HomeMy WebLinkAboutrepoct15.pdfEXHIBIT 2016-074
Honorable Kate Supron
Board of Trustees
Village of Cayuga Heights
Monthly Report October 2015
The fire department ran 48 calls in October. There were 24 calls in the Village of Cayuga Heights, 22
calls in the Town of Ithaca and 2 mutual aid requests. We had 30 EMS responses and 18 fire calls.
We finished the fall recruit classes on October 31st and the probationary members are working through
their checklists now. All checklist work must be completed by the first Sunday in March. We did have
two of the recruits decide not to continue with training. One of them decided that she had misjudged time
commitment and the other decided that he was not prepared physically. Both were encouraged to reapply
in the spring if their situations changed. As busy as it was with the recruit classes on three consecutive
Saturdays in October we still continued with weekly trainings as well.
We held our annual Open House in early October and it was very well attended for a chilly and overcast
day. Our members love to open up the station and do demonstrations for the community at this event. We
were very pleased that the Cayuga Heights Police and the Army National Guard were able to join us and
display their equipment. Unfortunately we did not get a helicopter this year because of the inclement
weather. On Halloween we took the trucks out into the community and handed out candy to the kids.
This year we had been at training all day for the final recruit class and then most of the people who had
been at training all day went out for trick or treating with the trucks.
In late October we had all of our ground ladders and the aerial on L231 third party tested. This is an
annual requirement. We did have two of the ground ladders fail the test for an easily repaired reason and
they have since been put back in service. The aerial on L231 was found to have two cracked rub pads that
go between the fly sections of the ladder. This item failed the ladder during testing and they need to be
replaced. The parts are on order from Tyler Fire, our truck repair facility. The rub pads are sold as
complete sets and we have found out are quite expensive. We will be able to fit this cost into the
maintenance budget.
It seems that all the work we had done on t he HVAC units last summer is paying off as the weather turns
colder. The old air handling units tended to run constantly and did not seem to be able to maintain the
station at a constant temperature. The new units are very quiet and we are not seeing the temperature
fluctuations that we have been plagued with for years. The station parking lot is paved and striped. There
were some issues during paving due to cooler temperatures at the beginning of the day. SuitKote is aware
of this and we will take a look at the parking lot in the spring after a winter of snow and see how it holds
up. If there are issues then SuitKote is aware and will work with us to ensure that we are pleased with the
job. It does not look like the front pad concrete project will get done this fall and it will move to a spring
time project for the DPW.
The bunking rooms at the station are full and the bunkers are doing a great job keeping things looking
good at the station. We will have a couple of the bunkers graduating in the s pring but we are already
getting interest for the open rooms. This program remains robust. There is a group of MBA students from
the Johnson School working with the Tompkins County Fire Chiefs Association who will be coming to
the station in early November to look over our recruiting and training program. Several of the other fire
chiefs in that area pointed them our way as an example of how a positive recruiting program works.
Sincerely,
George Tamborelle
Fire Chief/Fire Superintendent