BLOUNT COUNTY FIRE & EMS ASSOCIATION
MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 5, 2015 MEETING
HOLLY SPRINGS FIRE DEPARTMENT
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Jon Head. Mel Wade gave the invocation. The following member organizations were represented: Allgood, Bangor, Blount County Rescue Squad, Brooksville, Cleveland, Dallas-Selfville, Holly Springs, Locust Fork, Mt. High, Murphree Valley, Nectar, Oneonta, Pine Mountain, Remlap, Ricetown, Rosa, Snead, St. Mountain, Summit, Susan Moore and West Blount. EMA, 9·1·1, Forestry, Special Ops, STV-Blount and BREMSS were also represented. 9·1·1 Director Caleb Branch and Board Member Chief Steve Pass were present. Twenty-nine (29) people signed in on the attendance sheets.
GUESTS – Blount County District 3 Commissioner Dean Calvert was present.
Chairman Head asked for the approval of the minutes of the January meeting. Motion by Chief Payne, seconded by Chief Hill, and carried by voice vote. The Financial Report was approved by a motion from Chief Glass, seconded by Assistant Chief Storey, and carried by voice vote. It was noted that in order to assemble a training library for the Association, a debit card tied to the General Fund checking account was needed to purchase certain training manuals. The Executive Committee voted to obtain a debit card and Training Officer Tim Frye, Jr. will handle the purchases.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
CHAIRMAN – Chairman Head reminded all that the Health Care Authority deadline for receiving quotes was March 31 and for invoice, May 31. At the time of the meeting only 5 departments had submitted paperwork for reimbursement. Jon advised that only 6 or 7 departments had responded to his informal request for personnel qualifications from each department. He also highlighted information concerning the SE Association of Fire Chiefs Conference to be held in Birmingham June 17-20. Vice-Chairman Ken Edwards highlighted the recent AFC Distrcit II meeting held in Cullman County.
EMA – EMA Director Don Roybal announced a Basic Weather Spotters training class to be held at the Hayden Community Center at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, March 3. This training will be hosted by West Blount Fire & EMS District and will be taught by the meteorologists from the National Weather Service Birmingham office. This training is open to anyone interested. FEMA is still in the process of closing out the disaster project. We expect money for the fire departments in the next round of payments. Don recently responded with Remlap to a hazmat incident on Hwy 75 near the Super Saver. If spills reach the reportable quantities, a responding department needs to remind the carrier to contact the National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802 to receive a reference number for the incident to be placed on your report. This allows the NRC to follow up with the carrier and their contractor to ensure clean up was completed. Fuelman for January was at 53% of budget.
9·1·1/COMMUNICATIONS – 911 Director Caleb Branch informed the group that the fire and law enforcement jurisdictions were mapped and available for viewing on the website at http://blount911.org/ . If you would like to have a communications class done with your department please let Caleb know. They have done several already with very positive feedback.
TRAINING – A training library has been established at EMA. Specific training manuals for Fire & Emergency Services Company Officer, Pumping Apparatus Driver/Operator, EMR, Essentials of Fire Fighting and Fire Service Instructor have been purchased and will be available for check out to any member through the EMA office. Rope class starts on Feb 28, contact OFD. A Fire Investigator class will be taught in Ft. Payne on June 22-26. An Autism Class will be available April 9-11 at OFD. Please check with Training Officer Tim Frye, Jr or go to the Association website at... http://www.blountcofireandemsassociation.org/
FIRE PREVENTION – No report.
FORESTRY – Forest Project Specialist Terry Helms said he still has a 2-1/2 ton truck available for transfer if any one needs it. It will go back to surplus if not claimed. Terry requested that you only submit your VFD Tag Roster one time per year at the end of February and that list can only be accepted from the Fire Chief on a Department letterhead. Forestry does not have the capability to change that list during the year.
SPECIAL OPS – No report.
ST. VINCENTS BLOUNT – ER Manager Amy Roden advised that the ER had 1280 patient visits in January with 14% of those being EMS transports. Of those, 68 patients were transferred to the hospital. They were on med surge diversion for 20 hours during the month of January. The ER will not go on divert. Hepatitis B vaccinations are available but check with Amy to give her a department head count.
BREMSS – John Reed reported that Mark Jackson was serving as Interim State EMS Director at this time. The next Director will have an EMS background per Dr. Williamson. Protocol information is not available yet as they are looking for comments. The next EMS Coordinator's meeting will be in March at STV-Downtown. Due to all EMS Regions being on-line, trauma patients can now be transported to the closest Level 1 trauma center, not just the closest in your Region. BREMSS is planning a CPR Rodeo in the near future. The next SMECC meeting will be March 10.
Blount EMS – Tammy Pierce was not available due to illness but sent word to contact her if you need anything.
AMED – No report.
LAW ENFORCEMENT – No report.
CORONER – No report.
DISTRICT ATTORNEY – No report.
LIFESAVER – No report.
AIR-EVAC – No report.
RED CROSS – Chief Hill advised that the American Red Cross was doing a fund raiser from fire departments to get money for the supplies that they use during an event.
GOOD & WELFARE – Committee Chairman Ralph Mitchell is trying to gather information on guidelines used by other organizations to form a policy to manage donations.
OLD BUSINESS:
l One department still has not turned in their 2014 Financial Review and Equipment Inspection forms. Jon will make an effort to contact them before the next meeting.
l Data being researched to make a State of the Association report.
NEW BUSINESS:
l There was no new business to come before the Association.
The next meeting will be March 5, 2015 at Susan Moore Fire Department. The meal will be at 6:30 sponsored by Blount EMS.