A whole new perspective

Last night I had the privilege of sharing our fire engine at Camp Edenwood which is a great facility hidden in the woods of Eden Prairie that provides week long camping for children with special needs. Last night we had over 20 kids, each with their own special situation. Seeing their genuine excitement in learning about the trucks and what we do as fire fighters.

One boy was totally blind and took his time to feel the truck, the hose, water to explore. Another was mute and pointed to every button, switch and pedal wanting to know more about the truck. and my favorite was Sam, she was passionate about wearing the jacket and gear. When I went to ask for it she wrapped her arms around my neck as to say....I am coming with you.

I was really cool to see how happy and how much fun they had........definitely a great part to the job.

House Blessing

Last weekend T41 was asked to join a house party. It was actually a house blessing as this house was hit by lightening last year during an evening of wicked storms.

The amount of gratitude from the family and friends for our efforts was really nice. For me, I love being able to help but to be honest it is the challenge, the risk and rush..... But to see the benefits first hand puts on a whole new perspective.



Ironically, we were pages out during the blessing for a weather standby.
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Sewing Machine

You never know what you'll come across during a response. Last night we had a call for a parking lot fire. We thought maybe a biffy fire..... But upon arrival it was a sewing machine. Turns out it was inside a plastic dumpster so there was a pool of molten plastic.

Ironically, we had a second fire pm the east of the park too.


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A lot to catch up.

I have a lot of catch up to do as it relates to the fire department. Let's see, last week:
Wednesday - Finished my FAO training & test. Thanks to LT 10, I was able to squeeze my testing on Engine 41 & Tower 41 around a PI.
Wednesday - PI on 212 just east of station. 4. Took my first right seat role and we ended up providing some patient care on three patients involved in two different cars (See photo).
Spent the weekend up at the cabin and came back to help support Eden Prairie during the annual 4th of July celebration.
Sunday: Spent a few hours in the afternoon helping kids shoot a fire hose at the "Squirt House" and a few more hours educating kids (and parents) in the "Safety Trailer".
Sunday: In between shifts I joined station 1 on car fire. Was able to be on the nozzel for the suppression.
Sunday: Came back and spent the evening on Enine 12. Ended up assisting with a medical heat exhaustion and then cardiac following the fire works.

Busy day(s).

Hopkins standby

Tonight a few EPFD's are covering The city of Hopkins while the have their annual party. Our shift us from 4pm to 1am.
Basically we will eat, watch a movie and eat..... Repeat in that order.


Perhaps we will get a call or two?


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FAO Training....Almost done

Today I completed all the pre-requests for FAO training. 5 hours of Engine Driving, 5 Hours of Tower Driving, 5 Hours of Enging Pumping, 5 Hours of Tower Operations, an hour of hydraulics. Thanks to all the Officers and FAO's who helped and put in the time.

Next up is a set of three scenario tests and then three supervised code 3's

EPFD Open House

From OPen House

EPFD has locked in the date and time for the 2010 Open House….October 9, 11-2pm. The open house is a time for EPFD so show-case its equipment, personnel and most importantly the all important message around safety and fire prevention. In 2009, there was a fire reported every 34 minutes across the state of MN. Fire Departments responded to some type of emergency every 2 minutes. The most common causes of fire in MN continue to be cooking, smoking and candles/matches……all that are 100 percent preventable.

The current plans for this years Open House will include the following:
Car Fire & Extrication
Safety Lab staffed with EMT’s
Fire Engine Tours
Squirt House
Fire Safety Trailer
And much more.