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September 14, 2015
Honorable Kate Supron
Board of Trustees
Village of Cayuga Heights
Monthly Report – September, 2012
September was a steady month with 48 runs for the month. There were 32 calls in the
Village of Cayuga Heights, 11 calls in the Town of Ithaca and 5 mutual aid requests. We
had 31 EMS runs and 17 fire calls. It was a pretty routine month. Our EMT’s and
Paramedics were busy throughout the month with all of the medical calls. Again this
month we responded to several calls for problems with natural gas. Early in the month
we were called mutual aid to Lansing for a gas problem at the Target store. An employee
had been moving a piece of equipment and struck the gas line going into one of the large
ceiling mounted heating units. The break occurred before the secondary shut off valve so
we were unable to shut down the gas until NYSEG arrived on scene. We evacuated the
store and the movie theater. The gas was secured without further incident. Late in the
month the contractors who are replacing gas lines in the village struck a gas main with a
backhoe at the corner of Triphammer and Klinewoods Roads. The main was ruptured for
about 20 minutes before NYSEG got a gas crew to clamp the line. Luckily this incident
was resolved without any other emergencies.
Training is in full swing at the station and around the county. We are holding a training a
week at the station. We continue to use the Engine Company/Truck Company training
format. One week we drill on engine operation and the next on truck company
operations. Engine operations generally consist of fire suppression and water supply jobs
while the truck company is responsible for rescue, ventilation and forcible entry. We
drill at the station and at the county training facility on Palm Road. We also have at least
one EMS training a month. Our fourth training is something we call “wildcard”. At this
training we generally try to do something serious but with a little fun thrown in. Topics
for these trainings include subjects like district familiarization; visiting structures are
under construction or renovation to observe building techniques, firefighting trivia or
equipment maintenance. It’s at night to get a good training but in a more relaxed setting.
We have several of our member enrolled in the Firefighter 1 class in Cortland County.
We have set the dates for the fall recruit training for October and November. We are
accepting 14 new members at our October monthly company meeting. This is a large
class. FASNY, at state association, has identified that in many areas there is a critical
shortage of volunteer firefighters. FASNY has been advertising on TV, radio and on
billboards on the sides of roads encouraging people to become volunteer firefighters.
Historically we have not had a problem with recruiting firefighters but this fall we saw
and increase in interest. We did not want to discourage any of those wishing to join so
we decided to go with this larger class. This has required us to slightly change how we
train these new members. Our checklist process requires the officers and senior
firefighters of the department to spend countless hours outside the normal trainings days
to ensure the recruits are proficient at the skills that every basic firefighter should know.
The way we have done this in the past is for the recruits to email the evaluators for
available time. With this class we are planning to do organized “checklist parties” on
evening and weekends to hopefully make the process less stressful for all involved. We
are always looking at ways to streamline and improve our training.
As we get close to Fire Prevention Week we have scheduled our annual open house for
October 20th at the fire station. The CHES 1st graders will be coming to the station on
October 18th for their yearly visit to the station. We are in the process of setting up times
to visit the children at Northeast Elementary School to talk about fire safety with them as
well. This years Fire Prevention Week theme is “Two ways out”. We will encourage all
the kids to do fire drills in the home and always try to figure two ways out of their homes
in case of emergency.
Everything else at the station seems to be going well.
Sincerely,
George Tamborelle
Fire Chief/Fire Superintendent