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3b Fire Department ReportFIRE DEPT. MEMORANDUM CHANHASSEN FIRE DEPARTMENT P.O. Box 97 · 7610 Laredo Drive · Chanhassen, MN 55317 Bus. Phone 934-9191 · Minnewashta Station No. 2 · Phone 474-7094 TO: FROM: DATE: SUB J: Todd Gerhardt, City Manager 0tlxfl,/;k~'w' John Wolff- Fire Chief Greg Hayes- Ist Assistant Chief Mark Littfin- 2"d Assistant Chief August 19, 2003 Monthly City Council update Fire Department Ovepview: Staffing is at 43 firefighters as of August 18, 2003, allocation is 45 PTE's. Our mutual aid agreements have been given a "serious" 2-way workout over the past few months with resources both incoming and outgoing, to and from our city. We were involved with a dive recovery operation in the City of Waconia in early August. Our dive team assisted Waconia Fire and the Carver County Sheriffs Office in searching for an 18-year old who drowned. The fire department also had a very busy evening on Monday, August I 1. Shortly after I 0:00 PM we were dispatched to the General Mills facility on McGlynn Drive tbr a hazardous materials call resulting from a large ammonia spill. We had numerous challenges early on trying to determine the extent of the spill, the impact of the vapor cloud/plume on the immediate area and the downwind residential exposures. Our best guess at this time is that approximately 2000 lbs. of ammonia was released. Mutual Aid was requested from the following agencies; State of MN Chemical Assessment Team, Carver Risk and Management Team, Carver County Hazmat Team, Carver County Sheriffs Office, State Highway Patrol, South Lake Police, Eden Prairie Police and Fire, Chaska Fire, Bloomington Fire, Excelsior Fire, Minnetonka Fire, Shakopee Fire, Carver County Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Chanhassen Public Works, Chanhassen Parks and Southwest Metro Transit. Our strategic objectives were to provide for the safety and comfort of the employees of General Mills, the residents of Chanhassen and of course, the emergency responders. Furthermore, we worked closely with the technicians from General Mills to locate and isolate the leak. We also Todd Gerhardt July 21., 2003 Page 2 used water sprayed from ladder trucks to knock down the vapor cloud/plume coming from the rooftop ventilation system at General Mills. This activity had an immediate impact of reducing the danger to the downwind residents. Residents were given the choice to stay in their homes or go to the recreation center On the evening of Tuesday, August 12th, Eden Prairie requested two engines to respond to a large apartment fire in their city. We are proceeding with "piloting" a part-time fire inspector using current fire department personnel (10-20 hours a week to help with existing inspections). We have hired Joe Berg, a 3''~ year firefighter. Call volume continues at a record level, approximately 30% higher than last year, through 7/1/03. At current trends, we would expect year-end calls to exceed our annual record of 799 by 80-90 calls. Through August 10, 2003 we are at 527 calls. Fire Training: The month of August has been a very active training month. We completed an exercise at Minneapolis Fire Training facility on large flammable liquid fire suppression using foam and the mitigation of a flammable gas emergency involving a rail car. This training helps us prepare for a safe response to an incident involving one of our most common transported hazardous materials through the City of Chanhassen, which is LP. While completing this training, crews also spent time working with the ladder truck on multi-story building response situations The crews focused on using the ladder to complete victim rescues from windows Emergency Management: Once again, the month of August presented us with many challenges in Emergency Management. The two incidents, which highlight the month, are the sewer line break on Lotus Lake and the Anhydrous Ammonia release at General Mills. The sewer line break on Lotus Lake ended up, as we know, shutting the lake down for a few days. I personally was unable to help in the first days of the incident due to a family commitment. However, I was able to get Scott Gerber, Emergency Management Director for Carver County to take my place. Mr. Gerber assisted in the coordination of the notification of the residents and the coordination of the media. As always, he demonstrated why he is one of the best emergency managers in the state. Overall, the incident went very well and all of the crews who helped out deserve a lot of credit for their efforts in helping to restore the site to its condition prior to the event. The emergency management system worked as we had planned and helped in the successful mitigation of the event. Todd Gerhardt July 21, 2003 Page 3 The second event was the most challenging emergency response that we have ever been called to. At approximately 10:01 P.M. the Chanhassen Fire Department was called to General Mills for the report of a large Anhydrous Ammonia release and the facility was being evacuated. We were on the scene within one minute of being dispatched and had already received intbrmation that residents could smell Ammonia in the Stone Creek neighborhood An Incident Command Post was set up at the intersection of McGlynn Dr and Audubon Rd. Initially, General Mills had their hazardous materials team conducting entries to find the source of the leak and the fire department started assessing the scene for the impact to the surrounding community. Our first priority was to start evacuating the residents in the Stone Creek Dr neighborhood. We gave the residents a choice to evacuate or shelter in place Fifty residents evacuated to the Chanhassen Recreation Center. About 45 minutes into the incident the decision was made to shelter in-place because we could control the vapor once it came out of the building. Eventually, the leak was controlled/stabilized about three hours after our arrival. Fifteen plant employees were treated and released for exposure to Ammonia and one resident was treated by the Paramedics for nausea at the recreation center. There were no deaths or admissions to the hospital from the release. Overall, this incident was one of our greatest success stories. The fire department did an excellent job managing the scene and bringing the incident under control. The mutual aid system was used for additional resources. The General Mills staff also did an excellent job in the mitigation of the leak and coordinating with the command staff from the public safety sector. The reason for this success is training, from the training the fire department did as recently as June of 2003 at the Dinner Theater to the training with the General Mills teams from a few years ago. A formal report is being completed and council will receive a final copy fbr questions or comments. Fire Inspections: The Library - The library is complete and the certificate of occupancy is signed. The project went very well from the fire marshal's perspective. Buffalo Wild Wings - The project was completed Tuesday, August 19th, with a temporary certificate of occupancy signed. This project also went very well. There were a few minor problems, however, the sub-contractors worked together to solve them. Looks like a great place to have some wings and a beer. The Banta Addition - This project is near completion. The new presses are installed and production is starting within the next week or so. Again, the general contractor, Opus, was very good to work with. Problems encountered were minor and were quickly taken care of. The certificate of occupancy should be signed within a couple of weeks. Todd Gerhardt July 21, 2003 Page 4 The Temple of Ek- This project is progressing with walls and roof decking being installed. All the plan review is done and inspections should begin in the next couple of weeks. Fire Education Activities: The Fire Department participated in the National Night Our campaign. Six firefighters took out the aerial platform truck and visited three neighborhoods. Both kids and adults enjoyed the visits as well as our firefighters who were able to mingle with the residents. It was a fun night. Fire Prevention Week is the week of October 5-11, with an open house on Sunday, October 12. We will be getting our fire safety messages out to over 2500 students from the day care centers to our four grade schools. Students from kindergarten through 5th grade will receive different fire prevention tips, and actual hands on training. This program has been going on for almost thirty years and is our major push to get into the schools. We have over thirty firefighters who participate every year to make this a great event. Hope to see you at our open house on October 12. Budget: No report.