October 2020

City of Rochester Hills Fire and Emergency Services Monthly Report for October 2020

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 October 2020: 531 (Approximately 29% 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: 5,583 Year-to-Date comparison 2019 to 2020: 6,322 (2019) 5,583 (2020)

Operations Bureau Deputy Chief - Todd Gary Shift Commanders - Bat. Chief Jason Murray, Bat. Chief Rogers Claussen, Bat. Chief Jerry Yurgo 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 531 incidents that occurred in October, 247 times (46 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. 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 78 calls for service that resulted in $270,417.00 in damage. On October 3, 2020, the Rochester Hills Fire Department was dispatched to the 3300 block of Rockhaven Ave for a reported residential structure fire. Initial reports to Dispatch was the fire was already through the roof of the home. Rochester Hills Ladder 3 was the first unit to arrive and reported a working fire in a one-story home with the fire threatening the neighboring structure. Rochester Hills Engine 1 arrived quickly behind Ladder 3 and protected the neighboring home as Ladder 3 began fire suppression activities on the fire building. The fire was contained to the home with no damage to the neighboring home. The homeowner was checked for

smoke inhalation but refused transport. No firefighter injuries occurred at this incident. The fire is under investigation by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department Fire Investigation Unit. Emergency Medical Services Division Division Head – Acting Captain Nick Birchmeier Statistics Total number of EMS runs: 453. We have seen a decrease in calls (we believe) due to the COVID pandemic. Many narratives in EMS have shown that people are more willing to call their primary care Physician and report their symptoms rather than call 911 and transport to a hospital where they could be exposed to the potential of COVID. We did respond to 36 incidents that were either determined as potential COVID-19 or the patient was positive with COVID-19. The department is beginning to see an increase of COVID-19 related incidents, with the YTD total of 405. Total number of Cardiac Arrest: Three (3), patients ranged in age from 64 to 73 years old. Two (2) of these patients was transported to a hospital for further care.

For information related to Coronavirus statistics for the State of Michigan, please go to: https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/0,9753,7-406-98163_98173---,00.html

For the month of October, members trained on communicable diseases and influenza. These were important trainings for our members because it reinforces the importance of proper PPE and hygiene techniques. It also taught / reinforced the differences between the common cold and the flu. The department is also keeping up-to-date on COVID information coming from the CDC and the Oakland County Health Department. Since we are coming into the cold and flu season, it is important for everyone to take precautions and ensure that you are washing hands, sanitizing, and disinfecting work areas. This month the new Engine 1 was placed into service as an ALS non-transport unit and was inspected by the State. Engine 1 and Ladder 3 both now carry ALS equipment. Community Risk Reduction Division Division Head - Assistant Chief Bill Cooke The Community Risk Reduction Division highlights for the month of October 2020 included the following: Fire Safety Inspections: 107 Follow-up Inspections: 54 Plan Reviews: 10 FOIA Requests: 6 Professional Development (Training Hours): 68.5 hours Burn Permits: 3 Public Education Activities Station Tour(s): 2 totaling 7 individuals Senior Program(s): 1 totaling 18 individuals CPR Class(es): 6 totaling 28 individuals Smoke Detector Program(s)/Installation(s): 7

Community Business Program(s): 4 totaling 323 individuals Other Event(s): 5 totaling 200 individuals During the month of October, the Rochester Hills Fire Department celebrated Fire Prevention Week recognized by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). This year’s theme for Fire Prevention Week is “Serve up Fire Safety in the Kitchen”. This topic is so important to discuss since cooking is the number #1 cause of home fires and home fire injuries in the United States. In addition, unattended cooking is the leading cause of kitchen fires. Of the 360 structure fires in Rochester Hills from 2015 to 2019, the kitchen has the #1 spot for area of origin, falling right in line with national statistics. During Fire Prevention Week, Fire and Life Safety Educator John Lyman was faced with a difficult challenge of providing educational opportunities for our community due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Without having our annual Open House, John was challenged to think outside of the box. John developed six educational videos that aired each day of the week on Facebook as well as provided fire and life safety messages on the electronic billboards at the M-59 and Crooks interchange. That’s right! Thousands of cars passed by fire and life safety messages along M-59 during the second week of the month. And, to top it all off, Lieutenant/Inspector Ann Echols headed up another educational opportunity for our elementary school children called “ABC’s for Little Firefighters”. These social media videos contained 27 individual lessons, one for each letter of the alphabet and a grand finale featuring all of the videos in a combined format. In all, 27 members of our organization assisted with 33 fire and life safety educational messages via Facebook. In 30 days, these videos compiled a total of 31,379 views! Thank you to all of our department members who assisted with this project! It takes a team to have this much success and it could not have been accomplished without all of your help.

Finally, during the month of October, Fire Inspectors have nearly accomplished this year’s goal of inspecting all of the high-risk businesses within the City of Rochester Hills. This goal had to be refined quite a bit due to the restrictions that were set forth during the COVID-19 Pandemic, but the Inspectors were able to gather and develop a plan of providing safety to the citizens of our community through occupancy inspections. As of the end of October, 93% of the high-risk businesses have been inspected and we anticipate completing our goal by the end of November. Great job Inspectors and keep up the good work!

Training Bureau Division Head - Captain Larry Gambotto During the month of October 2020, members of the Rochester Hills Fire Department received over 685 hours of Fire and EMS professional development. Year-to-date, members have completed over 10,685 hours of training. This month’s topics included Firefighter Survival, Air Consumption Drills and training with new equipment. Fire Training October’s monthly in-person fire training was postponed, due to COVID-19 concerns. An assignment was given using Fire Rescue One Academy, an online training platform. Members were instructed in Firefighter Survival. Fire Academy #005 Recruits of Academy #005 graduated on October 19, 2020. Congratulations to the five new Probationary Members. Special Training Members completed Air Consumption Drills. To better understand the air available during physical exertion, members work through a series of tasks while on air, to simulate fire ground activities. Members perform these tasks until the Low Air Alarm on their SCBA sounds. The starting bottle pressures and total time on air are recorded. The data is crunched and compared to previous year’s consumption drills.

Battalion Training During Battalion drills members reviewed- and received Anderson Rescue Solutions’ Multi-loop Rescue Strap. Each member was issued a MLRS to carry in their gear and to be used in numerous rescue situations. Administration Bureau On October 6, 2020, Council President Ryan Deel and Councilwoman Theresa Mungioli, assisted by several RHFD members of IAFF Local 3472, participated in OAKWAY’s Fire Operations 101 program at Oakland Community College’s CREST Center. As part of Fire OPS 101, participants experienced an EMS scenario, extrication and suiting up in fire fighter protective clothing, donning self-contained breathing apparatus and actually went inside a real fire to experience first-hand the environment in which firefighters work. Obviously, this was a controlled situation, but nevertheless provided an opportunity to see and feel what fire fighters deal with on a daily basis. It proved to be a very exciting and informative day. Friday, October 8, 2021 has been reserved for the next Fire Ops 101 program. Please save the date.

Finally, congratulations to Firefighter/Paramedic’s Loren Mitchell and David Kopko on their promotions to Lieutenant/Paramedic. Lieutenant Kopko is assigned to Station 5 on B-Shift and Lieutenant Mitchell is assigned to Station 1 on A-Shift.