February 2009
I have been advised by the District's accountant, Christina Havens that the 2008-2009 Assistance to Fire District funds (augmentation fund) have been released by El Dorado County and have been deposited into our account. Funding from this program this year totals $205,285. Continued funding from this program is still being discussed by the Board of Supervisors.
Chairman Nelson, Board Member Souza, Local 4691 President Burch and myself attended a workshop hosted by the El Dorado County Fire Chiefs Association with LAFCO. Also in attendance were representatives from every Fire Department in the County, members of the Grand Jury and Supervisor/Chairman Briggs. Items discussed included the Assistance to Fire District funding, mutual aid, levels of service, consolidation issues and alternative funding such as proposition 172 money. This was an excellent meeting with all of the Fire Departments showing solidarity and highlighting the successes that the current system in place has accomplished. It was pointed out very graphically that without continued funding the system would not be able to support the current level of services that are being provided in El Dorado County.
On January 23, 2009 I attended a Dept. of Homeland Security/FEMA Assistance to Firefighters grant program workshop in Sacramento. The purpose of this workshop was to advise participating departments of the new rules and procedures for application and compliance for those who receive 2009 grants. The GVFPD will be applying for a grant for a new water tender and communication equipment this year.
The GVFPD has notified all out of state Incident Management Support personnel (All Risk Team) that it will no longer employ non-California residents.
An El Dorado County Fire Chiefs Ad Hoc Committee on Annual Operating Plans met with representatives of the El Dorado National Forest/USFS on February 3, 2009 to go over changes in this year's agreement. GVFPD hosted the meeting and there was much discussion on this years pay rate, time on incident pay, response to the USFS in the off season and generating a single master agreement for all EDC fire agencies. The USFS will respond with a draft agreement in the next month. We will be meeting with Cal Fire on February 23, 2009 at Garden Valley to discuss these same issues with them.
Engine 351 (the Green one!) is now in full service and available for response. Many thanks to all that helped on this project. The staff is currently in the process of conducting daily training on this unit and it is a good addition to our fleet.
The Mobile Data Terminal Project (MDT) is slowly making progress. This grant funded, county wide program is providing on board computer systems in select fire district vehicles. The GVFPD was funded for 4 vehicles that include: Engine 251, Engine 51, Engine 351 and the Chiefs vehicle. Vendor issues have slowed things up, but is hoped that they will catch up by the end of this month. Our IT person, Jon Wilson completed training last month on the system. All Staff are required to attend county wide training hosted by the GVFPD training on February 13 or 16 2009. This program is administered by the El Dorado Hills Fire District.
The GVPFD has appointed Jake Kootnz to a temporary position as a firefighter on "C" shift. This appointment is expected not to exceed 90 days. FF Koontz comes to us from Cal Fire where he has been a seasonal employee for the past two years. The GVFPD in cooperation with Local 4691 is in the process of putting together a testing and interview process to establish an eligibility list for future career positions.
Charles Frost has been appointed to Acting Captain on "C"shift. In addition, he will now serve as the Districts training officer as his staff assignment.
All District personnel have been recertified in CPR and AED at the January 2009 department training. The February 12 training will consist of hands on auto extrication and the annual SCBA fit mask testing.
All GVFPD recruits in this year's Divide Fire Academy have passed the EMS First Responder section of the Academy. They have now moved on to the Fire Technology portion.
CONGRADULATIONS TO ENGINEER WES NORMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The GVFPD is proud to announce that Engineer Norman is the GVFPD's first full time career Paramedic, having passed his National Registry certification on Friday, February 6, 2009. The GVFPD will now be able to provide engine based Advanced Life Support from Station 51 whenever Engineer Norman is on shift in addition to the part time response now provided by Volunteer Engineer Corrine Staves. Good stuff for the community!!!!!!!
Fire Chief Bill Dekker
February 7, 2009
