RIPLEY-HURON FIRE DEPARTMENT

ANNUAL REPORT

2010/2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Message from Doug Martyn, Fire Chief …………………………………………………… 2 Message from Steve Fry, Training Officer…………………………………………………. 3 Ripley-Huron Fire Department Mission …………………………………………………… 4 Ripley-Huron Fire Department Vision ……………………………………………………… 4 Corporation of Huron-Kinloss Council …………………………………………………… 5 Ripley-Huron Fire Department Organizational Chart …………………………………… 6 Ripley-Huron Fire Department Member Roster …………………………………………... 7 Ripley-Huron Emergency Service Area …………………………………………………… 8 Ripley-Huron Fire Department Incident Response ……………………………………… 9 Ripley-Huron Fire Department 5 Year Comparison of Annual Responses………… 11 Ripley-Huron Fire Department Incident Responses by Month………………………… 12 Ripley-Huron Fire Department Incident Responses by Day of Week……………… 13 Ripley-Huron Fire Department Times and Member Response ………………………… 14 Ripley-Huron Fire Department Future Objectives………………………………………… 17 Message from Scott Martyn, Administrator……………………………………………… 18

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MESSAGE FROM THE RIPLEY-HURON FIRE DEPARTMENT CHIEF

This year again has seen many changes and opportunities for our Department. With the retirement of three senior officers we have seen a major change in the officer positions. Overall, the new officers have taken their newly acquired responsibility with much enthusiasm and dedication. The new officer positions include deputy-chief, captains, and training officer. Presently we are in the process of hiring two new members to the department. Training and record keeping is still an ongoing challenge for the department. This year has seen a review of all our current Standard Operating Guidelines and the issuing of several new ones. Nine new sets of bunker gear have been acquired this year, and new air bags and a liner for the porta-tank were ordered and promised to be here by year end. Except for two sets of gear all the gear are within the ten year lifetime guideline. Fire prevention activities continue through department activities, visits and presentations to the public and school. We also financially support the Grey-Bruce Fire Prevention Association. Frieberger Truck Service is still providing maintenance and safety certification for our trucks. The tanker has been over for a leak repair to the discharge valve and the rescue unit is having a new compartment door manufactured. Due to the increase demand for records and compliance, our computer system is in dire need of upgrading. We are also currently looking for equipment to assist us in geographic locating for our emergency calls. At this time the discussions with Hanover dispatch is at a stand still and I feel they cannot provide “Full Dispatch” to us due to radio limitations. I was more than thankful for the attendance of our CAO, clerk, and one councilor at the seminar at Meaford entitled Essentials of Municipal Fire Protection A great deal of relevant information was presented by the Office of the Fire Marshal. Overall our department is a department to be proud of and I look forward to serving our community with it and its members in the future. Please remember we must all strive to look ahead and improve. Doug Martyn Fire Chief Ripley-Huron Fire Department.

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MESSAGE FROM RIPLEY-HURON FIRE DEPARTMENT TRAINING OFFICER

This year we had some challenges in our training department with the hiring of 4 new fire fighters. The most important issue was getting the 4 new members’ training up to a standard in which they would feel safe responding to calls. We will still be working toward this in 2012, along with the understanding that we will also be looking into bringing on 2 more new members this next year. In the training department we have one new training officer this year to fill in for Sean Johnson. Sean has stepped down to allow Dan Johnson an opportunity in the training department. Dan has been working hard at getting the departments standard operating guidelines up to date. Another task that Dan has taken on is starting a training guideline for practice nights. These guidelines tell the crew putting on the training what the keys points are and what should be covered in the training exercise. 2011 saw many changes again in CPR & Defib training. We have started reviewing, and plan on getting certified this winter once again. In the fall, we began to get those members not yet qualified, their DZ license. This will be an ongoing priority. The last couple years have been tough on Canadian volunteer fire fighters with many members getting hurt or killed. We are trying to step up our training to prevent such things from happening in our department. As a result, Ripley has added a self-rescue course to its training program this year which helps fire fighters deal with different dangers and situations that they may come across. Experience in tight or confined areas to pass through, entanglements and knowing how to follow a fire hose out of a building would be a great benefit. Adding to this, our department has stressed the importance of staging an RIT (rapid intervention team) so that if a fire fighter runs into trouble a team is ready to go in for rescue. The RIT team members carry the basic tools to do this retrieval and is practiced on a regular bases at our department. Near the end of the year we had a chain saw safety course at the hall, which was much needed, since the chain saw is an important tool on a fire department. In closing, 2011 saw many new and interesting changes to the day-to-day operations of our department and keeping everyone updated in training will be an ongoing battle. In the up coming year of 2012 the training department will continue its training and look at areas for improvement in order to keep all of our members safe. Steve Fry Ripley-Huron Fire Department Training Officer/ Captain

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MISSION

The Ripley Huron Fire Department’s Mission as stated on the Huron-Kinloss Website is as follows: “To provide a range of programs to protect the lives and property of the inhabitants from the adverse affects of fires, sudden medical emergencies or exposure to dangerous conditions created by man or nature”.

VISION Eliminate preventable fires, injuries and illnesses through public education,

and fire prevention programs. Minimize the adverse effects of fires, natural disasters and other situations

that threaten lives, property and the environment. Function as highly trained professionals who value teamwork and diversity

that reflects the community we serve.

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CORPORATION OF THE TOWNSHIP OF HURON-KINLOSS COUNCIL

Mayor

Mitch Twolan

Deputy Mayor

Wilfred Gamble

Councillors

Lillian Abbott Jeff Elliott Jim Hanna Don Murray Carl Sloetjes

Administrator

Mary-Rose Walden

Clerk

Sonya Watson

Deputy Clerk

Joanna Mallot

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RIPLEY-HURON FIRE DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

Crew 2 Sean Johnson Ken Fischer

Tom Fry

Administrator (1)

Training Officer (2)

Deputy Chief (1)

Captain

Captain

Captain

Captain

Captain

Fire Chief (1)

Corporation of Huron-Kinloss

Council

Crew 1 (3)

Crew 2 (3)

Crew 4 (3)

Crew 5 (3)

Crew 3 (3)

**There has been Changes to the Department structure following year end as of October 31, 2011. These changes are: Captain’s Brian Pollock and Ed McGillivray – Retired Captain Jeff Pollard – Deputy Chief Sean Johnson and Dean Watson and Steve Fry– Captains Dan Johnson – Training Officer

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RIPLEY-HURON FIRE DEPARTMENT -2010/2011 ROSTER

FF# NAME RANK

1501 MARTYN Doug Fire Chief 1502 POLLARD Jeff Deputy Chief (Current) 1506 JOHNSON Sean Captain (Crew 4) 1507 MARTYN Scott Administrator and

Captain (Crew 5 ) 1508 FRY Steve Training Officer and

Captain (Crew 2) 1509 WATSON Dean Captain (Crew 3) 1510 BALL John Captain (Crew 1) 1511 FAIR Mike Firefighter – Crew 3 1512 FISCHER Ken Firefighter - Daytime 1513 FRY Tom Firefighter –Crew 2 1515 KEMPTON Brent Firefighter –Crew 5 1516 JOHNSON Dan Training Officer 1517 VANDERHOEK Darren Firefighter –Crew 1 1518 MARTYN Donald Firefighter --Crew 3 1519 NICHOLSON Steve Firefighter –Crew 1 1520 MACDONALD Paul Firefighter –Crew 5 1521 DEWAR Dennis Firefighter –Crew 1 1522 RICHARDSON Jeff Firefighter –Crew 4 1524 CHATHAM Brent Firefighter – Crew 2 1526 COLLING Josh Firefighter –Crew 2 MCGILLIVRAY Ed Captain (Crew) –

Retired) POLLOCK Brian Captain (Crew) –

(Retired) YUNGBLUT Murray Deputy Chief (Retired) BURGESS Mike Firefighter

***Yellow highlighted members have retired in this past year ***Green highlight represents members leaving for other reasons

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RIPLEY-HURON EMERGENCY SERVICE AREA

The Ripley-Huron Fire Department provides fire and emergency services within the municipal boundaries as outlined in the map, shown below. The Ripley-Huron Fire Department is responsible for serving the residents within approximately 132 square miles. The municipality receives and provides mutual aid to and from adjacent fire departments in cases of large fire and/or emergency services. Fire Protection services are provided through one fire station located in the town of Ripley, which is staffed by way of 20 volunteer members. These members are paged by way of a central dispatch service, provided by Hanover Dispatch, located in Hanover, Ontario.

The Ripley-Huron Fire Department responds to calls for the area of Huron-Kinloss west of the Huron-Kinloss Township Road. Excluded in that area are the lands north of 162 Bruce Beach Road, north of 806 Lake Range Drive east to approximately 1 ¼ mile east of Highway 21 (see Ripley-Huron Fire Department map). Properties west and north of these lines, are serviced by the Kincardine Fire Department.

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Ripley-Huron Fire Department Incident Responses Emergency Fire and Medical responses account for a total of 46 calls responded to by the Ripley-Huron Fire Department from November 1, 2010 to October 31, 2011.

Response Types Response Total Fire with Loss 5 Fire without Loss 4 Non Fire Calls 3 Public Hazard 7 Medical 13 Rescue 10 Other 4 Total 46

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Headings are defined: Fire with Loss –Loss of building, structure – cost against Fire without Loss—Grass fire, controlled burn call Non Fire Calls –Alarm equipment, malfunction, human perceived emergency Public Hazard – Carbon Monoxide, power lines down, spill response Medical – Any form of medical condition which results in response Rescue –MVA, Industrial/Commercial Agricultural accident Other –Assistance to other departments/cancelled call

This chart illustrates a comparison of responses over a 5 year time span --Green represents responses from the 2006/2007 fiscal year, and Red represents the responses for 2007/2008, while Blue represents the 2008/2009 year, while Grey represents the 2009/2010 year and the current year is shown in Yellow.

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Ripley-Huron Fire Department 5 Year Comparison on Responses

5 year comparison # of responses

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Ripley-Huron Fire Department Incident Responses by Month The following is a chart outlining the months in which fire and emergency calls were received and responded to by the Ripley-Huron Fire Department. Again, comparison to the 2006/2007, the 2007/2008, the 2008/2009, the 2009/2010 and the 2010/2011 year has been provided. The colour of the chart is the same as above.

Responses by Month

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Ripley-Huron Fire Department Incident Responses by day of the week

The following is a chart outlining the days of the week in which fire and emergency calls were received and responded to by the Ripley-Huron Fire Department. In the 2006/2007 year most calls were responded to on a Saturday and in 2007/2008 were responded to on a Thursday and in 2008/2009 calls were responded to mostly on Sunday, while in 2009/2010 the majority of calls were responded to on Sunday’s, while in 2010/2011 most calls were responded to on Friday.

Response by Day of the Week

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Ripley-Huron Fire Department Incident Responses by time of day The chart below illustrates the time of day in which emergency calls were received by the Ripley-Huron Fire Department, the chart shows all 24 hours of the day. The yellow represents the current year. This year there was a mixture of times throughout the mid-day (10:00am and 11:00am) and into the early evening (15:00pm to 17:00pm) appears to be when the majority of calls occurred this year.

Time of Day for Responses

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Ripley-Huron Fire Department 2010/2011 Member Response

The Ripley-Huron Fire Department is dispatched by way of Hanover Dispatch Services. Each member of the department has a pager, in which they are paged to emergency services calls. The members of the fire department are responsible for getting themselves to the fire department quickly to assist in all emergency situations. The chart below illustrates the number of members attending at each of the 46 calls in the 2010/2011 year. The average call was responded to by 11.24 members.

Members Response

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Ripley-Huron Fire Department 2010/2011 Response Times

This chart shows the response times by the Ripley-Huron Fire Department for the 46 calls. The response times are inclusive of time in which the emergency page was received from Hanover dispatch to the time in which the department arrives on the emergency scene. Calls that show a zero minute response time were paged to the fire hall, however were either cancelled prior to arrival, when at the hall and/or on route to the emergency scene. The average response time was 9.96 minutes/call. The 13th and 21st call, which shows significantly higher response time, due to the call being in Point Clark.

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RIPLEY-HURON FIRE DEPARTMENT 2012 OBJECTIVES

**red indicates the updates from 2011, objectives remain as ongoing.

1. Upgrade computers with a fire department software program which provides for the opportunity to track responses, training, supplies, and time keeping. This would stream-line the administrative process. This remains ongoing with discussions with Mike Hackett through MTC communities and reviewing other departments for their programming and successes.

2. Ongoing training in various areas of the department operation, including high angle rescue, operations and First

Aid Training, including further development of training tracking. This continues to be a goal, as ongoing training needs are relevant. Dan Johnson has been conducting new training records for the members.

3. Continue to update standard operating guidelines in 2012. This continues to be a work in progress. All Standards

have been reviewed and 6 new have been introduced.

4. Ongoing community fire prevention planning and pre-fire planning with the community. Inspections occur on request and pre-fire plans are preformed as required at Bluewater Agromart. The Bluewater District School Board, provide an updated plan each year, and Chief Doug Martyn attends to the Ripley Y daycare each year.

5. Continue in the replacement and updating of equipment, such as pagers and turnout gear and purchasing of air

bags for auto extrication. Ongoing replacement and review is required. New pagers were purchased (3) and turnout gear (9), liner for porter tank is on order, as well as extrication air bags. The SCBA has been recertified for the year.

6. Participate in discussions with Hanover Dispatch and other area departments re: unified dispatch. Discussions

are on hold as no meeting has been scheduled for more than 6 months. Chief Martyn has expressed the radio communication equipment is inadequate for Hanover Dispatch to perform full dispatch and RHFD will require to remain self sufficient.

7. Look at Specifications and Standards for Tanker’s as the Ripley-Huron Fire Department Tanker, as this was

scheduled for replacement in 2010. Due to budget restraints the tanker purchase has been delayed.

8. Replacement of members, as per needs arise. There are 2 positions available that will be filled in the New Year.

9. Future needs will be for SCBA bottles, in-station compressor and computer software, ID badges, and uniforms.

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MESSAGE FROM RIPLEY-HURON FIRE DEPARTMENT ADMINISTRATOR

The Ripley-Huron Fire Department has had another busy year responding to 46 calls in total. Tracking of the response data over the past 6 years has demonstrated little in regards to trends, which makes predicting any pattern to the types of calls impossible. From year to year the call types have fluctuated, which shows a great need in all the areas in which the Fire Department assists the community in. Within the past 5 years, calls have ranged from a low of 32 calls to a high of 53 calls. Each year there has been more emphasis placed on the Department for tracking and providing documentation. The process of data review, collection, reports and year end would be streamlined by a program/software, which incorporates all aspects of fire department operation. It would be helpful to have such a program to be able to provide current and up to date reports on various functions of the department at any given time. The department looks forward to ongoing community involvement with fire prevention and education of the community. The main focus for the upcoming year will be for training and continual improvement, such as reviewing the potential for a Junior Fire Fighter program. The Ripley-Huron Fire Department volunteer members and their families continue their ongoing commitment to the safety and well being of the Ripley-Huron community, with focus on timely response to emergency situations, community service and fire safety awareness. Once again this year on behalf of the community and the department the members and their families should be continually commended for their efforts and dedication to the services provided and ongoing support to the community. At this time, on behalf of the Ripley-Huron Fire Department, I would like to thank the Corporation of the Township of Huron-Kinloss for reviewing this report and their ongoing commitment and support to the Ripley-Huron Fire Department. Sincerely, Scott Martyn Ripley-Huron Fire Department Administrator/Captain