April 28, 2022 at 3:10 p.m.
Chief praises department's response to Sunday morning apartment fire
'It was a very real chance for things to go wrong' Tonnancour tells council
Chief praises department's response to Sunday morning apartment fire
"We had five personnel on shift. We showed up with five personnel and saved an entire apartment complex," the chief reported, noting that a five-member crew "is not the most safe manning."
"We need to start looking at different ways of increasing our manning," he said, noting that he will have to put some plans together.
"This is head's up," he said. "It was a very real chance for things to go wrong really fast, really bad. Our firefighters did an amazing job, quick knockdown, very fast response and potentially saved 13 lives within that complex. Doing that, with the amount of manning we have, is next to amazing."
Tonnancour also took time to thank the Rhinelander Police Department and Oneida County Sheriff's Department for their assistance in evacuating the residents, most of whom were not alerted to the fire via an alarm.
On Tuesday, Tonnancour issued a press release with more information about the fire.
According to the release, a call came in at 12:58 a.m. Sunday reporting a fire at the eight-unit, two-story apartment complex.
"While en route the Oneida County Sheriff's Office Communications Center advised that police on-scene were reporting flames showing with one apartment fully engulfed," the release said. "Upon arrival, Rhinelander Fire Department observed Rhinelander Police Officers along with Oneida County Sheriff's Deputies evacuating occupants from the apartment complex. The smoke detector alerted the occupant in the apartment (in which) the fire originated. The fire alarm system for the rest of the building was not activated upon the arrival of RFD crews. Rhinelander Fire Department personnel were able to quickly account for all occupants, deploy an attack line, and knock down the fire from the exterior. They were then able to make entry of the residence to perform an interior fire attack keeping fire damage to the apartment of origin."
Pine Lake and Pelican Fire Rescue were requested to assist via MABAS, the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, Tonnancour added.
There were no reports of injuries on-scene, and no medical care was requested. Thirteen residents were displaced, he added.
"The affected apartment was a total loss. All other residents are temporarily displaced due to structural damage and water damage from fire suppression crews," the release notes. "The Red Cross is assisting residents with temporary shelter. Contractors are on-scene working diligently to return all residents to their apartments as soon as possible."
The chief's recounting of the fire prompted a request for fire department staffing to be included on a future council agenda.
Fire department staffing has been the subject of discussion several times over the last year. Most recently, in February the council voted to reinstate the assistant fire chief position. The process of filling that position is ongoing, according to city administrator Zach Vruwink.
Asked Tuesday if he had any response to Tonnancour's statement to the council regarding the Sunday morning fire, Vruwink said he expects "there will be some sort of unpacking of that statement" at the next council meeting.
"I'm glad to see that we were able to respond appropriately (to the fire)," he added. "It sounded like we were able to save the structure from a total loss and that's also why we have a full-time career department, in many respects, to protect against property loss and protect human life, of course."
The River News also asked Tonnancour if RFD firefighters who are assigned to one of the department's two other crews were called in to assist the crew on duty Sunday morning.
"The five RFD members who responded were the only personnel on shift that morning," the chief responded via email. "Our minimum manning is 5 with 6 assigned to each shift. The other two shifts were called in immediately, but it takes time for them to respond to the station, get on a truck, and in turn respond to the scene of the emergency. Per state statute we need to provide sufficient personnel to safely conduct emergency scene operations and limit such operations to those that can be safely performed by the personnel available at the scene."
He went on to note that the department is "not looking for the Council to take any action."
"It was an informative statement to advise that our department is operating at a minimal capacity, and we need to begin to explore options to allow our department to respond to these incidents safely," he said, describing his statement to the council. "We need to fill the Assistant Fire Chief (position) before we can fill any other positions as we are fully staffed with the exception of that position. There is no billet currently open for another firefighter position."
Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.