Chief John Donahue gives tour of equipment. (Toby Boyce/rights reserved)
It has been 179 years since the Delaware City Fire Department was established and under the guidance of Chief John Donahue it is as strong as ever.
Delaware Citizens Academy had the opportunity to learn a lot about the fire department’s role in the community. And we (yes, I’m a member of the class along with 22 others) even had a chance to learn about some of the things the fire department is doing to train better fire fighters and more aware community members.
One of the biggest issues facing the city has been its continued growth, and Donahue showed the impact upon the department’s ability to respond to needs in the city.
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One way that Donahue is working to improve the city’s fire department is by pursuing accreditation with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International. There is only 125 organizations world-wide to have achieved this status. “The accreditation will not lower insurance rates,” said Donahue. However, many of the criteria for accreditation mirror the Insurance Services Office (ISO) measurements so becoming accredited could – as a result – improve our insurance rates.
One of the biggest challenges with insurance rates is response time and the fire department is very conscience of this. They focus on the things that they can control and do the best they can with the rest. When a call comes into dispatch they have one minute to get it out to the fire house and their goal is to be on the truck and rolling out in one minute. Unfortunately, the last piece – travel time – is a variable they can’t really control especially with the challenges of traveling east and west in our community.
Another place they are working hard to manage the budget. The department’s $5.1 million budget is spent 91% on personnel and of the 44 full-time people in the department only one is not a fire-fighter or EMT.
Anyhow, during the experience we had the chance to go through a few items with members of the fire team that volunteered to work with us on their day off.
- Fire Extinguisher Demo – Captain Charlie Cooperider set-up the department’s fire extinguisher training kit which allowed Academy members to get a feel for what it takes to put out a (controlled) fire with a water extinguisher. In addition, Cooperider took time to explain the different types of extinguishers and how this demonstration is used at businesses around town to prepare their employees for worst-case situations.
- Review Apparatus – Chief Donahue walked academy members through the department’s equipment and its usage requirements. Found a couple of things very amazing in this case.
- We have dated equipment for our fire fighters and to bring it up to date would be very expensive (a new ladder truck is looking at $1.2 million).
- We need more firefighters/EMTs for our city’s size. The best we can have is three units on the road at any one time without having to call in mutual aid, the ISO suggests we have five.
- The Fire Department is working very hard to be more than just “first responders” in the community. They have outfitted – out of their own budget – a trailer that assists fire victims with those first needs – plywood, tarps, etc. – to get their property protected.
- Dress-Out / Smokey Room – Captain Dan Lobdell, with assistance from Steve Prose, took Academy members on a “trip” into the department’s smokey room to get a feeling for how hard it is to keep your bearings when smoke and darkness overwhelms you. In addition, members were given the chance to get dressed up in the 50 pounds and $7,500 worth of equipment that the fire fighters have to carry.
- Technology – The rugged laptop computers were not a surprise, but how the department is connecting with the county’s DALIS program to improve their response is a really cool piece of the puzzle. Thermal Imaging Cameras (only $17,000 each) have improved the firefighter’s safety giving them an artificial set of eyes to find other firefighters and victims in those smokey rooms. The LifePack 12 ($20,000 each) is a cardiac monitoring, capnography, and transmission of EKGs machine. The LifePack is able to send information from the machine to hospitals en route via cell phone lines.
What Did I learn?
The biggest thing is that 30,000 people in this city are being supported by only 44 fire fighters and EMTs which just seems a very small number for a department that goes on 4700 runs per year. I was very impressed with Donahue’s presentation and think the city should be very proud to have him leading our fire department.
People need to learn that a fire extinguisher is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergency situations. It is not intended for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which has reached the ceiling, endangers the user or otherwise requires the expertise of a fire department.Melanie