Calls:

 National Incident Management System 400 Series Training Complete

 A total of 32 Persons from around the area including 17 personnel from the New Martinsville Fire Department completed the National Incident Management System 400 Series course “NIMS 400” that was offered at the department on Saturday & Sunday, March 29^th & 30^th, 2008.  The class was sponsored by the department and held at the Ohio Street Station.  The Instructor for the class was WV Deputy Fire Marshal, Brad Hartley.

 Other fire departments present included:  Hundred VFD, Paden City VFD, Moundsville Fire Dept., Folsom VFD and Lawrencville VFD (Hancock County)

 The class is designed to help general and command staff to be better able to function within the Incident Command System is large incidents as well as when coordinating in multi-agency responses.

 NIMS 300 is being offered on Saturday & Sunday, May 17^th & 18th.

Auto Extrication-Operations Class Offered in April

 The New Martinsville Fire Department will be offering its members, and to other departments in the area, the Auto Extrication-Operations Level Class on Saturday and Sunday, April 19^th & 20^th, 2008.  We already have 14 people signed-up for the class.  The Instructor will be Lonny Riggs, Assistant Chief of the Hooverson Heights Fire Department (Brooke County).  Lonny is a well known instructor with an extensive back ground in Auto Extrication and has a dynamic approach to the use of the tools and techniques of Auto Extrication.

 All NMVFD members are required to be trained at the “Operations” Level of Auto Extrication.  11% of the Motor Vehicle Crashes that we responded to in 2007 involved some sort of entrapment of the victim(s).

 We would like to invite each member of council to visit with your crews as they train in these life saving techniques.  Mark your calendar and try to stop-by for a few minutes on around 1:00 PM Sunday, April 20^th at the Ohio Street Station.  

New Martinsville Fire Department EMS, A History (Compiled by Lt. Steve Yoho)

In 2007 year we took a total of 146 EMS calls and covered for Wetzel County EMS a total of 69 times. Squad-206 took a total of 121 EMS calls last year and Squad-205 took a total of only 25 calls last year. 

 On a monthly basis the EMS squads took as many as 23 calls in September, and as few as 4 in May with a average of 12 calls a month.

New Martinsville VFD was on stand-by as many as 12 times is March and as few as once in June, with an average of 5 times a month.

This year already the squads have responded to 61 EMS calls and been on stand-by for Wetzel County EMS 31 times.  Squad-206 has taken 35 calls thus far and Squad-205 has taken 26.   We have covered 1-call more thus far this year than in all of 2006.

 If these stats stand and continue to develop at their current rate our EMS call volume will nearly double from last year, and last year we transported 20 more patients than we did in 2006.

 When you consider the number of EMT’s that we have (9) and that less than ½ of those EMT’s actually take the EMS calls, it appears that for a supplemental service, we are doing quite well.

 Future plans for the EMS services is the refurbishment of our primary ambulance.  Refurbishing the ambulance by having the ambulance box put onto a new chassis saves nearly ½ the cost of a new ambulance.  We have requested quotes for a new ambulance and they are $140,000.00  – 150,000.00 dollars.  With a newly refurbished ambulance the cost is roughly $80,000.00 - $90,000.00.  Cost of a new ambulance would be borne by the department and would be covered through the billing of EMS calls and a fundraiser that is about to be launched.

Fire Fighters Complete Training

 Three NMVFD members have completed their Fire Fighter 2 Certification Training, they are Ben Thomas, Rocky Hall and Michael Smith.  The State of WV does not require the Fire Fighter 2 Certification but NMVFD does.  This program builds upon what the fire fighter learns in their basics class and helps them to have an even broader understanding of the fire fighters duties.

Request for the Traffic Committee to consider Parking Restriction

 I would like to request that the Traffic Committee consider a request from the Fire Department on behalf of the interest in Public Safety, that Parking on Grant Street between Pine Street and Beech Street be restricted to the South side of the street.  This street gets very congested in the evenings and parking on both sides prohibits safe passage and operation of a Fire Apparatus.

2008 Assistance to Fire Fighters Grant Application has been submitted

 NMVFD has submitted a Grant to the 2008 AFG Program for a request totaling $63,000.  Items requested include: Face Pieces for Self Contained Breathing Apparatus so that each fire fighter will have their own properly fitted face piece.  SCBA Regulator Analysis and Fit Testing equipment, tools and software, and a PTO Hydraulic pump with reels and hoses for the departments hydraulic rescue tools.

NMVFD Becomes a functional Part of the Marshal County “Tanker Task Force”

 NMVFD had been invited to become a part of the Marshal County Tanker Task Force, in accepting this invitation this helps us to enhance and improve upon our working efforts with our neighboring departments to the north.  This is a well organized effort that mirrors the one that is in place in Belmont County OH.  This effort will increase the availability of equipment in our time of need as well.

Send mail to webmaster@fdnm.org with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2008 New Martinsville Fire Department
Last modified: 04/23/10