WBFD Assists at Large Barn Fire

…..Acting to Save

Planning to Protect... ...Acting to Save

February 2015 Volume 3, Issue 2

WEST BEND FIRE DEPARTMENT

Newburg Fire Department

requested help from the West

Bend Fire Department and

neighboring departments at a

large barn fire on February

15. The barn was located at

4926 County Highway G.

Newburg’s first responders

arrived on scene and activat-

ed the MABAS system.

WBFD assisted by sending

Truck 2, a water tender, and

a battalion chief.

Originally, the barn was used

for dairy farming and was

converted to a sawmill sever-

al years ago. A cause for the

fire hasn’t been determined

and an estimated 471,000

gallons of water was used to

extinguish the fire. A house

next to the barn was dam-

aged but saved.

The fire occurred during the

middle of the afternoon and

the smoke could be seen for

miles. More pictures and

video, can be seen on the de-

partment’s Facebook page.

YEARS of SERVICE ~ FEBRUARY

Chief G. Kudek..….02/01/85

FF D. Keon...…….02/05/01

FF J. McCoy…..…02/18/02

FF F. Samuel…….02/18/02

FF J. Kolberg…….02/17/14

Inside this issue:

Fire & EMS 1

EMS Bureau Report 2

Fire Prev./ Public Safety 4

Operations Bureau 6

Training Bureau 7

In Their Own Words 8

WBFD Truck 2 aerial ladder can be seen on the left of the silo operating at the February 15 barn fire.

Emergency Activities

Types of Calls February

2015 January

2015 Year to Date

(2015) Year to Date

(2014) Fires Calls 41 31 72 98

Emergency Medical Calls 246 249 495 438

Paramedic Intercepts 9 14 23 17

Interfacility Transports 40 61 101 101

Totals 336 355 691 654

Town of Barton Calls 6 7 13 19

Town of West Bend Calls 16 19 35 22

Administration of medica-

tions requires under-

standing how the medica-

tion is entering the body

and what the effect of the

medication should be.

Medication administration

requires knowledge of

when the medication

needs to be administered,

possible side effects, and

toxicity. Currently our

paramedics are able to

administer 36 different

medications.

Patients come in all dif-

ferent sizes, dosing of

medication is a very criti-

cal part of the process en-

suring the patient is get-

just beneath the skin. An

example of a subcutane-

ous injection many of us

are familiar with would be

a flu shot.

The Intramuscular injec-

tion uses a longer needle

and is usually injected

into the muscle of the up-

per arm or thigh. This

route is preferred over the

subcutaneous injection

when larger volumes of a

medication are needed.

For the Intravenous (IV)

route a needle is inserted

directly into a vein. A so-

Page 2

Emergency Medical Services Bureau BC Van Langen and Captain Thrash

Page 2

ting a therapeutic amount

of medication and not re-

ceiving too little or too

much.

The picture at the top of

the page shows 3 different

ways of administering

medications. These 3

ways are all an example of

parenteral administration.

This means injecting or

putting something inside

the body other than by

swallowing. All 3 ways

use needles of various siz-

es, lengths, and applica-

tion process.

For subcutaneous admin-

istration a short needle is

inserted into fatty tissue

lution containing the

medication may be given

in a single dose or by con-

tinuous infusion. IV ad-

ministration is the best

way to deliver a precise

dose quickly and in a well-

c o n t r o l l e d m a n n e r

throughout the body. An

IV injection can be more

difficult to administer

than subcutaneous or in-

tramuscular injections

because inserting a needle

and catheter into a vein

may be difficult depend-

ing on the patients age

and physical condition.

Medication Administration by BC Van Langen

Page 3

rithms for treating car-

diac related incidents.

A major concept we cov-

er in the class is how to

assess and determine if

the patient is having a

heart attack. We review

taking patient histories,

obtaining and interpret-

ing a 12 lead ECG and

the significance of other

vital signs. While in

class our paramedics

discuss management of

the patient and the im-

portance of transporta-

tion to the most appro-

priate facility for further

cardiac intervention.

Other topics that we go

over in the class are rec-

ognizing abnormal heart

rhythms, cardiac phar-

macology and treatment

of full cardiac arrest.

Other training during

the month of February

included Pediatric Ad-

vanced Life Support

(PALS). This class co-

vers an array of topics

that all deal with chil-

dren. We review the

many causes that make

kids get sick and injured

as well as how to treat

them.

Emergency Medical Services Bureau Battalion Chief Todd Van Langen & Captain Tom Thrash

Providers class. We

have several AHA CPR

Instructors in our de-

partment who teach

this class. During this

class we review current

CPR guidelines.

For Advanced Cardiac

Life Support (ACLS) we

do not have any certi-

fied instructors on our

staff so we bring in in-

structors from Moraine

Park Technical College

to teach this class.

During this class we

review the American

Heart Association algo-

During the winter

months we focus our

training on topics that

can be done inside. In

February we concentrat-

ed our training on EMS.

In order for a paramedic

to maintain their State

EMS license we have to

have current CPR,

ACLS and PALS certifi-

cations. For these certi-

fications we follow the

American Heart Associ-

ation (AHA) require-

ments. For Cardio Pul-

monary Resuscitation

(CPR) we complete a

BLS for Health Care

West Bend Fire Department Paramedics reviewing how to acquire a 12 lead ECG. Pictured is FF Williams and FF Kolberg

EMS TRAINING

Page 4

February 2015 Fire Inspections

Semi-Annual Annual Total Violations

Follow-up

Inspections

Compliance

Cards

Station #1 175 6 181 31 3 6

Station #2 29 1 30 15 1 1

Station #3 62 1 63 29 2 3

Bureau Captain 21 27 48 13 13 2

Totals 255 35 322 88 19 12

Count Permit Type Total Fees

2 Sprinkler System install/modification; 51-250 devices $410.00

1 Kitchen suppression system $100.00

Total Total Permit Fees for February $510.00

Fire Prevention & Public Safety Bureau Battalion Chief Chuck Beistle & Captain Tammy Lamberg

Fire Prevention Bureau Continuing Education by Captain Tammy Lamberg

This type of code train-

ing is extremely valua-

ble to avoid confusion

or misinterpretation of

the new code language.

It also allows for all

Wisconsin fire inspec-

tors and code officials

to have a clear and uni-

form understanding of

the language changes

and new code additions.

With this application

and enforcement will be

consistent from munici-

pality to municipality

throughout Wisconsin.

ing code enforcement

officials from area fire

departments to request

clarifications where

questions may have ex-

isted.

taining to Wisconsin

Administrative Code

and the adoption of the

2012 National Fire Pro-

tection Association Fire

Code.

Sue Birren of The Wis-

consin Department of

Safety and Professional

Services lead the meet-

ings. Sue highlighted

NFPA code changes

and the State of Wis-

consin interpretations

of these code changes.

A question and answer

session was held allow-

In February Captain

Tammy Lamberg and

Battalion Chief Chuck

Beistle attended train-

ing sessions and code

update meetings per-

February Permits & Fees

Page 5

OCCUPANCY TYPE ACTIVITY NOTES

Storage Acceptance test Sprinkler installed in new addition

Residential Acceptance test Upgrade to alarm system

Healthcare Acceptance test Kitchen suppression system

Commercial Plan review Change of occupancy

Business Follow-up Egress violations addressed

Business Plan review Alteration of sprinkler system for build-out plan review

Industrial Investigation Follow-up on spray booth installed without proper fire protection or permit

Commercial Acceptance testing Upgrades to emergency egress and alarm devices tested

Educational/

Assembly Acceptance testing Testing of second phase of alarm/FP systems install for renovation project

Retail Follow up Meeting with owner regarding chronic egress issues and storage of combustibles

Business Plan review Tenant build out/change of use review

Fire Prevention & Public Safety Bureau Battalion Chief Chuck Beistle & Captain Tammy Lamberg

Once they recognize

that their loved ones

are safe they see the

reality of their posses-

sions disintegrating

within the flames.

They wonder what

they could have done

differently.

firefighters work while

flames and smoke

reach into the sky.

You can usually spot

the homeowners ,

watching with heart-

break and horror as

they experience argua-

bly one of the worst

days of their lives.

Although every fire

is different, the scenes

generally play out the

same: With sirens

blaring and red lights

flashing the fire trucks

come down the street.

They arrive at the fire

scene and firefighters

move quickly to as-

semble and engage

their equipment and

mount a strategic at-

tack. If the fire hasn’t

advanced too far prior

to the dispatch of the

fire department the

fire can be contained

and suppressed. While

all of this is unfolding

neighbors and home-

owners are gathered

outside, watching the

Most home fires

are preventable .

Many people who

have experienced fires

state that they weren’t

aware of the risky sit-

uations that were pre-

sent in their home.

Through public educa-

tion the threat of

home fires is greatly

reduced. The WBFD

Fire Prevention Bu-

reau educates our citi-

zens of these risks

through our dedicated

and comprehensive

public education ef-

forts. NFPA statistics

show that these pro-

grams greatly reduce

the occurrence of resi-

dential fires.

Plan Reviews, System Acceptances, Consultations and Site Investigations for February

The Importance of Public Education by Captain Tammy Lamberg

Fire Department Operations Bureau Battalion Chief John Spartz & Captain Jon Coutts

Page 6

Above: Smoke as seen from the southeast

side of West Bend.

Above right: The barn as Truck 2 (can be

seen by the silo) arrives.

Right: The later stages of the fire from

Truck 2’s position.

More pictures and video on West Bend

Fire Department Facebook page.

Thank You for Shoveling!

We would like to say

“Thank You” for keep-

ing the city fire hy-

drants open and clear

of snow.

Pictures from the February 15 Barn Fire

Fire Instruction & Training Bureau Battalion Chief Chuck Beistle & Captain Tom Thrash

Page 7

The Washington County

Dive Team is starting to

cut holes in the ice. We

are preparing for the

winter warm up with

some seasonal training.

This is the time of year

when the good ice can

become drastically bad

in a very short time.

As we start our dives for

2015 we will be doing it

with better and warmer

gear than in the past.

All of our gear was pur-

chased 12 years ago

when the dive team ini-

tially started. This gear

typically has a 5 year

life expectancy, so we

were really able to ex-

tend that and get the

most out of it. All of

the new gear was pur-

chased with the help of

the Mann family fund-

raising efforts. Last

year at the 2014 Dive

Team Bowl-a-Thon,

a p p r o x i m a t e l y

$13,000.00 was raised.

These funds were used

to purchase new dry

suits, glove systems,

flashlights, and new

warmer undergarments.

These funds will also

provide for the training

of 4 new divers who will

join the dive team

shortly.

The team was started as

a result of the drowning

of a local man named

Michael Mann. This

happened in January 12

years ago. Michael was

out on Big Cedar Lake

at night on a snowmo-

bile. He and a passenger

went through the ice.

The passenger was able

to pull himself out, but

Michael remained under

the water. Washington

County had no dive

team and had to request

Waukesha County for

assistance with their

dive team. The delayed

response meant Michael

did not survive. After

that Michael’s family

made it their mission to

not only get a dive team

started in this county,

but they also continue

to be strong supporters

today. We owe much of

the dive team’s success

to the Mann Family.

The Washington Coun-

ty Dive Team consists

of divers from West

Bend Fire Department,

Washington County

Sheriff’s Department,

Kewaskum Fire Depart-

ment, Slinger Fire De-

partment and Richfield

Fire Department. Ini-

tially there were many

other departments in

the county that partici-

pated. Unfortunately

due to the large amount

of training that is re-

quired annually, time

commitments and addi-

tional risk involved,

many departments

could not continue to

supply divers.

The Washington Coun-

ty Dive Team again

sponsored a successful

Bowl-a-Thon on March

7, 2015 at King Pin

Bowling Alley in West

Bend. There were many

door prizes, silent auc-

tions, 50/50 raffles, and

much more activities

and fun. We would like

to thank everyone who

came out to support our

fundraiser for their at-

tendance and generous

donations.

325 N 8th Ave.

West Bend, WI 53095

262.335.5054

www.ci.west-bend.wi.us

In Their Own Words…...

WEST BEND FIRE DEPARTMENT

Planning to Protect… ...Acting to Save

Personnel Spotlight: Lt. Daniel Bruesch Lieutenant Daniel Bruesch

has been with the West

Bend Fire Department for

33 years. Dan started his

career as a Paid-on-call

Firefighter on December

20, 1982 and he became a

fulltime Firefighter on Jan-

uary 16, 1984.

Dan has held the positions

of MPO, Lieutenant, Act-

ing Battalion Chief and

Fire Inspector. He is also a

member of the Washington

County Haz. Mat and Dive

Teams.

Dan has 3 sons Michael (US

Navy), Matt (UWWC Stu-

dent), and Joseph (WBHS

Jr.). Dan was recently mar-

ried to his wife Lisa on

January 3, 2015. CON-

GRADULATIONS!

We thank Dan for his years

of service to the depart-

ment and the community.

The back page of our newsletter features a note or card that we have received from our customers….the

people we serve. Whether it is during an ambulance call, fire call, or a public education assignment, the

members of the West Bend Fire Department are always dedicated to making their

contact with area residents a positive experience.