The East Haven Fire Department continues to prepare their vehicles and equipment and training daily making we are ready to respond to a multitude of emergencies each and every day.
The weather has finally changed and that usually means an increase of call volume and some greater variety of call types. In the last blog I outlined the staffed apparatus the equipment it carries and their response districts. This week I will focus on the apparatus of the volunteer companies and will also list the additional resources we utilize for the wide variety of calls we respond to.
I mentioned in an earlier post the East Haven Fire Department depends on its volunteer companies. They are a valuable resource and contribute to the department on many levels. Unfortunately, the challenges for the companies to maintain quality members who can dedicate the many hours of training, responding to calls and being involved in company related functions requires a lot of time and sacrifices by not only the members but their family as well.
Each volunteer company has apparatus that they have either purchased or has been assigned to their company. These members perform their weekly check of the equipment and are proficient on the utilization of its equipment and the apparatus itself.
Company # 1is located at Fire Headquarters on Main Street with Squad 2.
Squad two is a rescue type of vehicle that offers medical care when staffed with EMT’s. Squad Two’s response area is from Short Beach Road to Grannis Street and from the New Haven Line to the Branford town line. Squad 2 responds to all Structure Fires, Motor vehicle accidents and is second due to respond for medicals in this district when Rescue 1 is on another call. Company 1 also covers calls in other districts when other units are assigned to other calls and also provides station coverage when there is a structure fire in an outlining district. Squad 2 is owned by Company 1 and carries equipment such as cold water rescue suits, generator and lighting equipment, chain saw, portable water pump along with various other miscellaneous EMS and fire related tools and equipment.
Company # 3 is located in station 3 on Foxon Road (RT 80) at the intersection of North High Street in the Foxon section of town. Company responds with both a rescue vehicle (Rescue 3) and a fire engine (Engine 5).
Engine 5 responds to any fire related call from Grannis Street to the North Haven and from the North Branford to the New Haven town lines. Engine 5 will also provide coverage by standing by and staffing the engine during any structure calls out of their district. Engine 5 is a engine company that contains 500 gallons of water, 1000 feet of supply hose to go from the fire hydrant to the fire engine, attack hose (that goes from the fire apparatus to the fire), ground ladders, hurt tool (jaws of life) emergency medical equipment, and numerous hand tools and equipment needed to do the variety of tasks on a daily basis.
Rescue 3 is a rescue type of vehicle that offers medical care when staffed with EMT’s. Rescue 3’s response area is from Grannis Street to the North Haven Line and from the New Haven Line to the North Branford Line for Structure Fires and is third due to respond for medicals. Rescue 3 also responds to motor vehicle accidents and second due for medical calls from Grannis Street to the North Haven Line and from the New Haven Line to the Branford town line. Rescue 3 is owned by Company 3 and carries equipment such as cold water rescue suits, EMS equipment, generator and lighting equipment, an ice rescue sled along with various other miscellaneous fire and EMS related tools. Rescue 3 will also provide coverage by standing by and staffing their rescue during any structure calls out of their district.
Company # 4 is located at Station 4 on George Street in the Momauguin section of town.
Rescue 4 is a rescue type of vehicle that offers medical care when staffed with EMT’s. Rescue 4’s response area is from the Long Island Sound to Short Beach Road and from the New Haven Line to the Branford Line for motor vehicle accidents, water rescues and is second due for medical calls in this district. Rescue 4 also responds to third due medicals and structure fires from Short Beach Road to the William Webster Bridge on High Street and from the New Haven Line to the Branford town line. Rescue 4 is owned by Company 4 and carries equipment such as cold water rescue suits, EMS equipment, generator and lighting equipment, rescue ropes along with various other miscellaneous fire, EMS and Maritime related tools. Company 4 also owns and operates Marine 4, a Boston Whaler boat that responds with Rescue 4 to water rescues all over town and is launched from pre-established locations throughout the town. Rescue 4 will also provide coverage by standing by and staffing their rescue during any structure calls out of their district.
Company # 6 is located on Short Beach road near the East Haven / Branford town line and they respond with Engine 6.
Engine 6 responds to all structure fire and fire related calls from the William Webster Bridge on High Street Bridge to long island sound to the New Haven and Branford town line. Engine 6 will also provide coverage by standing by and staffing the engine during any structure calls out of their district.
Engine 6 is a engine company that contains 500 gallons of water, 1000 feet of supply hose to go from the fire hydrant to the fire engine, attack hose (that goes from the fire apparatus to the fire), ground ladders, emergency medical equipment, and numerous hand tools and equipment needed to do the variety of tasks on a daily basis.
As I have previously mentioned there is no rhyme or reason to the timing of emergency calls. On a regular basis we will have multiple calls come in simultaneously where the volunteer rescue trucks will respond while the career staffed apparatus is already committed to another call.
As you can see above not only do we depend on the volunteer staff to train and be ready to respond on a moment’s notice we also put a lot of faith in them to respond with apparatus that is needed for thousands of incidents every year.
The fires service is a very unique service to the citizens of East Haven. When someone calls 911 they expect us to immediately respond and handle their emergency with the utmost professionalism regardless of what that emergency is.
Each and every one of us defines “emergency” a little different. However regardless of what you define as an “emergency” if you call 911 we respond.
There are varying levels of responses and varying equipment that we will respond with but we respond regardless of the "emergency"!
In order to meet this high expectation we must have a wide variety of equipment and apparatus so we can handle every single emergency that we may find ourselves involved in. From someone locking themselves out of their car, to a house that has caught fire and someone is trapped within, to a devastating natural disaster as we have seen much too often in the last three years with Hurricane Irene, Sandy and the Blizzard of 2013.
Some of the additional equipment that we maintain to meet this wide variety of calls are as follows:
Car 1 - Chief vehicle
Car 2 – Asst. Chief’s vehicle
Car 3 – Fire Marshal’s vehicle
Car 5 – Pickup truck to move equipment and plow the snow from our stations
Car 6 – Safety Officer/Training Officer vehicle
Car 7 – Apparatus maintenance housed at fire headquarters
Car 8 – Fire Inspector’s vehicle housed at fire headquarters
Tactical Command - mobile command and communications housed at fire headquarters
Car 9 – retired military 6x6 this vehicle has proved to be invaluable during the many years of flooding we have received along the shore line and along the Farm River
Engine 7 – back up Engine Company utilized during any significant incident or daily while other apparatus receives maintenance
Marine 1 – 18’ Edgewater search and rescue boat that is docked in the East Haven River and ready to respond during the summer months and is out of the water on a trailer during the winter months.
Marine 2 – 12’ Aluminum river boat that is housed at fire headquarters on a trailer ready to be deployed as needed
Light tower and generator - housed at fire headquarters on a trailer ready to be deployed as needed for emergency and community events
QUAD 1 - All terrain vehicle (ATV) housed at station 4
Bike 1 and Bike 2 – Two EMS Mountain bikes that are stationed at headquarters and utilized for large community events where foot traffic makes getting vehicles to patient’s side are challenging.
As you can see from this week blog and the previous posts the East Haven Fire Department is well rounded with many types of apparatus and other resources to meet the needs of the community.
East Haven is very unique with the wide variety of hazards we have. Consider this point; Within the town of East Haven we have Interstate 95, Tweed New Haven Airport, Amtrak/Metro North rail service both passenger and industrial, New Haven Terminal Tank Farm, Industrial park, Long Island Sound, elderly housing, assisted living complexes, commercial businesses, apartment and condominium complexes and thousands of privately owned single and multiple family homes with a population of 29,257 (2010 Census).
All of these hazards have equaled to a steady rise in calls for service each year and giving us our busiest year in 2012 totaling 6,121 calls in an area of 13.4 square miles (including Long Island Sound).
The East Haven Fire Department has proved time and time again that we are prepared to handle every emergency no matter how big or small when called on.
I really don’t want to bring bad news to this blog. However I do feel obligated to remind you that June 1st begins the official Hurricane Season. We have all seen firsthand the devastation that can happen.
It’s not too early to begin putting your plan together today. Please take some time to look at the provided links below and begin preparing today.
FEMA Hurricane Preparedness - http://www.ready.gov/hurricanes
State of CT Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness-http://www.ct.gov/demhs/cwp/view.asp?a=1933&q=463072&demhsNav_GID=1996
