The 469th M.I.F.D.I. meeting was held on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 hosted by the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority and the Weston Fire Department. We met on location at the M.W.R.A. Norumbega Reservoir site at 55 Oak St., Weston.

Our training session provided us with a fascinating look at the new 115-million gallon covered reservoir facility now nearing completion. The M.W.R.A. provides water to over 2-million people in 35 cities and towns in the Metropolitan Boston area. The meeting offered us a rare opportunity to not only understand the technological process of supplying water to our communities, but we also heard about the challenges that the Weston Fire Department faced with the demands of training members with confined space and high-angle rescue techniques to deal with the massive construction project. Also on display was the fully-equipped rescue truck funded by the M.W.R.A. for the Weston Fire Department. The meeting concluded with a unique tour of this $89 million facility, which is one of the largest in the country.

Our thanks again to Rick MacMillan, the Weston Fire Department liaison to the MWRA, for arranging this tour for us as well at Tom Lindberg and the MWRA staff including Frank DePaula who provided us with the tour and Allyson Perron for her assistance as well. We also thank Weston Fire Chief Edward Walker and the members of the Weston Fire Department for the display of rescue equipment prior to our tour.
 

Following the tour, a brief business meeting was conducted by President Michael McLeieer. President McLeieer presented a Certificate Of Appreciation to retiring Secretary Edward Morgan. Secretary Morgan, who is retiring from the North Andover Fire Department on November 12, thanked the members for their support and plans to remain an active member of MIFDI.

Members voted and approved funding for President McLeieer to attend the 2004 FDIC Conference as the MIFDI delegate. It was announced that the position of Secretary for MIFDI will be open as of January 2004 and requested that any member with typing/computer skills that would be interested in this position to contact the president or any of the MIFDI officers.

The Treasurer's report was omitted due to Treasurer David Jardin unable to attend the meeting as his newly appointed position as Acting Chief of the Stoughton Fire Department keeps him busy with the many commitments and obligations associated with the job.

2nd Vice President Mark Roche announced that the calendar of meetings for 2004 is beginning to fill with many interesting topics planned and requested that any member that has a location or training subject to offer should contact any of the MIFDI officers.

Member Everett Pierce provided us with an update on the fire academy. After the meeting adjourned, several members enjoyed lunch at the nearby Ninety-Nine Restaurant in Waltham.

September Meeting                                                                  Bills paid
Checking Balance 1/1/03   = $1221.08                                     Nov 03 Newsletter  $105.00 Mike
 
 
50/50 Raffle =
Winner =
Deposit from 50/50 Raffle =
 
 

MIFDI Stickers & Pens Cost   $865.00                                  MIFDI Clothing collected $ 364.00
                  Collected                  $  98.00                                  purchased $ 354.00
 
 

Owed to treasurer for Mailings       $    2.00- thru Oct 20 2003
                                      Labels         $  10.00
 

Total members = 139                                                                        Mailings
Dues paid thru 2004 = 15                                           E-Mail - 39  Home - 77  Work - 23 = 100
Dues paid thru 2003 = 108
Dues paid thru 2002 = 14
 
 
 
 
 
 

Treasury Balance as of 11/1/2003 =       Checking $   461.81
                                                            Savings   $ 1,668.12
                                                            Total      $  2,129.93
 
 
 

Respectfully submitted   11/1/2003
David M. Jardin
MIFDI Treasurer
Deputy Fire Chief – Stoughton

Thank you to the membership for your support.

NEW BUSINESS:
 

COMMITTEES:
The Historical Committee - consists of Steve Perrson, Ira Hoffman, and Richard Gomes. Nothing to report.

The Bi-Law Committee - consists of Norm Aubert, C. Randall Sherman, Mort Shurtluff, Chris Kelly, Brian Ash, and John Cummings.  Nothing to Report.

Public Relations Committee  - consists of Mr. Ira Hoffman and Michael McLeieer.  Nothing to report.
 

MFTC UPDATE:   Steve Persson - Nothing to report.

MFA UPDATE:  Everett Pierce - (see Business Meeting section)

The 470th M.I.F.D.I. meeting will be held on the THIRD Wednesday, November 19th at the Radison Hotel,  10 Independence Drive, Chelmsford, MA. Larry Gurette of Fire Tech will host the meeting with the topic on the   C.B.R.N. upgrade for S.C.B.A. including the new NIOSH requirements and the NFPA 2002 upgrade. The CBRN upgrade is to protect the SCBA user from "Chemical, Biological, Radioactive, and Nuclear" exposure. There will be a continental breakfast in the morning and a buffet luncheon, all courtesy of Fire Tech.

PUBLISHERS NOTE:
We apologize for the tardiness of this months MIFDI Bulletin and the lack of details regarding Novembers’ meeting. Despite a November 5th submission deadline, information regarding this meeting was extremely late arriving in our office and lacked specifics. As a result of not having any information, the Bulletin was not able to be printed until the 14th.

SCHEDULE:

0900 Coffee & pastry, 0945 Board of Directors,
1000 Presentation, 1200 Business meeting, 1230 Lunch.

DIRECTIONS:

The Radison Hotel is at 10 Independence Drive, Chelmsford which is EXIT 34 off Rt.495

LUNCH:

Provided by Fire Tech at The Radison.

This is no time to be complacent!  Budget cuts, inadequate personnel and staffing, not to mention positions being totally eliminated. But just how far can they really go? Sure, there may be a freeze on new hires, or a severe reduction in the amount of overtime, maybe even an elimination of an officer’s position as someone retires. But they can’t eliminate the entire structure of a department... can they? That’s what I thought too, until I read the Michigan Fire Fighters Training Council’s Fire TIES  newsletter for the month of November! The headline on the front page is what caught my eye:

Quoting from the article, in part: “On October 2, 2003, Governor Granholm issued Executive Order No. 2003-18.” “The Executive Order will eliminate the Fire Marshal Division from the Department of State Police. The State Police will continue to conduct fire investigations and provide fire investigation training.”

This came as quite a shock to me, to say the least! The previous Fire Marshal, Mark A. Dougovito, retired earlier this year, and since that time W. Thomas Sands has been filling the position as ‘Acting Marshal’. Essentially, the Michigan Fire Marshal’s position, as well as his whole department, has been eliminated through attrition! I can’t help but wonder how many cities or towns may take the state’s lead and attempt to eliminate other crucial positions in the name of ‘saving money’?

We should take a long hard look at what’s happened in Michigan to avoid something like that happening here. While the Commonwealth of Massachusetts isn’t likely to attempt the elimination of Marshal Coan, the Department of Fire Services or the Fire Academy, drastic cuts ARE possible at any time, and our constant involvement in governmental happenings will ensure we maintain safe and adequate staffing levels.

Marshal Coan has been a constantly pro-active figure in our fire service structure, and because of that, we still exist as the model that most of the country tries to follow. His never-ending dedication to public and firefighter safety and education has kept him in the forefront of  watchful eyes on Capitol Hill.

I implore all of you to take Marshal Coan’s lead; be pro-active, be vocal, stay involved and know what’s going on! It’s not just ‘someone else’s job’. It’s OUR job too! Let our legislators and representatives know what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and why. Most of all, let them know why we need to keep doing it! While most people are supportive of our job as firefighters, they’re also the first to cut our funding. Unfortunately, they’re also the first to ask why the fire department wasn’t on the scene fast enough, or why we didn’t save their property, leaving us with a ‘black eye’ at the hands of their own budget cuts. We can stop this, but we need to be a constant presence in the eyes that make the proposals!

Take care and STAY SAFE!

Michael.

A 59-year-old former deputy fire chief from Sterling has agreed to become the island’s next fire chief.

Town Administrator Libby Gibson announced Tuesday that Everett Pierce, a 38-year veteran of the Sterling Volunteer Fire Department who most recently worked as the programs manager for the Massachusetts Fire Academy, accepted the fire chief’s position with an $85,000 base salary over the weekend. No housing or relocation stipend is included in the offer, she said.

“I can’t express how anxious I am to come to the island and work with the firefighters at the department,” Pierce said this week. “I look forward to being a part of the community.”

Pierce will start Nov. 1, Gibson said. His hiring marks the end of an almost year-long search to fill the vacancy left by former fire chief Bruce Watts, who retired in January after 24 years as chief.

Although well-liked by both his firefighters and the community, a management study in which Watts participated before leaving the department criticized his leadership style. Among other things, the study questioned the way he communicated with the town administrator and disciplined his employees.

“The department currently submits very little information to the town administrator on a regular basis,” states the report, prepared by Brian P. Duggan & Associates for $3,500. “A monthly report consisting of all significant projects, emergencies, number of inspections, training hours, sick leave and injury leave should be produced.”

The report also questioned discipline in the department, citing the fact that in 20 years, only one department employee had ever been suspended.

“The department employees operate without a sense of any risk for poor performance or behavior,” the report states.

The report also recommends the department hire seasonal firefighter/emergency medical technicians to help meet peak summer demand; transition to a paramedic advanced life support ambulance service; upgrade call-force training, recruitment and retention; implement a combined public safety dispatch center; and undertake training and management changes to improve performance levels.

Gibson said this week that Pierce will work to implement many of the recommendations contained in the management study.

“We have not yet discussed which priorities will be worked on first. He and I will prioritize the list of suggestions once he gets here,” she said Tuesday.
Pierce, who knew Watts through his participation in various state firefighting programs and from frequent visits to the island, said he had enjoyed working with the retired chief in the past and did not say anything negative about his tenure with the department. However, he said he would use the study as a “blueprint” for how he would manage the department.

“I think the direction of the department was determined by study that was completed,” he said.

The search took nearly a year in part because the town passed a bylaw in 2000 requiring all fire department hires to be residents of Nantucket. Voters at the April Town Meeting repealed the bylaw, which opened the fire chief search to off-island candidates.

Proponents of the 2003 article felt having a larger pool of candidates – including applicants from off-island – was in the best interest of the town.  Opponents felt there were qualified individuals within the department to take the position, including interim fire chief Stephen Murphy, who applied for the job and made the short list of finalists. They also cited housing as an obstacle for those coming to the island.

Gibson said she picked Pierce out of a pool of four finalists, including Murphy. Once Pierce starts, Murphy will go back to being a captain in the   department.

Murphy said he had no problem with the hire and his move back to captain. He described his situation as a “win-win” because he had the experience of being considered for the town’s fire chief position while having the captain’s spot secured if he did not get it.

For the past 10 months, Murphy has led the department through a busy   Nantucket summer, responding to a destructive house fire on Beaver Street and a fatal plane crash at Nantucket Memorial Airport, among hundreds of other more minor calls for everything from brush fires to false alarms.

“Just like with any job, you have the good days and the bad days,” he said. “There have been some great days and I enjoyed the support from the community.”

Murphy did not rule out putting his name in for the chief’s job if it were to become available again.

“I loved the interaction with the people,” he said. “I wouldn’t be in this profession if I didn’t enjoy it.”

Pierce left the Sterling Fire Department in 1998 after 38 years of service. The department – in a small town near Worcester – was much smaller than   Nantucket’s with only a full-time chief, deputy chief, three full-time firefighters and 30 call firefighters.

In 1998, he started working for the Massachusetts Fire Academy in Stowe as programs manager where he was responsible for all the training programs at the state fire academy. He also served as an adjunct instructor at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Md., and an adjunct professor at Anna Maria College in Paxton, Mass. and Quinsigamond Community College Worcester.

“He’s a wonderful instructor and a great coach,” Jennifer Mieth, communications officer with the state fire academy said. “He’s a great advocate for fire safety education.”

Pierce was active in community service in Sterling, serving on the town’s Planning Board and Recreation Committee, and held the position of assistant emergency management director.

He has a business management degree from Assumption College in Worcester, an associate’s degree in fire science from Quinsigamond Community College and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in emergency management at Anna Maria College. He expects to finish his master’s in May 2004.

By working at the state level, Pierce worked with Nantucket’s fire department and knew Watts and Murphy.

“I’m familiar with the department,” he said. “I have been a frequent visitor to the island over many years. “It’s very fine fire department and Chief Murphy has done a great job. I’m going to be looking to him and other members of the fire department for help. This is a team effort and that’s how I’ll approach it.”

With Pierce’s experience training fire chiefs from around the state and around the country, he said he hoped he could contribute to career development with firefighters on Nantucket, address the issues in the fire department study and provide a higher level of service to Nantucket’s year-round and summer population.

Gibson agreed, saying training was one of the areas highlighted in the department’s management study. She also said she has no problem with hiring a chief who is just five and a half years away from mandatory retirement age.

“I’m not uncomfortable with the chief serving only five and a half years. He can develop existing personnel. They can take advantage of his experience and  expertise, and hopefully we can hire from within next time,” Gibson said.

“When you have a department in transition, three to five years is about the time you’d want to have somebody in a leadership position. It’s not uncommon, when you want to implement change, to have a manager there for a relatively short duration.

“It wasn’t intentional. It just sort of ended up working out that way,” she continued. “I certainly wouldn’t blame anyone for the need for change, but Everett’s expertise is in training and development. That was one of the central themes of that report.”

Pierce also has 35 years of banking and finance experience with a Fleet Bank branch. For 10 years he ran the municipal finance group within the bank. That experience —which included revenue generation— would help with him working with Connie Voges, town finance director, he said.

The department has been without a deputy fire chief since Joe Rezendes retired three years ago. Pierce called the position critical to the department.

“(The department) is complex enough that it requires that person to perform those day-to-day duties,” he said. “Where the chief would have to be involved with the administration.”

He said he hoped to discuss funding the position with Gibson once he starts as chief.

Pierce has found a winter rental and Gibson said the town could help him find a year-round place to live in, but not offer any housing stipend. He is divorced, has a daughter and two grandchildren.

November 20, 2003, 2003 Intergroup Radio System Holiday Dinner
Guest Speaker Commissioner Paul A. Christian, Boston Fire Dept.
Video Presentation by Stanley Forman (WCVB) & Nat Whittemore (WBZ)
American Legion Post 440, 295 California St., Newton
Contact All-Comm Technologies, 5 Whitmore Rd., Revere ($25.00)

November 28, (1942) Anniversary of the tragic Coconut Grove nightclub fire in Boston that claimed 490 victims.

December 19, 2003, Massachusetts Firefighting Academy Recruit Class #161  Graduation Ceremony, M.F.A. Fire Station at 1:30 pm.

• Draft and send letters and other correspondence
• Recording the minutes of MIFDI meetings and submission to the MIFDI Bulletin
• Any other tasks as assigned by the Board of Directors

Its that time of the year again when the heating season begins and with it comes all of the hazards associated with providing the comfort of warmth against the hostile New England weather. One of the most deadliest of these hazards is Carbon Monoxide.

As we all know by now, carbon monoxide (CO) is an invisible, odorless, colorless gas created when fuels burn incompletely.  CO is poisonous and can kill cells of the body as well as replacing oxygen in the bloodstream, causing suffocation. Mild cases of CO poisoning appear as the flu, while severe effects include difficulty breathing, unconsciousness, and eventually death.

CO exposure sickness varies greatly from person to person, depending on age, overall health, concentration of exposure (measured in parts-per-million), and length of exposure. The severity of harm will depend on the dose. The same dose of CO can be received through a long exposure to a low concentration or a brief exposure to a high concentration.

Persons complaining of headache, nausea, dizziness, or flu like symptoms should be removed to fresh (outside) air. Certain stages of CO poisoning may present as a cherry red skin color, however, in advanced stages of CO poisoning patients may appear blue due to the lack of oxygen. The recommended treatment is high-flow oxygen via a non-rebreather face mask and transport. Certain severe cases of CO poisoning may  require hyperbaric oxygen therapy. (See MIFDI Bulletin, Instructors Corner, April 2003).

Firefighters responding to a suspected carbon monoxide incident should be equipped with a meter capable of detecting the presence of CO. Full PPE including SCBA should be worn by all members during the investigation. Firefighters should initially concentrate on the sources most commonly associated with carbon monoxide including; gas or oil furnace, gas fueled water heater, gas ranges or cook tops, wood or gas fireplace, attached garage, wood/coal burning stove, space heater, gas dryer, and blocked chimney or flue. Any appliance or other source found to be defective should be shut down and a service technician or gas company should be notified to respond. No persons should re-enter the structure until it has been properly ventilated.

A carbon monoxide detector activates an alarm based on exposure to CO over a period time. It is designed to trigger the alarm before an average healthy adult would experience symptoms. So remember, although the occupants may not show signs of CO poisoning that doesn't mean that carbon monoxide is not present. Treat all CO alarm activations as real until it is verified that there is no threat from defective equipment inside the structure.

The membership of this organization also extends our condolences to Andover Fire Lieutenant Michael O'Neil on the death of his son, U.S. Army P.F.C.
Evan O'Neil, who was killed in Afghanistan last month.   It should be noted that Evan died fighting the same group of people responsible for the deaths of 343 New York City firefighters.

Both of these hero's sacrificed their lives for others, may they now be at peace.

MIFDI
Attn: David Jardin, Treasurer           If you have not already done so, it's time to renew your dues.  Due Jan. 1st.
52 Willow Street
Stoughton, MA 02072-1027

*Dues are $25.00 per year for Active Members -

*$100.00 per year for Associate members (which includes a 1/4 page of advertising in the MIFDI Bulletin and on the MIFDI website).

*Retired members dues are $12.50 for one calendar year (January 1 through December 31).

This forum is an extension of the Guest Book on the MIFDI Web-site, and provides our members a way to ask questions and get answers about problems encountered in the Fire and EMS service. If you would like to reply to a question, pose your own question or submit an article for publication in the MIFDI bulletin, but have no internet capabilities, you may do so in writing to: Michael McLeieer, President - MIFDI, PO Box 507, Merrimac, MA 01860-0510.
Fax # (877) 327-4353.  Faxing or e-mailing of articles is preferred.  Please e-mail articles in MS Word format to michael.mcLeieer@merrimacfire.com

DECEMBER 17th:        Yerardi's Restaurant, 418 Watertown St., Newton

JANUARY 28th, 2004:   T.B.A.

FEBRUARY, 2004:         T.B.A.