May 2019(1)

City of Rochester Hills Fire and Emergency Services Monthly Report for May 2019

To: The Honorable Mayor Bryan Barnett and the esteemed members of the Rochester Hills City Council From: Sean M. Canto - Chief of Fire and Emergency Services Ladies and Gentlemen: The primary purpose of this report is to keep the officials of the City of Rochester Hills informed as to the activities and programs of the Rochester Hills Fire and Emergency Services Department. As a second purpose, this report will be shared with the Officers and all fire personnel in the organization to illustrate how their day-to-day activities benefit the citizens and the community of Rochester Hills. Call Data: Total Incidents May 2019: 577 (Approximately 28% of these incidents occurred in Senior Congregate Housing / Skilled Nursing Facilities) Total number of mutual aid coverage / requests: 1 - No Rochester Hills Fire Department units were available during these times. Total Incidents Year-to-Date: 3,096 Year-to-Date comparison 2018 to 2019: 3,011 (2018) 3,096 (2019)

Operations Bureau Deputy Chief - Todd Gary Shift Commanders - Bat. Chief Tim Quaine, Bat. Chief Rogers Claussen, Bat. Chief Jerry Yurgo Fire Suppression Division The Operations Division has begun to track on a more accurate basis the number of “Concurrent Incidents” that are happening. This graph details that out of the 577 incidents that occurred in May, 277 times (48 percent) additional incidents were taking place at the same time. As this happens the department’s resources are stretched thin, if not depleted. The department will continue to monitor this information closely. The growing number of incidents continues to cause our concurrent incident totals to rise once again. We pay close attention to these totals to ensure we can respond to simultaneous emergencies quickly enough and with enough personnel. Call concurrency examines the frequency of multiple calls occurring during the same time that units are still committed to a previous call. This situation affects the ability of the organization to commit additional resources to respond to additional calls as they occur.

Members responded to 108 calls for service. The Department responded to six (6) incidents that resulted in $16,845 in damages. On May 6, 2019, the Rochester Hills Fire Department was dispatched to 465 Flamingo Street Drive for a residential structure fire. Rochester Hills Ladder 3 and Battalion 1 arrived to find an odor of smoke inside a manufactured home. The homeowner advised that a breaker in the fuse panel tripped and a neighbor reset it several times. Additionally the homeowner advised that they had been smelling smoke in the home since 8:30 a.m. that morning. After further investigation, crews found a fire that was under the home. Crews extinguished the fire, which required extensive overhaul due to the location. Command notified the Rochester Hills Building Department to respond due to the potential of electrical wiring causing the fire. No civilian or firefighter injuries occurred at the incident. Residential Structure Fire 465 Flamingo Street Circuit breakers are essential for the safety of every home. The increasing number of electronic and electrical appliances puts especially high demands on the wiring found in older homes, and make circuit breakers even more critical. When home wiring circuits are overloaded, the wiring heats up, insulation can become damaged and the potential for fires increases. In some cases, circuit breakers are all that stands between an overloaded circuit and a house that is damaged by fire. When power problems begin to pop up, some homeowners try to correct the situation without professional advice. See video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8faHwtbVIm4

On May 17, 2019 the Rochester Hills Fire Department was dispatched to 1574 O’Neil Circle for mutiple vehicles on fire. Rochester Ladder 3 and Battalion 1 arrived to find two (2) passenger vehicle on fire in the parking lot. Rochester Hills Battalion 1 requested Rochester Hills Engine 1 to respond as well to assist. After speaking to the owner of the vehicle in which the fire started, it was decided to notifiy a member from the Community Risk Reduction Division and the Oakland County Sherriff’s Department Fire Investigations. On May 19, 2019 the Rochester Hills Fire Department was dispatched to 3347 Antigua Drive to assist the Auburn Hills Fire Department with a residential structure fire. Rochester Hills Ladder 2 and Battalion 1 responded. Updated information from dispatch included that a worker hit a gas line in front of the property, was severly burned, and the building was also on fire. Crews arrived and assisted in protecting the building until Consumer’s Energy was safely able to secure the gas. No firefighter injuries occurred at this incident, however one (1) worker was severly burned and transported.

For your safety, Michigan law requires that all utility lines be flagged before beginning any excavation project. MISS DIG is Michigan’s only utility safety notification system. Their e-Locate service makes it easy for you to request for public utility lines to be marked so you can safely complete your digging project. MISS DIG 811 provides this free service to homeowners, excavators, municipalities and utility companies via our web based locate requests- elocate.missdig.org and rte.missdig.org, or by placing a toll free call to 811, 248-370-6400, or 800-482-7171. The mission of MISS DIG System, Inc. is to safeguard the public, environment, property, and utility infrastructures and promote utility damage prevention through a quality, cost-effective process for our customers. On May 23, 2019 the Rochester Hills Fire Department was dispatched to a Motor Vehicle Accident on Livernois, between Harding Road and Avon Road. Rochester Hills Alpha 21 was the first unit to arrive and advised of multiple patients with two (2) patients entrapped, and requested an additional Alpha Unit. Rochester Hills Rescue 1 and Ladder 2 began extrication of the patients, quickly removing the passenger of the vehicle, however the driver was heavly entrapped. Due to the time to extricate the driver, Rochester Hills Battalion 1 requested Air Medical to land at Crittenton Hospital to fly the patient to the Trauma Center. Rochester City Fire was also requested to transport three (3) children which appeared to be uninjured as well. The driver was removed from the vehicle with multiple injuries and in serious condition.

Emergency Medical Services Division Division Head - Captain Tim Matz Total number of EMS runs: 468 Total number of cardiac arrest: seven (7), the ages ranged from 54 to 95. Five (5) of the patient were transported to a hospital for continued care. Total number of Narcan calls: four (4), the ages ranged from 23 to 94. Only two (2) were confirmed opioid use cases, the other two (2) were unknown unresponsive patients. EMS Training Training topic for the month of May was Mass Causality Incidents (MCI) in preparation for the Festival of the Hills. The drill consisted of a short lecture to remind crews of the Oakland County Medical Control Authority’s MCI protocol and the use of MCI patient log sheets. Department members then performed a MCI practical where the crews had to triage, treat, and transport approximately thirty patient in a simulation utilizing the log sheets, triage tape, and radio communications. Members utilized the Incident Command System (ICS) and were assigned numerous ICS functions to include; Command, Staging, Triage, Treatment, Transport, and Communications. Members were required to assess the patients, triage them, contact an area hospital (simulated), and move all patient to transport and have them transported to different local area hospitals.

Community Risk Reduction Division Division Head - Assistant Chief Bill Cooke The Community Risk Reduction Division highlights for the month of May 2019 included the following: Fire Safety Inspections: 13 Follow-up Inspections: 24 Plan Reviews: 14 FOIA Requests: 5 Professional Development (Training Hours): 31 hours Infant Car Seat Installation and Checks: 5 Burn Permits: 35 Public Education Activities Schools: 7 presentations totaling 141 individuals Daycares (Pre-K): 2 presentations totaling 50 individuals Station Tours: 5 presentations totaling 116 individuals During the month of May, the Community Risk Reduction Division celebrated Home Fire Sprinkler Week, May 19th through May 25th. The Rochester Hills Fire Department was awarded a $500 stipend from the national nonprofit Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition (HFSC) to host a live burn demonstration. Two burn cells were constructed and positioned side by side to demonstrate the devastating effects of fire in a living room. Both living rooms were designed identically, although one was equipped with a fire sprinkler head installed at the ceiling level. Even though the fires were both ignited at the same time, the results could not have been any different from each other. The room equipped with the fire sprinkler head extinguished the fire in less than a minute as the other room continued to burn until extinguished by firefighters. We know that time is of the essence when a fire occurs. We also know the risk of dying in a home fire decreases by 85 percent if sprinklers are present. The Community Risk Reduction Division encourages the installation of fire sprinkler systems in your home as we know it is a proven method to save lives in a fire event. Hats off to division members who were responsible for acquiring the materials, building and providing the demonstration to our local media outlets. We encourage everyone in the near future to watch our live burn on Rochester Hills Cable Channel as well as the City of Rochester Hills website. Congratulations to Lieutenant/Inspector Ann Echols from the Community Risk Reduction Division for successfully completing the Leadership Greater Rochester program. This program is aimed at developing informed community leaders who are interested in helping direct the future of the Greater Rochester, Michigan area. This nine-month program is her gateway to involvement and connections in the greater Rochester communities. Dedicated to the development of community-minded leaders, the program’s goal is to help develop the skills of emerging leaders from across the community. The program provided Ann with an opportunity to meet local elected officials and community leaders to gain insight into the region’s unique history, activities and economy. This Leadership program helps to build a broad-based network of community leaders who enhance their leadership abilities and skills through continuing education, shared perspective and community involvement in order to enable to work toward solutions in the public interest. Finally, during the month of May, Captain Mayes attended the building safety month display at Home Depot with members of the Rochester Hills Building Department. Both groups spent time educating members of

our community on practicing fire and life safety in their homes. This was a very well attended event which helps to relay our partnership between building and fire safety.

Training Bureau Division Head - Captain Larry Gambotto During the month of May 2019, members of the Rochester Hills Fire Department received nearly 800 hours of Fire and EMS professional development. Year-to-date, members have completed over 3300 hours of training. This month’s topics included; Personal Protective Equipment and Cancer Prevention, UTV Operations, Battalion training, De-Escalation training and Nozzle Forward hose loads. Fire Training During this month’s Fire training, members were instructed and received their new particulate blocking hoods. Firefighters use hoods to protect their heads and necks from the hostile environment that they work in. Studies have shown that the Firefighting Hoods are one of the weak links in the protective ensemble firefighters wear. New technologies have create the particulate blocking hood to block out products of combustion as small as 0.1 microns. These new hoods include two layers of protection, one from heat and one from the cancer causing agents found in products of combustion. The new particulate blocking hoods meet the NFPA 1971 Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and the latest technology in the industry. In addition, members were instructed in strategies and techniques to reduce their exposure to cancer causing agents. Each member was issued two (2) of the new particulate blocking hoods, which allows hoods to be rotated and washed after use in a fire. Members learned about on-scene cleaning of gear, which can reduce exposures by 85%, and the use of wipes to clean around the face, neck, and hands which can reduce exposure by 54%. A recent study carried out by researchers at the University of Cincinnati highlighted the fact that firefighters are exposed to more danger than dying in a fire. Firefighters are also more prone to develop health disorders, especially four types of cancer due to the chemical exposure they have to face every day at their job. Please see video below for more information on Firefighter Cancer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyZ_HQM9Z_c

Special Training This month’s special training Lieutenant/Paramedic Eric Maher instructed members in proper operations and care of the RHFD’s John Deere Gator. Crews navigated several maneuvers and obstacles with the Gator. Members practiced loading and unloading patients from the Gator. This training will provide members skills utilized for several special events hosted in Rochester Hills including Paddlepalooza and Festival of the Hills. Members also learned to properly load and secure Gator in its transport trailer. Drone Pilot Training Several members attend Drone Pilot practical skills training program held at Fire Station 1. The program designed to prepare members to test for their Part 107 Pilot License to fly UAS (unmanned aircraft systems). These members are now preparing to test for their pilot’s license. De-Escalation Training All members of the RHFD received the City mandated De-Escalation training. The De-escalation training provides members with skills and techniques to deal with persons in crisis. Also, members were instructed in strategies of run, hide, fight in an active assailant situation.

Nozzle Forward Training Continuing on early training, members were instructed by FF/Paramedic Derek Gardner on the loading and deployment of hose lines based on the Nozzle Forward methods. All RHFD apparatus hose loads will be switched to these loads in the near future and will be the basis for future hose deployment techniques. Administration Bureau On May 1 and May 29 , the Fire Department Administration meet with the Public Safety and Infrastructure st th Committee to discuss the department’s Strategic Plan, specifically Objective 1B- Developing a Staffing Analysis and Needs Plan and Objective 5B- Providing annual Fire and Life Safety Inspections to all Occupancies under the jurisdiction of the City of Rochester Hills. At the May 1 meeting, committee members st were presented with data that has been collected to allow an educated discussion of the topics along with a presentation. At the May 29 meeting Fire Department Administration again provided a brief overview of the th information and answered any questions that committee members had. The Fire Department Administration would like to thank the committee’s commitment to public safety.