MORRO BAY FIRE DEPARTMENT
MISSION STATEMENT
To enhance the quality of life for the citizens and visitors of Morro Bay by providing exceptional emergency and allied services.
GOALS
* Protect lives, environment and property.
* Provide for the care of the sick and injured.
* Provide efficient and effective fire and emergency services.
* Make the public aware of the Fire Department’s mission and goals.
* Promote a safe environment for all members of the community.
* Recognize and plan for future needs.
* Maintain open relationships with the citizens and visitors of Morro Bay.
* Enhance life safety and disaster preparedness through public education.
* Provide effective leadership to enable the department to carry out its goals.
* Provide a work environment that is challenging and rewarding for our employees, one that promotes a positive atmosphere through teamwork and mutual respect.
* Supports the mission and the goals of the City of Morro Bay.
* Instill professional competence by providing a comprehensive training program.
* Fully utilize all resources available to the City.
VALUES STATEMENT
A Morro Bay Firefighter values integrity, professionalism, sensitivity, cooperation, and vitality.
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CITY OF MORRO BAY OFFICIALS
CITY COUNCIL
MAYOR
Janice Peters
COUNCIL MEMBERS
Carla Borchard Rick Grantham Noah Smuckler Betty Winholtz
CITY MANAGER
Andrea Lueker
FIRE CHIEF
Michael S. Pond
Annual Report Compiled By:
Morro Bay Fire Department Carol Tousignant, Administrative Technician
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MORRO BAY FIRE DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL
FIRE CHIEF
Michael S. Pond
Administrative Technician
Carol Tousignant
FIRE CAPTAINS
Steve Knuckles Jeff Olson George Rees
FIRE ENGINEERS
Todd Gailey Ariane Leiter Scott Subler
William Murphy Brandon Kato Jeff Simpson
FIRE FIGHTER
Michael Talmadge
FIRE MARSHAL (Part-Time)
Tom Prows
RESERVE FIRE ENGINEER
Jason Borchard* Graham Pask Michael Talmadge*** Isaiah van Zee
RESERVE FIRE FIGHTERS
Michael Aanerud Chris Chavis** Michael Daly James Darden* Dmitri Jarocki Aric Johnson Matt Kerro** Keely Moriarty** Sean Moynihan** James Negranti Ryan O’Leary** Kingsley Powell Kenneth Puaa** Joseph Ricci Micah Szopinski** Frank Salamida*
* Resigned during 2009 ** New hire in 2009 *** Hired as full time Fire Fighter July, 2009 3
Miscellaneous Photos from 2009
New Rescue built by Pierce Manufacturing, picked up in Ontario, California on 09/11/09.
Fire Fighters demonstrating Stop and Drop and Roll drill at Del Mar Elementary during the Alicia Ann Ruch Burn Relay on 10/08/09.
OES 274 Engine on Mutual Aid Jesusita Fire near Santa Barbara May 5-11, 2009.
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Highlights of 2009
In 2009, the Morro Bay Fire Fighters responded to 1,671 calls, our lowest number of emergency responses since 2005. However, progress was made on several long-term projects and fire fighters kept busy with station and equipment maintenance, training, fire prevention and other projects. Some of the highlights for Morro Bay Fire Fighters included:
• Taking delivery of a new Rescue Vehicle, 5351, in September. Grant funds totaling $115,000.00 were applied to the purchase price of the vehicle and new equipment for it. • Working on plans for the new administration/living quarters of Fire Station 53 on Harbor Street; receiving approval for a loan request from USDA for up to $3,000.000.00 for this station; and in September hearing that the ARRA AFG Fire Station Construction grant request, that was submitted in July, for $1,602,940.00, was funded. • Hiring seven new Reserve Fire Fighters; five in March including former Reserve Fire Fighter/EMT Micah Szopinski who had returned to the area, Chris Chavis, Keely Moriarty & Sean Moynihan who were already EMT’s, and Kenneth Puaa, a member of the Coast Guard stationed in Morro Bay; and in June Matt Kerro and Ryan O’Leary moved into the 10 minutes response area and were added to the Reserve force. • Having the Fire Department page on the City web site mostly complete. This is an on- going project to keep information current, but the basics are done. • Having two documented CPR field saves, the first on February 23rd, and the second on the 9th of April, by "B" shift. • The Fire Department Awards banquet on the 27th of March. • Responding to 19 calls on April 14th, the busiest day of the year. • Hiring a new Fire Fighter/Paramedic in July as a “floater” to help reach the Department goal of having 3 full–time personnel and one reserve fire fighter on duty each day. This is the first increase in fire suppression staffing in over 30 years. • Participating in the “Every 15 Minutes” program at Morro Bay High School. • Having a new radio repeater installed at 1405 Teresa Drive in May which improved radio communications along South Bay Boulevard. • Hiring “Seasonal Fire Fighters” in July to assist with projects such as hydrant testing and maintenance, hose testing, and building a retaining wall at Station 54 on Bonita Street. • Conducting a Point of Distribution (POD) drill on 09/23/09 and assisting with giving 630 seasonal flu shots. POD’s for first responders were held on 11/04, 11/12, and 12/04 where first responders were given the swine flu vaccination. • Participating in the Alicia Ann Ruch Burn Relay on 10/08 and the Rescue Challenge on the 24th, raising funds for the Alicia Ann Ruch Burn Foundation and the Morro Bay Community Foundation respectfully. • Held an Open House on November 14th so the public could see our new rescue vehicle and the equipment it carried, learn about the EMS equipment fire fighters use, and have their blood pressure taken. Children could visit the Fire Safety Trailer and experience being in a simulated fire. • Responding to five out-of-county wildland fires. 5
2009 In Review
January
One of the highlights for Engineer Murphy and Captain Rees occurred on January 11, 2009 when they traveled to the Pierce Manufacturing plant in Appleton, Wisconsin to finalize the design of the new rescue truck, prior to the start of it’s construction. Engineer Murphy had spent many hours working on the design of this unit during 2008. He incorporated the ideas of our staff along with input from the County Technical Rescue Team and Pierce Manufacturing to design a truck that could carry all the equipment Morro Bay wanted to have available on the unit. Prior to their leaving for the Pierce plant, the department was notified that we had been awarded a grant of $30,000.00 from the USDA for purchasing this truck. We had already received a combined total of $70,000.00 toward this purchase from the Friends of the Morro Bay Fire Department and the Hoag Family Trust. We also had secured $15,000.00 to be used for the purchase of the lighting equipment for this vehicle from monies awarded to the County through the Homeland Security grant. Thus, close to 50% of the cost of this vehicle was paid for with not-city monies.
January saw the first structure fire in Morro Bay as well as the first vegetation fire. Fire fighters responded to a home on Kings Street at 6:00 AM on January 10. The occupants awoke to a smoke filled home when a mirror fell off the wall. They were able to exit the home with no injuries and, after breaking a window for access, they used a garden hose to douse the five-foot flames so fire damage was confined to the single room. Fire personnel ventilated the structure and made sure there was no extension of the fire into the attic or a possibility of the fire rekin- dling. On the 21st, around 1:00 AM, fire fighters responded to a vegetation fire on Black Hill. It took a little over an hour before personnel from Morro Bay and Cal Fire were able to extinguish the fire, using hand tools and hose lines which were deployed from the closest hydrant at the east end of Carmel Street. Approx- imately ¼ of an acre was burned before the fire was extinguished. Thankfully, no structures were lost or threatened and no personnel were seriously injured during this incident, although several fire fighters did suffer from poison oak after this fire. Fire fighters responded to their first potential rescue for the year on Morro Rock on January 26th. A father and his two-year old son were caught in a rockslide while climbing the north side of Morro Rock. It is estimated they slid or fell about 25’ and actually landed uninjured next to the “No Climbing” sign at the bottom. Somehow another person escaped serious injury when fire fighters responded to a mutual aid request for a vehicle accident on Highway 41 on January 11 at 6:00 PM. A convertible with a single female driver was found about 150’ off the road down a 50’ embankment. Fire fighters assisted her out of her vehicle and with their assistance she was able to climb back up to the road, where she was treated for minor injuries.
In addition to the above 4 incidents, fire fighters responded to another 138 requests for service for various types of calls in January. They also spent many hours doing training, engine checks and routine maintenance on their equipment and the station, working on emergency plans and the
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5-Year Strategic plan, conducting fire prevention inspections, attending various meetings, filling SCBA bottles for members of the JPA air fill station and working on special projects. One such project most full time personnel worked on in January was creating documents for the new City web site.
FEBRUARY
Other major projects that started in 2008 continued to be worked on in February. City Council received the first draft of the Cal Fire proposal for providing contract fire protection to the City of Morro Bay. Prior to Cal Fire making their proposal, there were many meetings between the two organizations to determine our current level of service to the community. It was important to all that the level of service the citizens of Morro Bay were given by the current organization would be met or exceeded should the City decide to contract out services. Cal Fire also had to meet with each individual employee and check their training records to determine where they would rank in Cal Fire’s organizational structure.
Contracting out services for fire protection had been one of the suggestions put forth by the Management Study that the City requested in 2008. In keeping with other recommendations of the study, City Council had a goal-setting meeting on the 17th of February to review the goals they had set in 2008 and prioritize those goals they were still working on in keeping with the needs of the City. Completing fire station 53 tied for third out of the initial 54 items on their list. City Council agreed to use Measure Q monies, and borrow money if a low cost loan could be found, to fund the building of the administrative building and living quarters for fire personnel. The architect firm who designed the new Engine Bay had developed the basic design of the new quarters, but a lot of detail work would be needed for specific plans to be drawn up. Personnel were hoping this could be completed before the end of the year, so it could be sent out to bid. Also in keeping with the City Council’s wish to staff station 54 in the north end of town, the living quarters on Bonita Street were evaluated. It was determined that the building was substan- tially un-reinforced masonry construction, which meant that is would need a lot of work before it could meet the “essential building” standard needed for fire department buildings.
The recruitment for new Reserve Fire Fighters, which started in January, came to a conclusion on the 21st. Of the 29 applicants, 19 attended the physical ability testing that morning. All the candidates were required to perform several exercises related to fire fighting, complete a 1-mile run and do a swim in the bay. The swim is the only part of the physical ability test that is not timed. Morro Bay Fire Fighters can be called upon to go with either the Harbor Patrol or the Coast Guard by boat to the sand spit, or even to a boat out of the harbor when someone on board needs immediate medical attention. Should they find themselves tossed overboard for any reason, it would be necessary that they be able to stay afloat until they could be rescued. Oral interviews followed that afternoon for the 16 persons that passed the physical ability testing. The top candidates then needed to pass a background check, including a check of their driving record and fingerprinting, and a medical physical exam before they could be hired. Four new reserves and one former reserve that had moved back to the area were hired in March. Two others were hired in June after completing the Allan Hancock Fire Academy and moving within the ten- minute response area of Fire Station 53.
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In addition to the above projects personnel continued to work on other projects, such as the Fire Department page of the City Web site and building plans for Station 53, and followed their normal daily schedule of responding to emergencies, training, fire prevention, equipment checks and doing minor repairs, attending meeting, and so forth. Personnel also staffed a booth at Career Day at Morro Bay High School and assisted teaching a Rescue Systems 1 class.
Fire fighters responded to 123 calls in February, with the 27th one of the busiest days of 2009 with “A” Shift responding to 12 calls before the end of their shift at 8:00 AM the next morning. Six of the calls were for medical assistance (5 ALS and 1 BLS). The shift provided assistance to the public on three occasions by changing a battery in a smoke detector, helping the manager gain entry to her store when she forgot her keys and helping someone from their car into their home after having knee surgery. The other three calls were all mutual aid requests. Personnel were requested to assist with a traffic accident on Highway 41, and personnel on the technical rescue team (TRT) were called out to assist with a vehicle over the side on Nacimento Road, but were canceled when it was determined their assistance was not needed. The third mutual aid request was a little more unusual. Members of the TRT responded to Montano de Oro to assist a rider get her horse back on firm ground after getting stranded in the reef. Morro Bay personnel assisted Cal Fire personnel in getting a chest harness and several lines on the horse so they could guide it back up on the rocks. It took over an hour before the horse could walk without assistance back to the parking lot where the owner put it in its trailer.
Other memorable calls in February included the rescue of two climbers from the north face of Morro Rock. At 8:49 AM on the 1st, Morro Bay Fire Fighters along with members of the Cal Fire/SLO County TRT responded to Morro Rock when two climbers were spotted. While initially it did not appear they were in distress, shortly after personnel arrived on scene, it appeared that the climbers had stopped moving, so a rescue group of climbers began their ascent for a possible high angle rescue. After about 10 minutes the climbers began moving again towards the summit, which they reached without any further problems. The rescue group met the climbers as they were descending via an established trail and escorted them to the bottom where State Park rangers were waiting.
Another tragedy was averted on February 21 when fire personnel responded to the 2400 block of Nutmeg at 3:34 AM where they found smoke coming from a storage-utility area below the house. After making a forcible entry, fire fighters found a small campfire that had been started by several juveniles as a way to keep warm while spending the night in the storage area. Two juveniles were trying to hide from fire personnel but the other two were unresponsive when found. Fortunately, all four recovered from the smoke and carbon monoxide inhalation. One of the more extensive hazardous material calls occurred a couple of day later at 7:30 AM on the 23rd. Approximately 5 to 10 gallons spilled out of a faulty fuel tank on a passenger vehicle that was about to enter Highway 1 at the northbound on-ramp at South Bay Boulevard. Fire personnel needed to control and contain the spill before they could begin the process of removing the gasoline from the roadway. Before containment was complete, approximately 0.5 to 1 gallon of gasoline had found its way into the storm drain. CHP was the on-scene command and assisted with notifying SLO County Environmental Health, the Department of Fish and Game, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Haz Mat National Response Center. It took about two hours before the situation was mitigated and fire personnel were able to return to the station. 8
Another memorable call for fire personnel occurred later that evening when “B” shift responded to at call on Ironwood for an 85 year-old female who was found pulseless and apneic. They immediately began CPR. The patient regained a pulse, so personnel continued their resuscitation measures and assisted ambulance personnel in transporting her to the hospital.
MARCH
The Fire Department had their annual awards banquet at Rose’s on March 27th. Engineer Todd Gailey was named Fire Fighter of the Year with Engineers Bill Murphy and Scott Subler receiving Meritorious Service Awards. Reserve Engineer Graham Pask and Reserve Fire Fighter Frank Salamida received Gold Hook and Ladder Awards for attending over 90% of Reserve Drills and both had a high percentage of responding to station callbacks and general alarms. Reserves Michael Aanerud, Dmitri Jarocki, Kingsley Powell and Michael Talmadge all received the Silver Hook and Ladder Award for attending 80 % of all Reserve Drills with a high percent- age of responding to station callbacks and general alarms. Homer Alexander was honored with a Community Service Award for his support of the Fire Department.
Fire fighters received a lot of excellent training in confined space rescue when the Harbor Department let us use the Restless Sea II vessel that was waiting to be demolished. The owner of a house on Olive Street also let the fire fighters use his residence for training before he demolished it and built a new one. While they could not set and extinguish fires in either, they could use both for fire scenarios. They also could practice ventilation techniques, conduct search and rescue exercises and practice throwing ladders to gain access to the roof of the house. Through a grant from Homeland Security, Engineer Murphy was able to attend a class on terror- ism and weapons of mass destruction at CSTI. Engineer Gailey assisted in teaching a surf rescue class. The Department agreed to participate in the Cal Works program at Cuesta College by accepting a student who was hoping to enter their paramedic program. All personnel helped in supervising her. It was a short-term program with the student working 20 hrs. a week for about eight weeks. She was paid by the State through Cuesta College, not by the City. She received a lot of training and learned a lot about being a fire fighter while she was involved with the program.
After receiving a recall notice, firefighters inspected and replaced batteries in the four automatic defibrillators (AED’s) that were purchased with a grant from the Hoag Family Trust several years ago. One AED was given to the trainer-medical assistant for the Morro Bay High School Athletic Department and the others were placed in the Veterans Hall, the Community Center, and the Fire Chief’s Vehicle. There were not enough funds to purchase a fifth AED, but the Harbor Department was able to provide the balance and thus their AED also needed its batteries replaced. Also in March all air compressors were inspected and certified by the State and the annual servicing was performed on the JPA Breathing Air Compressor.
Captain Rees participated in the oral/assessment center testing for San Luis City Fire Engineer and Captain Knuckles severed as a member of an oral panel and assessment center for a promo- tional Fire Captain position at Santa Maria Fire. Fire personnel continued working with the architects to develop plans for a new station and on March 9th City Council gave authorization
9 for the City manager to sign USDA loan documents for a loan fur up to $3,000,000.00 for this project.
Fire personnel only responded to 108 emergencies in March, one of our lowest monthly call volumes for quite some time. One of the most time consuming calls was again a mutual aid request for a vehicle rollover on Highway 41. The Morro Bay Fire crew assisted in extricating the driver and the passenger and provided medical attention to both before they were transported to a local hospital.
APRIL
In contrast to March, April was the busiest month of the year as personnel responded to 175 emergency calls, including four serious traffic accidents. On April 3rd they responded to a vehicle accident at Atascadero Road and Ironwood Ave. at 6:36 PM. The single patient had self- extricated, but was transported to a San Luis Obispo hospital with neck pain. Two hours later at 8:36 PM personnel responded to a vehicle roll over accident in the 2000 block of Main Street. The Chevy Blazer had rolled over numerous times wrapping itself in the chain link fence. The patient was in severe emotional distress and was uncooperative with the paramedics who were trying to examine her. She eventually agreed to be transported and one of our paramedics rode along to the hospital to assist with her care en route. On the 11th Morro Bay was the first engine on scene at a vehicle accident on Highway 41 near Bear Ridge. The vehicle had left the roadway and gone down an embankment. The driver was removed from the vehicle and placed directly on a backboard and brought up the embankment where she was placed on a gurney and made ready for ambulance transport with a fire fighter assisting in the ambulance. On the 28th fire fighters responded to a vehicle that had hit a tree while on the traffic circle at Quintana and Morro Bay Boulevard. Per witnesses it appeared that the driver had passed out prior to hitting the tree. She had a history of cardiac problems and was transported for further evaluation.
A large percentage of calls fire personnel respond to are medical aids. A much smaller percent- age of responses are for fully involved vehicle fires. However, fire fighters responding to a mutual aid call on Hwy 41 on the 8th, found a pick-up truck with fire coming from the engine compartment, the cab of the truck and also a portion of the truck bed. Fire personnel were able to extinguish the fire and keep it from spreading. Neither fire fighters nor bystanders reported any injuries.
Two of the medical calls fire fighters responded to in April would not be considered typical. On the 9th “B” shift found their patient slumped over in a living room chair and the husband was not sure if she was breathing. Fire fighters immediately began performing CPR and other life saving measures including electrical shocks with the defibrillator. The patient went in and out of 10 varying cardiac rhythms while they continued with CPR and readying the patient for transport. Two fire fighters assisted the ambulance medic with CPR during transport and prior to reaching the hospital the patient regained spontaneous respirations and her pulse. This was the second documented save for “B” shift this year. Members of “C” shift may have thought they were working in a big city on the 8th when they were dispatched to shots fired on Seaview with one person down. By the time personnel had access to the scene, they found one subject who had been shot twice. He was pulseless and apneic surrounded by a large pool of blood. A second subject was in police custody suffering from a single gunshot wound to the mouth. A third male subject, who was determined to have the most serious (but viable) injuries, was found in the front yard with multiple gunshot wounds – one to the chest and one to the left shoulder. Per their triage policy the most serious patient was transported first, after his wounds were treated in the field. The fourth patient had been struck by a gun and was suffering from only a small laceration to the temple. The fifth and final patient was found in the garage suffering from a gunshot wound to the left flank. Since all five subjects needed to be transported, San Luis Ambulance sent a second ambulance to the scene and Cambria Ambulance also assisted in transporting the patients to local hospitals. In addition to having to triage patients, personnel also had to be careful to preserve the scene as much as possible as this was obviously a crime scene. The next day a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing was held for all persons involved with this call, regard- less of which department or agency they worked for. Should anyone have needed additional counseling, it was made available. While first responders know they may have to respond to this type of call at any time, thankfully, for Morro Bay, it is most unusual.
Technical Rescue Team members Gailey and/or Murphy were called out on 6 different occasions. On two occasions they were canceled within a few minutes when it was determined that additional help was not needed. However, on the 8th, they took part in a trench rescue at CMC where a worker’s lower extremities were trapped by approximately 900 lbs of dirt for about 2 hours. On the 11th team members were called to the Salmon Creek area for a hiker who had gotten his hand pinned under a rock. There were many obstacles in the canyon, so hikers needed a very advanced skill level to reach the hiker. Engineer Gailey was the first person to reach the hiker. He immediately requested a helicopter to airlift the patient and made the patient as comfortable as possible while waiting for additional team members to assist with freeing his hand. Rescue workers needed to hike back out of the canyon once the patient had been airlifted. Engineer Gaily spent close to eight hours on this one incident - leaving Morro Bay at approxi- mately 6:15 PM and not returning until 2:00 AM. A surf rescue near Spooner’s Cove was toned out on the 19th. Engineer Gailey was able to ride along with a Harbor Patrol Officer Kale on a PWC and found a person who had lost his kayak when it capsized and he was forced to try to swim to shore. The kayaker made it to some rocks near the shore, but he was unable to swim any further. Because they were familiar with the area and the ocean, PWC operator Kale was able to drop off Engineer Gailey at an opportune time so he could safely swim to the victim who was now suffering from hypothermia. Engineer Gailey was able to swim himself and the victim through a series of reefs to the shore, where additional rescuers were waiting. The victim was quickly loaded into a stokes basket and carried up the cliff to a waiting ambulance. The very next day Engineer Murphy was called upon to assist in a cliff rescue in Shell Beach.
The busiest day of the year was April 14th. The first call of the day for “C” shift was a routine medical aid call at 10:45 AM; they completed their 19th call of the day at 9:06 PM. The other 18 11 calls were related to the unusually high winds experienced in Morro Bay that day and occurred in two different time periods. Multiple calls for assistance started coming in at 1:50 PM, so a gen- eral alarm was sounded and available off-duty full time and reserve personnel returned to duty. This allowed us to have three engines in the field. Even so there usually was another call to respond to before the first assignment was completed. Before 4:00 PM fire personnel responded to 12 calls. Six were for reports of lines down. Two cases were determined to be cable televi- sion lines and when investigating another call personnel found roofing or construction paper had blown unto high voltage lines. During this same time period fire personnel helped a citizen re- trieve her trailer and sailboat that had blown down her driveway and into the street. Fire fighters secured the trailer tongue to a sawhorse and chocked the tires to keep it in place. They also removed a tree limb from the roadway, checked for a gas leak, and explained to a senior citizen that her life line would not work since the power was out and her telephone was inoperable. They let her borrow a cell phone so she could make a call before responding to their next call. One of the engine crews assisted a wheelchair bound person from the second story of a business to the ground floor when the power outage rendered the elevator out of service. One of the engines investigated a light bar that was broken, but not severed, from the light pole. They placed barricades around the bottom of the pole so people could not walk underneath it while it waited to be repaired. All fire personnel were able to return to the station when all the calls were handled by 3:53 PM. Once in quarters they began the process of making sure all engines were restocked and refueled so they would be ready to respond to the next emergency. Fire fighters also had to start writing a report for every call they had responded to. The next wave of six calls started at 7:44 PM, so again off-duty personnel were called back to work. This set of calls continued until 9:06 PM. Once again there were reports of lines down that needed to be investi- gated. At the first address personnel found that the power line had broken at both ends of the adjoining poles. Thus, only an unenergized wire was on the ground, which could be rolled up without any possible safety hazards to themselves or the public. At the second address, the lines turned out to be a telephone line, so dispatch notified the phone company. Fire personnel answered three requests for people trapped in elevators at hotels when another power outage occurred. In each of these cases power to the elevator had to be disconnected and then the eleva- tor was lowered to the ground floor by use of a manual valve. In one case the occupants of the elevator assisted in opening the doors once it was on the ground floor but at the other two inci- dents the doors needed to be pried from the outside. One hotel manager was surprised when the elevator was actually found to be empty. Most hotels also call a local elevator technician to the scene to assist fire personnel, but when experiencing multiple calls, they are not always available at each location. The last call of the day was to assist a bedridden person with an inflatable hospital mattress. It had gradually deflated during the power outage. Fire fighters were able to inflate the mattress by using one of the generators from the engine.
There was no wind on April 20th, but “B” Shift had a very busy day running 11 medical calls during their 24 hr. shift, and sending off-duty Engineer Murphy to a TRT call in Pismo Beach for a cliff rescue. The four ALS calls, two BLS calls, two false alarm medical aid calls and three public assist calls for persons who had fallen (were uninjured) but needed assistance getting back up were scattered throughout the day and were mostly routine.
As illustrated above, firefighters are called upon to use many skills. There are many low frequency but high risk events. Honing these skills is a big part of their training program for that 12 very reason. Since fire fighters take blood pressures daily, there is no chance they will need reminders on how to do that, but trench rescues, surf rescues, elevator rescues, multi-patient triage situations and even fully involved fires do not happen that frequently. Thus, spending many hours training for these types emergencies lets fire fighters respond quickly and act decisively when placed in those emergency situations.
While responding to 175 emergencies did take up a lot of time in April, fire fighters still found time to get some additional training outside our own department that will further enhance their abilities. Engineer Subler and Captain Knuckles attended a class on defensive tactics for arson investigations at CSTI and Engineer Murphy attended another class on disaster training that was paid for with a grant. Reserve Daly received a grant to attend the Hazardous Materials training and is now Morro Bay’s representative on the County Haz Mat team. April was also the month that all fire personnel began their review of wildland fire operations. Each member of the department needs to have their training completed by mid May so they can respond to out of county wildland fires. For many of the new reserves hired in March this was their first exposure to this type of training. Since we had four of our new reserves in the SLO County Paid Call Fire Academy, we also sent full time personnel in to help teach various sections of this academy. Fire fighters also participated in the Community Service Day held at Cookie Crock Market on their first anniversary of opening their Morro Bay store.
May
On May 6th, the fire department received some very good news at the first budget hearing for fiscal year 2009/2010. City Council approved $168,000 for debt service for Phase II of the fire station and also an additional $191,000.00 to cover personnel costs for hiring a new fire fighter- paramedic and using reserve fire fighters to augment the shifts as a fourth person. The new hire would be used to cover shifts when personnel had planned vacation or training days. One person could not cover the vacancies of all nine full-time fire fighters as his work schedule also had to abide by FSLA laws and thus could only work 120 hours every 15 days. But this extra person will go a long way in helping us reach our goal of providing three full-time personnel on duty every day. While we could not begin the hiring process until the budget was approved, the department did begin discussions on how to best utilize the new fire fighter and how to recruit for the position. The second council budget workshop on the 16th kept this new position in the budget but the final budget was not yet approved.
Fire fighters participated in a great public education event called the “Every 15 Minutes Program” held at the high school on the 21st. During a school assembly, fire fighters responded to a simulated vehicle accident caused by a drunk driver. Fire fighters had to use the Jaws of Life to extricate a student from a smashed up car and treat the patient before he was transported in the ambulance. Even though students knew this was staged, it was difficult for them to watch the scenario where a fellow student was pronounced dead. The Police Department brings this program to the high school every three or four years and it always gets the students to think of the consequences of drinking and driving. In addition to the Fire Department, CHP and the San Luis Ambulance Company took part in this drill to make it very true to life for the students.
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Every 15 Minutes Exercise at Morro Bay High School on May 21, 2009.
Staged accident prior to arrival of first responders.
Fire, police & ambulance personnel arrive at scene.
Personnel providing medical care to victims Removing roof of vehicle to gain access to and preparing to remove roof of vehicle patients so they can be removed.
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All fire fighters completed their wildland training in May. Captain Knuckles, Engineers Simpson and Subler along with Reserve Fire Fighters Talmadge, Ricci, Prows, Negranti, and Moynihan participated in the County’s annual wildland urban interface drill. This year it was held in Arroyo Grande on May 15th. On May 28 & 29, Captain Rees, Engineers Simpson and Subler and Reserve Fire Fighter Darden were able to take part in the Fort Hunter Liggett live wildland fire fighting exercise. Putting their wildland training to good use Captain Olson, Engineer Murphy, and Reserves Daly and Aanerud responded to a mutual aid request for the Jesusita Fire in Santa Barbara on May 5th. Before returning to Morro Bay on the 11th, they had saved numerous structures from this wind driven wildland fire and extinguished many hot spots before they could do major damage.
May was our second busiest month of the year with fire personnel responding to 155 requests for assistance. Unlike April, there were no major storms that kept multiple engines in the field for several hours at a time, but on the 9th personnel handled 5 overlapping medical aids in a two- hour period. The first call at 7:05 PM was for someone who fell in the State Park campground and suffered a head injury. Shortly after the crew was on scene at the campground, dispatch received a call for a possible overdose on Vashon. Off duty personnel responded to this call at 7:13 PM and the on-duty crew continued treating the head injury before responding to the Vashon street address at 7:21. However, before they arrived at that address, dispatch directed them to another ALS call on Beachcomber at 7:25 PM for someone suffering from chest pains. They were beginning their work-up of this patient when they were informed that dispatch had another medical aid request in the 2800 block of Main Street. The off duty crew had just finished at the Vashon address, so they responded to the Main Street address at 7:39 PM for a transient who had a serious head injury. This was an old injury and the patient did not want to be transported even after the medics told him the consequences of his injury getting infected. They were not able to clear from this emergency until 8:18 PM. About this same time the patient from Beachcomber was loaded for transport to a hospital in San Luis with Engineer Gailey providing continuing care in the ambulance. The rest of his crew cleared the scene at 8:19 PM. Another request for ALS medical assistance was received for a gentleman who had fallen in the 700 block of Morro Bay Boulevard at 8:18 PM so both engines responded and began their work-up of the patient. He also was transported to a hospital in San Luis with Reserve Fire Fighter Ricci assist- ing the ambulance crew with patient care during transport. The engines returned to the station at 8:03 PM, but off duty personnel had to remain until both medics returned from hospitals in San Luis Obispo. Fire personnel had responded to two medical aids earlier in the day, and responded to one more ALS call at 6:33 AM before going off shift at 8:00 AM.
Several serious traffic accidents occurred in May. A pick-up crashed into the side of a residen- tial building on May 7th. The left corner of the front bumper was sticking through the wall of the building causing a 12” intrusion causing a hole approximately 4’ in diameter. The patient was unresponsive when fire fighters arrived on scene. He was wearing his seatbelt but the airbag did not deploy. Reserve Fire Fighter Salamida assisted with treating the patient while he was being transported by ambulance to a San Luis hospital. On the 18th firefighters needed to use the jaws to extricate a patient from a vehicle that had rolled over on Hwy 41. The vehicle had come to rest on its top and the patient’s left arm was trapped between the roof of the vehicle and the ground. Responders from San Luis Ambulance, CHP, Morro Bay Police and Cal Fire all arrived on scene and were able to lift the one side of the vehicle to free the arm. Since none of the doors 15 were operable, the jaws were needed to fully extricate the driver. At 8:18 AM. on the 31st, fire personnel responded to a motorcycle accident at Island and Main. The driver, who had been wearing a helmet, was suffering from leg and hip pain. His passenger was not so lucky. When the motorcycle struck the trailer in front of them, she was ejected off the motorcycle and into a vehicle in the oncoming traffic lane. CPR was in progress when fire fighters arrived and they quickly provided assistance with CPR and other trauma care. Engineers Gailey, and Subler and Reserve Fire Fighter Ricci all assisted with patient care while the patient was transported Code 3 to Sierra Vista Hospital.
On the 16th fire fighters found a travel trailer fully involved with fire upon their arrival at the Bonita trailer park at 10:10 PM. Two vehicles parked nearby were also burning. Fire personnel initiated a direct attack on all the burning objects and prevented the fire from spreading further. However, two adjacent travel trailers were damaged by radiant heat from the fire. The single occupant inside the travel trailer at the time of the fire was transported by ambulance with 2nd and 3rd degree burns to his lower extremities. When fire personnel investigated the fire, they determined it was caused by a space heater being used in the travel trailer.
JUNE
As the school year draws to a close, it seems that the fire department gets a lot of requests for station tours, or for the engine to come to the classroom. 2009 was no different. Tours were given to one kindergarten class on the 6th and to three other classes on the 9th. The Fire Depart- ment once again participated in the “Ride of a Lifetime”. For the last several years, this ride is one of many items auctioned off by the Del Mar PTA as part of their fundraiser. On the last day of school, the winning class will meet at the City Park across from the Fire Station and ride the City trolley along with the mayor and City Council members as it makes it way to Del Mar School as part of a parade that also includes several police vehicles, including the DARE car, a fire engine and the Fire Chief’s vehicle. The class usually gets to stop at the Rock and climb onto the fire engine for a class picture. This is a highly prized honor and the parents of the winning class in 2009 pooled their money to bid $1,700.00 for their children to participate in this event.
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One fire department project that was completed in June was the addition of a new radio repeater at 1405 Teresa Drive. The addition of this repeater improved radio communications along the South Bay Boulevard corridor and the area at the south end of Morro Bay. Personnel continued to work on other projects that are on-going, such as Phase II plans for the fire station, pages for the city web site, and grant submittals as well as their daily and weekly assignments such as fire prevention, keeping their inventory up to date, and all equipment in good working condition, or assisting another department. For example, on the 25th, they spent several hours helping the Harbor Department with the Junior Lifeguard Program.
Each day the shift tries to complete two hours of scheduled training. Some days this fits in easily and other days not at all. If a piece of equipment should break, they must coordinate getting it fixed in a timely fashion. That could mean getting parts locally if possible and having the shift repair the equipment, or perhaps they need to research ordering parts from a non-local vendor or finding a repair shop that can complete the repair if neither the fire fighters nor City Yard can do the repair. Sometimes the fire trucks need to go to San Luis or Santa Maria for repair and some companies have mobile mechanics that can come to us. On the busier days, they may have too many calls to do the assigned training or work on other assignments. Fire fighters must be flexible as it is very difficult to plan to do something at a specific time and it is not often that they are able to work on their projects without a lot of interruptions. While there are days when they may not be interrupted for hours at a time, those days can be few and far between.
The call volume for June dropped to 131. And while most of the calls were more of the typical medical aid and public assist calls, on the 15th they did respond to a pick-up fire on Panay Street. Upon arrival fire fighters found a bystander attempting to extinguish the flames with a garden hose. Fire fighters were able to extinguish the fire, which was located in the engine compartment and had spread to a portion of the cab. The owner stated he had used the vehicle about two hours prior to the fire and had experienced no problems with the vehicle. When he returned home, he parked the vehicle and turned off the ignition as usual. It appeared that the wiring near the master cylinder had arced, but fire personnel could not determine what caused the fire. Three subjects in a boat escaped serious injury when their boat ran aground on a foggy morning on June 19th. At 9:00 AM. fire personnel responded to a report of a beached vessel on the sand spit. While responding, personnel were informed the vessel was actually south of the South Jetty. Coast Guard and Harbor Patrol were already en route to this location. The fire crew was able to cross the bay in a second harbor vessel and hike across the sand spit to meet the three subjects who declared they were not injured, just wet. The subjects stated that they got too close to the beach due to the poor visibility. Two medical aids did not have such a happy outcome. On the 23rd fire personnel responded to a residence on Greenwood to the report of an unresponsive, pulseless, apneic female in the bathtub. Ambulance personnel arrived on scene first and had just removed the patient from the tub. No one could determine how long the patient had been in her present condition. Fire fighters initiated treatment on scene and Engineer Leiter and Reserve Fire Fighter Ricci continued to assist ambulance personnel with patient care during transport. Unfortunately no spontaneous respirations occurred and resuscitation efforts were stopped when patient care was transferred to the hospital. Another CPR call occurred on the 27th when person- nel were called to a motel on Main Street. An 8 year-old boy had been pulled from the pool and Police Officer Hannibal was doing chest compressions, with ambulance personnel assisting with ventilation. Fire personnel took over CPR and ventilations while the patient was loaded for 17 transport to Sierra Vista. Engineer Leiter and Firefighter Aanerud continued doing CPR during transport, but there was no change in the patient’s conditions. Fire fighters know they can not save every patient, but it is always difficult when it appears their efforts were to no avail.
JULY
This was an exciting month for Fire Fighters as City Council approved the final budget and it still included the hiring of one additional fire fighter/paramedic. This was the first new fire fighter position in 40 years. Much thought went into the hiring process and how to find the best person for this floater position. After reviewing previous recruitments, it appeared that having someone that was familiar with Morro Bay worked best for our department. Thus, the Fire Chief elected to add a requirement that all applicants needed to have previous experience working as a fire fighter for the City. Over the years many of our reserves have gone on to become fire fighter/paramedics for various agencies throughout the state. Current reserves with at least three years of experience would not have to meet the paramedic requirement at the time of hire. They would have 4 years after being hired to get this certification. We wanted to hire someone as quickly as possible, so we did a very fast recruitment. The job was announced on the 6th, applications accepted through the 14th, and applicants went through the testing process on the 22nd. Since the department knew all the candidates, we knew we had a very competent group to test, but they were put through the paces. In addition to the oral interview, candidates needed to assess a simulated medical emergency, a fire emergency, and write a short essay on why they would be the best candidate for the position. A teacher graded this essay with emphasis given to grammar, spelling, and punctuation, as well as its content and thought formulation. The top candidate was Michael Talmadge, a current Reserve Engineer who was also a paramedic. Michael accepted Chief Pond’s offer of employment on the 27th, and worked his first day as a full-time Morro Bay Fire Fighter/Paramedic on the 28th. Michael has proven to be a definite asset to the Department. The “floater’ is a difficult position as his schedule can change fre- quently. The floater may be asked to cover several ”A” shift days one week, and then cover a “B” shift day and maybe even a “C” shift day the following week. Thus, his work schedule is not as consistent as the other personnel who are assigned a specific shift at the beginning of the year. His schedule can change monthly as training classes and special requests are received. His schedule must follow all FLSA guidelines. The Fire Chief continues to work with Talmadge to find a weekly shift that works for him as well as helps the department have 3 full-time personnel on duty as frequently as possible. Fire fighter Talmadge has been very willing to accommodate the department and willingly accepted schedule changes that have him working two 24-hour days in row to cover shifts.
July also is the month that the Fire Department hires several Reserve Fire Fighters to work as Seasonal Fire Fighters for about four months. Most seasonals work 40 hrs. per week and complete various projects for the Department such as hose and hydrant testing. While doing the hydrant testing they also do any other maintenance work they find the hydrant needs. This year they were able to provide a new coat of paint to most of the hydrants. In the event of a large- scale incident, or simultaneous incidents, they are quickly able to provide additional help to the on-duty crew. Most projects assigned to seasonals require large blocks of time to complete and it is no longer possible for full time fire fighters to finish these tasks as part of their daily routine. This year one of their first projects was to help with the construction of a new retaining wall at 18
Station 54 on Bonita Street. Earlier in the year the neighbors on the adjacent lot agreed to split the cost and the responsibility of building the wall with the Fire Department and were anxious to begin work on this project. Thus, with the help of Mike Wilcox, from Parks and Recreation, seasonals worked on the underground part of the retaining wall and once that portion was complete the neighbors finished it by installing a fence on top of the retaining wall.
rd On the 3 of July the Fire Chief submitted the ARRA AFG Fire Station Construction Grant. Competition for the grants would be stiff, but our project fit the “ shovel ready” type of project they were looking for. Knowing it could be in our favor if the City had a financial share in the building, he only asked for about 50% of the building cost in the grant.
th Other events that involved fire fighter participation included the 4 of July Celebration. Since Morro Bay elected to have a laser show this year, there was no need to standby during fireworks. However, traffic congestion could still be a problem once the show was over, so they placed staffed engines at both ends of town for a few hours to insure they would not be held up by traffic leaving Morro Bay or just passing through from other fireworks shows. This way they could reach any address in Moro Bay quickly. Fire fighters responded to 8 calls on the 4th. They were able to enjoy the barbecue that Department heads provided for all city employees prior to the laser show. On the 15th, fire fighters welcomed the Fire Fighters Cancer Support Network team on their Morro Bay stopover before the team continued their charitable bike ride towards Los Angeles. Also on the 15th two juveniles were counseled about the dangers to themselves and others when playing with fire. They had been found using a spray deodorant and finger nail polish remover to set fires on their skin and clothes.
Morro Bay Fire Fighters along with personnel from the harbor department, the Coast Guard, and five other surrounding fire stations participated in a training exercise on the 28th using a boat in our harbor that was scheduled to be demolished. Personnel responded to a boat fire scenario utilizing the Coastal Incident Response Plan. This was a great large- scale exercise for all who participated.
July was another very busy month with fire fighters responding to 153 requests for service, with 132 of them being medical aids. One of the most unusual calls, or perhaps surprising would be a better word, occurred on the 21st. At 4:00 AM Engineers Leiter and Murphy responded to Mindora Street where they found a 22 year old female had just given birth. The new mother 19 stated she did not know she was pregnant, and thus when cramping started, she did not realize the need to go to a hospital or to call 9-1-1 right away. While mother and child appeared fine, Engineer Leiter continued patient care during transport to the hospital.
AUGUST
Most of the highlights for the month of August occurred when fire personnel left the City. On the 11th Captain Knuckles took a type 3 strike team to the La Brea Fire in Santa Barbara County. The OES engines were requested a couple of days later. Captain Rees, Engineer Simpson and Reserve Fire Fighters Darden and Salamida left Morro Bay on the 13th and returned on the 16th as that fire was contained. Captain Knuckles and the type 3 strike team were reassigned to the Lockheed fire in Monterey County until they returned on the 23rd. A second mutual aid request came in on the 29th for the Station Fire. Captain Knuckles, Engineer Subler, Reserve Fire Fighters Aanerud and Ricci responded in OES 274 to what became the largest fire in the Angels National Forest history burning over 160,000 acres, destroying 89 residences, 26 commercial properties and 94 out buildings and causing two fire fighter deaths.
th Engineer Murphy and Captain Knuckles flew back to the Pierce plant in Wisconsin on the 26 to do a final inspection on the new rescue vehicle. They had to find any mistakes in the design before we accepted delivery so they could be corrected. If anything had gotten missed in the final inspection, Pierce would not be responsible for making those corrections. They found a few items that needed to be corrected, but when they left on the 29th, the delivery was set for the first part of September.
The personnel that remained in Morro Bay always kept things running smoothly, even when a third of their full-time personnel were out of the County. They continued keeping all equipment and the station well maintained and in good working order and the new fire fighter on track with his probationary assignments. Truck 5342 passed its annual pump testing, and further work was done on the Fire Department Web site and rewriting the Standard Operating Guidelines (SOG’s). Captain Olson began training and planning for the Point of Distribution (POD) drill that would be held in September. With the swine flu epidemic on the horizon, and getting a lot of press, those in charge of the drill were expecting a large turnout for flu shots. At this point they antici- pated having the swine flu vaccination available for the POD drill as well as the seasonal flu shot. Since Morro Bay had given out the least number of vaccines in 2008, the County had agreed to open our free vaccination clinic to Senior Citizens as well as first responders and their families. As in earlier years, county nurses would be giving the actual vaccinations, not the paramedics, since this was a drill, not a real emergency vaccination.
th Morro Bay experienced it’s own vegetation fire on the 28 when power lines on Little Morro Creek Road ignited the vegetation near the road and it spread up the slope toward Radcliff. The downed power lines on the roadway hindered the initial attack, but once PG&E workman cut the wire, fire fighters had the access they needed. Crews from Cal Fire and Cuesta Camp attacked the fire from the top of Radcliff while Morro Bay personnel initiated a direct attack with a pro- gressive hose lay from Little Morro Creek Road. Eventually a line was placed around the fire but approximately 3 to 4 acres burned before the fire was contained. Fire personnel were at the scene for about three hours before the fire was completely extinguished. 20
The vegetation fire was just one of the 145 emergencies personnel responded to in August. Again the majority of these calls (119) were medical aids and the others were the more typical traffic accidents with no injuries, checking carbon monoxide or smoke detectors that were malfunctioning, checking for a gas leak or a leaking fire hydrant, standing by for a police operation and assisting another fire department with a fire investigation.
SEPTEMBER
September was not one of our busiest months based on call volume, but it had some very interesting calls that again tested personnel’s ability to respond to calls that had multiple facets that needed to be addressed. A traffic collision on south Bay Boulevard on the 3rd was one such call. Initially responding to a vehicle accident with injuries, en route they were notified by dispatch that one of the vehicles was on fire and moments later that the fire had spread to the nearby vegetation. In a period of minutes Acting Captain Leiter had to shift her response plan from that of being a potential medial aid with a possible extrication to one involving attacking vehicle and vegetation fires while still facing the possibility of having victims trapped in what was now a burning vehicle. Her first response was to request a general alarm and mutual aid as this incident could not be handled by the four-person engine crew. On arrival they learned that all persons in the vehicles were accounted for and being looked after by State Park rangers. Thus, their focus turned to extinguishing the fires. This focus was even more intense when additional information provided at scene was that there was ammunition in one of the vehicles. Fortunately, all fires were contained before any explosions occurred. Ambulance personnel arrived and were able to treat the patients on scene before transporting them to a San Luis hospi- tal. Personnel on the first arriving engine continued to monitor the operations of the tow truck in removing the vehicles from the brush with their lines deployed. Once the vehicles had been removed from the scene, personnel cut back additional brush to ensure there was no vegetation smoldering that could reignite the surroundings. Additional call back personnel from Morro Bay had assisted with the wildland mop-up operations, but two units were released shortly after their arrival to respond to another traffic accident in the 2600 block of Main Street. This was a single vehicle accident and the driver elected to have her husband drive her to the hospital. Off-duty personnel continued to cover the City and responded to an ALS medical call on Emerald Circle before the on-duty crew cleared from their traffic collision. A few days later on the 5th, fire personnel responded to another vehicle accident on South Bay Boulevard. This time a single vehicle had knocked down a support pole from the electrical distribution system. Traffic was blocked in both directions. After confirming that there were no injuries and no hazardous mate- rials leaking from the vehicle, a request for PG&E to respond to the incident was made. Fire personnel were able to disconnect the support wires from the pole, move it off the road and then move the guy wires off the pole before a CAL Fire engine had arrived on scene. Since this accident occurred outside the City limits, command of the incident was transferred and Morro Bay Fire cleared the scene. Fire personnel had one more complex incident that started with a vehicle accident the next day. This time a vehicle traveling north on Highway 1, near Morro Bay Boulevard, experienced a flat tire and when the wheel scraped the pavement; the sparks it created ignited the tire and the nearby vegetation in several spots. Arriving fire personnel found they had several fires to contain. Additional help had been called for and arrived shortly. It still took several hours before personnel were sure all smoldering areas had been thoroughly overhauled so 21 no rekindling would occur and they could clear the scene. There was one more vehicle accident to respond to before the month was up. At 1:24 AM on the 13th, fire fighters responded to a vehicle accident on highway 1 near San Jacinto. The driver was reported to be driving under the influence and had passed a CHP officer. The driver reportedly was standing up with his head sticking out the sunroof. A chase ensued and the driver lost control of his vehicle. He was transported to a local hospital with a CHP escort. On the morning of the 21st, fire personnel responded to a car in the surf line on the beach about 100 yards north of Morro Rock. Not being sure what had happened, personnel from the police department, the harbor department and the Coast Guard joined fire personnel in searching the beach and the off shore waters for possible victims. After an hour and a half, no one was found so the land search was called off while har- bor and Coast Guard personnel continued to search the off shore waters. It was later determined that the car had been stolen, but there was never any explanation as to why it was abandoned in the surf and no witness to the incident ever came forward.
On the 13th personnel responded to a dumpster fire on the Embarcadero at 4:00 AM. One dumpster, in a dumpster receptacle enclosure, was fully involved when fire fighters arrived. A two-story building was being threatened, as were the other dumpsters in the enclosure. The fire was extinguished in the dumpster enclosure before flames could extend to the building, but the heat and smoke damaged an overhead lattice covering and the exterior wall on the second story of the building. If no one had noticed the flames when they did, damage most certainly would have been greater. One more vegetation fire occurred in Morro Bay on the 27th. Personnel responding to Highway 1 and South Bay Boulevard found a slow moving grass fire under some power poles. This time it was not a vehicle that had caused the fire, but rather a black bird that landed on an uninsulated part of the power line. This caused the black bird to burst into flames and then fall to the ground below, igniting the vegetation where it landed. The fire was quickly extinguished and overhauled to prevent it from rekindling.
Two more out of county mutual aid requests for wildland fires were received in September. On the 22nd, OES 274 responded to the Guiberson Fire in Ventura County with Captain Rees, Engineer Gailey, and Reserves Aanerud and Daly on board. Captain Knuckles was the strike team leader for the five OES Engines. They returned to Morro Bay on the 26th. On the 30th the on-duty crew was requested to respond to Vandenberg Air Force Base for a vegetation fire. As they were approaching the base, they were cancelled. The fire did continue to burn for a few days, but no additional requests for assistance were received.
When not responding to incidents, personnel kept busy with their other assignments. Several non-emergency projects were worked on. On the 11th, Engineer Murphy and Fire Fighter Talmadge drove one of the fire utility vehicles to Ontario, California to pick up our new rescue, 5351. They were able to attend the fire fighter memorial at Dodger Stadium for two L.A fire fighters who died in the Station Fire before returning to Morro Bay on Saturday afternoon. Vice President Joe Bidden and Governor Schwarzenegger were speakers at the memorial. Fire fighters would spend much of their spare time during the next two months securing equipment on Rescue 5351 and becoming familiar with its inventory. All personnel would need to spend some time doing drivers training on this new vehicle before it could be placed in service.
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rd A lot of fire fighters were involved in the POD drill which took place on the 23 . Captain Olson was the task force leader and enlisted the assistance of many fire fighters to staff the various stations. The goal was to keep the line moving smoothly so all persons could be assisted quickly and not spend much time just standing in line as they waited to get their flue shot. As expected there was a large turnout even though the swine flu vaccine was not yet available. By the end of the drill, over 630 persons had been inoculated. Captain Olson was able to secure additional vaccinations twice. The first request for additional vaccinations occurred when we were only a few hours into the afternoon session. Towards the end of the drill, when we had more people waiting in line than remaining vaccines, he was again able to secure enough unused vaccinations from other POD’s to vaccinate all those waiting.
th The department received very good news on the 25 when the Governor issued a press release that announced that the City of Morro Bay was awarded $1,602,940.00 in ARRA FEMA fire construction grant money for building our new administration/living quarters. This is a huge savings for future budgets, because the City will only have to pay about 50% of the cost for the new building.
OCTOBER
As usual having a presence at the Harbor Festival is one of the first things fire fighters do in October. This is the beginning of Fire Prevention week, and the fire department is there to provide medical care, should someone need it, and also to promote fire prevention. They always have items with a fire prevention message on it that will appeal to children, like stickers, junior fire fighter badges, or pencils. But they also have information for adults concerning fire preven- tion in the home. Thus, the Harbor Festival on the 3rd & 4th was a very busy weekend that most fire fighters participated in. The Thursday following the Harbor Festival is the annual Alicia Ann Ruch Burn Relay in the County. Each year a parade of fire truck travels from city to city, stopping at an elementary school in each community to present a fire safety message and collect donations for the Alicia Ann Ruch Burn Foundation. For the past few years the organizers have had two separate groups – one for the coastal and north county area and the second in south county - with a KSBY personality with each group. Tony Cipallo, who has participated for several years, joined the south county relay and Sheri Small participated in the coastal relay team and spoke to the children at Del Mar Elementary. At the end of the day both teams meet up at 23
Farmers Market in San Luis Obispo. The relay was a segment of KSBY 6:00 PM news where they reported raising over $18,000.00 in donations as their fire prevention message was spread throughout the County. The Alicia Ann Ruch Burn Foundation assists all burn victims, but especially works with children. They have special programs for children including sponsoring a “Champ Camp” every summer, and have a special Christmas party each year for burn survivors under the age of 18. Fire fighters also made several presentations to Kids Club and various classrooms about fire safety during this week. It is important for the younger children to see a firefighter put on his gear so they can recognize a fire fighter and know he is there to help them, should they ever experience a real fire.
Fire fighters also participated in the third “Rescue Challenge” against the Coast Guard on the 24th that raised $4,500.00 for the Morro Bay Community Foundation. This group provides scholarships to children who would otherwise not be able to participate in the various programs offered by Morro Bay Parks and Recreation. As with most charities, requests were a bit higher this year than in previous years, so this additional money will help a lot. While the fire fighters may have scored the most points, the children are the true winners of this challenge.
One project personnel spent a lot of time on in October was outfitting their new rescue vehicle, 5351. While the truck compartments were designed with the equipment in mind, fire personnel still needed to secure equipment in place and make sure that the most efficient way to carry the equipment is used. Since fire fighters rarely had more than a couple of hours a day to work on this, and sometimes not even that, this would remain a work in progress for some time. The target date for having this vehicle in service was November 14th for the Open House.
The Fire Department purchased a new on-line training program called Target Safety. As with most high-risk jobs, OSHA has many required training topics fire fighters need to train on each year. It is very difficult to organize a training class for all members of the department, as those on duty may need to respond to emergencies and those off duty may have other commitments or vacation plans. With Target Safety most of these topics have interactive lessons that personnel can do as their schedule permits. Specific topics, or modules are assigned each quarter and all full time and reserve personnel must complete them. Certifications are issued at the end of the lessons, and the plan administrator can check these certifications to see who has completed what training. This can not take the place of all training, as fire fighters need hands on training for many of their skills, but it does assist personnel in meeting their OSHA requirements. The program also has many components that can be used for the continuing education (C.E.) require- ments for renewing their emergency medical technician or paramedic certification.
th Morro Bay experienced another storm with high winds and rain on the 13 that kept fire fighters busy. “A” shift responded to the first call at 6:09 AM where they found a top cross member of a power pole on fire spraying embers and debris onto two homes on Java. The fire was extin- guished and both homes were checked to make sure there was no extension of the fire. PG&E arrived and secured the power before the crews left. Then at 7:44 AM. they responded to Bolton where they found the top 6’of a power pole had burned though, which left the cross members hanging from high voltage lines which hung over 14 homes. PG&E was called to the scene and the occupants of the homes were told to stay put until the lines were deenrgized. Fire fighters left the area approximately two hours later and since all was quiet at that time they were released 24
from duty. Things changed quickly around 10:30 AM. when “C” shift responded to a duplex on Orcas Street when the tenant on the top floor smelled smoke. It was determined that the smoke was coming from the bottom unit where no one was home. Fire fighters found a small fire in the back bedroom, which was caused by an unattended candle. Additional personnel were called back when the fire was discovered, so one unit was able to break away to handle an ALS call at 1402 Teresa Drive before all units were cleared from the scene. However, shortly after all units had cleared from the Orcas Street incident, a second ALS call was received from the Teresa Drive address. Thus, crews were off and running as more wires down calls, fires, traffic accidents, and structure fires kept coming in. The log for the day follows.
Beginning Ending Address Type of Call Time Time 1029 1150 Orcas Street Structure Fire 1139 1206 1405 Teresa Drive ALS Medical Call 1158 1224 1405 Teresa Drive ALS Medical Call 1221 1232 Pacific Street Tree limb fell on phone line 1249 1418 Cerrito Place Power pole fire extending to adjacent residence 1412 1435 1405 Teresa Drive ALS medical Call 1526 1550 Upper State Park Road T.C. w/injury – tree limb fell on moving car 1841 1852 Berwick Arcing lines 1857 1905 Avalon Street Arcing wires 2101 2126 Marina Street BLS medical call 2126 2136 Bolton Arcing wires 2352 0015 Nutmeg Broken wires 0005 0020 Scott Tree limb on home 0604 0614 Main Street Broken flag pole into power lines
Please check Table 1.1 on page 31 for statistics on the number of simultaneous and back-to-back calls the fire department responded to in 2009.
While personnel did not run quite as many calls as they did with the wind storm six months earlier on April 14th, the calls were a little more involved with several power pole fires and a traffic accident with injuries that were a direct result of the storm and a few ALS medical calls thrown in for good measure. One fire fighter was injured when he received an electrical shock while assisting citizens evacuate their home near the Cerrito Place power pole fire. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured but was transported to Sierra Vista Hospital for evaluation. These 15 calls during the first wind and rainstorm of the season represent some of the most memorable incidents of the 145 requests for service fire fighters responded to in the month of October.
NOVEMBER
The swine flu vaccination became available in the County in November and Morro Bay was one of the three POD’s (points of distribution) for the first responders in the County. On the 4th and the 12th, fire fighters set up our POD at specific pre-arranged times so first responders from throughout the County could come to our Engine bay and receive the swine flu vaccination.
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County nurses still gave the vaccinations on these two days, but paramedics were taking specific on-line training so they would be able to give these vaccinations soon. During a real emergency the county nurses would not be available to go to each site, so paramedics would be giving the vaccinations.
CPR is one of the certifications that all fire fighters need to have and it must be given by a certified CPR instructor. Morro Bay is fortunate that Fire Fighter/Paramedic Talmadge is a certified instructor; otherwise we would need to hire an instructor or send every employee to an outside class. Most certifications are good for two years, but to insure everyone is up to date Morro Bay provides this training annually. Fire Fighter /Paramedic Talmadge taught CPR to all Reserve Fire Fighters and “C” shift personnel at the reserve drill on the 4th. He also provided personnel on both “A” and “B” shifts with this training on days when they were on duty. Besides getting some medical training for themselves in November personnel also helped train others. A requirement for the EMT class at Cuesta is for each student to spend time in the field with either a fire department or ambulance company. Morro Bay also helped a couple of MICN Nurses meet their required ride-along time for recertification. Captain Olson and Engineer Murphy taught segments of the paramedic class at Cuesta College and received continuing education credit for doing so. These credits are used towards the 48-hour recertification requirement each paramedic needs to renew their license every two years.
th The Fire Department had their Open House on Saturday, November 14 . A steady stream of people walked through the Engine Bay and learned about our newest vehicle, Rescue 5351. It has a little different look than fire engines, and carries a lot of rescue equipment. Attendees were able to see all the medical equipment personnel are trained in using and could have their blood pressures taken. Children were able to tour the Fire Safety House. This is a small trailer that was purchased with funds from all Fire Departments in the county many years ago. A small group of children go up the front steps of the trailer into a living room with a fireplace. Once inside a fire fighter tells them what they should do if they are in a fire. Then artificial, non- toxic smoke starts to fill the trailer. Someone must call 9-1-1 for assistance, and all children must stay low and climb out the escape ladder through the front window. It definitely gives one a sense of being in a smoke filled environment without the dangers. Fire fighters are present and assist the children at all times to insure no one panics and gets hurt while they are exiting the trailer. This is a great learning experience for the children, but it takes a lot of fire fighters working behind the scenes as well as in the trailer to make it all work.
It seemed that a lot of traffic collisions, both with and without injuries, occurred on South Bay Boulevard in 2009, and November was no exception. “A” shift had two such calls on the 17th. At 10:13 PM they were responding to a medical aid on Paula when a second call was dispatched at 10:15 PM for a three-car vehicle accident on South Bay Boulevard. Since two units were responding to the medical aid, 5351 diverted to the traffic accident and a general alarm was 26 sounded for additional personnel. An ambulance was already on scene and reported that all individuals were out of the vehicles and initially refusing treatment or transport. Several vehicles suffered major damage, so ambulance personnel requested assistance in evaluating the individuals further. One firefighter assisted ambulance personnel and as other fire fighters arrived they began vehicle stabilization and hazard removal. All individuals were still refusing to be transported so ambulance personnel were released and fire fighters continued assisting with the removal of vehicles from the road way and debris clean-up. Engine 5392 cleared from the first incident on Paula, but was dispatched to a water leak on Easter Street within minutes. There they found the water in the garage caused by a leak from the water line going to the water soft- ener. Before personnel cleared from the T.C. on South Bay Boulevard 5392 was requested to stand by at an Arbutus address to assist police personnel. All personnel were cleared from their incidents a little after 11:00 PM. The next morning at 7:12 AM fire fighters were again dispatched to a vehicle accident on South Bay Boulevard. A single vehicle on State Park Road had driven straight across South Bay Boulevard without stopping and ended up in the brush. The driver was initially unresponsive but did not appear to be suffering from any trauma caused by the accident. He was extricated from the vehicle and carried to a waiting ambulance. Engineer Leiter continued patient care en route to the hospital. A week later on the 25th at 6:38 AM, “A” shift again responded to South Bay Boulevard near the bridge for a roll over traffic collision into the marsh. Upon arrival they found a car on its roof, but no one was found in or around the car and no other hazards were found. The Fire Department responded to 142 calls in November.
DECEMBER
The last month of the year was similar to all the others in that personnel kept busy with training and working on projects when they were not responding to emergencies within city limits or in our neighboring jurisdictions. Since the water moratorium was lifted at the end of the year, our newest hire was able to complete his Acting Engineer Test on the 31st. This test included his having to demonstrate his ability to pump all the engines. This means that he can fill in as an Engineer on a shift when the Engineer is on vacation, or sick, or off duty for any reason. Should he not be able to fill that position, someone with that rank or higher would need to be hired back to work as the Engineer for that shift. Congratulations to Michael Talmadge for passing this first major test in his fire fighter probation. Even though he was not able to practice flowing water often because of the moratorium, he did an excellent job on his test. His fire fighter probation will continue for another year and at that time he must pass another practical test, as well as a written test before he can be promoted to the rank of Engineer.
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All full time members of the department need to be certified in Confined Space Rescue. It is difficult to find these classes locally, so earlier in the year when the Grover Beach/Arroyo Grande Fire Department said they were planning to host this class in 2009, we had hoped the timing would work for Captain Rees and Fire Fighter Talmadge to attend. The class dates were finally chosen for the first week in December and both fire fighters were available. This class has both a classroom portion and a practical portion that is done outdoors. They were able to work around light showers on Monday but the heavy rain on Thursday afternoon canceled the afternoon session. Had the rain continued on Friday, the class would not have been completed and a couple of make up days would need to be added at a later date. Fortunately, that did not happen. Class member attended a longer session on Friday and all class participants received their certification. Now all Morro Bay full time fire fighters have this certificate.
December is the month the Fire Department has all ground ladders and the aerial ladder tested by a company, such as Underwriters Laboratory, to insure they are still safe to operate. In 2008, the company found a tooth on the bull gear of the aerial ladder had broken off. This did not mean the ladder would not work, but that it had a weak spot. In 2009, personnel spent a lot of time researching this problem and talking to the manufacture of the ladder and several companies that could do the repair. While most people said that they did not think the missing tooth made the aerial ladder unsafe, no one would put that in writing. Repairing the problem would be both very time consuming and expensive. Since the ladder truck is over 25 years old, the department did not think it would be a good use of funds to repair it at this time, so the department elected not to use the aerial. The truck could still be used like all the other fire engines for pumping water on fires and responding to calls if additional equipment was needed, but the aerial ladder was not to be used. In 2009, only the ground ladders needed to be tested. A few minor repairs were needed, but all were deemed safe and thus did not need to be replaced.
One annual December duty fire fighters enjoy is collecting toys for children whom otherwise might not be having a “Merry” Christmas. All toys collected are given to Children’s Protective Services for distribution to children in their system. They also look forward to delivering Santa to the Christmas tree lighting at City Park, which they did on the 6th. On the 4th, they once again set up the engine bay for swine flu vaccin- ations for first responders. Fire fighters also worked on radios in the E.O.C., pump tested an engine, and all Captains com- pleted evaluations on their shift personnel. Evaluations are used to set goals for the new year, identify areas for improve- ment, and look at what they had accomplished in 2009. The department rotates shift personnel every January, and this exercise helps shift personnel know what they need to work on in the coming year. These goals can be shared with their new Captain, which helps their new Captain plan training for his crew. The Fire Chief follows this same procedure with the Captains and the Administrative Technician so they have new guidelines for the coming year also.
Fire personnel responded to 129 calls for assistance in December - 101 medical aids, 8 mutual aid, 2 illegal campfires, 2 smoke checks, 4 department assists, 7 false alarms, 3 non-injury traffic 28 accidents, 1 hazardous materials call, and 1 public assist. As is often the case, the classification of a call can be misleading. For example a non–injury traffic accident can imply that once on scene there isn’t anything for fire fighter to do. But as the 11/21/09 traffic accident that was described earlier shows, that is not always the case. A traffic accident on Piney Way on the 12th also illustrates this. When “A” shift arrived on scene, they found a small pick-up on its right side, off the roadway, with only minor damage. However, the driver was still inside, and although he was uninjured, he could not extricate himself as he was suspended by his seatbelt. Before attempting to remove the driver, the vehicle needed to be stabilized so it would not move while they were freeing the driver. Once the vehicle was stable, they needed to secure the driver to the vehicle in such a way, so that when the seatbelt was released he would not drop to the passenger side of the car. They needed to keep him in place so he could be extricated through the driver’s side window. Once he was out of the vehicle, paramedics examined him to confirm he was not injured. Firefighters then inspected the corner of the garage that was damaged in the collision to insure the building did not have any structural damage and stood by while the vehicle was removed. No hazardous fluids leaked from the vehicle while it was righted and towed away, so fire fighters were now able to clear the scene knowing everything was secure.
SUMMARY
Morro Bay Fire had another busy year. Firefighters did not respond to as many calls as in previous years, but as usual the variety of calls kept things interesting. Many other fire fighters in the county are not on the first-in engine for rock or ocean rescues. Nor do they travel out to sea with the Coast Guard or the Harbor Department to treat someone on a boat who is sick or injured. They also do not train for boat fires or hazardous materials spills in the bay or ocean. While this means Morro Bay fire fighters may do a lot of extra training in these areas, it also makes each day different and exciting. This is one of the reasons they enjoy their jobs.
Fire fighters are excited about having one additional fire fighter on staff. The department’s goal is to keep 3 full time persons on duty each day and one reserve. This allows the Captain to send only two people in one unit to what sounds like a less serious call and keep the two persons who are assigned to the second unit working on projects, but available to respond to another call if necessary. Should the firefighters arrive on scene and find they need additional help, the 2nd unit will respond immediately. On calls where both units are responding, if a second call comes in the Captain has the option of sending one of the units to the second call or request call back personnel. Call back personnel are still necessary when many multiple calls are received, or for large-scale emergencies such as traffic accidents where there are injuries, hazardous material spills or fires. Having the second staffed unit available when these major calls come in improves service, allows for response to simultaneous emergencies and allows the City to meet OSHA and NFPA standards, while making it safer for both the fire fighters and the citizens involved. It also allows fire fighters to immediately begin mitigating the problem and not wait for the second engine.
Having another person on staff also should allow fire fighters to spend a little more time on projects. They hope to be able to spend more time on fire prevention in 2010. It is the Fire Department’s goal to inspect every business once every three to four years. With large projects like designing the Rescue in 2009, and Engine 5392 in 2008, and working on plans for the 29 engine bay and the new station, shift personnel did not have a lot of time to conduct business inspections. This year did see the completion of inspections of some of the larger properties, such as several hotels and the high school, but most fire prevention activities have been con- ducted by the Fire Marshal the last few years. This part time position is mainly focused on new construction, so not as many routine business inspections have been conducted. The department has plans to change this in 2010.
While many projects were completed in 2009, some are continuing, and it is very likely that a few new ones will be added in 2010. Fire fighters are hoping the plans for the new administra- tion/living quarters are finalized soon, with construction to follow shortly. Once the building is complete, it will take personnel some time to move in and get everything in its place, but person- nel hope to be working and living out of the new building connected to the new engine bay at 715 Harbor Street early in 2011.
Additional photos from the Open House in November.
Responding with Harbor Patrol Little Morro Creek Road Fire in August
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Some charts and graphs follow with the call breakdown for the 1671 call fire fighters responded to in 2009
Table 1.1: Number of Simultaneous and Back-to Back Calls
Simultaneous Calls Back-To-Back Calls Number of Incidents Number of Incidents Year Occurrences Affected Occurrences Affected 2009 69 171 55 111 2008 69 158 58 119 2007 69 147 56 118 2006 79 171 59 124
Table 1.2: Average Response per District (Driving Time) & Calls per District
2009 2008 2007 2006 Average # of calls Average # of calls Average # of calls Average # of calls District # Response per District Response per District Response per District Response per District 1 2:18 564 2:32 593 2:38 568 2:25 551 1-A 0:35 51 0:30 58 0:25 69 0:19 41 2 3:31 120 3:05 105 3:27 114 2:56 91 3 3:31 35 3:00 34 3:53 47 3:53 44 4 3:32 7 2:55 13 4:00 6 2:15 15 5 3:43 269 3:46 296 3:41 277 3:32 307 6 4:56 26 4:00 28 4:12 24 3:48 42 7 3:55 140 3:30 131 3:45 156 3:34 137 8 4:40 200 4:40 220 5:02 209 4:34 205 9 5:21 165 5:49 147 5:40 175 5:17 176 10 6:32 39 4:46 44 8:21 40 6:34 44 11 43:56 55 1:05:09 59 1:00:45 56 1:25:02 33 12 0 0 0:00 0 2:00 1 5:00 4
Table 1.3: Service Provided to Citizens, Non-citizens, or Unknown
2009 2008 2007 # of Percentage # of Percentage # of Percentage Service Provided To: Calls of calls Calls of calls Calls of calls Morro Bay Citizens 1177 70.44% 1257 72.74% 1235 70.90% Non-citizens,(tourists, visitors) 267 15.98% 267 15.45% 299 17.16% Unknown 227 13.58% 204 11.81% 208 11.94%
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2009 ALARMS
EMERGENCY MUTUAL MONTH FIRES MEDICAL SERVICES OTHER AID TOTAL
JANUARY 8 88 39 7 142
FEBRUARY 6 78 30 9 123
MARCH 0 71 32 5 108
APRIL 7 91 64 13 175
MAY 5 102 37 11 155
JUNE 7 89 27 8 131
JULY 5 110 35 3 153
AUGUST 4 101 32 8 145
SEPTEMBER 5 91 23 7 126
OCTOBER 8 99 29 6 142
NOVEMBER 6 89 40 7 142
DECEMBER 4 79 36 10 129
TOTALS 65 1088 424 94 1671
PERCENTAGE
OF CALLS 3.89% 65.11% 25.37% 5.63% 100%
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NUMBER OF ALARMS RECEIVED PER MONTH FOR A TWO YEAR COMPARISON
200
180
160
140
120
2009 100 2008
80
60
40
20
0
April May June July March August JanuaryFebruary October September NovemberDecember
ANALYSIS OF 2009 ALARMS 33
NUMBER FIRES: OF CALLS Smoke Check 15 Power Poles/Arcing Wires 12 Refuse/Dumpster 8 Grass/Wildland/Vegetation 6 Structure 5 Unauthorized Burning 5 Vehicles 4 Outside Structures 4 Wires Down - Electrical 2 Fire Investigations 2 Cooking/Oven Fires 1 Mobile Home/Travel Trailer/RV ___ 1__ TOTAL FIRES: 65 EMERGENCY MEDICAL SRVICES: Advanced Life Support 637 Basic Life Support 421 Traffic Collisions/Injuries 26 Rescues __4__ TOTAL EMS: 1,088 MUTUAL AID: Mutual Aid Fires 34 Mutual Aid/Rescue/TRT 17 Mutual Aid/Medical 12 Mutual Aid Traffic Collisions/Non-injury 10 Mutual Aid Traffic Collisions/Injury 7 Mutual Aid Rescue/Non-medical 6 Mutual Aid Fire Investigations 4 Mutual Aid False Alarms - Traffic Collisions of Fires 3 Mutual Aid Move Up & Cover or Assist 1__ TOTAL MUTUAL AID: 94 OTHER: Public Assist – Medical 128 Public Assist – Other 70 False Alarm – Medical 68 False Alarm – Fire 41 Department Assist 37 Traffic Collision /Non-injury 31 Hazardous Materials 18 Hazardous Materials Investigation 13 Public Assist – Wires Down/Non-Electrical 13 False Alarm – Traffic Collision 4 E.O.C. Activation for Tsunami Warning ___1__ TOTAL OTHER: 424
TOTAL ALL CALLS: 1,671
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Percentages for 2009 Responses
2% 0% 7%
2%
6%
1%
4%
13%
65%
EMS (1088) 65.11% Public Assist (211) 12.63% Fires (65) 3.89% Haz Mat (18) 1.08% Mutual Aid (94) 5.63% Department Assist (37) 2.21% False Alarms (126) 7.54% TC - Non-injury (31) 1.86% Other/Misc. (1) 0.06% 35
NUMBER OF ALARMS BY DAY OF WEEK
MEDICAL FIRE & OTHER DAY OF WEEK EMERGENCIES EMERGENCIES TOTAL
SUNDAY 147 64 211 MONDAY 156 79 235 TUESDAY 168 102 270 WEDNESDAY 139 89 228 THURSDAY 158 71 229 FRIDAY 158 101 256 SATURDAY 165 77 242
TOTALS 1088 583 1671
NUMBER OF ALARMS BY TIME OF DAY
MEDICAL FIRE & OTHER TIME OF DAY EMERGENCIES EMERGENCIES TOTAL
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM 558 312 870
5:00 PM - 8:00 AM 530 271 801
TOTALS 1088 583 1671
52.06% OF TOTAL ALARMS WERE IN THE 9-HOUR PERIOD BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 8:00 AM - 5;00 PM.
47.94% OF TOTAL ALARMS WERE IN THE 15 HOUR PERIOD BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 5:00 PM - 8:00 AM.
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NUMBER OF ALARMS OVER A 10-YEAR PERIOD
2000
1800 1742 1728 1690 1671 1637 1598 1600 1515 1504 1448 1460 1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
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