 He then offered additional commentary on each point.
(Indented text is from a scanned copy of the document released to
council members by the fire chief.)
Emergency Medical
Services: The Lincoln Fire Department responds on all medical
emergencies along with the Logan County Paramedics. Fifteen of our
firefighters are trained and certified at the Emergency Medical
Technician-Basic level, and four are certified at the Paramedic
level. Our training has been upgraded in the last several months to
permit EMT's to administer medications to treat patients of heart
attacks, trouble breathing, and severe allergic reactions. This
upgrade in patient care should take place within the next two
months.
The chief added that about 60 percent of their calls are for
emergency medical, and with only two staffed ambulance services in
the county, they routinely arrive on the scene before the ambulance.
Fire Prevention:
A smoke detector and
battery giveaway program has been implemented with the assistance of
local grants and other organizations to assist people in need to
provide and install smoke detectors and replace batteries as needed
for all residential dwellings in Lincoln.
We are in the
process or organizing a fire safety and fall prevention program
specifically for our senior citizens. A local grant was received to
upgrade our fire pre-planning program software for all of our
commercial buildings.
Hulett noted that the fire department's involvement in fall
prevention is very important. He said that when seniors do take a
fall and need help getting up, it is the fire department they call.
Training and Mutual
Aid: The Lincoln Fire Department provides all specialized rescue
for Logan County. We train on a regular basis with our neighboring
fire departments, since mutual aid is critical for our City.
Recently four of our firefighters spent over 300 hours of special
rope rescue training. Firefighter rescue training has been ongoing
(and) will be a priority with our mutual aid departments next year.
Training within our department will be very important next year,
with the possible retirements of several of our more experienced
firefighters.
The chief stressed that this training between departments is very
important. It offers specialized equipment and knowledge to all the
departments in the county as needed. He also said that it does work
both ways, explaining that due to recent staffing issues, there have
been occasions when Lincoln Rural, Atlanta and Mount Pulaski have
been called on to help the city fire department.
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On that same note, he warned the council that staffing issues were
going to be more of a problem in the coming year, as four senior
officers of the city department will be retiring. He said that with
those retirees, the city will lose about 75 to 100 years of
experience in firefighting, and that kind of experience is not
something that can be replaced. Because of this, he said that
training would become even more critical in the next year as new
officers are added.
Firefighter Safety:
Our department has received some grant money to improve our
firefighter safety equipment. Our new pumper-aerial truck is due in
January. This will also improve our firefighter safety.
Hulett stated that firefighter safety must be a priority. He
explained that it is a very dangerous job, and that there are
several injuries annually. As an example, he told the council that
there has been an injury recently that will be a long-term recovery.
Such injuries not only affect the person hurt, but the entire
department, as the absence will cause staffing issues for the entire
department.
Hulett also told the council that new equipment such as the
aerial pumper would improve safety as well as response capabilities.
He said that while the vehicle itself costs around $600,000, it
would serve the fire department and the community for approximately
20 to 25 years.
Hulett closed by saying that he wanted to thank the mayor,
aldermen, fellow department heads, as well as his firefighters for
all their support.
Hulett, formerly of Rockford, was administered the oath of office
on May 19 of this year and began work the next day. Mayor Beth
Davis-Kavelman stated at the end of the chief's presentation that
though he hasn't been here very long, he has done an excellent job
with the department thus far, and everything appears to be going
really well.
[By NILA SMITH]
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