going to call the meeting to order at 6:03. I apologize to everybody that was online. We just um had a little issue. We had to straighten out with the city clerk. So, took us a couple seconds, so I apologize for being a couple minutes
late. Okay. So, we're going to start off with the chairperson's um statement. This meeting is being recorded by the public safety commission. If any other person present is doing so or anybody online,
please notify the chair at this time. Nobody else is doing it. Okay, very good. We're going to um take roll call. Commissioner Muscatello. >> Absent. Commissioner Burge >> here.
>> Commissioner Illinois >> here. >> Commissioner Ber >> here. Commissioner Dixon >> here. >> Commissioner Brack here. Commissioner Jarvis, I'm here. So, we have a quorum. So, that's a good thing. Okay. So, next on the agenda
is public comment. Um, we will give anybody three minutes to speak. Um, on public positive comment, we'll start with anybody in the room. I don't see anybody from the public here in the room. Um, anybody online would wish to
comment? Um, just speak up or raise your hand or Okay, going once. Anybody online twice? Okay, I'm not seeing nobody online. So, we will move on from public comment.
Um, so next is I just wanted to touch a little bit on about we could discuss a little bit real quick with the commissioners and stuff about notifications of of um major events in town. Uh, before I cue that, I'll let everybody know what the glitch was with
the now that we're on that subject. That was supposed to be the police department and I put that in there as a last minute thing and I deleted the police department. So Kathy said I could mention that the police department won't be doing a presentation tonight due to the chairperson's um mistake and the
chief told me it's because I'm old that's why it happened. So we'll go we'll go with the chief's excuse on that. So >> abuse >> we'll get we'll get a triple a triple batch of the police department next month. And I apologize to the public on that also. That was my era. So I'd just
like to touch a little bit. I know we had the brush fire that dispatch has my correct number now to notify myself as a chair or if they can't get me um or to notify the vice
chair is major events but there's um been a couple of times that we didn't get notified for like major events with the police department. So I guess we'll have that discussion when the police department's present. Um, the fire department has me down for third alarms, I believe.
>> When we get to a third alarm. >> So, okay. So, uh, the deputy chief's saying second alarm. So, could we move that to the second alarm? Just so I know. >> But yeah, we can >> I mean, I get the notifications on I am responding on my phone still because
it's the old fire department app that I still carried with me. Old things are hard to get rid of, I guess. Uh, so but the vice chair, if I'm not here, the vice chair would need to know because he doesn't have that. So we'll discuss with the police department next week, next
time when they're on. Um, it's just nice hearing here. Not that we're going to rush into any scene or anything like that. I know I'm not going to, but um, I would expect none of the other chairpersons would run into a, you know, hot, you know, into an active investigation scene or anything like
that. So, but we just like to know about it before we hear about it on social media or on the news the next day at the gym. It would be nice. I mean, >> um, >> Mr. Chairman, can I jump in for a second? >> Yep.
>> I have people asking me on online immediately, >> what's happening? Where is it going? >> Yeah. I mean, not that we can diso discuss much information. I mean, you just say, yeah, there's that that's happened. and >> location. That's all I >> I wouldn't even give them location. I
would just say yeah there yeah there has been a major event in town and the police department will let people know at at a due to at the right time >> the fire was just >> or a fire person >> where where was it wisdom way and that's all. >> Yeah, but then you got everybody going up the wisdom way and
>> well this is just one person. >> Yeah. Well, >> one person tells two people, two people tell three people, then you have a whole bunch of people up there and fire apparatus is trying to get by. It just it just I mean they could figure it out by where the smoke was coming from. We should have disposed discuss discuss
information. I mean if they have a scanner they can find out and stuff like that but >> they were wondering because the smoke was coming into their yard and this was all the way over on Conway Street. >> Yeah. Well yeah. >> Mr. Chairman, can I jump in for a second?
>> Who Who's that? >> Chief Strand. >> Chief Strand. >> Oh Chief Strand. Oh Robert's iPad. I got you. I thought >> that's me. Hey, >> you can chime in, Chief. >> Yeah. So, as so the brush fire um happened very quick and I'll talk about
that a little bit uh with the monthly report. Um so, there wouldn't have been a lot of time to get that notification out. Um it's certainly an option for us. As far as members of the public safety commission go, uh, if any public safety commissioner wants to be put on the list
of notifications, we just need, uh, a telephone number in the carrier. Um, I think Ed, we actually have you on a first alarm or or uh, all hands or higher. So, uh, I think you get the notification um, sooner, but if anybody
on the commission would like that, we just need the name and telephone number. Okay. >> And and and your carrier. >> Okay. And you can email that to the fire chief. >> That's secretary.
>> Okay. Very good. Thank you very much, chief. >> Okay. So, I guess we'll have a further discussion next month. I'll keep it on the agenda next month for the so the PD can chime in on that too if they'll have a chance. Um, so I guess anybody else have any
more comments on that or thoughts, comments? >> Yes. Did so the brush bar go out on the reverse 911 that we have or like the city notification chief?
>> Sure. I I'll jump in on this. So the the reverse 911 system we have is is called RAVE. Uh it is um controlled and operated by the emergency management uh department within the city which falls under the fire department. Our dispatch
has access to it primarily to notify uh responders of an event to uh get them returning to the either the firehouse or what have you. Uh they have uh they cannot initiate a citywide
uh notification. Um there are only three administrators within the city that can do that. Actually four. DPW has privileges. Uh mayor's office has privileges, the police department has privileges, and the fire department has privileges. Every message uh by policy
is supposed to be approved by the emergency management director before it goes out. Um as important as the information is to get out, it is more important to get accurate information out. And you have to be very clear and decis on the messages that you want to
get out. Uh I'll give you an example. Um one of our neighboring towns years ago had a search for a young child that went out into the woods and was lost. Uh and they wanted to put everybody in that town on notice. Uh which was a great move except for what do you think
everybody did when they got that notification? They all went out in the woods looking for the child. And then the dogs that they brought in, the the canines they brought in to track. Couldn't find any tracks because of all the foot uh all the foot traffic that
was happening in the woods. So my point is you got to be very careful on the messages that you get out. So um like I said, this brush fire uh the the events happened so quick that there was no time to get any type of message out. Uh um
but we probably wouldn't put a message out unless there was uh people that needed to be evacuated that we couldn't send um first responders to uh notify them. So >> okay,
anybody else? >> Okay, moving on. So we'll move on to AMR. >> Good evening everyone. Another one. >> Just for the record, >> uh Mark, operations supervisor, uh here on behalf of Kim D'Angelo, the ops
manager. So, uh Kim did send out the calls, she said a couple weeks ago, uh for the transports for March. So, all pretty much status quo. The QRV or the fly car response has been up over the last couple months. So, that's always good to see. Um, another thing, uh, in
the end of March, so after the last meeting that was had, uh, we are starting a new earn, learn academy for June. Uh, I know I was here talking about that before, probably last year for, uh, any new people. That is basically a paid academy uh, for new
ENTs. We are actually holding a few spots for Greenfield residents. Uh so I don't know if the chief or the town I know they have Facebook pages if they want to just link on March 31st AMR Springfield uh earn while you learn kind
of notification and that way you know they can promote it for any town residents that would like to uh come and apply for the program. Uh basically you get paid 1650 to be in class. It's a 40hour week uh basically academy for 10 weeks. If you pass all your tests and
you get certified as an EMT, you get promoted and you get a full-time position with the company and obviously your pay increases to the base EMT pay, which is like around $23. So, uh, and then they can finish their obligation of one year of full-time employment up here in Greenfield. They don't have to come in Springfield, but the class is in
Springfield. So, they would have to travel five days a week for 10 weeks over the summer down to Springfield, but they would be able to do their employment up here in Greenfield. No problem. And then our Facebook page is AMR of Springfield. So, >> is that on your Facebook page now?
>> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. >> If you could forward me something on that to my email, I think Kim has mine. That'd be great. Maybe I'll um forward it to this. See, you're holding a couple spots for Greenfield. They Greenfield residents, they could actually post that
maybe on >> the town's web page or something like that. I don't know. I'll send it off. I'll I'll see what the mayor wants to do with that. um and um see if they want to post something. Seeing that you're holding a few spots for Greenfield residents, that would be actually a good place for them
to be able to get your your um your page. And I see the mayor just unmuted, so maybe the mayor will have something to say. Hi, mayor. >> Oh, hi. Thank you. Because I was looking for where I raised my hand. Um
so, um would you send us something about that um from AMR? if you send that to me, we'd be happy to promote it. I would just um need a little bit more information. Thank you so much. >> Yeah, no problem. I'll get all the information to you guys. >> Thank you. There you go. It' be
beneficial to to some few taxpayers in Greenfield that want a career in EMS. >> There you go. Thank you. >> Uh I don't know if there's anything that's all I have for right now. Anyone has any questions or >> any questions for AMI?
Did um did we get Kim's report? >> I thought I had sent it to everybody, but >> I get I've been getting a lot of emails, >> but it could have been me, too. Everybody's looking at me like maybe I didn't forward it. So, I
>> thought I did. I did. Maria. Okay. >> Well, I got it. I >> Okay. I thought I forwarded to everybody the day that Kim sent it to me. That way, I don't forget. >> Oh, you have to use that old card again. Okay. >> I think I sent both of them to both of
your emails because I'm not sure if you were getting the city one yet. They're not. >> No, >> you're not. Okay. We need to get Fernando to straighten out. That's why they're using your personal email, too. >> Yeah. >> But if your personal emails like mine, you get like 100 emails a day. So,
>> Okay. >> All right. No problem. We'll get that information. The deadline is May 17th for all applications. So, >> Excellent. Very good. Thank you. send it out to me and one to the mayor's office and it'll be great. Thank you. >> Okay, now we are on to the staff. Good evening. I'm the dispatch
supervisor for Greenville Police Fire Dispatch. Um before I get into the information I want to give to you, I would just like to say that uh last week was National Telecommunicators Week. Um, so that is the week designated every year for
recognition of dispatchers and telecommunicators. Um, I don't think we necessarily should have to have one week. I think it should be an every day, every week, every month thing. Um, but if you don't mind, I would just like to u recognize uh dispatchers Mark Lavin,
uh, Megan Cullen, Joshel, Ami Foot, Chelsea Reynolds, Mallerie Brunette, Avon Mumbo, Patrick Dott, Alexander Fletcher, Cassandra Klast, Taylor Johansson, Rebecca Jernigan, Madison Guerell, Uma Shakova, and Trevor
Brunette, who are our dispatchers. And I'd also like to recognize our partner agencies, Shelurn Control Dispatch, as well as Moni Police Department's dispatch. Um, without those partner agencies, we couldn't do as good of a job as we do. Um, just as the police
department and the fire department rely on their mutual aid, they're uh, for lack of a better expression, they're our mutual aid. And so, we really appreciate them as well. So, just like to recognize that. Uh, let's see. So, going back to so for February, you have the call statistics
for February. We entered 2,46 calls for service into our CAD. That was actually about 8% less uh from the month before. Um, we had 252 calls in and out of our 911 system. uh for personnel issues for the month of
February. Um you all have in the past uh few meetings met Alexander Fletcher and Cassandra Couplast who we hired in the last couple of months. Uh Alex uh will actually be off training as of May 1st. Uh so we're excited to get her uh going on her own. Uh Cassandra actually came
to us on February 9th and she was off training March 1st. Uh Cassandra came to us with experience from East Hampton Public Safety. So, we were very lucky. She did not require a whole lot of training. Uh, we also because of the training or the hires and coming off of
training, we did a shift bid for our our dispatchers which goes into effect May 3rd, which I'm happy to say, and I don't want to say this too loudly, but our vacation relief spot will be filled once again. So, as of May 3rd, our vacation relief spot will be in place. Uh right
now for the month of May, I only see one overtime shift because of the vacation relief spot being put into play. So we're very excited and I know that Todd or Chief Dodge and City should also be excited for the overtime we're going to save and not only to mention the
overtime but um also the stress that puts on everybody uh with the overtime. It's a lot. Our pardiums in the month of February covered 145 hours for us. Uh I also covered 56 hours on the desk as well. And then you see that there is a list of
training that comes next. Uh so and as as I've explained I think to the board in the past every year dispatch is required to do a certain number of continuing ed educational hours for the state. Uh so that is a list of dispatchers who started basically
started their training in February. Uh dispatcher Reynolds, Jernigan, Couplast, Fletcher, Mumblow, Bernett and Johansson. And that's just a list of the trainings that they did. Uh just to mention some of them, uh domestic and sexual violence, um major incidents in opioid o opioid overdose, human
trafficking, managing response to persons with autism, uh lot of mental health training, avoiding burnout in a challenging work environment. Uh so I'm I'm proud of all of them uh for completing those
trainings. I think that was it for the month of February. >> Question. Yes. What are the abbreviations for LNM, APCO, and NG? >> Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, so NG 911 is next generation 911. It's what the system is
called. >> Okay. >> Uh, APCO PST1 is a it's a it's a name of a class. It's the the bones of dispatching. It's the basics. >> It's not it's not center specific. and CTO training which you see mentioned
there as well. Uh it's um yeah it's the >> communications training officer. So to become a trainer they have to complete that class. >> See so for March uh our call statistics uh we actually were up quite a bit for calls for service entered. We had 375
calls entered. That was up about 27% from February. Uh, some of that I would probably attribute to the weather getting better. Everybody's coming out from indoors and excited. Um, in and out of our 911 system, we had
2535 calls. Our dispatchers or excuse me, our PDM dispatchers covered 80 hours. Uh, in the month of March, I covered 76 hours. I do when I cover hours, just to explain, I guess, a little bit, I cover
in place of my regular hours. So there's no overtime. I don't get overtime. So uh the pdium hours were down a little bit because we do now have two pium dispatchers in college and so they're working towards their degrees and weren't able to give us as much over as
much time. And we have one who is actually uh training for a new position within her job, her full-time job. So it was a little less than we than we had the previous month. Uh happily in March, uh Commissioner Bar Barger, I hope I'm saying that right, uh
came and spent uh the good part of a day with us, uh came in, uh halfway through our first shift and stayed about halfway through our second shift to kind of get the busier parts of both shifts. Um all of the dispatchers, I would just wanted to say all of the dispatchers commented that they were super impressed with all
the questions that were asked, uh how in-depth the questions were, uh very thoughtful. Um, not to mention that uh the commissioner showed up with chocolate chip cookies, which were extremely good. So, if you ever have the opportunity to have their chocolate chip cookies,
they were fantastic. Uh, but we also did a station tour and um for us it was very beneficial to have the commissioner there and I hope it was as beneficial for you. >> Yeah, thank you for having me. >> Thank you so much for coming. Uh so for um a public education mention for March
uh myself and dispatcher Joshelle actually uh attended a career fair at Smith Vocational High School. Umunate about giving back to his high school and so uh we did the career fair along with the police department. Um he has asked
me for future uh for the future. They have asked usually asked him to come and do some speaking at their they actually have a I would call it a shop because I went to a trade school. They have a topic or a shop that is criminal justice
and it actually teaches you all different parts of policing and firefighting and I I think it gives them a huge overview of public safety. Uh so they have actually asked him to come back and do some speaking at some point. So um we were really happy to hear that and hopefully he and I are going to work
that out at some point. So and again for the month of March uh we had some training that was done uh dispatcher foot or guerell dater dakob myself and there's again is a list of the trainings that some of us participated
in. Um I had mentioned in a previous meeting that fire communications was one that uh dispatcher foot was extremely uh excited to take. Um, unfortunately with our um, we have to go by a list of approved classes through the state. Um,
and unfortunately there's not a lot of fire trainings on there and so when one comes up, we're extremely happy to have them sign up for it and she was given a binder and a lot of information and so she can bring that back to the center and she's also one of our trainers as
well. Um, and so she can incorporate that into our our training. So we're excited about that. Uh but some of the classes that they took uh were deadly calls and fatal encounters. There was some CTO training which is comm. It's mental health training for
dispatchers. Uh they drugs brain and behavior recognizing domestic violence uh deescalation crisis negotiation mediation and resolution. So those were some of the the classes that the dispatchers are taking and large.
Um, and I want to preface the next part just by saying that I don't think that uh every dispatcher in the dispatch center deserves recognition for the job that they do every day. Uh, it can be stressful. It can uh it's there's a lot to it every day. Um, not every call is a
big call, but the small calls count as well. But I would just like to recognize that uh in actually this month just because it was so recent u between April 12th and the 17th we had four very goodsized brush fires. Um the first one
was on 412. Uh it went to a first alarm and dispatcher Orel and Couplast were working that day. Uh dispatcher Couplast is again very recent off of training. Uh dispatcher is actually a call firefighter for another town. Uh and so he has that experience that he brings to
us. They did a fantastic job. The next one was on 414 April 14th. It was wisdom way at Mson Street, which is the one we were talking about a little bit ago. Uh that actually went to a third alarm. Dispatcher Couplast and dispatcher Fletcher, who is still in
training with her trainer, Dispatcher Mumbo, were working for that. Um within the first uh a little bit less than an hour uh our center took almost 100 calls just for that fire. Our partner agency Shelurn Control took 102 of our calls.
And I I guess I should also mention that every 911 center or every PAP has what they call a ringdown. So if something major is happening in town and our system is overloaded, 911 calls don't go unanswered. Uh, so if we can't physically answer them because every
phone is ringing, it rings up to Shelurn control. So no, no 911 call should ever go unanswered. Uh, but we were very grateful for Shelurn control that day. And then the other one was on 417. Uh, it was Country Club Road. I think it went to a box alarm. Uh, dispatcher Dott
and Fletcher were working that day. Again, dispatcher Fletcher was with her trainer, Dispatcher Mumbo. Um, it's it's a lot. I I know it's a lot on the fire end for sure. I know it's a lot on the police end um for us coordinating all of
the mutual aid responses. I'm sure you you know firsthand. Um again, we rely on our partner agencies and so we're we're just I'm very grateful that they all did such a great job. And then one other thing I would like to mention, I'm sure that the chief would be talking about this if he was here. Uh
there was uh as I'm sure you're all aware on 4:15 there was an assault call on Federal Street uh where a gentleman was unfortunately stabbed. Um dispatchers Couplast and Fletcher again with her trainer, Dispatcher Mumbo were
working. Uh within I believe the first officer was there within one minute of the call coming in. They ended up having to do a drone call out. They did a K9 call out. They also called out the special response team, the crisis negotiation team. They were
in touch with state police getting them out here. Uh they were also in contact calling in Lifellight for that gentleman as well. Um I am extremely proud of all of them that they did such an amazing job and got that gentleman the help that he needed as quickly as they did. And
I'm very proud of all of the first responders that day. I think that he's still with us because obviously because of their great work, >> but that that is all I have. Any questions? >> Any questions, comments from the
commission? >> All that you do. Thank you. We appreciate that. >> Amazing. >> I will pass that along for sure. >> And congratulations on I think you deserve at least a week. I I understand you're coming from with the, you know, every day type of thing, but I I also
think recognizing for for that one week is really important as well. Thank you so much. >> I I just personally want to say thank you for the board and for the city and the taxpayers and for the visitors. Thanks to everybody at Dispatch. You do a great job um being on that side of the
desk for many of years. before dispatch, it's you feel like you're using both hands and both feet to shovel shuffle everything around and turn pages and make phone calls and push the radio button and get everything going. Um, I think a great class that everybody
should should take advantage of is an avoided burnout and challenges the work of a challenging work environment because if anything's a stressful job, dispatch is a very stressful job. They deal with every element that the police, fire, and EMS has to deal with every
day. So, it's a very stressful job and I tip my hat to them and I always will and I always have and they do a tremendous job. So, thank thanks to everybody. You can pass that on. >> I definitely will >> from the chair and from the commission and from the city and from taxpayers and the visitors. So,
>> I definitely will and I would just like to extend to all of you the invitation that if any of you want to come and spend some time in dispatch, I know everybody's busy with their other, you know, their jobs and other things they have going on, but anytime you guys would want to come in and just spend a little time with us, we're more than happy to help you. And you don't even
need to bring >> It's going to be hard. >> I know somebody's put raised the bar for us and see dispatch now. I don't know if we're going to be able to do it. So, we'll call the fire department up. Last but not least, >> yes.
>> Is it easier if you just pass it down? >> Yeah. >> There we go. Okay. Gotcha. Take one and pass one down. There you go. Very easy. >> Reminds me of school. >> There you go. >> Take one and pass one down. >> Okay. So, I have a monthly report to present for you. Uh, and for those
online, my name is Peter McGyver. I am the deputy fire chief and you've heard from the chief of department. He is with us online. Um, you have a monthly report and then this month I included a sort of more
indepth breakdown of the percentages of our falls and a little bit more detail included in that. So, I won't go through that a lot, but feel free to skip through that and sort of give it a look. Um, first page, we were um invited to
present at the career and college fair at the public schools. uh had a great opportunity to introduce what we do to um high school uh seniors and sort of give a rundown as to suggestions of what
they can do to get involved with public safety trades. Uh and then I left a note for you all to if you know of other community events uh that you'd like us to be present at and some contact information on how to schedule those.
Uh next page is some general payroll updates. Um we've we've had some recent uh retirements that have sort of shifted some of our work hours on the employee
time off side. But as you can see in our acute pie chart, uh we are still very much hamstrung by sick leave and injured on duty time. Um although with all of that still 90% of our work hours are
covered by uh employees that are on shift. Uh our permanent salaries are pretty much on target. You'll notice our overtime numbers are included uh and those are over spent for the calendar
year. Uh we are working diligently to continue to examine all things that are budget to do what we can to stay within our means. Uh however, there are still things that are outside of our control.
>> Our response statistics just a quick snapshot the last 30 days. Uh we had a total of 324 incidents. Uh, of those 73 primary transports with the ambulance, 17 patient refusals,
um, mutual aid is always a a great topic of discussion and this month sort of highlights the value of that. Uh, we were requested out of the city a total of nine times and twice with the ambulance.
And we received aid. Uh the chief always speaks about when we receive aid, we often receive a ton of it. Uh this month was a great example of that. We received aid a total of 24 times. 20 of those
were just for the April 14th brush fire. Um on the 11th, we responded mutual aid to the town of Sunderland. Um the on duty shift responded with the engine and a subsequent request was made for the
ladder to also assist. Uh this fire was at a major uh residential complex right in the center of Sunderland. Uh pretty big loss for that area. Um the chief assumed a operations role within their
command staff and uh I also responded and assisted with their uh accountability and county resources. Um the 12th uh there was a brush fire as uh the dispatch supervisor uh mentioned
off of Summit A. It's sort of a remote area on the back side of Canada Hill. Um, worked out to be about an acre and a half of land. Uh, it's all owned and uh,
maintained by DCR. So, our folks were able, it was a little tricky to find the location just based on the geographics there. Uh, but we called in some help to give us a hand uh, sort of getting around it and putting it out.
Um it was pretty hot and dry during that period. We haven't seen any rain yet. Uh so we had Bernson, South Deerfield, Turners, and uh DCR was present to help us map that out. Um on the 12th, we responded mutually
aid to a second alarm brush or second alarm structure fire in Leverett. Uh the engine and the chief responded to that. Uh unfortunately, the structure was lost. Uh they had lots of water supply issues at that and the fire got ahead of
them. Um I'm going to skip the next item because that's a little bit more involved. Uh the 15th um there was the stabbing incident on Federal Street. Uh our ambulance wound up transporting the patient. Uh we were intercepted and assisted with paramedics
from AMR. Um, aside from the medical, it was a very involved law enforcement incident. I'm sure the cops would have uh given plenty of update had they had the opportunity tonight. Um, but from what I understand
or from what I know from being there, uh, myself, the chief, uh, Captain Kimble, uh, we responded after the medical portion to assist command staff with the drone unit. Uh, Captain Kimell
and myself uh remained at the command post that was set up to provide overwatch with the drone and assist with coordination of the uh SRT as best we could with the with the drone unit.
Uh, Captain Culie and firefighter Brian Goden are um firebased EMTs that are embedded in the Franklin County SRT team. So, they responded to assist as
the medic units that are assigned to the SRT team and they were also present uh for the uh duration of the execution of the warrants. Um, and then sort of just a rundown on
the quick numbers of the uh calls for the month broken out in categories below. And those are better detailed in the report there. Bouncing back to the 14th. Um, I wrote up a quick synopsis because I wasn't sure that the chief
would be able to join us tonight. Um, I'll sort of turn that over to him if he'd prefer. Uh, no. Deputy, you can go into it and I'll jump in. I've got a few comments on it. >> I'll give you it.
>> I'll give my brief. Um, so obviously 911 system received a lot of a lot of 911 calls, both the Greenfield and Shelmer control. Um, primarily for the Wisdom Way and Mson Street areas. Um there was
a pretty immediate threat to the backside of the nursing home on Laurel Street and that surrounding area uh based on the geographic location of the railroad. Uh the chief was quick to assume command and proceeded to strike multiple alarms
to assist in the coverage of the fires. Um the fire was also reported um up the median of 91 and across the southbound travel lane and continued to the rear of Mson Street uh requiring part of the
or the extinguishment of that required shutting down part of the interstate. Um so um at one point the smoke was banked so hard onto the highway that the travel
lane had disappeared. Uh the fires also extended to the south affecting the town of Deerfield uh and their fire department as well. Uh we were almost dispatched uh in tandem
to that incident or I guess we were um and a total of more than 100 firefighters across three states had assisted uh in fire attack overhaul, water supply and providing structural coverage to the
staging area. um a in-depth report on um the this event is forthcoming and we will release that to the public safety commission on its completion. Uh just an adlib to that. The
uh this call was technically a third alarm brush fire which if I counted the aid correctly is roughly nine brush trucks, four engines, three tankers and a total of four engines for cover and
then an additional alarm levels for structural protection was also requested. uh and that was an additional four engines and those assets covered both our incident and were rerooed uh to
cover areas of Deerfield during their part of this incident as well. uh the chief and I have met with uh the command staff agencies or the command staff of the agencies that were represented in this fire and uh we hope
to work in some of those details into our afteraction report which again will be shared after its completion. Chief. >> Yeah. No, good job, Deputy. Um, just a couple things I want to highlight on that. Uh, the deputy had had already
mentioned, you know, the importance of mutual aid and this is why, you know, when we're asked a lot about why we give out so mutual so much mutual aid that this is why we do it because there are times where we're going to need it. And this particular event when we went to a
second alarm uh assignment on it, I actually declared it um and let people know that this has the potential of being being a major event. Um and it really did. We're used to having fires in the north end of town where we may
have an acre or two going. Um uh but this one we had 14 acres in a populated area with many very expensive buildings and high life hazards. Uh we had a crew of seven on duty, which is unusual for
us. The shift that happened to be working was fully staffed and so they were able to jump on the fire very quickly. Um uh the the immediate attention went to the nursing home on Laurel Street. Um the building itself is
a um you know a concrete building, but there is a lot of things around the building such as dumpsters and and other items. The fire got right up to the driveway uh with four to 5 foot uh height flames um and the crews uh
immediately went there uh and uh were able to contain it there. Um the neighborhood was uh impacted um and uh quick efforts were made to minimize the fire there. The next area of concern was the self storage area. We
actually got a little bit lucky on that. Um they had done some work but by the buildings that actually created a little bit of a fire break. Uh but we were receiving reports from police officers that the buildings were smoking and um we were able to quickly assign a couple
mutual aid uh engines up there. Uh then the attention turned to the corporate center and the woods around the corporate center. Uh and they had um significant amount of fire and rapid growth there. Uh and then the fire made it to the highway and jumped two lanes
of the highway which is really uncommon around here. Uh, and the fire activity was something that I haven't seen um really uh in my whole career. We've had fires like this, but never in a populated area like that. Quickly went
to three alarms. Deerfield struck an alarm. Uh we pulled in structural assignments and then um Hatfield and Winchester uh New Hampshire uh ended up running calls for the city. uh why we were tied up on that because it's flashy
fuels that burn really quick. Uh the fire was contained within 2 hours. Um so which was pretty amazing. Um but there were, you know, four or five different operations happening during that fire.
Uh everybody did a remarkable job. Um the mayor and chief of staff came up uh to see the area and show support for for the firefighters. Um, really well done by everybody. Uh, it could have been a different scenario. Uh, we had gusty
winds, but they were only gusts to about 15 miles an hour. I would shudder to think if those gusts were 25, 30, 40, 50. Um, so it really had a potential of of being uh quite a devastating fire,
but um the hard work of the firefighters um the onduty firefighters getting there quick and and containing their area and then the all the recall and all the the mutual aid companies we had really kept uh kept u could have been a very
significant uh problem to a minimum. much from public safety. Same thing like just amazed at what they did they were able to accomplish. >> Yeah. I have to say I was up there and it was a well orchestrated uh event
going on. Um to see see the uh command post and everybody working together as a welloiled machine. It was um it was it was it was impressive everybody and the amount of uh channels that they use now and stuff like that on the radios. We used to only have one channel and it was
utter chaos. So it was a well orchestrated event now that now that we have a system in in place now. So it's not utter chaos. >> It's been more organized chaos. >> It's more organized chaos. Yeah. Yeah. So a job well done by everybody. I'd
like to thank all the mutual aid companies that showed up that day. There was um seemed like there was great support. Uh the trucks showed up fully loaded with with personnel on them from from all the all the mis mun municipalities and towns and states that
showed up. Um when I saw Winchester, it was like, "Wow, Winchester. Okay. I don't think I've seen that before in 30 years." So, um just great job by everybody. Great job by Dispatch. I'm sure they were um overwhelmed by the numbers. You can tell
them. And um then Shaw Control, thank them for our help on that, too. They did a great job. Uh Tri-State Mutual Aid did a great job because I'm sure they they were involved in getting us our people from the other states. So, thank you everybody on that. The mayor showed up
and like I said, she was walking around thanking all the mutual aid companies that were there on the scene. So, um yeah, that's all I have for you guys. Okay. Thank you. >> Welcome. Thank you. >> Again, I have to apologize because I
wanted to hear about the event on Beville Street. So, I have to apologize to the public, especially to Chief Dodge because I'm sure they they had a stack full of papers in their hands when they showed up and um I had to be the bearer of bad news to them or I guess maybe it
could have been good news. I don't know whichever way he took it. I apologize to the public, to the mayor, people that tuned in that probably wanted to hear about it. Um, so and to the commissioners that probably wanted also to be informed. My apologies. I
dropped the ball on that. Um, yeah, no excuse other than >> you drop the ball sometimes. >> Yeah, I can. Okay, I'll follow >> as long as they don't. >> As long as they don't. >> So, I apologize to everybody for that.
um oversight. Um yeah. Um anyways, moving on. Um I did get an email today from the chief's um secretary that we're going to skip March because didn't have a chance due to
personal reasons to get u March's um reviews out. February. >> Yeah, we did February. >> Um >> we had two meetings in March though. So February was refresh me on that. Maria,
>> we already approved. >> We already approved. Okay. So >> the only ones that we're going to approve today is the 18th. >> The 18th and 25th of March, right? >> Not the 25th because um she was sick was not completed. >> Right. Okay. So the 17th.
>> Yeah. So we're just doing the 18th. >> What? >> 17th. >> 17th. Sorry. I got a hand raised by the mayor. Mayor, >> um, two things. Um, good job everybody. Uh, I wanted to just tell you that last
night we had an emergency city council meeting and um, they approved the the buying a new generator for um, you know, it'll be up at the police station, but it services
um, all of dispatch and all the emergency calls. So, they approved that last night and that means that we'll have to rent that temporary one for less time. And for you all to know that Joe Pugs did a great job getting the um rate
down on the renting of that. Um they were $20,000 a month we were going to have to rent the generator for and he he wiggled them down to I think 14 and then was able to get our last month of renting that for free. But I thought public safety should know that that was
approved. And then I had a question which actually just made me think of it from going to the fire. I um and this I may not be expressing this correctly, but a lot of trucks had this like water
truck that they were filling up from the fire hydrants. And um do I had just asked Amy Kah Helain to be looking at to see if we could get a
water truck? Um because the DPW one is quite old. Do we have a water truck like that like the other fire departments have? Like some of the ones that came to visit and help us have. >> So the truck
>> Yeah, I'll answer that. So the trucks are talking about uh we had a couple tankers that are brought in. Most communities around us don't have a municipal water supply. Uh so they have to bring the water with them to calls. So they have tanker trucks which carry
anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 gallons of water on it. Uh we do not. However, all our trucks including the ladder truck have at least 500 gallons on it. Most of them are 750. But we do not have a
tanker truck per se um to haul water and um that is mostly because uh 98% of the c town is covered by hydrants. >> Okay. I was just thinking about that whether or not we could share one but we
certainly can't share something that we don't have. So thank you. >> Okay. All done there. >> All done. Thank you. I gotta figure out how to put my hand. >> You're welcome. I didn't see it. I didn't see your hand this time. >> Yeah, I'm doing it on the to figure out
how to put it up and down, but I'm all I'm all set. Thank you. >> Gota. You're welcome. So, we're going to do Maria, remind me again. I'm losing track. >> Dates of the 17th. We're going to approve
that. >> Do you need a motion? >> Yeah. Need a motion. >> We They were on everybody's email, so we should have all read them. Those of us who can approve cuz there was a couple people that were absent. So, I believe
you were absent. So, you can't vote, >> right? >> I believe you were absent also for the 17th. Oh, no. This special meeting that we had. >> I thought I was here. Well, I don't know. Maybe not.
>> Right. >> What day was the 17th? >> It was >> Tuesday. >> Tuesday. >> It was St. Patrick's Day. >> I think you had the death in the family, did you? >> Yeah. So, it was just the three of us that are here now that can make a motion and approve. So,
>> right. You were here, right? >> Yep. Yep. >> So, um Yep. >> Okay. I'll move I'll make a motion that we accept minutes of the March 17th. >> Second. >> All in favor?
>> I oppose saying seeing none approved. Okay, I have to change that to typo on my not my Okay. So, is there any um
I guess we'll set our our next meeting here to just bring up next month's calendar. So, it looks like the next meeting will be May 27th here at 6:00 at the fire station. Um, so May 27th, 6 PM at fire fire
headquarters meeting room on Main Street in Greenfield will be our next meeting. Um, I'll triple check the agenda, make sure that I have it right this time. I don't exclude anybody. And and and yes, we'll have the police department go
first again. I'll I'll tip my hat to their them again. I'll let them go first. I had the resource go first this time. So, I'll take a motion to adjurnn. >> No. >> No. >> I have a point of information for next time. >> Okay.
>> Um I' I'd like to put it on the docket that we discussed. I think it's either Greenfield Road or Sheldon Road that is washed out. >> Deputy What's What's the U Is it Green Oh, Greenfield Road. >> It's technically Shelurn Road.
>> Shelurn Road. Thank you. Okay. And I'd like to ask that we at least discuss it in whatever depth we can. Um I've been notified by people in Shelurn uh that it's an alternative route for
emergency uh egress and access to Shelurn from Greenfield. >> Okay. Do we know it? It'll go on the agenda. Thank you. I'll make sure I don't avoid anybody out while I'm putting that on the agenda
this time. >> I'll make a motion that we adjourn. >> Second. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I oppose. Abstain. Okay. Very good. Thank you very much, people.
Kimberly.