Minutes of the St. Clair County Fire Chiefs Association
March 28, 2002
The meeting was called to order by President Feher at 7:05pm.
Motion was made and seconded to approved the January 2002 meeting minutes as presented. Motion passed.
Treasurers Report - As of March 20, 2002, there was 26,904.00 in the checking account. The insurance for the trailers in the amount of $660.00 has to be paid yet.
President Feher introduced Larry Bazaar, Fire Service Coordinator with Building Officials and Code Administrators International (BOCA). Larry offered assistance with understanding BOCA codes, and reviewed several pieced of literature that are available thru BOCA. BOCA is looking at forming a new organization by January 1, 2003. The new organization will be International Code Council. BOCA will still exist, but they will be a part of the new organization.
OSFM - Terry Ford spoke about the new Madison/St. Clair County Arson Task Force that is being formed. The OSFM is getting all agencies in order at this time, and has a target date for the task force to be in place by the end of this year. OSFM will be hosting a Juvenile Firesetters class in July to be held in Fairview. It will be a two day class.
President Feher introduced Donna Ward McCallister. Donna is the new coordinator for the American Red Cross for our area.
IFSI - Duane Bales will be the IFSI representative in this area now. IFSI will have new classes available starting July 1st. A class for new firefighters called "Light em & Fight em" will be offered. Also, IFSI will be hosting a homeland security planning workshop in Collinsville on April 25th. IFSI has received $300,000 in new rescue tools. Fire College will be held May 30th thru June 2nd. IFSI is looking as providing NFA courses
SWIC - Lee Smith advised several classes are being set up for this fall. Included will be Vertical I, Vertical II, and Trench Rescue. He is still working to get confined space set up. April 15th will be the start of the next Academy Class. April 20th will be the start of Roadway Extrication in Fairview. Work is continuing on the training site on Freeburg Avenue.
MABAS - A quick reminder, MABAS is for everyday use within the county, not just statewide. Task Force assignments have been made and will be expanded to 3rd and 4th levels. Anyone interested in being on the task force, let Greg or Lee know. For those on the task force, checklists are available on the website that should be reviewed with your personnel. The procedures have been approved and are available online. If you have joined MABAS, you must change your radio numbers. The next MABAS Executive meeting will be April 25th. We are still looking at ID Cards
Any department interested in establishing an explorer post thru the Boy Scouts of America, contact Claire Nordmann at 234-9111.
The Haz-Mat team would like to bring the truck around to individual departments. Departments should contact Dan Narkus.
Scott AFB has received new Decon Equipments and monitoring equipment. They also have 30 SCBA's available for departments to use.
President Feher reported that the radio committee from the ETSB has received the final report on the radio study. The recommendation is an 800 mhz Trunking System. The ETSB has recommended to the county to approved the system, and the county has given its approval to move forward. The consultant will begin working with Motorola. This is at least 2 to 4 years away from being online, and cost are still being worked out.
October 19th & 20th will be fire chiefs weekend at U of I.
Special License plates are available thru the state to benefit the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance.
Any department needing knox box information for their engine house with MABAS being online, contact Bruce Green at Fairview.
May 3, 4 and 5th will be the IFCA Spring Symposium. Sessions will include Meth Labs and Management.
The next meeting will be May 30th in New Athens.
Meeting adjourned at 8:35pm.