News

Recruitment Notice-
The Department has begun taking applications for Paid-on-Premise Firefighters. Please view the employment page for further information. Link on the left of this page.

Personnel Promotions-
The department wishes to congratulate Zina Opper on her recent promotion to the rank of Captain and Ryan Derrick, Dennis Detkowski and James Goorskey on their promotion to Lieutenant. We wish them well in their new rank.

Delivery of 2861 and Annual Open House-
The Lake Geneva Fire Department it pleased to announce the arrival of our new Rescue Pumper- 2861. The apparatus is a 2007 Pierce Lance pumper, 2000 gpm pump, 750 tank. The mission of this apparatus, in addition to fire suppression, will be squad assignments and technical rescue operations. Additional features and equipment include extrication equipment - air bags, air chisel, support struts and cutters/spreaders; multi-directional light tower; class A & B foam; high/low angle equipment; confined space equipment. We will be celebrating its arrival at our annual open house to be held on Sunday October 21, 2007 from 11a.m. till 3p.m. Please join us by for a ceremonial wet down at 2p.m. the same day.We look forward to seeing you there and as always, STAY SAFE

Fire Department needs daily staffing
Lisa Seiser
Lake Geneva Regional News
www.lakegenevanews.net
October 11, 2007
For more than 125 years, when the tones have sounded for an emergency in the city and surrounding area, Lake Geneva Fire Department's on-call volunteer personnel have responded.But that may no longer be the case without a significant change in staffing, according to Fire Department officers.On Oct. 4, the Lake Geneva Police and Fire Commission agreed and approved an idea to man the fire station with part-time, paid on-premise personnel from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. The plan will be put into operation starting March 1, 2008, and the issue now will go to the city's budget committee to discuss funding.The plan will put three firefighter/EMTs at the station during the weekday hours. They will respond to rescue and fire calls during the daytime hours when the on-call personnel are not always available, mainly because of their full-time employment and other responsibilities.The paid on-premise personnel are expected to resolve the daytime staffing issues and assure immediate response during the high-demand weekday hours, according to the Fire Department's staffing assessment."Our people have always been there to do the job," Fire Chief Brent Connelly said prior to the PFC meeting. "I would like to say we are covered, but we just don't have all the people in town when we need them. We haven't had the issue that no one has responded, but we also don't want to give a false sense of security. We just don't have the personnel that are going to be guaranteed to respond."Members of the Fire Department worked on a staffing assessment for several months, studying and gathering information from other departments and how they are dealing with the situation of on-call personnel being unable to respond to calls.According to the staffing report and department officers, the staffing shortages mainly are due to many Lake Geneva Fire Department volunteers being employed outside of the city during the daytime hours. Other issues include employers no longer allowing their employees to leave for emergencies."Everybody is trying to find a way to fill in these gaps," Fire Department Capt. Mark Moller-Gunderson said in an interview. “We are not unique in the challenges we are having. The bulk of fire services in the country are volunteers or paid on call. Everybody is running into the same issues”. Fire Department Capt. John Peters said department officers believe this is the way to resolve the issues. He said paid on-premise personnel is an answer other departments across the county are using to resolve response issues. The paid on-premise personnel will respond to calls for medical emergencies, fires, fire alarms and vehicle accidents. The paid on-premise personnel would usually be the only ones to handle EMS rescue calls. However, on-call personnel still will be dispatched for fires and car accidents."The benefit is immediate response," Connelly said. "The big issue is that the size of a fire doubles every minute. The quicker we can get there, the better. Even though we have a good system, this is going to get us there even quicker to provide better and faster lifesaving care. ”The paid on-premise personnel also will have other duties while at the fire station, including ensuring the operational readiness of apparatus and equipment, performing station maintenance and cleaning, assisting the Fire Prevention Bureau and conducting training exercises.The cost of the program is expected to be about $225,000. Fire Department officers said additional revenue from fire and EMS will offset the costs to the tune of about $185,000 of that total”. “This is a proposal that will meet the need and is cost-effective for taxpayers” Moller-Gunderson said. “We are all taxpayers”. Peters, who presented the idea to the PFC, said the change won't eliminate the need for the volunteer on-call personnel.All of us will still come in and we are not taking anything away from them, Peters said. “They (paid on-call personnel) are still the backbone of the department. But, we are just focusing on what is best for the people outside of these four walls and this is the idea that came out of this. We want to provide the best service for the people out there. That is why we are here.” Although the idea is coming to fruition, the department officers have known for quite some time that something would have to be done regarding personnel staffing during the day."The public has the image that we will show up when they need us," Moller-Gunderson said. "We need to help them understand more fully the challenges we are facing. The department has always provided first rate services and we are trying everything we can to continue that. This is a great community and a great department. We want to do the best we can. The biggest piece to this is always what's best for the residents."Cost concernPFC members voiced concern about whether the City Council would approve funding for the plan.However, Commissioner Scott Storms said this is something that needs to be done and money must be found for the project."We don't have a choice," he said. “We cannot afford to continue to operate a fire department the way we have been. We can't hide any more.”

Time has come for daily fire department staffing
Lisa Seiser
www.lakegenevanews.net
October 11, 2007
It's an issue that has been delayed for years.The problem is happening in volunteer fire departments across the state and country. People are just too busy to train and serve as firefighters and EMTs on volunteer departments.The reality is, for the city of Lake Geneva to continue the fire and rescue services the people of the area deserve, something has to change.Actually, a change is probably long overdue.It's time for the city of Lake Geneva to join many other departments by having paid personnel to staff the fire station on a daily basis.The volunteer fire department the city has relied on for more than 125 years, has been changing and there are several reasons.Some firefighters no longer can or are allowed to leave their full-time jobs during the day to respond to emergencies. Employers just can't allow their valuable employees to leave work during the day, sometimes multiple times, especially in summer. Also, as the number of people in the area continues to increase, the number of calls on a daily basis increases. More volunteer firefighters no longer work in the area during the day, which also leaves staff in a bind.There are options to resolve this problem, including hiring full-time fire and EMT personnel manning the station 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That would be tremendously expensive for a city this size. Not only would the fire and EMT personnel need to be paid for their hours, but costly health insurance also would have to be picked up by the city taxpayers.So, the Lake Geneva Fire Department officers have come up with a different, less expensive plan; paid on-premise staffing. The department wants to have three part-timers available at the fire station from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the weekdays. This will allow the fire station to have personnel immediately available during those hours, which continue to be the main problem time. This also will improve the fire inspections in the city as well as fire education efforts, because the personnel at the station during the day will provide help in those areas when they are not responding to emergencies.This concept is going to cost the city and all of its taxpayers, but it needs to be done. Early projections are that it will increase the department's expense budget by about $225,000. However, through billing of services provided by the Fire Department and EMS, the city could recoup up to about $185,000 of that total, leaving the city to pick up the tab of about $40,000.This is a small amount for taxpayers to spend to ensure that our fire protection services remain of the high quality we have come to expect in the city of Lake Geneva.Since 1880, the Lake Geneva Fire Department has been relied upon to respond to emergencies in the area.When the emergency call goes out, volunteer personnel have done their job to protect and help the residents of the city and surrounding areas for years. All city taxpayers should want that quality of service to continue.Our fire department should remain a source of pride for the city. Having paid on-premise personnel will only add to the pride we have for the great fire protection and the wonderfully giving fire and EMS personnel who volunteer their time. These volunteers, who give up their personal time with friends and family to respond to calls and to train, will continue to provide services on a daily basis. This plan just ensures there are enough personnel to respond during the day, while improving response times and efficiency. Municipal budgets are tight, there is no question about that. Whether this concept will only cost about $40,000 is still in question. It probably won't be answered until the plan is implemented for at least one year.However, the bigger question is, can the city afford not to do this?
Lisa SeiserEditor

Recruitment Notice
The lake Geneva Fire department is actively seeking persons interested in becoming a Paid-on-Call employee. Please follow the employment information link on the left.

2007 Fire Officer, Firefighter & Emergency Medical Technician of the Year
The Department is pleased to announce Assistant Chief Pat Heindl as Fire Officer of the year. Chief Heindl is a Fire Service instructor for Gateway Technical College and oversees department training with Captain Peters. His time and effort put forth to securing and managing a $177,000 FEMA Grant, used to purchase a state of the art air compressor and to replace SCBA equipment, demonstrated he is truly an asset to the department. In addition to all the time Chief Heindl spends working on department projects, he still finds time to spend with his son Cody by attending all his football practices and games.

The Department is pleased to announce Firefighter/EMT Ryan Derrick has been awarded Emergency Medical Technician of the Year. Firefighter Derrick is a 3rd generation Firefighter. His Grandfather is a former Fire Chief, Tom Derrick, while his father is the current Deputy Fire Chief. He frequently assist with fire prevention and public education activities. Ryan consistently provides his patients with the highest level of professional care and is well respected by his peers.

The Department is pleased to announce Firefighter/EMT Firefighter Dennis Detkowski has been awarded Firefighter of the Year. Firefighter Detkowski is a part-time Fire Inspector and has a broad knowledge of fire codes. He is also an active Fire Investigator and is a member of the Walworth County Fire Investigation Task Force. Firefighter Detkowski is very active in Public Education in both the local schools and elderly housing and convalescent centers. He also assist with administrative duties such as preparing presentations, assisting with preparing budgets and managing our website.

Fire Prevention Week 2007
Lake Geneva Fire Department Reminds Residents to practice Your Escape Plan
It's time for Fire Prevention Week, and from October 7-13 the Lake Geneva Fire Department is joining forces with the nonprofit National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) to remind local residents to 'Practice Your Escape Plan.' During this year's fire safety campaign, firefighters and safety advocates will be spreading the word about the dangers of home fires and teaching local residents how to plan and practice escape from a home in case a fire occurs.According to the latest NFPA research, 3,030 people died in 2005 in home fires, that is roughly eight people every day. Being alerted to a fire and knowing what to do to escape from one are extremely important, yet only 23% of households have planned and practiced a home fire escape plan."Many times when we speak to residents who have experienced a fire in their home, they recall becoming confused and disoriented by the conditions and severity of the situation but they realized they needed to get out fast. Sometimes there are only seconds to escape, but thereis no question that having a plan in place that has been practiced saves precious time and makes survival more likely. We hope that Fire Prevention Week will prompt folks in our community to plan and practice their escape.Are you prepared for a fire? Although it is difficult to prepare for the unexpected, reviewing the information below and taking action based on it to plan for a fire is strongly recommended and don’t forget to practice your escape plan during Fire Prevention Week!

Install working smoke alarms on every level; and inside each bedroom and outside of each sleeping area. If you are in need of smoke detectors, please contact the Fire Prevention Bureau at
262-248-6075and we would be glad to provide one for you.

Develop a fire escape plan that identifies two ways out of each room and a family meeting place outside.Make sure your plan allows for any specific needs in your household. If everyone knows what to do, everyone can get out quickly.

Practice your plan, at least twice a year.Some studies have shown that some children and adults may not awaken to the sound of a smoke alarm; they may need help waking up. If the smoke alarm sounds: Go to your closest exit, and if there is smoke on your way out, turn and use your second way out. If you must exit through smoke, get low and go under the smoke to your exit. Don’t take time to pick up belongings; just get out and help others get out. Move fast but stay calm.

Fire Prevention Week is actively supported by fire departments across the country. For 85 years fire departments have observed Fire Prevention Week, making it the longest running public health and safety observance on record.2006

Annual Report
To view our 2006 Annual Report, please follow this link.

FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant Award
In November 2006, the City of Lake Geneva Fire Department was officially notified that we were awarded $177,400.00 in grant monies from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. This grant will be utilized to replace self-contained breathing apparatus and related equipment.