G-1. Fire Chief's ReportCHANHASSEN FIRE DEPARTMENT
Station i
PO Box 97
7610 Laredo Drive
Chanhassen, MN 55317
MEMORANDUM d�
TO: Todd Gerhardt, City Manager
FROM: Don Johnson — Fire Chief
Mark Littfin - Fire Marshal
DATE: June 12, 2014
SUBJ: Monthly City Council Update
Fire Department Overview:
Station 2
6400 Minnewashta Pkwy.
Excelsior, MN 55331
Staffing is at 44 total firefighters with three firefighters currently on leave and four firefighters
still completing a one -year probationary period. The fire department is in an active hiring
process for 2014 and final interviews will be conducted on June 17th with an anticipated hiring
date in July.
Year to date we are at 269 calls as of the end of May, compared to 232 calls for the same period
in 2013.
Staff Time (not call related): Our staff time for community events, fire education, duty crew
standby, and department meetings is at 1,016 hours for the year compared to 926 hours for the
same period in 2013.
Training: Training hours are at 1,862 for the year compared to 2,541 in 2013. Training in May
and June included CPR/AED certification training conducted by Hennepin Technical College
and mandatory live burn training at the Edina Training Facility. The week of June 10th several
firefighters participated in an Active Shooter Training hosted by the Southwest Joint Ops
Training Group in Eden Prairie.
Safety: Safety is always important to us and we embrace the continued health and wellness of
our members through risk reduction endeavors such as health surveillances, ongoing education,
and our safety officer program.
Compliance: Our annual health surveillance, ladder, pump, SCBA, PPE, and hose testing is
scheduled throughout the year. Annual hose testing compliance was conducted on June 201H
Fire Marshal:
Fire Prevention: Summer fire prevention activities are starting to ramp up. We did 9 fire truck
rides to school in May and June. These are gift certificates that we donate to the area schools
who in turn sell them at silent auctions as fundraisers. We have been giving these fire truck ride
certificates away for over 10 years and are a huge success with the schools and the families who
purchase them. Safety Camp is quickly approaching, as well as City Water Week in the parks.
Fire truck visits to day care centers and Camp Tanadoona are a few events we are also in the
midst of scheduling.
Fire Investigations: One significant fire to report on happened on Saturday, May 24th. The fire
department was paged at 9:22 pm for a possible house fire on Horseshoe Curve. The homeowner
was home at the time and was successful in extinguishing the fire with a garden hose prior to the
fire department's arrival. The fire department conducted salvage and overhaul in looking for fire
extension into the house and found very little. Fire damage was limited to a portion of the
wraparound deck but did significant damage to the electrical service coming into the home. The
fire department left the scene at 12:21 am. Eden Prairie Fire Department assisted with the fire
investigation and determined the cause to be related to discarded smoking materials.
Fire Inspections: There are multiple projects at various stages of construction which include:
The Bernard Group warehouse remodel, K. Hovnanian Townhomes, Southwest Transit
Townhomes, Powers Point warehouse, Great Plains strip mall, John Author Townhomes, Snap
Fitness office remodel, Next Steps Learning Center, Bluff Creek Cottages, BIG office
warehouse, along with other smaller remodeling projects. Restaurants are being reinspected with
hotels /motels apartments next on the list.