St. Clair County Fire and EMS Association Minutes of the Regular Meeting September9, 2013 Hosted by Pleasant Hill Volunteer Fire Department

Transcription

1 St. Clair County Fire and EMS Association Minutes of the Regular Meeting September9, 2013 Hosted by Pleasant Hill Volunteer Fire Department IN ATTENDANCE: Attendance Record not on hand, attendance to be revised The September County Association meeting was called to order at 7:02pm by Chief Richard Harvey of Springville. Chief Harvey thanked David Eckl of Emergency Equipment Professionals, Inc. for providing meal for the September meeting. Minutes: The August meeting minutes were distributed via to the SCCFA Yahoo group and have been posted to the St. Clair County Fire and EMS webpage: The August minutes were presented as posted on the SCCFA webpage; no changes were noted by the assembled members of the association. Bryan Price made a motion to accept the minutes as presented; this motion was seconded by Howard Downs. The motion to accept the minutes as presented was past with no objections. Financial: The financial report was provided by Amanda McCullough. One check totaling $63.00 to Whitney Volunteer Fire Department for the 2013 Workman s Compensation Audit refund remains outstanding as of August 31, SCCFA Account Balances as of 08/31/2013: Cash on Hand $ Regular Checking Account $ 5, Get Alarm $ 2, Money $13, TOTAL ACCOUNT BALANCES $21, Danny Staples made a motion to accept the financial report; this motion was seconded by Dale Wyatt. The motion to accept the financial report as given was passed with no objections. BREMSS

2 The Quarterly SEMCC meeting was held on August 27 th in Clanton, Al at which time the proposed EMS Protocol Revisions were discussed. One remaining revision issue is the expanded scope of practice that allows approved EMS providers to perform Rapid Sequence Intubations (RSI). The proposed protocols require approved EMS providers to meet a specified list of criteria and preform quarterly skill assessments. A work session is scheduled for September with a voting session to follow in October. The protocol changes must be accepted to meet the January 31, 2014 update requirements for licensing renewals. Joe also announced that the LifeSaver base located in Birmingham has closed. The closing of base will not have a direct effect on the St. Clair County area because LifeSaver flights for St. Clair County are from Rainbow City. Bryan Price inquired as to the location of other LifeSaver posting sites within the BREMSS area. According to Joe the other posting areas are Vinemont, Sylacauga and Rainbow City, each within a 40 nautical mile radius with a response time of minutes. Joe pointed out that the response time of minutes does not include prep time for the aircraft. Richard Harvey asked if there was any real difference between the two air ambulance companies: Air-Evac and LifeSaver. Joe responded that to the EMS responder on the ground, they would not see a difference between either service providers. When contacting TCC, the EMS provider would only need to request the closest air ambulance for service, TCC will responsible to contacting the appropriate air ambulance. Bryan pointed out that most 1 st responders refer to the air ambulance regardless of the service provider as LifeSaver, which may cause some confusion with the dispatch of the closest air ambulance. James Robinson asked that the association agree not to endorse a specific air medical service provider, instead leave the decision making process to route the appropriate air ambulance to TCC since they have immediate access to the necessary data for all air ambulance providers. David Talley made a motion that the association would not endorse a specific air ambulance company therefore allowing TCC to make the decision regarding contacting and routing the most appropriate air ambulance. This motion was seconded by Dale Metcalf. The motion passed with no objections from the association. Bryan Price will inform Bill Richvalsky director of the St. Clair County of the association s decision. Training: Terry Haynes announced that New London will host a Vehicle Extraction and Burn Class on Saturday September 07, 2013 beginning at 8:00 am. A Hazmat Technician class will begin next Monday September 16 th in Pell City. Anyone interested in attending the Class can contact Chief Mike Burnett at Pell City Fire Department (205) Argo Fire and Rescue will be hosting a Fire Department Incident Safety Officer class September 23-October 11. This will be a shift based class held every B shift except on weekends. Location will be at the Argo Station #1 at 100 Black Jack Road Trussville Al The cost of the class will be $40.00 and student will need to provide required texts. For more information Call George Smith, Training Officer or station Springville s FF 160 Class is still scheduled to be completed by Thanksgiving Wattsville s FF 160 class had 16 attendees test this past week

3 Any department interested in hosting Moody s Mobile Fire Training Unit can contact James Robinson. James can answer any questions and will provide the host department with the information regarding the mobile unit s requirements. COG The COG report for August meeting was given by Howard Downs. As part of the continued development of the St. Clair County Ambulance Contract Request for Proposal (RFP), Howard requested departments within the county please contact the COG with any issues or items they would like addressed regarding the county wide ambulance service. As part of the contract development, new service standards and penalties will be adopted for the new contract. Howard also announced the September meeting would have to be postponed until October because the data regarding overall response volume and times has not been extracted from the CAD system. Revisions of the contract need to base off the level of service we are getting now, therefore the data needs to be accurate to make the appropriate changes to the ambulance contract. Howard Downs Sandhow@windstream.net Richard Harvey sfd377@aol.com Radio Committee: Bryan Price reported for the Radio Committee. The new UPS have been installed at each of the radio tower sites and the network for performance monitoring has been implemented. This monitoring system will constantly evaluate the radio systems components and can send alerts if any part of the system or components experience problems. One key aspect of the monitoring system is the ability to access the system remotely to make any necessary changes or updates. Reprogramming of the radios should occur by the end of the month. The reprogramming streamlines the programming layout in Zone 1 allowing for better communication and work-ability. Roxanne Brownfield inquired about the issues seen with the pagers in the Shoal Creek coverage area. James reminded the association that the new radio system is a digital system and it does not address the issues seen on the analog system which controls the paging system. Call Alerting (Departmental Paging) is something the system is capable of doing in the future but will require an additional investment of equipment that was not covered in the original grant proposal. Focus is now on any remaining issues within the digital system and correcting any problems within the new digital system. James asked that any issues or problems experienced with the new system be reported to Bryan Price or himself as soon as possible. Old Business Richard reported that the incorporation of the BY-LAWS OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY FIREFIGHTERS AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ASSOCIAITON, INC. amendments from 1993 and 1994 have been incorporated into one document for review by the association. The revised By-Laws have been posted

4 to the SCCFA webpage for review by all departments: This amended document will be the foundation for the development of a revised set of By-Laws for the SCCFA. Richard asked that the current document be reviewed as presented and accepted by the association, specifically Article II and Article III for the amendments. Howard Downs noted the proposed By-Laws state the monthly association meeting is to be held on the third Tuesday of the month. Richard called for a motion to accept the By-Laws as presented with a noted change of the meeting date of the association meeting to the second Tuesday of each month. Howard Downs made the motion to accept the By-Laws with the meeting day stated as the 2 nd Tuesday of each month. Dale Metcalf seconded the motion. The motion passed with no objections from the association. The Alabama Volunteer Fire Fighter Association (AVFFD) has recently had a change of officers as explained by Richard. Due to this change the current issue the association has concerning participation by paid/ volunteer departments and payments made by participating departments still remains unanswered. The AVFFD records show that 9 departments from the county have made payments to the AVFFD; a request for an invoice for the remaining 11 departments has been made. The BREMSS St. Clair County Board Representation was inquired about during the August meeting but was tabled until the September meeting. Richard asked Joe to give a little history of the appointment and the board members roles. Joe explained that typically each county has three representatives that serve on the BREMSS Board that meets once a year typically prior to the BREMSS annual banquet. In addition, one the board members is also a member of the executive board. The executive board meets quarterly and advises BREMSS in operational and budgetary matters. Recommendations from the SCFFA are made to BREMSS on who should serve on the Board. BREMSS in turns makes the recommendation to the St. Clair County Commission. It is up to the St. Clair County Commission to accept the recommendation and issue the ratifications for the appointments. Richard Harvey suggested that the association leave Mr. Sam Jones on the board until he decides he would no longer like to participate but the other positions are review by the association. Further discussion among the association member s present indicates a board member change for the St. Clair County board members is needed. Dale Metcalf made a motion to make the recommendation to BREMSS that the presiding SCCFA President and Operations Manager from the Ambulance Company that holds the County Wide ambulance contract be appointed to the BREMSS Board with Mr. Sam Jones. New Business: Richard reported that the association was notified by the Workman s Compensation Insurance Company that as a result of the resent audit, the association owed an outstanding balance of $ Richard asked that further discussion concerning this balance be tabled until additional research could be done to determine how the underpayment occurred. Bryan Price made a motion that would allow the SCCFA to purchase online access to the NFPA Standards for a cost of $1, per year. This motion was seconded by Howard Downs. The motion passed to spend $1, per year to have access the current NFPA standards. The motion passed with no objections.

5 Bryan Price, Wolf Creek, motioned to adjourn the meeting at 8:02 pm and Howard Downs, Cook Springs, seconded the motion. Everyone dismissed by agreement. The next meeting will be hosted by Odenville Fire Department on October 08 at 6:30 pm.