Congrats to the Honor Guard

I would like to take a moment and say a job well done to the Honor Guard! A year ago they were looking at increasing members to support the different activities they were doing and with that came an idea of going to the National Fallen Firefighter Memorial service. After some discussion, they came up with a plan and set forth to raise the money to support their trip. They have done numerous activities and fundraisers to help cover their costs plus maintain a busy events schedule. While not everyone associated with the Honor Guard were able to go on the trip, it was a job well done by all members of the Honor Guard and something they should be proud of. I hope that they enjoy their time and experience while representing the State of Iowa and the Indianola Fire Department.

Seat belts

I saw this article (click on Seat belts to view the article) and was impressed by the department and the stance that they took. You hear about departments across the U.S. that say their departments are going to wear their seatbelts and how departments say they are grateful after an accident that their members were belted. But here is a department that made their members accountable for their actions. The personnel on the truck were not wearing their seatbelts, they had an accident, and after the reviews were performed, suspensions were passed down. The suspensions were made to say "Buckle UP!" and to make the engineers and officers take note that they are the people responsible for the crew and they need to make sure that everyone is buckled up before the truck moves.

Can we learn from this? You bet we can. We don't necessarily have a problem not buckling up, I think we do a pretty good job. But we can always do better! Again, it goes back to the engineer and the person in the officers seat to make sure everyone is buckled in prior to the apparatus moving. IF something would ever happen, you can bet that is going to be one of the first questions asked.

So, key point from all of this: BUCKLE UP!!

So How You Been?

I have posted a new video or two since the last time I updated but guess I haven't paid much attention as to when I last posted. October!? Wow. Have I been slacking or what? Lets see, what has been going on since I posted last? We have made it through all the holidays, had a record year in the number of calls that we responded on, hired a new full timer, got two new members trained and have become regular members, got the SOG's done and posted, and the annual dinner has come and gone. Good job to everyone for all the work that they put in last year and so far the first part of this year. Obviously, it is because of your dedication that we make all those calls and get the trucks out the door to handle the emergency.
If you haven't been to training lately, we are trying to simplify things a bit and FF Sadler has designed a program that is taking the first 5-10 minutes of the fire call and breaking into down into different roles and responsibilities. We have been through accountability and riding positions and have VES (Vent, Enter, Search) coming up this month. If you haven't made it yet, these are really good classes and I encourage you to come and check it out for yourself.