SARATOGA COUNTY

FIRE ADVISORY BOARD

AMENDED

The July 26, 2010 meeting was called to order at 1900.   The “Pledge of Allegiance” was said and a moment of silence observed, in particular for Lt. Steven Velasquez and FF Michel Biak of Bridgeport Ct. FD. 

Fire Advisory Board

The minutes from the June 28, 2010 meeting were approved with one correction.  Joe Plewinski was excused from our last meeting instead of absent.  Our guests were welcomed.

Supervisor Wormuth accepted our invitation to attend this meeting and was given a tour of the training facility. The Fire Advisory Board wanted to keep the Supervisor’s aware that training procedures can take a toll on the buildings condition and we’re trying to be pro-active with the maintenance. Many departments in our county and surrounding counties have utilized the training towers, and in turn, this has benefitted our communities.    On behalf of the Board, Dennis thanked Supervisor Wormuth for her time and support of our fire services.  Supervisor Wormuth expressed her appreciation also and understands the need for a safe and healthy training environment.  She will convey our concerns to the Public Safety Board.

Fire Coordinator: State Training Classes

EVOC class in West Crescent continues with 14 people.

Pump Operator class starts August 2 in West Crescent.  11 people are pre-registered and Ed’s still accepting registrations.

Ed’s working on September Fire Fighter 1 courses in Wilton.  There may be a split class to accommodate everyone interested.  An email was sent for a daytime Fire Fighter class but because only 10 people signed up, it wasn’t enough to run.  In the meantime, Montgomery County offered a daytime class and took 4 or 5 of those 10 people.

OFPC authorized 75% of the hours; Ed will be working on the fall training schedule.

Dave Atwell thanked Ed for the successful Fire Fighter 1 in Galway and asked if another one could be held there.  Ed said he couldn’t yet, but he’s doing his best to spread the classes to all areas of the County.    

Director:

Paul talked about his trip last month to Schaumburg, Illinois for factory testing of the new system.  He was pleased with the results of testing and system capabilities.  We’re on schedule and equipment has been delivered to the county at all sites constructed, with the exception of the dispatch center, which is a different phase.  Pittsfield Communications, N.E. Tower Group and Pyramid Site Services are doing the installations and should be finished at existing sites by the end of August.  A Motorola team from Chicago will get the sites running around the middle to late August.  In the interim, 4 backup dispatch consoles will be set up for coverage testing to take place September into October.  This testing takes quite a long time because they are handled in ¼ mile grids.  If all goes well, acceptance will be mid-October.

The next phase will be to outfit the dispatch center with consoles.  Limited space will make it challenging. 

If programming is complete by the end of the year, implementation will begin in phases around January 1. 

Sgt. Reisner accompanied Paul to the factory testing and was impressed with our vendor Pittsfield Communications.  He said they are extremely knowledgeable, professional, and it was a great learning experience.

Bids are due for construction at the Lake Luzerne site and request for bids are out for the Clifton Park site.  The Lakeview site, in Sacandaga, will start later in the fall.

With Grant money, Paul purchased some portable radios to distribute for testing of simplex mode (radio to radio) in buildings.  He ordered 1 model of every item on the contract to test. 

Motorola has notified Paul that several departments will have to change their tones again for siren and paging.  They were apologetic, saying that certain tones in our tone scheme cannot pass for warranty purposes.  These departments will be notified and the change should be fairly easy being we have the programming capabilities.

Paul discussed the cable failure which occurred on July 23, affecting the Emergency 9-1-1 system.  Initially, there was difficulty transferring the calls to our backup PSAP at Warren County.  The system did kick in to default calls to Warren County, but it went to the alternate (unmanned) dispatch center in Warrensburg.  The error was found and the programming corrected.  Our backup center wasn’t operational because calls go through the switch, and the carrier shut off after seeing the failures on the PRI.  The Sheriff’s office was trying to send out a Reverse 9-1-1 message to county residents but unbeknownst to us, a limiting device had been programmed into the system by the vendor, causing a failure.  This too was corrected immediately.  Paul will contact Verizon to discuss the situation and look into alternate back up plans.  Dan Gale suggested we create a written procedure in case this happens again and address concerns to prevent a breakdown of communications.

We are extremely thankful for all the help given by Warren County dispatch and Verizon repair crews. 

Public Safety Building – no report.

Radio Committee

Art: Radio Committee held their large group meeting to discuss procedures and policies and will continue to meet every couple of months.  We’ll know more capabilities of the system when phase 1 testing begins in October.  Training manuals and programs will be planned as we move further along.  

For departments wanting to purchase radios and equipment, please wait until December or January.  It’s important to remain consistent with purchasing and programming equipment in order to work within the systems capabilities.  If you have any questions, please call Art, Paul or Ed. 

Pager warranties are another concern departments need to be aware of.  The extended warranty from Motorola must be purchased before the 1 year warranty expires.  If you’re unsure of that date, please call Emergency Services to help you out.

Haz Mat - no report.

Mutual Aid  

The Mutual Aid Agreement was given to everyone for review and will be discussed at a later date.

Fire Training Center:

We were pleased Supervisor Wormuth found time in her busy schedule to tour the training facility and would like to give her and the members of the Public Safety committee a monthly status report.  We’ve often talked about having a person to over see the activities at the facility and ensure that it’s being well maintained during training exercises.     

Personnel - no report.

Legislative - no report.

Budget  

The budget committee will meet before the preliminary budget is due in August to discuss priority items we’d like to request for 2011.

Recruitment & Retention – no report.

Old Business  

A motion was made to move to Executive Session at 8:45.  No actions were taken.  A motion was made and seconded at 9:10 to end executive session and resume the regular meeting.

New Business 

The Board would like to send a letter of commendation to Warren County for their outstanding efforts handling the 9-1-1 calls on July 23 and a letter of thanks will also be mailed to Verizon.  

Many thank to Paul Parker, Tracey, Gina, John and Ed for making the County Fire Officers Booth a success at the Saratoga County Fair. Paul sent an email thanking the departments, EMS and the County Fire Police Association for their participation this year.

Good & Welfare

Next meeting is August 30, 2010 at 7pm.

Motion to adjourn at 9:11 by Bob Palmieri and carried by all.

Respectfully submitted by Jackie Staskowski