Greetings everyone, I hope this email finds you well.
Its 0630 on a Saturday morning, you so know what that means for me…the Saturday
edition. Not too much to go over, so let’s get started.
- Retirements
—this week we lost another two greats to retirement: Eng.
Charles K. Lee (26 years) and Dr. Robert F. Kiely (32 years).
Congratulations and we wish you a long and healthy retirement!
- Clear your calendar, the JFRD will be celebrating Dr. Kiely’s
retirement at the Jacksonville Landing on October the 16th.
The venue has been confirmed but details are still being worked out.
Make sure you stop by and pay your respects to our Medical Director who
has done so much for our department and personally for many of you.
- Budget
—I know I promised to keep everyone in the loop about the
budget, but this year has been different than previous budget years.
To say things are changing from week to week would be an understatement.
Being this year’s budget is so politically continuous, for now, please ask
you your union leadership for where we are at. Fleet was delayed again
for a 4th time yesterday.
- Bail-out Kits—another 280 were delivered and are being actively
deployed now. It’s my understanding we’re almost at two thirds of the
department being issued. Again, this is great news! Thank you to
all the instructors working tirelessly on getting these out; I know some are
late nights and weekends.
- Sea of Blue
—Wow, holy cow, OMG. With 100% of the stations
polled, over 540 have RSVP’d. This along with the Training,
Prevention, on-duty folks, and other surrounding counties, our first attempt
at this should be one for the record books. Imagine if you will: 12
chiefs trucks, followed by three rescues, three engines, three ladders, HM7,
HM21, HR4, then over 40 pipes and drums leading over 600 firefighters
through downtown to honor our fallen. I can’t wait. Thank you to
all of you who has stepped up to take this department to the next level.
For the first time, since consolidation, more non-chiefs will have dress
coats, than chiefs! Unbelievable.
- TIC’s
—the money has been moved and we are waiting for a PO. We
have to buy Bullard’s because we ran out of time to spend this year’s money.
(we would have had to put out a bid, go through awards, get through
Procurement, etc…) The T3’s we are buying look the same on the outside
but have high resolution screens and a digital processor instead of an
analog one.
- New engines and rescues
—are being built. If you haven’t
lately, please check out Ten-8’s website for the updated pics….pretty cool.
http://www.ten8fire.com/production/
As for the new rescues, here’s a pic
of the 4 x4 units being built now. Only these two are
Dodge chassis the others will be 2014 Chevy’s. (new body style)
- Foam Training
—is about to begin. Should be good stuff for our
new folks and good refresher training for everyone else. It’s been
awhile since we’ve had a large flammable liquid fire, but you know one is
coming. Always has: Triangle Tank Farm, Stewart Tank Farm, Bryant
Street tank, US Ink, Hart’s bridge Expressway, I-10 West, T2, and many
more….
Let see some of the runs you all have gone on this
week:
- FD46 W3 STRUCTURE SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE 18031 WELLS RD. TGB5...
- W3/Single Family/Single Story Residential Structure/FD24/9624 Gibson
Ave./TGB1/End
- FD35 DROWNING TO A 1YO FOUND IN A POOL AT RESIDENCE 11821 W. LEAFDALE
CIR.
- FD44 W3 STRUCTURE FIRE COMMERCIAL BUSINESS 11512 LAKE MEAD AVE...TGB1...SVPC
DR MOORE
- W3/Single Family/Single Story Residence/FD22//6325 Badnur Dr./TGB1/End
- FD42 ONE PINNED UNDER A VEH 11531 SAN JOSE BLVD.TGB1..LF1 RESPONDING
- FD9 W3 STRUCTURE FIRE SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE 210 E. 65TH ST...TGB1..
- W3 SINGL FAM RES/FD17/5111 ANDREWS ST/IC F5 ON B-1/END
- FD13/ MCI LEVEL 1/ 6 PATIENTS / TRAFFIC ACD/ I95 NB @ HENDRICKS/
TGB1/END/ JLC
- FD 24/ MVA-EXTRICATION/ LAKE FOREST BLVD & LEM TURNER RD/ 3 PTS/ 1
TRAUMA RED/ TG B5/ END
- And just a few thousand other calls you went on this week!
Speaking of calls, let’s talk about Fire Comm.
Do you know when 911 came to Jacksonville? (how you contact police and fire via
phone)---1985. Do you know the staffing for Fire Comm back in 1985?
30 dispatchers and supervisors. 29 years later and twice the run volume of
the 80’s…do you know what their staffing is now? 30 dispatchers and
supervisors or 5 per shift (3 call takers, 2 radio operators). Know what
it takes to become a FRCO? 284 hours of state certification followed by 30
hours of EMD training. Want to know our turn-over rate? 80% leave
after just two years. L
We’ve hired 9 this year and another 14 have quit. You do the math.
Currently we have 10 vacancies and from 2200 hours at night to 1000 hours in the
morning, there is only one radio operator. From January 1st to
June 1st this year, they took 44,578 911 calls. They took an
additional 55,118 non-emergency calls. That equates to approximately
240,000 calls received in a calendar year!!! Why am I telling you this?
Please have patience with our folks in Fire Comm as many are new and are really
trying hard. The ones that have stayed need to be loved and thanked!!!
We are actively trying to fix this issues that create the turn-over in Fire Comm
and as of now, we have been given approval to increase our staffing for the
first time in 30+ years. I just want to say thanks to Liz Henderson and
all her folks for their hard work and dedication and for getting up to the
podium at City Council and saying it better than I ever could have.
Now time for the Quote of the WIR.
- "Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions
speak to all mankind."—Theodore Roosevelt
- Keep up the great actions, you’re making a difference…I hope you see
that.
- "The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are
composed entirely of lost airline luggage."—Mark Russell
- That one is for all you Delta folks out there! Lol.
Well that’s it for this WIR. I hope everyone
has a great weekend and I hope you spend it with family and friends. In
case you’ve been living under a rock, college football started on Thursday.
Of course it was an SEC game…that’s the only way anyone would watch it!
J As
for me, I’ll be out fishing shortly, followed by the Gator game at our friends
house. Why my wife still chants "Tebow, Tebow!" I’ll never know…something
about being a Greek god, bronzed Adonis, etc…she usually rambles and drools as
she’s saying this. Please continue to keep your thoughts and prayers with our
folks as some are truly having a tough time. As always, we thank you for
what you do, why you do it, and for always showing why you are the Best Fire
Rescue Department in the Country!
Very Respectfully,
Kurtis R. Wilson
Chief of Operations
Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department