December 2019FD

City of Rochester Hills Fire and Emergency Services Monthly Report for December 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 December 2019: 606 (Approximately 34% of these incidents occurred in Senior Congregate Housing / Skilled Nursing Facilities) Total Incidents Year-to-Date: 7,484 Year-to-Date comparison 2018 to 2019: 7,182 (2018) 7,484 (2019) Note: 5% increase from 2018

Operations Bureau Deputy Chief - Todd Gary Shift Commanders - Bat. Chief Tim Quaine, Bat. Chief Rogers Claussen, Bat. Chief Jerry Yurgo Fire Suppression Division Members responded to 99 calls for service. The Department responded to six (6) incidents that resulted in $106,430 in damages. On December 5, 2019, the Rochester Hills Fire Department was dispatched to Roanoke Lane for a residential structure fire in a multiple family dwelling. Rochester Hills Engine 1 was the first unit to arrive on-scene with nothing showing from the exterior, but once inside the structure found a smoke condition. Upon further investigation, crews found a grease fire that was extinguished. Crews checked the area with the Thermal Imaging Camera and noted damage to the wall and the stove itself. Crews performed overhaul to the fire area and ventilated the structure. No firefighter or civilian injuries occurred at this incident. This is the first of two (2) stove fires that will be encountered in December. Cooking fires are the number one cause of home fires and home injuries. The leading cause of fires in the kitchen is unattended cooking. Cooking fire facts based on 2013-2017 annual averages: •Cooking equipment is the leading cause of home* fires and fire injuries, causing 49% of home fires that resulted in 21% of the home fire deaths and 45% of the injuries. •Two-thirds (66%) of home cooking fires start with the ignition of food or other cooking materials. •Clothing is the item first ignited in less than 1% of these fires, but clothing ignitions lead to 14% of the home cooking equipment fire deaths. •Ranges or cooktops account for almost two-thirds (62%) of home cooking fire incidents. •Unattended equipment is a factor in one-third (31%) of reported home cooking fires and half (48%) of the associated deaths. •Frying dominates the cooking fire problem. •Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires, followed by Christmas Day and Christmas Eve. Please click links below to see additional information on cooking safety https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm6UMPP2z8I&feature=emb_logo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3amnPm_he4

On December 9, 2019, the Rochester Hills Fire Department was dispatched to the 400 block of Ivy Wood Court for a reported residential structure fire. Rochester Hills Chief 1 and Alpha 25 arrived simultaneously and found a working fire in the attic of the garage and the attic over the living area of the home. Rochester Hills Engine 1 performed fire suppression activities in the garage, while Ladder 3 vertically ventilated the building. Rochester Hills Alpha 25 established Level 1 RIT (Firefighter Rescue Crew) and Rochester Hills Tower Ladder 4 and Engine 2 performed fire suppression activities in the home. Rochester City and Auburn Hills also assisted on scene. An Oakland County Sheriff’s Department Fire Investigator was requested to the scene. According to the homeowner, their heater was not working and they were heating the home with several space heaters. No firefighter or civilian injuries occurred at this incident.

On December 15, 2019, the Rochester Hills Fire Department was dispatched to the 4500 block of Gallagher Street in Oakland Township to assisted Oakland Township Fire Department with a residential structure fire. Rochester Hills Tower Ladder 4 and Battalion 1 responded to assist on the initial Box Alarm, and Ladder 5 was dispatched on the 2 Alarm. Crews arrived to find fire in the attic of a single-family dwelling. Tower nd Ladder 4 performed vertical ventilation and Ladder 5 assisted with interior and exterior operations. No firefighter or civilian injuries occurred at this incident. On December 30, 2019, the Rochester Hills Fire Department was dispatched to 300 block of Sandalwood Drive for a residential structure. Rochester Hills Engine 1 was the first unit to arrive on-scene with light smoke showing from the Charlie side of the structure. Upon further investigation, crews found a oven fire that was partially extinguished. Crews finished extinguishing the fire and checked the area with the Thermal Imaging Camera. Crews performed overhaul to the fire area, ventilated the structure, and removed the stove. No firefighter or civilian injuries occurred at this incident.

Emergency Medical Services Division Division Head - Captain Tim Matz Statistics Total number of EMS Reports: 507 (74% were transported to a hospital for further care) Total number of Cardiac Arrests: 12. Age ranges of these patients were 65 to 85, and of these patients only four (4) were transported for further care at a local Cardiac Interventional Hospital. General Weakness is the Number #1 reason medically we are being called for service. Unknown Injuries is the largest reason for trauma related calls for service. EMS Training for the month of December was Documentation. The first half of the training was a webinar from a national EMS law firm Page, Wolfberg, and Wirth on Documentation Improvement Strategies. They discussed the information that is vital to be included in a patient care report and how different parts of the

patient care report validate other parts of the report. They also discussed the importance of what information needs to be included in the narrative, information that may not be necessary, as well as importance of proper spelling and grammar since it is a legal document. During the second half of training members reviewed the Rochester Hills Fire Electronic Patient Care Reporting (ePCR) system. Areas covered included attention to detail when completing the ePCR and providing a more informative narrative. With the changes in Insurance Company requirements, members reviewed the proper way to document patient personal information and billing/insurance information. Completing the ePCR correctly allows our billing company to proceed immediately. The EMS Division along with several other divisions were involved in the Rochester City Christmas Parade. Several members of the Rochester Hills Fire Department were active in the operation for the parade. Assistant Chief Cooke was the Liaison Officer in the Command Post between the Rochester Hills Fire Department and Rochester Fire Department, which, assisted in keeping communications between the two departments clear and on-point. Captain Matz was the EMS Operations Command Officer and ran the EMS Operations section for the parade. Battalion Chief Claussen was the Liaison between the Command Post and the Oakland County Sherriff’s Command Post. For this event, the Rochester Hills Fire Department had two (2) ambulances, a Ladder Truck and EMS Gator in operations during the parade. Another ladder truck was in the parade as part of the event. The parade was well organized and no significant incidents occurred before, during, or after the parade. Community Risk Reduction Division Division Head - Assistant Chief Bill Cooke The Community Risk Reduction Division highlights for the month of December2019 included the following: Fire Safety Inspections: 15 Follow-up Inspections: 40 Plan Reviews: 5 FOIA Requests: 3 Professional Development (Training Hours): 30.5 hours Infant Car Seat Installation and Checks: 10 Subpoenas: 2 Public Education Activities School Programs: four (4) presentations totaling 305 individuals During the final month of 2019, Community Risk Reduction members continued to provide fire and life safety inspections in our site-specific locations. Inspections in these facilities have been conducted on an annual basis due to the amount of hazardous chemicals that have been identified on their site that is used or produced by the business. These inspections are important to not only the occupant of the facility, but to our staff as we will be called to their location in an emergency situation. Safety for the occupants, our staff and our citizens are all a priority in these types of inspections.

Also during the month of December, Community Risk Reduction staff helped coordinate and participate in many community events. These events ranged from wrapping gifts to help raise money for cancer awareness to delivering Santa Claus to a neighborhood event. One event to highlight is that members from our department participated in the Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams at Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital. From December 1st through the 25th, pediatric patients shine their flashlights from the hospital windows and look for community members standing outside the hospital to flash them back. Moonbeams is an event to let all patients in the hospital know they are not alone and that they can rest easy knowing that an entire community is behind them in supporting their journey to be happy and healthy. For three days in December, our department was represented as members showed their support to pediatric patients and their families who are dealing with very difficult times. Thank you to our staff who participated as you did a great job representing our organization! Finally, during the month of December a new Ordinance for adoption was approved by the Rochester Hills City Council. This new section was created to establish a frequency of periodic fire safety inspections and prescribe a penalty for violations. During the Fire Department’s strategic planning process and Insurance Services Organization (ISO) evaluation, staff had identified a weakness in the current fire safety inspection process. It was determined that only 23% of the City’s inspectable properties were visited on a routine basis. These inspections have been conducted in our high-risk occupancies only, leaving a large portion of our business community without any contact from our department. In order to help establish a proactive approach towards reducing the risk within our community, the department has utilized the National Fire Protection Association’s standard on organization and deployment of fire prevention inspection and code enforcement, plan review, investigation and public education operations, otherwise known as NFPA 1730. This standard has assisted our department as a guide to help establish a realistic and obtainable goal of inspection frequency. These goals establish inspections on a 1, 2, or 3-year rotation depending on the type of risk associated with the occupancy. High-risk occupancies every year, medium risk every other year, and low risk every three years. With the unanimous support from the Rochester Hills Public Safety Infrastructure Committee as well as Rochester Hills City Council, this frequency was been approved. This is now the standard for our Community Risk Reduction Division and we will work towards continuing to provide the safest environment for our citizens, visitors and firefighters in the City of Rochester Hills. The Division would like to extend our gratitude to Fire Administration, the Rochester Hills Public Safety and Infrastructure Committee, and the Rochester Hills City Council for their support and dedication to public safety in our community.

Training Bureau Division Head - Captain Larry Gambotto During the month of December 2019, members of the Rochester Hills Fire Department received almost 200 hours of Fire and EMS professional development. Year-to-date, members have completed over 7,050 hours of training. This month’s training topics included Forcible Entry and Commercial Structure Fire Attacks, EMS Documentation and Review of Near Miss fire from St. Charles, MO. Fire Training For December’s fire training, in collaboration with Auburn Hills Fire Department, members were able to review and practice forcible entry techniques on multiple doors. AHFD invited the department to participate in hands on training at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Crews seldom get the chance to perform these many forcible entries, and the Palace provided several different options including inward, outward swinging doors, both wood and commercial metal doors. Crews also reviewed and practiced less destructive thru-the-lock options of forcible entry. Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills members practiced advancing high-raise packs required from firefighting within large structures.

Special Training Department members reviewed a structure fire that occurred in St. Charles, MO (a suburb of St. Louis). On January 3, 2014, the St. Charles Fire Department responded to a residential structure fire in 10 inches of snow with wind gusts north of 40 MPH. What was thought to be an ordinary structure fire quickly changed and nearly killed four St. Charles Firefighter / Paramedics. The fire, which was considered wind-driven, quickly exploded. RHFD members discussed the similarities between the St. Charles and Rochester Hills Fire Departments. We reviewed Standard Operating Procedures and reviewed lessons learned from St. Charles. See the link below for video of the event. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dJ6l7MWylg Administration Bureau After announcing his retirement earlier in December, Battalion Chief Timothy Quaine officially retired December 14, 2019. In August of 1982, Chief Quaine joined the Avon Township Fire Department as a Paid on Call Firefighter at Station 2. In June of 1987, Chief Quaine was hired as a fulltime Firefighter for the Rochester Hills Fire Department. During Chief Quaine’s time with Rochester Hills, he was pulling double duty working as a member of the Air National Guard. Congratulations to Chief Quaine on his retirement.

With Chief Quaine’s retirement, two (2) members were promoted, one (1) to Lieutenant/Paramedic and one (1) to Battalion Chief. Lieutenant Jason Murray was promoted to Battalion Chief and will serve as the Shift Commander on B-Shift. Firefighter Richard Welch was promoted to Lieutenant/Paramedic working out of Station 4 on B-Shift. Congratulations to both of these individuals. Good Luck in your new roles.

As part of the City’s 30-days of Giving, Rochester Hills Fire Department members donated gloves and mittens to Neighborhood House, a Rochester area organization that provides food assistance, counseling, a clothes closet, transportation and other special projects to those in need. Thanks to the members for their contributions. Finally, on Wednesday, December 18th, the Oakway Mutual Aid Group Fire Chiefs held their annual Christmas celebration at Trattoria Da Luigi in Royal Oak. As part of this celebration, a free-will offering was collected. Those present donated a total of $900 to the Great Lakes Burn Camp. This donation will provide the funding necessary to send two burn-injured children to camp. Chief Canto, Deputy Chief Gary, and Assistant Chief Cooke attended this event. OAKWAY is a mutual aid agreement between the fire departments of Birmingham, Bloomfield Twp, Farmington Hills, Ferndale, Madison Heights, Rochester Hills, Royal Oak, Southfield, Waterford and West Bloomfield.