08-22-2016 Council Work Session Packet

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Memo Serving the Communities of Orono, Long Lake and Medina With pride and professionalism To: Orono City Council From: Fire Chief James Van Eyll CC: Jessica Loftus, City Administrator of Orono and Scott Weske, City Administrator Date: 8/19/2016 Re: Big Island Response without B11 docked on the Lake The question was raised at the Fire Advisory Board Meeting July 13 about the response to Big Island now that the boat is no longer docked on Lake Minnetonka. I will explain the response to a medical event and an active fire event such as a structure fire on the island. Big Island is considered an ISO Class 10 or unprotected due to issue with responding during times of thin ice. Insurance underwriters use ISO Class ratings to determine insurance rates. I will also discuss how our boat is different from the other fireboats in the Lake Minnetonka area. First the Medical Event on Big Island during boating season. We are only dispatched to certain medical events unless requested to respond per Orono PD or Water Patrol. If we have a medical emergency that requires our services, we page both stations to respond. Our Duty Officer goes to Maxwell Bay Landing to prep the area for launching the boat. If we have not been assigned a talk -group to communicate with Water Patrol, they request one. This talk -group is used for command only all other communication is done on our Ops talk -group or we are assigned HFIRE talk -groups, if there are other fire agencies involved. Station 1 utilizes U11 to trailer B11 to the landing and Station 2 responds to the same landing with R21. Before U11 leaves the station the officer in charge makes sure that there is a qualified crew and boat driver and the officer in charge of R21 makes sure that we have a qualified crew before responding. The crew assemblies and launches the boat at the landing. We then proceed to the medical event on the island or anywhere else on the lake in our response area. All of our firefighters respond with their turnout gear in hand and put it on the boat. We don't make them wear it unless they are responding to a fire event. We do this to save time in case we have a call for a fire event that they need to respond to while on the water. They are required to wear a PDF at all times on the boat. Our medical response to Big Island changes when we have ice conditions. We utilize Hennepin County Water Patrol to move us to and from the island during thin ice conditions with their airboats. When given the clear to use ATVs on the ice we utilize U12, which would be trailered to a safe location to gain access to the ice. This response has not changed from our past response.