Hot tips : on rural fire defense.

              file:///Y|/News_Letters/Newsletters/Hot%20Tips/2011-12%20Hot%20tips%20December%20fire%20newsletter.htm[11/21/2011 12:24:10 PM]
From: Charlie Enlow [oedafire@ptsi.net]
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011 11:05 AM
To: Martin Jones; Mary Herrera; May Community Rural Fire Department; Melvin Mashburn; Michael Pettey;
Mickey Thomas; Mickey Wilkinson; Mike Bellomy; Mike Bostic; Mike Goucher; Mike Sanders; Mike Schulz;
Mutual Fire Department; O. A. R. C.; Oklahoma Department of Libraries; Patrick Neville; Paul Cunningham; Paul
Hinchey; Paul Simpson; Pebbles Luddington
Subject: FW: December fire newsletter
Hot tips……………....on Rural Fire Defense
Volume XXVIII Number 12 December, 2011
Charlie Enlow, Coordinator oedafire@ptsi.net
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Oklahoma Economic Development Authority (580) 625-4531
330 Douglas Avenue, Box 668 Beaver, Oklahoma 73932
ANNOUNCEMENTS
HAIL AND FAREWELL
It has been twenty-seven years since I was first employed as OEDA’s Rural Fire Defense Coordinator. I
am seventy-one now, and it is time to retire, effective December 31st. This issue of Hot Tips is the last I will
edit.
It has been a privilege and a pleasure to serve you, the fire service of the OEDA district, and in addition
many of you have become personal friends. I have grown to have a deep respect for all of you who have
invested your time, your labor, and – in many instances – your own finances in order to continue to provide
fire protection service to your communities. I am proud to have been associated with you, and wish you
future success and safety.
____________________________________________________________________
From Oklahoma Forestry Services:
Please don’t forget to report wildland fires to Oklahoma Forestry Services as they happen, by going to
www.firereporting.ok.gov. This is a separate matter from the reports on all kinds of emergency runs/mutual
aid responses, that you make to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) via computer, or to the
Oklahoma State Fire Marshal’s office (SFM) if you do not report online. If you do report online, the State Fire
Marshal’s office will access your NFIRS report on the internet, but if you don’t then you should send an
annual hardcopy report to the SFM as soon after the close of the calendar year as possible.
______________________________________________________________________
Gary Williams of Oklahoma Forestry Services asks that when visiting the equipment yard at Goldsby to pick
up or bring back property, you do not have your representative(s) show up at noon. Reportedly, the yard
workers have had to delay their lunch until as late as 3:00pm, on occasion.
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He also asks that you not call Steve Vaughn, one of the men who works in the equipment yard, as he has
been having to answer so many calls that he hasn’t time for his yard work. And Mr. Williams asks that you
not remove parts from equipment in the yard without permission.
Mr. Williams wants to remind fire departments with federal excess personal property (FEPP) who are not
using it anymore, to bring it back to the equipment yard at Goldsby, as per the cooperative agreement
between your department and Oklahoma Forestry Services. Mr. Williams says that the agency will not issue
anything else to a department until its out-of-service property is returned.
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From the Risk Management Division, Oklahoma Department of Central Services:
If this agency insures your fire department for vehicle liability, they would like for you to conduct driver
training. This training can come from a class taught by OSU Fire Service Training, or it can be in-house,
taught by your own people. Most of you knew that already. But this is new: if any of your drivers is
at fault in a vehicle accident, they must take a remedial, or “driver improvement”
course, to keep your auto liability policy in force.
Incidentally, Risk Management Division can also sell you – at very affordable rates – building and contents
insurance, auto physical damage (which commercial insurers call “collision & comprehensive”), and general
liability (errors & omissions coverage on the personnel).
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FIREPLACE SAFETY TIP TO SHARE WITH THE PUBLIC THIS FALL, VIA LOCAL
NEWSPAPER OR RADIO
Although fireplaces conjure up images of warmth and comfort, they are a significant source of home
heating fires. Sticky, oily, combustible creosote, created when wood does not burn completely, rises in
smoke and condenses on chimney walls, factoring into nearly one-fourth of home heating fires annually.
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) are teaming up to
put on a joint fire safety campaign, “Put a Freeze on Winter Fires”, and say that chimneys/flues ought to be
inspected and cleaned annually by a qualified professional.
While I love the scent of red cedar smoke from a neighborhood fireplace, cedar - or closely related one-seed
juniper – very resinous woods, are the worst offenders in causing creosote buildup. If you choose
those woods, you need to add the cost of frequent cleaning to the expense of owning your fireplace. If
you’ve never fought a chimney fire, one can be really impressive (can you say “giant Roman candle”?),
shooting embers high in the air and increasing the danger of igniting your or a neighbor’s roof.
Some fire departments have found that thin plastic sandwich bags of dry chemical extinguisher powder
tossed down the chimney – the bags melt before falling very far and release the agent – are dramatically
effective, and make suppressing these fires safer for their troops. A fog stream aimed down the chimney will
upset the thermal balance and propel smoke and soot into the interior of the house, making for an irate
homeowner…
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TRAINING NOTES
Communications Unit Leader, a NIMS class which may be helpful for major wildland fires, will be hosted by
Oklahoma County November 28 – December 1, at the OKC Public Works Training Center, Building 3, 3738
SW 15th, OKC. No fee. For more information, call Kathryn McCoy at (405) 425-2133, or email her:
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KMcCoy@dps.state.ok.us. You are eligible for reimbursement for lodging if you come from more than 60
miles away. Prerequisites are IS-700, IS-800, ICS-100, ICS-200, and ICS-300. Google the Oklahoma
Office of Homeland Security; search for the course, click on the course name, then on “register” and follow
the instructions.
Six-month deadline to complete Sharon 5 ton 6x6 brush truck is December 2.
Instructor I (Emergency Services Instructor) (41573) starts December 3 (32 hrs.) – 8 to 5 each day at NW
Technology Center, Fairview (west side of town on U.S. Hwy. 60). No fee. Register at www.osufst.org or
call (800) 304-5727.
Six-month deadline to complete Yarbrough 5 ton 6x6 tanker is December 7.
Emergency Vehicle Driver Training (41872) December 8 (8 hrs.) at Cherokee FD, 121 N. Grand Ave.,
Cherokee. No fee. Register at www.osufst.org or call (800) 304-5727.
Six-month deadline to complete Laverne 2.5 ton 6x6 brush truck is December 15.
Woodward County Chiefs meet December 20 – 7:00pm at Woodward FD administration building.
Texas County Fire Association January 17 – 7:00pm at Emergency Management office/warehouse in
Guymon.
Woodward County Chiefs January 17 – 7:00pm at Woodward FD administration building.
Woods County Rural Firefighters January 18 – 5:00pm at Alva FD.
Beaver County Fire Association January 19 – 7:00pm at OEDA. Turpin hosts the meal.
Six-month deadline for completion of Rosston 2.5 ton 6x6 and Waynoka 5 ton 6x6 brush trucks is January
26.
Call Paul Hinchey at (580) 307-4984 or email him at paulwh@osfust.org if you need a class at your station,
on a schedule convenient to your members. If it has been a while since you hosted a class and you have
rookies or those needing a refresher, I recommend Volunteer Firefighting Practices, Structure Firefighting,
Wildland Firefighting Fundamentals, Hazardous Materials Awareness, or Medical First Responder (first aid).
There are many more, free to volunteers; go to www.osufst.org to see them all. Training is really important to
the efficient use of your personnel and equipment, and in helping everybody to go home safely at the
conclusion of an incident.
_____________________________________________________________________
PROPERTY AVAILABLE FOR DISTRIBUTION TO FIRE DEPARTMENTS
5 ton 6x6 truck, already fitted out and in service at Shattuck, but excess to their needs -- headlights --
assorted tires at OFS yard, plus new 16:00x20’s (good for supersingles on 5 ton or larger 6x6’s) at Selman
FD -- 5,000 gallon aluminum tank at Griggs FD -- 24v spotlights, 24v rotating beacon, dry hydrant kits and
2” cast iron hydrants at OEDA
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EQUIPMENT DISTRIBUTED DURING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER
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Alva – 2007 Freightliner 5 ton 4x6 truck/tractor
Mooreland – 100’ of 3/8” chain
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As we a pproach the time that we commemorate the coming of jesus
Christ into the world, my prayer for each of you is that you will find
the peace a nd joy in him, which the a ngels a nnouncing his birth
promised…