Jan 2008
Fire Department members show off new AEDs
24/01/08 16:00 Filed in: Equipment
When someone
is having a heart attack, seconds count. Getting
advanced medical life support to the scene FAST is
critical. The Orcas Island Fire Department and the
Volunteer Firefighter EMT Association have joined
together to provide every emergency responder with an
Automatic External Defibrillator (AED). The $
21,238.30 for an additional 15 AED units was not in
the budget. So the Association went to the community
and asked for help. The response was $16,495 in
donations! The Volunteer Firefighter/EMT Association
was able to fund the balance so the additional 15
Zoll AEDs have been purchased. Thank you!
Fire Department members show off new AEDs
BACK ROW: Jason Maderios, Bruce Brackett, Toby Brown, Val Harris, Jim Scheib, , Jim Schuh, Kari Schuh, Garth Eimers
AROUND TABLE: Chief Harris, Jaylin Peacock, Hilary Canty, Lance Evans, Gregg Bronn
Fire Department members show off new AEDs
BACK ROW: Jason Maderios, Bruce Brackett, Toby Brown, Val Harris, Jim Scheib, , Jim Schuh, Kari Schuh, Garth Eimers
AROUND TABLE: Chief Harris, Jaylin Peacock, Hilary Canty, Lance Evans, Gregg Bronn
Orcas Fire finds the "Best and Brightest" already live here!
18/01/08 16:00 Filed in: Personnel
Orcas Fire
finds the "Best and Brightest" already live here!
“We are probably going to take some heat for this decision, but time will prove it to be a good one,” said Commissioner Jim Coffin after the Board of Fire Commissioners meeting on January 15th.
The commission had just unanimously approved Chief Mike Harris's request to hire two local volunteers, Buddy Wright & Chad Kimple, as full time employees of the fire department. The Commission agreed that the hires were necessary for the District’s training and safety programs and to complete implementation of the District’s long term strategic plan.
Chad Kimple, a volunteer since 2002, was hired as the Operations Assistant & District Safety Officer. This new job consolidates the previous Business Manager, the Administrative Assistant, as well as the Volunteer Safety Officer Position. This position holds the rank of Lieutenant, due to the responsibility necessary for safety programs and scene safety authority. "Kimple's a quick study, a hard worker and passionate about the fire service." said Chief Harris, “Chad is an Orcas Island success story, having started as a junior volunteer with OIFD while still in high school.” Harris said he was proud to be able to hire someone from within the department to fill this role. Lt. Kimple will receive a salary of $2,830 per month. It is a 40 hour per week job and is exempt from any overtime pay, as most fire department supervisory positions are.
Buddy Wright was hired as the combined full-time Training and Operations Chief. Buddy has been a volunteer with the district since 1996. He has held every volunteer officer rank in the District, except for Chief Officer, and has been the volunteer Training Officer with the District since August of 2004. "Buddy helped me more than anyone else to ‘knit the district back together’, so we saw each other as members of the same team. Thanks to him, our training is the best I have seen in over 35 years of fire service.” Harris stated.
“Buddy has elevated our training to state of the art by providing on-line web based classes, competency based testing and a flexible training schedule. This program has done away with most of our traditional classroom training, and transitioned us to a quarterly system, which has allowed the same drills to be repeated 3 times each quarter so that our members can make training at the department fit into their own schedules. He has taken my vision of a cross trained department and made it a reality, that has immensely enhanced our service to our community.
The “heat” Commissioner Coffin referred to was for the $7,500 per month salary that Battalion Chief Wright will receive. “We saw a unique set of skills that we wanted and this is what we had to pay to get it” Harris said. “Just the job description alone should provide a clue. I would have paid a computer consultant over $30,000 just to put one year of training in an on-line format. That does not include developing the actual material as any training officer would be responsible for. I feel I'm getting a bargain because those two jobs total the amount we are paying, and we get an operations officer on top of that.”
Battalion Chief Wright will work 40 hours a week at the station. In addition to this would be after-hours drills & training, emergency runs, plus a significant amount of on-call time, all without additional compensation. “They reality of it is, the Battalion Chief will probably average more than 50 hours per week” said Harris.
Clyde Duke, chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners, said “We have been fortunate that Buddy agreed to come on board last year, originally as two separate part time jobs, Training Officer and Operations Officer. This tenure has given the district the ability to grow into a very successful organization. While any change within an organization presents challenges, we are excited with the results we have experienced thus far with our team, the volunteers and staff.”
“The District’s focus is to improve services and maintain the valuable personal lives of our volunteers” said Clyde Duke.
With the consolidating of the job descriptions into these two new positions, the district now employs fewer full time employees than it had prior to 2005.
Questions or comments can be directed to Chief Harris @ 376-2331, extension 21, or to Commission Chairman Clyde Duke @ 376-5873, Commissioner Harvey Olsan @ 376-2114 or Commissioner Jim Coffin @ 376-9017.
Captain Buddy Wright (and daughter)
“We are probably going to take some heat for this decision, but time will prove it to be a good one,” said Commissioner Jim Coffin after the Board of Fire Commissioners meeting on January 15th.
The commission had just unanimously approved Chief Mike Harris's request to hire two local volunteers, Buddy Wright & Chad Kimple, as full time employees of the fire department. The Commission agreed that the hires were necessary for the District’s training and safety programs and to complete implementation of the District’s long term strategic plan.
Chad Kimple, a volunteer since 2002, was hired as the Operations Assistant & District Safety Officer. This new job consolidates the previous Business Manager, the Administrative Assistant, as well as the Volunteer Safety Officer Position. This position holds the rank of Lieutenant, due to the responsibility necessary for safety programs and scene safety authority. "Kimple's a quick study, a hard worker and passionate about the fire service." said Chief Harris, “Chad is an Orcas Island success story, having started as a junior volunteer with OIFD while still in high school.” Harris said he was proud to be able to hire someone from within the department to fill this role. Lt. Kimple will receive a salary of $2,830 per month. It is a 40 hour per week job and is exempt from any overtime pay, as most fire department supervisory positions are.
Buddy Wright was hired as the combined full-time Training and Operations Chief. Buddy has been a volunteer with the district since 1996. He has held every volunteer officer rank in the District, except for Chief Officer, and has been the volunteer Training Officer with the District since August of 2004. "Buddy helped me more than anyone else to ‘knit the district back together’, so we saw each other as members of the same team. Thanks to him, our training is the best I have seen in over 35 years of fire service.” Harris stated.
“Buddy has elevated our training to state of the art by providing on-line web based classes, competency based testing and a flexible training schedule. This program has done away with most of our traditional classroom training, and transitioned us to a quarterly system, which has allowed the same drills to be repeated 3 times each quarter so that our members can make training at the department fit into their own schedules. He has taken my vision of a cross trained department and made it a reality, that has immensely enhanced our service to our community.
The “heat” Commissioner Coffin referred to was for the $7,500 per month salary that Battalion Chief Wright will receive. “We saw a unique set of skills that we wanted and this is what we had to pay to get it” Harris said. “Just the job description alone should provide a clue. I would have paid a computer consultant over $30,000 just to put one year of training in an on-line format. That does not include developing the actual material as any training officer would be responsible for. I feel I'm getting a bargain because those two jobs total the amount we are paying, and we get an operations officer on top of that.”
Battalion Chief Wright will work 40 hours a week at the station. In addition to this would be after-hours drills & training, emergency runs, plus a significant amount of on-call time, all without additional compensation. “They reality of it is, the Battalion Chief will probably average more than 50 hours per week” said Harris.
Clyde Duke, chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners, said “We have been fortunate that Buddy agreed to come on board last year, originally as two separate part time jobs, Training Officer and Operations Officer. This tenure has given the district the ability to grow into a very successful organization. While any change within an organization presents challenges, we are excited with the results we have experienced thus far with our team, the volunteers and staff.”
“The District’s focus is to improve services and maintain the valuable personal lives of our volunteers” said Clyde Duke.
With the consolidating of the job descriptions into these two new positions, the district now employs fewer full time employees than it had prior to 2005.
Questions or comments can be directed to Chief Harris @ 376-2331, extension 21, or to Commission Chairman Clyde Duke @ 376-5873, Commissioner Harvey Olsan @ 376-2114 or Commissioner Jim Coffin @ 376-9017.
Captain Buddy Wright (and daughter)