Update

I just want to say congratulations to Jory for his years of service. I hope that you enjoy being able to be with your family and knowing that your schedule is going to be on mother nature and not people thinking that they need help in the middle of the night.

With Jory's stepping aside, I would also like to say welcome to Matt Baird who has been hired to take Jory's position. Matt has worked a couple shifts and will be officially Brent's partner on Monday. So welcome aboard and hope your transition is smooth.

We have gone to a computer based scheduling system. So everyone needs to go into www.firemanager.net/indianolafire and sign in and first go to "My Info" and enter in your phone number, carrier, and email address. That way you can receive text messages and emails about open shifts plus other departmental information. Then please sign up for the nights that you are open for to cover squad 2. Part-timers put in your availability just like we have been. Any questions please let me know.

With the warm weather, be on the look out for more people out walking, running, biking, etc while responding to the station. And as warmer weather approaches remember to keep yourself hydrated!!

Sorry

Ok, I said in the last post that I would try and keep this up to date better and I have failed. So here I go again and I will try to do better. First of all, let me back up several weeks and congratulate Captain Ted Neller and Lieutenant Jody Miller to the officer ranks. You both are welcome additions to the command staff and I look forward to working with you both. I would also like to take a moment and thank Dean Hutt for his 34 years of service, about half of that as IFD Chief. I have learned a lot from Dean from when I first got started as a volunteer and as I have worked up through the ranks. He has been a great mentor and a great friend whom I could turn to ask ask questions, get feedback, and just some direction when I felt lost. Thank you Dean.

The city hall updates are almost complete, the only thing really remaining is working on completing the lockers in the shower room. A new phone system has been installed throughout city hall and we are getting use to working with something different and up to date.

We have formed a truck committee and Chuck, Tom, Devon, and Travis have been appointed to this committee. Their purpose is to go through the apparatus and look at ways of improving our equipment location and trying to make things better and more useful. They will be moving things around on the trucks to see how it looks and fits, but they will return it back to the original spot. Once they come upon a decision for placement, a presentation will be done for the officers for them to review and modify, delete, or approve the idea. Some of the trucks have gotten new tool boxes and we have gone back to color coding tools and equipment for the apparatus they came off of.

Remember, it is still winter out there. So please drive safely, dress for the weather, and if you see a hydrant that needs to be dugout, either dig it out or notify an officer so it can be passed along. Thanks!