Minutes
of the
St. Clair County Fire Chiefs
And
MABAS Division 32 Meeting
September 27, 2007
Meeting was called to order by President Saunders at 6:59pm.
President Saunders thanked Lee Smith for SWIC hosting the meeting. Lee welcomed the chiefs to the new facility.
President Saunders welcomed Chief Jeff Vaughn from Scott AFB and Chief Scott Lanxon from Belleville FD.
Motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the September meeting. Motion passed.
Treasurers report – the chiefs account held $12,704.13 and the MABAS Division 32 account had $6,310.17 for an account total of $19,014.30.
OSFM – The office should be adopting the new building codes soon.
SCSESA – Don Feher advised that the teams have been doing a lot of training with structural collapse. Work continues with Scott AFB to put props for vertical and high angle rescue at Scott AFB. The fundraiser for the team will be Chicken and Beer Dance on October 13th.
IEMA – Stan Krusias advised that September 30 is the deadline for departments to be NIMS compliant. The IEMA website has all the requirements listed that are required, including an implementation plan. Departments should check the requirements often, because the requirements change often. The training guidelines are also listed. The ICS 300 classes are being offered now and the 400 class will be out in the next few months. Train the trainer courses are going to offered by the Office of Domestic Preparedness for the 300 and 400 classes. The ITTF will be offering grants for communications in the future. It has been said that you must be NIMS compliant to receive the grants. www.iema.il.gov
St. Clair EMA – Don Feher advised that the EOC is being worked on at the 9-1-1 building and should be completed by the first of the year. The federal government is now considering anything west of 157 as a flood plain. A lot of work has been done by data processing to update the mapping system with educational and industrial buildings. EMA has attended a FEMA class on setting up supply stations to issue food and water in the event of a disaster. STARRS will be looking at the virtual EOC systems that are being put into place by both STARRS and Illinois to try and merge the two together.
SWIC – Lee Smith gave a presentation on the new training facility and changes that are being proposed in the curriculum at SWIC. The training at the facility focuses on fire suppression and rescue. Other drills are available if requested. Cost range between 440 and 575 for each 8 hours session for up to 12 personnel. Initial training is still being offered as has been for years through SWIC. Issues with the curriculum are being looked at. The classes fall in line with the certification courses thru the OSFM. The proposed changes from the OSFM include:
FFII – now will use three textbooks, add Vehicle Operator classroom, and add IS-100.
FFIII – add rope rescue operations, add FAE, and Vehicle and Machinery Operations in order to certify.
Fire Officer II – add Fire Department Safety Officer
The names of FFII and FFIII will change to basic and advanced firefighter.
A list of disadvantages of the OSFM Certification program was reviewed.
The proposed changes are:
Combine the FFII and FFIII classes
Enables the use of a national curriculum
Incorporate IS-100 and IS-700 into the firefighter classes
Change the Haz Mat Ops course from 48 hours to 24 hours and deliver it with the firefighter class
Fire Officer I would become 48 hrs
Fire Officer II would become 48 hrs
Looking at National Fire Academy courses
Several existing courses would be phased out
No changes would be made to Instructor I and II, FAE and the tech rescue classes.
OSFM certification shall still be available, opens the door for accreditation by the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress.
Phase in would begin in January 2008.
Several questions about the proposal were answered.
STARRS – Greg Render advised the Budget 09 was 9.63 million dollars. The following projects will be forwarded to the board meeting for approval:
VEOC sustainment – VEOC will be used as the resource manual for Division 32
Mobile command center for St. Clair and Monroe Counties
Sheltering units with HVAC for several hundred people.
Helicopter for Law enforcement
1st meds for St. Clair County Health Department
Cert Training
Support for SCSESA Training
UID
Patient tracking system which will start in Illinois
Tow vehicles for the Health Department
Focusstlouis.org has a report of disaster response in the St. Louis region. Additional information is available to help citizens take care of themselves in large scale disasters.
STARRS has IS-300 and IS-400 classes available.
CAD system – May be online as soon as January 1, 2008. CENCOM departments are working on box cards.
9-1-1 - The paging system is being worked on, and should be back online by the first of the year.
800 radio system – State of Illinois is receiving a grant to enhance the radio systems in the state. The county may get some of this money.
Bryan Doyle thanked the chiefs during his recent loss of a relative.
ID Card system will be reviewed after the meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 8:40pm
Division 32 meeting called to order at 8:40 pm
Ultra Rad units are available. Only 1 department has requested this unit so far. A class of 1 ½ hours is required to get the Ultra Rad. For more info, contact Greg Render.
Greg has served on a committee reviewing the dues structure. A recommendation will be made that no changes be made in the existing dues structure. Additional information was requested that the committee is still waiting for.
Division 2 has proposed a by law amendment on how the executive board is made up with paid positions and elected positions. Motion was made to support the proposed by law change presented by Division 2. Motion was seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
Brian Bailey attended the last MABAS meeting. Additional equipment will be coming from MABAS.
Meeting adjourned at 8:50 pm.