thought out process by all involved and that's extactly what was provided. The driver was extricated in approximately 1/2-hour and the passenger was extricated in approximately 1-hour. With LifeStar grounded due to the weather, patient care and transport was handled by Hunters Ambulance and the Middlesex Hospital paramedic.

While on-scene on I91, Westfield was toned out for another MVA at the corners of Westfield, Ballfall, Country Club and East. Middletown E3 crew responded with Westfield's Deputy Chief Steve Hughes. Poles and wires down required extra caution and resulted in a loss of power to houses in the neighborhood well into Saturday morning.

Sunday

At approximately 18:15 on Sunday afternoon, Westfield Engine 2 and Ladder 6 were called on a mutual aid response to Cromwell for a working structure fire. The house, set with it's backyard against the Connecticut River, was on a dead-end street that forced responding crews from South Fire, Rocky Hill, Westfield and Cromwell to position their apparatus in a line down the street. Westfield crews, led by Deputy Chief Steve Hughes and Assistant Chief Darrell Ponzio assisted with fire extinguishment and overhaul on the second floor of the residence. Photo above courtesy of the Middletown Press. Click here to see the related article by Jeff Mill. However, be warned - there is quite a volume of commentary by very poorly informed individuals below the article. All I can say is that a full structure fire that has extended into the attic, on a warm summer evening does indeed require mutual aid response from multiple towns to prevent firefighter heat exhaustion on scene, to ensure that property and lives (6:00 p.m. = people are probably home) are saved and to ensure that no single department is spread too thin should another call of any kind come in. To Chief Pendl, Assistant Chief Don Quick, the rest of the Cromwell firefighters and support personnel as well as all the mutual aid departments, great job!

Errr, do you take credit cards?

Tighter budgets. Higher call volumes. Higher fuel costs. Lower tax bases. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place! Fire departments across the country - volunteer, combination and career - are all experiencing these challenges to one degree or another. As FireRescue1.com and the Chico Enterprise-Record report, the town of Paradise, CA is looking at billing its residents for non-fire calls as a way to generate the revenue needed to cover their costs.

On the plus side, it would certainly generate revenue. It would probably also narrow emergency responses to those events that really require it. On the minus side, it might cause some people to not call when they should. And talk about a PR downer! Doesn't it kind of fly in the face of what firefighters are all about?

What do you think? Navigate over to our poll ("Should fire departments bill for non-fire calls") on the right and vote!

So That's How it's Supposed to Work!

With fall approaching (kinda crazy isn't it??) and WFD approaching 700 runs for the year, this weekend was a microcosm of the this August in general. With all the rain and cool temperatures we had through July, it seems that everyone is cramming all their summer activities into these, the waning days of August. This weekend, in spite of the threat of hurricane Bill, was the same - jam it all in!! Motorcycles everywhere. Kayaks on top of cars, headed to beach fronts or some river somewhere. Cyclists riding in big Tour de France-style packs. Lawn mowers humming along, hoping to get the job done prior to any of the potential flash storms. So, it was really no surprise that the WFD was out on runs seemingly every 2 hours this weekend. MVA's, CO calls, medicals, automatic alarms, blah, blah, blah. What did strike me as interesting though was the possible structure fire around 17:00 on Saturday at Ridgefield Apartments. The call came in from dispatch as smoke and flames showing. But, only 1 caller. Odd. Usually, the "big ones" result in multiple calls and an octave or two higher from the first on-scene personnel. Given the way that the apartment and condo complexes are nestled in and among each other, we had some giddyup in our step anyway. Having E30 from South District, E3 from Middletown, and engines from Middlefield and Cromwell responding also helps the Westfield volunteers move along briskly - gotta be a good host. Deputy Fire Marshal Holmes and Lieutenant Bill Balch were first on scene and reported smoke visible. Chief Lockwood was on scene soon after, and the 3 were quickly able to confirm smoke from cooking - no fire. Mutual aid units were returned, as always, with thanks. Westfield 2 and 6 were kept on scene to vent and secure. Rolling into the scene on the ladder, and knowing that we had only some ventilation to do, I was able to more casually observe the many residents sitting along the curbs watching the action. It was like rolling into the viewing area of a parade! On arrival, E2 already had ventilation handled with their PPV fan. Other than to secure the alarm panel, my crew on the ladder didn't have too much to do. So, being responsible for recruiting and retention, I shifted gears and starting talking with all the onlookers - helping a few kids up into the ladder and letting quite a few more gawk at the huge truck.

What was so interesting about all this, you ask? All the people! I guess you could call many residents of Westlake area "fair weather" citizens when it comes to properly responding to a fire alarm. On this nice warm summer afternoon, people seemed to actually welcome the abrupt and temprorary change in their plans. Most other times though (rain, cold, late night) we see only a handful of the most cautious. You'd think after seeing some of the fires that their neighbors have experienced, that these folks would all be safely distanced from their apartments well prior to our arrival. Now I don't mean to cut down the residents of our beautiful district. In fact, there is indeed quite a "boy who cried wolf" problem in all this. How many times do we get called out to Westlake Drive for the false alarm? And I would be hypocritical if I didn't admit that we, as firefighters can be prone to it ourselves. But if it's the real deal - and rest assured, it WILL happen again, who will heed the fire alarms and get to safety?

As a firefighters on the scene of a structure fire, one of our first priorities is getting traped residents out of the building. Obvious. But, there's quite a bit working against us in this tricky endeavour. For one, we're limited to only about 20 minutes of working time on our Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA). For another, we don't know where the people we're trying to save are, or might be. And, for another, we need to allocate resources to extinguish the fire and ventilate the structure (really, those 2 things are part of the process to find and save potential victims).

OK - I'm probably preaching to the choir here. Sorry about that - but I do have a dual-audience message to deliver:

1. To all my brothers out there - encourage people to recognize fire alarms for what they are and to take appropriate actions EVERY time they go off. GET OUT while you can.

2. To all civilians who have made it this far into today's posting - please GET OUT while you can. Sure - if you don't, or can't get out, we'll do our very best to get you and your family out and to save your belongings. Remember though - there's a lot going on at the scene of a structure fire and the single most helpful thing you can do for us once the flames are showing is to be out of the building and positioned fully clear of the scene as well as arriving apparatus.

Be safe out there! Everyone comes home, EVERY time.

Feelin' the Love

I've always viewed this blog as a truly grassroots effort that should reflect all that's of concern or note to the members of the Westfield Fire Department and to our larger community of brothers out there on the net. I check the "hits" to our site (I like to indulge myself) to see where people are coming from and how they're coming to visit our "little corner of Connecticut." I often find myself typing a new post late on a Tuesday night after the weekly drill - feeding off the then-current energy of our members. Sometimes I find great information on the web that is relevant to our department. One of my favorite sites for quite a while has been www.FireRescue1.com - so it was quite a surprise and honor to find out that they had included us in their launch of a section featuring firefighter blogs. It's well worth the "trip" to see some of the great blogs out there that our brothers have been running - go take a look by clicking here.

Welcome Back Dave!

At our officer's meeting this evening it occurred to me that with all the "changes in management" this past spring, we took on a new/old lieutenant back in May without any formal recognition here on westfieldfire.net. Shame, shame, shame. Dave Peterson, seen here with his lovely wife Linda, had risen to the rank of captain back in the late 1990's and stepped down in the early 2000's to spend more time with his family and to run his business. Well, apparently Dave has this stuff in his blood because he stepped right back up this past May to fill an open LT position. Dave is one of our most experienced firefighter/EMT's and his hands-on knowledge will certainly make a big difference "on scene" and around the firehouse. Dave - great to have you sporting a white hat again! We'll see you at the "big one!"

No Place for Taz in Firefighting...

June 14 - 20 was Fire/EMS Safety, Health & Survival Week. To be honest, I was so busy with a million other things that I totally missed it. I was taking a few minutes to read some of the content on http://www.firerescue1.com/ this evening and I stumbled across a few good articles. One, by Charles Bailey, addresses the typical "we need to change" theme in a whole new way. Drop the big banner declarations. Don't leverage scare tactics. Instead, look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself - from the moment the tones go out until the moment you return home, did you operate in a way that gives you, your brothers and the public at large the best chance for a safe, injury-free outcome? Then Mr. Bailey goes on to suggest, horror of horrors, that we SLOW DOWN.

Now, I've been through any number of fire-related classes. I've been through FFI and FFII. I've been on my fair share of fire, rescue and EMS-related calls in my 15 years in the service. Rarely do I ever hear anyone suggest that we should slow down. In fact, from our firefighting births, we are constantly timed on everything. 45-second SCBA drills. Search & rescue drills. Low-angle rescue drills. Get it done quickly - lives are at stake!! But, if you read Mr. Bailey's article (click here) you'll see what he really means. I won't reiterate the whole article (go read it, it's not too long at all), but I will make a few points for our guys...

1. When responding from home, blue lights or not, please go a little easier. I know the adrenaline is pumping. I know you want to "make the truck" - but I want you to make it HOME too. A professional learns how to manage and benefit from the adrenaline rush, not be a victim of it. Lastly, remember that you're a representative of the WFD, 24 hours a day. Gain the respect of our civilian neighbors by driving at a reasonable speed. (Note that a blue light affords you no additional rights when driving - you are required to observe the speed limit, all traffic signs and rights of way.)

2. When driving apparatus, also go a little easier. Lights and sirens (esp. the Federal) and pre-arrival radio chatter can jack up the adrenaline even more, but remember that we're no good if we don't get there safely, and we don't really shave that much off our response times by barreling down any district road at a relatively unsafe rate of speed. (Note that red lights and sirens DO allow you to maneuver through red lights and to pass other vehicles, but they DO NOT alleviate you of your responsibilities and potential liabilities as the operator of the vehicle.)

3. As a rider in the officer's seat, manage the radio and sirens and have your eyes peeled for any hazards. Give the chauffer every chance to focus on handling the apparatus ONLY. If you feel the driver is going too fast, just throw out a "Johnny - ease off a little, we'll get there...", but don't start an argument about it during the ride - save any necessary discussions for the post-mortum.

4. When performing an operation, if you're not sure about what you're doing, stop and get help. Nobody is perfect and nobody knows everything - better to take a few minutes and do it right than to get it done quickly, but incorrectly, and put lives at further risk.

5. Proficiency, which is the sum of speed + accuracy + consistency, is obtained via repetition. Drills can be less than exciting, but it's your responsibility as a member to attend ALL drills and to participate. Aside from formal drills and other classes, take time to drill yourself. Grab a rope and practice those knots. Stare at closed compartment, quiz yourself on the contents, open the compartment and grade yourself - then repeat. Make note of hydrant locations when driving around the district. Quiz yourself on things like pump capacity, hose bed lengths/layouts, ladder lengths, etc.

New Domain Name!

For all those loyal readers who "dealt" with the "blogspot" url for these past 4 years, I'm very pleased to announce that we can now be found under www.westfieldfire.net. Now how's that for ease of doing business?? Of course, I don't want anyone to worry about the "old school" way of reading up on Westfield Fire news and happenings, so you can rest assured that both old and new url's will work. But now we've got a site that's much easier to remember how to get to. Hope you enjoy it!

Chicken BBQ a Success!

Although ticket sales are still being counted, it was clear from the great weather and the large turnout that this year's chicken barbeque fund raiser was a huge success. First, a big "thank you" to Fred Jones and Harold Holmes who coordinated and co-chaired the event. Great job guys! Running an event of this size requires a huge time commitment from a large number of people, so thanks also...

...to Jeff Doskos of Haddam Fire for spending the better part of Saturday working in the pit.

...to Dana Andrew, Tim Dickes, Dave Peterson and Craig Butterworth for working in the pit all day and then really stepping it up by showering and returning to help serve dinners and clean up afterwards - in all about 14 hours of work in one day.

...to the following people for helping out in any way possible during the event:

Jennifer Trevisan

Mary Andrew

Bailey Andrew

Owen Andrew

Whitney Andrew

Joanne DeJohn

Jeremy Higgins

Nicholas Higgins

Dale Higgins

Cassey Osterhoudt

Danielle Darley

Mikaela Cody

Nicole Augeri

Zack Newton

Louis Zanette

Martha Holmes

Bridget Ernst

Marissa Aldieri

The WFD would also like to send out special thanks to Emma Rathbun and Rocky Collins at SERVPRO, Inc. (pictured with Chief Lockwood in front of Engine 2) who provided sponsorship to the barbeque. A SERVPRO francise is local to the Westfield District and is the specialist in fire and water damage cleanup. Guys - thanks for being such a great, supportive neighbor!