Firefighters do a lot of training monthly, but seldom do they actually get to train in a real home.
But in the last couple months, the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory (WWFT) has been able to do exactly that.
In providing his monthly fire activity report Tuesday to the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Protection Territory Board on February’s numbers, Chief Joel Shilling said the WWFT completed a total of 693.5 training hours, covering a variety of topics.
“We have the houses next to the street department, so you’ve probably seen the trucks out there if you’re ever out that way. The guys have been doing a lot of training in those houses that Robinsons have donated to the fire department to use,” he said.
Mayor Jeff Grose asked Shilling to specify some of the types of training that the fire department is doing in those homes on West Center Street.
Shilling said some of the training took place in February, and it’s carried on more into March.
“We do all sorts of training in there. We like to share it with the police department, so we haven’t done much of our interior training where we damage things ... just to keep the house intact so the canine dogs can get through there. The SWAT team has been in there as well. The fire marshal coordinates that with all the different agencies, so we all get the best use of the house together,” he explained.
The fire territory has done some ventilation training, but hasn’t cut holes in the roof yet. There’s been a lot of search training and hose lining.
Grose reminded the board that the homes are the first three homes to the east next to the street department on Center Street. When the public works facility is upgraded, it will be expanded to where those homes currently sit. The homes have been purchased by the contractor, Robinson Construction.
“It’s not very often we get these houses to train in,” Shilling said. “Yes, we have realistic training out of our training center, but they’re not homes. We haven’t been in there so the guys are going in there blind and not knowing what to expect, what the rooms look like, that sort of stuff. So it’s very realistic training. So I guess I want to publicly thank Robinson Construction for allowing us to use it.”
In new business, Shilling later requested the board approve a motion authorizing the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety to accept the bid for Self-Contained Breathing Apparatuses (SCBAs) on behalf of the WWFT board.
“We’re looking at updating our Self-Contained Breathing Apparatuses, or SCBAs, which is what we wear to a fire or ... anywhere where there’s no oxygen that we have to breathe off of our systems,” he said.
Currently, the fire territory has 50 SCBAs that are about 12 years old that they’re looking to replace.
“And so, with that, with the amount of money that we have to spend, working with the attorneys and the mayor, it is recommended that we have to bid that amount due to the nature of the amount,” Shilling continued.
He had Capt. Brian Zehring, who is in charge of the gear, go through and really look at SCBA uses, how many are actually getting used and how many just sit on the trucks. After that review, it was determined they needed to purchase 45 new SCBAs instead of 50. Along with the new ones, they’ll also need 50 new masks and 70 new air bottles.
With the cost of everything being upwards of $400,000, Shilling said they have to put out two public notices, seven days apart. At least 10 days after that, the bids for the equipment can be opened in a public meeting.
The tentative date for the bid opening is at the May 2 Board of Works meeting.
Shilling said there’s certain criteria that the equipment has to meet, and they also want to make sure the bid goes to the lowest and most responsive bidder.
Grose said the Board of Works members include himself, Councilwoman Diane Quance and George Clemens. The bids will be opened by them, reviewed by Shilling and Zehring during the meeting and then the Board of Works either will be presented with a recommendation by the end of the meeting or tabled until the following one.
Shilling said the new equipment should last another 10-12 years.
Fire Territory Board member David Allbritten made the motion for the Board of Works to continue the bid process, with member Gordon Nash seconding it. The motion passed unanimously.
The board also approved the fire territory’s contract renewal with First Due from Locality Medica Inc. The annual subscription renewal fee for First Due is $23,495.35, but Command Module also will be added on for an additional one-time fee of $3,500 for training.
First Due is “who we do all of our asset stuff on. It keeps track of all of our runs. We do all of our reports in there. So, basically, it tracks all of us. There’s a lot of different modules in there,” Shilling said.
One of the modules the territory did have there in the original contract was Community Connect. Through working with the First Due committee and the city’s IT Committee, it was decided to not use Community Connect anymore but go with the Command Module.
The contract renewal is for January to December 2025.
Finally, the board approved a page-long list of travel requests.
The next WWFT Board meeting is at 4 p.m. May 6.