1 00:00:14,740 --> 00:00:21,780 Good evening. Welcome to tonight's town talk. My name is Jennifer Benarat and I serve as the city's communications director. 2 00:00:22,220 --> 00:00:31,840 I'm filling in tonight for city manager Scott Neal, who is out ill. This year, the city has planned a number of town talks on topics important to our residents. 3 00:00:32,500 --> 00:00:43,400 Tonight's is on our fire department operations. Fire Chief Andrew Slamo will speak about his department's work and he'll provide updates on staffing and construction of Fire Station 2. 4 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:47,200 He'll also talk about the outlook for a new Fire Station 3. 5 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:50,080 Andrew will speak for about 30 minutes. 6 00:00:50,860 --> 00:00:53,520 After his presentation, he will stand for questions. 7 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:59,060 We will end tonight's town talk at 8 p.m. or when we run out of questions, whichever 8 00:00:59,060 --> 00:00:59,640 is first. 9 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:06,020 However, the discussion will continue online at bettertogetheredina.org for one week. 10 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,820 That discussion will close on Tuesday, June 11th. 11 00:01:09,820 --> 00:01:15,600 Now, I would formally like to introduce my friend and colleague, Fire Chief Andrew Slamma, 12 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:18,500 who's been our Chief since the summer of 2021. 13 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:24,000 However, Andrew has been a member of the Minnesota Fire Service since 2004, 14 00:01:24,500 --> 00:01:28,920 working as a paramedic firefighter in Edina, Savage, Mankato, 15 00:01:29,340 --> 00:01:32,100 and on the Midwockerton Reservation in Pryor Lake. 16 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:34,880 He ascended through the ranks over his career, 17 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:41,720 serving as captain, deputy chief, fire marshal and chief and savage. He is Idina's 18 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:46,480 eighth fire chief. Please join me in welcoming fire chief Andrew Slamma. 19 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:51,700 Good 20 00:01:51,700 --> 00:01:55,700 evening everybody as Jennifer mentioned I'm Andrew Slamma, fire chief for Idina 21 00:01:55,700 --> 00:02:01,600 fire. Tonight we're talking something that that is pretty easy for me to talk 22 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:06,180 about the fire department operations. We're gonna talk a little bit about the 23 00:02:06,180 --> 00:02:08,820 fire department overview, that structure, how we're set up, 24 00:02:09,300 --> 00:02:10,900 get into a staffing update, 25 00:02:11,380 --> 00:02:13,540 and kind of how our staff currently operates 26 00:02:13,540 --> 00:02:15,440 within the City of Edina right now. 27 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:18,780 We have a new project, Station Two, 28 00:02:18,920 --> 00:02:22,440 and the Station Two project that's starting right now 29 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:24,140 as we speak, so we'll have an update 30 00:02:24,140 --> 00:02:25,820 on the Station Two project, 31 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:27,940 and then talk about Station Three 32 00:02:27,940 --> 00:02:30,080 and the outlook around on Station Three. 33 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:33,740 When you hear fire department, 34 00:02:33,740 --> 00:02:36,640 you probably think exactly what you see on TV, 35 00:02:37,020 --> 00:02:39,960 which is fire trucks responding out of a fire station 36 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:42,000 and firefighters working out of a firehouse. 37 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:44,360 But the United Fire Department 38 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:45,840 is more than just a fire department. 39 00:02:46,500 --> 00:02:48,140 The fire department is the department head 40 00:02:48,140 --> 00:02:49,240 for many other divisions, 41 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:53,080 which oversee public health, building inspections, 42 00:02:53,980 --> 00:02:56,440 our South Metro Public Safety Training Facility, 43 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:58,920 the emergency management within the city, 44 00:02:59,340 --> 00:03:01,980 fire operations, which is what you're most likely 45 00:03:01,980 --> 00:03:06,160 used to when you hear fire department our fire prevention division and fire training 46 00:03:06,990 --> 00:03:12,020 all of these divisions make up our fire department as a whole so when we say United Fire Department 47 00:03:12,450 --> 00:03:18,020 we mean all of these areas within the city you might question why building division underneath 48 00:03:18,020 --> 00:03:22,560 the fire department and I think one of the things that's important to point out is all of these 49 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:29,840 areas focus on life safety code and keeping people safe within the city putting that all 50 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:35,200 under one umbrella, which is the fire department, allows us to use those synergies and work together. 51 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:41,100 We have great relationships between our public health division, the building official, our 52 00:03:41,100 --> 00:03:46,800 fire marshal, which allow us to provide better customer service for our residents, contractors, 53 00:03:47,220 --> 00:03:49,960 and anyone coming into our city to be safe. 54 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:55,980 As we go into that department organization, we talked about these areas. 55 00:03:55,980 --> 00:03:59,280 the building inspection division is in charge of taking care of all the 56 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:03,720 building inspections without throughout the city of Edina. It's a popular place 57 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:07,920 to build and a popular place for projects and so our building inspections 58 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:12,640 division stays very very busy throughout the city. Emergency management is that 59 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:18,320 prevention and response to large incidents. We're getting into storm 60 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:22,620 season it's really making sure that the city is prepared to respond and 61 00:04:22,620 --> 00:04:25,820 start immediately mitigating an emergency that takes place. 62 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:33,000 That division within the city allows us to utilize all the resources within the city 63 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:38,100 to initially respond and tap into county, state and federal resources should the incident 64 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:40,480 continue to escalate. 65 00:04:41,100 --> 00:04:45,740 Fire department operations is again what most of us are used to when we say fire department. 66 00:04:46,060 --> 00:04:48,540 This is that fire and rescue response. 67 00:04:48,540 --> 00:04:53,660 the ladder truck, the fire engine, our special rescue truck. 68 00:04:54,340 --> 00:04:57,100 We also have the luxury of providing 69 00:04:57,100 --> 00:04:58,940 the ambulance service for the city of Edina. 70 00:04:59,620 --> 00:05:02,000 Edina is the only fire-based ambulance service 71 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:03,020 in Hennepin County. 72 00:05:03,740 --> 00:05:05,880 You're probably hearing a lot about EMS 73 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:07,460 in the state of Minnesota right now. 74 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:09,580 And many places are looking at Edina 75 00:05:09,580 --> 00:05:12,220 who has complete control over their ambulance service 76 00:05:12,660 --> 00:05:15,080 and the response that we have throughout the city 77 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:17,320 making sure that we provide great customer service 78 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:23,220 for our residents keeping them safe especially within our fire department is our technical rescue 79 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:30,300 the city of Edina is part of Minnesota task force one that is our state's urban search and rescue 80 00:05:30,300 --> 00:05:37,420 team which responds all throughout the state it's one of five host agencies Edina, Minneapolis, 81 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:43,380 St. Paul, Dakota County and Rochester make up the five agencies that would respond to a statewide 82 00:05:43,380 --> 00:05:49,520 urban search and rescue call out protecting the larger state in an 83 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:54,480 immediate response to a large incident that could be technical rescue 84 00:05:54,480 --> 00:06:01,480 structural collapse can find space or a response that needs a large area of 85 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:07,180 technical trained individuals. Fire prevention is probably an area that you 86 00:06:07,180 --> 00:06:10,440 have you don't think about when you're when you're thinking about the 87 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:14,340 fire department. And that is truly one of the the gold mines that we have here in 88 00:06:14,340 --> 00:06:17,740 the city is making sure that we do good public public education and fire 89 00:06:17,740 --> 00:06:23,920 prevention. It's hard to show data how many fires don't occur in the city of 90 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:27,980 Hidina because our fire prevention and our fire inspectors do such a good job 91 00:06:27,980 --> 00:06:32,500 but it's important to continue to invest in our fire prevention division 92 00:06:32,500 --> 00:06:37,340 to help educate those who are going through our K through 12 schools get 93 00:06:37,340 --> 00:06:43,120 into businesses and provide them with education and inspections, making sure we can prevent 94 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:45,640 things before they even turn into emergencies. 95 00:06:46,740 --> 00:06:52,760 Our fire training, you can imagine being all paramedics and firefighters, has an additional 96 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:55,180 training impact on our firefighters. 97 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:00,780 We have to make sure that we're meeting national and state standards around EMS training 98 00:07:00,780 --> 00:07:04,260 and fire training and keep all of our technical rescue training as well. 99 00:07:04,260 --> 00:07:07,760 So, training is a large part of our Firefighters Day. 100 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:14,180 Our public health division, Edina is one of four cities in the state of Minnesota that 101 00:07:14,180 --> 00:07:19,800 have their own city public health board, Bloomington, Edina, Richfield and the city of Minneapolis. 102 00:07:20,500 --> 00:07:25,780 That is another piece where we're really proud of the decisions made long ago to 103 00:07:25,780 --> 00:07:29,920 make sure that we can provide the public health needs for our city here locally. 104 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:32,520 We do that through a contract with Bloomington, 105 00:07:32,580 --> 00:07:34,520 Edina and Ridgefield, or Bloomington Public Health 106 00:07:35,220 --> 00:07:37,240 through an association or an alliance, 107 00:07:37,860 --> 00:07:39,380 Public Health Alliance with Bloomington, 108 00:07:39,460 --> 00:07:40,260 Edina and Ridgefield. 109 00:07:41,060 --> 00:07:44,140 And then the South Metro Public Safety Training Facility 110 00:07:44,140 --> 00:07:47,120 is a facility in our city for our police 111 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:48,000 and fire training. 112 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:50,940 It's a training that the Edina Fire Departments, 113 00:07:51,180 --> 00:07:56,280 the overseas and supervisors, the staff that maintain 114 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:59,260 and keep that facility running, excuse me. 115 00:07:59,920 --> 00:08:06,600 The South Metro Public Safety Training Facility is a great place, they have a shooting range 116 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:10,220 that's accessible to the public with public hours there. 117 00:08:10,780 --> 00:08:15,140 We have a training tower that we can do high rise simulation and residential simulated 118 00:08:15,140 --> 00:08:20,580 training right here in our city so our crews really utilize that facility as much as 119 00:08:20,580 --> 00:08:20,960 they can. 120 00:08:22,060 --> 00:08:26,000 The City of Edina is the fiscal agent for the South Metro Public Safety Training 121 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:26,560 Facility. 122 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:33,820 Therefore, we have the responsibility to maintain the budgets, any impact around that, and that 123 00:08:33,820 --> 00:08:37,260 is done through the supervision of that staff through the fire department. 124 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:42,580 When we, the next area we're going to break into is just our current operations. 125 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:47,200 There's a lot of new changes coming to the data fire department as we look into the 126 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:54,520 future, as we realize the impacts that our EMS and public safety services have with 127 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:59,620 our city and their importance. And we're going to talk about what exists today, what recent 128 00:08:59,620 --> 00:09:04,440 changes were made, but we're going to start that by just showcasing the current two fire 129 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:13,080 stations in Edina. Station one is our largest station, 6250 Tracey Avenue is the address. 130 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:19,420 Right at the, just off the off ramp of highway 62 in Tracy sits fire station one 131 00:09:19,420 --> 00:09:25,020 where the administrative offices for the fire station, our fire prevention division is 132 00:09:25,020 --> 00:09:30,280 office out of there. Our station one staff and the public health division is the public 133 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:35,640 health staff is temporarily office out of there until station new station two construction. 134 00:09:36,380 --> 00:09:43,300 Station one has three 24 seven vehicles staffed out of it. That's our engine 81 135 00:09:43,300 --> 00:09:50,300 one, medic one and medic three. So two ambulances and one engine are staffed 24 hours a day 365 136 00:09:51,340 --> 00:09:58,580 days a year. When we go to station two, that station is currently located at 7335 York Avenue. 137 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:05,060 That station has a lot of history, originally being built as a station for daytime responses 138 00:10:05,060 --> 00:10:09,820 only that they would send a vehicle from station one to station two to staff during 139 00:10:09,820 --> 00:10:18,340 the day. We got remodeled to add staffing quarters to open up 24 hours a day and then actually this 140 00:10:18,340 --> 00:10:25,760 year in 2024 we added an additional room so that we could staff both engine 82 and medic 2 141 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:33,140 out of station 2 24 hours a day. That provides immediate engine response and medic response in 142 00:10:33,140 --> 00:10:39,020 that southeast quadrant kind of jammed into this fire station right now and we'll talk about 143 00:10:39,020 --> 00:10:43,960 the the station to study or the study around fire stations and in the new 144 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:52,080 location for new station to when we talk about the fire department we are 145 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:56,800 available 24-7 that means the firefighters that started their shift 146 00:10:56,800 --> 00:11:01,580 today at 7 a.m. work till 7 a.m. tomorrow morning and then the next shift 147 00:11:01,580 --> 00:11:06,500 comes on there to do that operation it takes three shifts we currently have 148 00:11:06,500 --> 00:11:13,440 three shifts, A, B, and C. They have two captains assigned to each shift as well as 10 paramedic 149 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:20,840 firefighters. So that's a total of 12 staff dedicated to each shift, 36 operational staff 150 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:28,400 in total assigned to the 24-hour schedule. That 24-hour schedule, when compared to the more 151 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:37,180 common 40-hour schedule. A 40-hour person scheduled to work year nine to five works 2080 hours per 152 00:11:37,180 --> 00:11:44,840 year where the firefighters 24-hour schedule schedules them to work 2,912 hours in a year 153 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:51,380 due to that 24-hour coverage. So the common 40-hour work week for most of us that we 154 00:11:51,380 --> 00:11:56,140 recognize as the common work week, the firefighters working a 24-hour schedule work 155 00:11:56,140 --> 00:12:01,680 a 56-hour work week, spending their night at the station, living in that station, about 156 00:12:01,680 --> 00:12:02,620 a third of their life. 157 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:08,880 To respond like this, we also have a standby officer. 158 00:12:09,580 --> 00:12:16,300 The standby officer is a chief or officer level that is on call should an incident require 159 00:12:16,300 --> 00:12:22,320 incident command assistance, and those standby officers respond from home to the scene 160 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:29,240 or are used to consult with the on-duty captain as if we go through any situations that may 161 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:29,940 need more assistance. 162 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:35,640 When we break up those shifts of 12, we assign them to stations. 163 00:12:36,460 --> 00:12:41,580 Station one has six to eight firefighters staff to that daily, and station two has 164 00:12:41,580 --> 00:12:43,380 four staff assigned to it daily. 165 00:12:44,140 --> 00:12:48,120 And the reason we say six to eight at station one is although there are 12 people 166 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:56,320 assigned to the shift. Just like a sick call, vacation, other benefit of time off and training, 167 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:07,680 we have to have the ability to have staff off for relief. So at minimums, 24 hours a day there are 168 00:13:07,680 --> 00:13:14,060 six firefighters stationed at station one available and ready to respond. If no one takes off that 169 00:13:14,060 --> 00:13:18,940 that, like I said, there's two positions that are available that can be utilized for 170 00:13:18,940 --> 00:13:24,380 benefited time off or training time, then they could have as many as eight staff assigned 171 00:13:24,380 --> 00:13:26,520 to their, if their shift was full. 172 00:13:27,060 --> 00:13:33,660 In station two, regardless of staffing, we'll have four paramedic firefighters, three 173 00:13:33,660 --> 00:13:37,460 paramedic firefighters, and one captain or acting captain at station two. 174 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,900 This slide is a little busy, so I apologize about that, but I'll kind of break this 175 00:13:42,900 --> 00:13:51,200 down. This just shows a breakdown of our EMS responses in 2023. There were 7,220 emergency 176 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:59,120 responses or calls in our city. Of that, it breaks down within this incident type into 177 00:13:59,700 --> 00:14:08,060 a national fire incident reporting system coding, but the majority of these are 5,643 EMS or 178 00:14:08,060 --> 00:14:17,500 rescue calls. The other 103 were actual fires, structure fires, vehicle fires. That's this 179 00:14:18,130 --> 00:14:25,200 red column there that is confirmed fires. There were 103 in 2023. So you can see a majority 180 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:32,120 of our business is EMS responses. In the fire service in general, it's usually about 181 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:39,740 an 80-20 split 80% EMS and 20% fire or fire response types and that's pretty 182 00:14:39,740 --> 00:14:45,520 typical here in Edina with the addition of our response includes the ambulance as 183 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:49,680 well. So not only do we send the fire department on certain call types we'll 184 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:54,280 also add in our paramedics who carry fire gear on the ambulance and can 185 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:59,040 function in both capacities. We're going to transition here to talk a 186 00:14:59,040 --> 00:14:59,280 a little bit. 187 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:09,160 A bit about fire station 2. New fire station 2 specifically. So, new fire station 2 was designed 188 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:12,240 to replace the current station 2 at 73rd and York. 189 00:15:15,850 --> 00:15:20,690 This entire station proposal and recommendation 190 00:15:20,690 --> 00:15:27,890 came from a study completed in 2019. That study was done by five bugles which they analyzed 191 00:15:27,890 --> 00:15:33,430 our response time and station location and provided a number of recommendations for review 192 00:15:33,430 --> 00:15:39,250 by our City Council. Those are presented. Anytime I talk about the station study, 193 00:15:39,510 --> 00:15:46,050 I like to talk about that the recommendations were brought in 2019. In 2020, our lives were 194 00:15:46,050 --> 00:15:52,110 turned upside down with COVID, which benched a couple of these projects just with something 195 00:15:52,110 --> 00:15:54,670 that we had to deal with right in front of us. 196 00:15:54,970 --> 00:15:57,510 So I was hired in July of 2021 197 00:15:58,170 --> 00:16:03,030 and that's where we really started to make goals 198 00:16:03,030 --> 00:16:05,790 and set goals for creating this new station too. 199 00:16:06,410 --> 00:16:08,530 We evaluated many pieces of property 200 00:16:10,130 --> 00:16:12,250 throughout the Southeast quadrant, 201 00:16:12,510 --> 00:16:14,990 ultimately selecting an eight acre parcel 202 00:16:14,990 --> 00:16:18,550 off 76th Street, 4401 76th Street West. 203 00:16:18,550 --> 00:16:29,280 We consulted a architect and design team to help put together our design on station 2. 204 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:35,040 We facilitated feedback throughout the city with our residents, engaging our residents, 205 00:16:35,380 --> 00:16:38,880 engaging our staff both within the fire station and the city as a whole 206 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:43,300 to try to design a well-thought-out building, a city landmark for the city, 207 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:46,480 and meet the needs of this recommendation and the study. 208 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:53,880 That study recommended in five years that we build a new fire station in the 209 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:59,500 southeast quadrant to respond to the increase in call volume in the southeast 210 00:16:59,500 --> 00:17:06,420 quadrant of our city. The next slides that I have just showcase some of the 211 00:17:06,420 --> 00:17:11,220 renderings that we have for station 2. If you haven't seen them I'm going to 212 00:17:11,220 --> 00:17:14,780 talk through a little bit of some of the engagement and some of the 213 00:17:14,780 --> 00:17:17,740 discussions that we had and how this design came to be. 214 00:17:18,380 --> 00:17:21,380 We had about 18 months of design conversations 215 00:17:21,380 --> 00:17:22,520 around this station. 216 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:26,640 Like I said, we engaged residents and staff alike 217 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:29,220 to provide recommendations for what 218 00:17:29,220 --> 00:17:30,820 to be included in this facility. 219 00:17:31,820 --> 00:17:35,560 This picture right here is a picture 220 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:40,600 from the west looking east towards France here. 221 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:43,820 And it's showcasing that kind of the area 222 00:17:43,820 --> 00:17:47,340 that you'd pull up to this fire station and access the station. 223 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:51,700 One of the challenges with our current station and one that we wanted to address with this 224 00:17:51,700 --> 00:17:57,120 fire station build was many of the stories that we heard of people coming to the fire 225 00:17:57,120 --> 00:18:02,300 station, whether that was scheduled or unscheduled, and really saying I didn't know where to 226 00:18:02,300 --> 00:18:02,480 go. 227 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:04,180 I didn't know where the front door was. 228 00:18:04,860 --> 00:18:09,880 I was nervous to access it because I didn't want to park in some area where maybe 229 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:11,900 I'd block in a fire truck or an ambulance. 230 00:18:11,900 --> 00:18:21,240 And so that was a topic that came up throughout many of the engagements that we had in regard to our current station. 231 00:18:23,860 --> 00:18:33,080 So a very thoughtful design making sure that we can really make sure that it's very obvious where to park and how to access this fire station. 232 00:18:33,820 --> 00:18:37,680 On the left side of the screen you see the training room. 233 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:43,580 This is a design for a large space that can be utilized that doesn't impact our operations. 234 00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:46,620 A community space is important to us. 235 00:18:47,140 --> 00:18:55,580 One that can be utilized by staff for staff trainings as in fire staff trainings, city staff trainings. 236 00:18:56,260 --> 00:19:04,020 A community space that is able to be accessed by our community to use by our community and doesn't impact our fire operations. 237 00:19:04,020 --> 00:19:10,060 Again, as we compare it to some of the discussions that we had at station one, it's hard to find 238 00:19:10,060 --> 00:19:10,840 our training room. 239 00:19:10,900 --> 00:19:15,040 It's hard to find that community space, and we want to make sure that it was really obvious. 240 00:19:16,020 --> 00:19:21,320 One of the design features that you might recognize is some of the stone and facade 241 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:26,240 features that bring in some of those design features from our current city hall where 242 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:31,080 we're located today, and really try to make this a community iconic landmark that 243 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:38,220 really brings this landmark to light in the area of town really showcasing where our fire 244 00:19:38,220 --> 00:19:40,040 station is and how to get access to it. 245 00:19:41,980 --> 00:19:47,760 With this, this is another picture just of the access points and looking how the space 246 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:52,840 is meant to have a lot of glass inviting you into the space, letting in a lot of natural 247 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:58,740 light, another important note for people that were going to use the space that had 248 00:19:58,740 --> 00:20:03,060 a lot of natural light features and the ability to see out kind of transition 249 00:20:03,060 --> 00:20:09,720 in between those spaces. Yet another rendering here where you see you start to 250 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:15,420 see on the second level. The first level is dedicated if I didn't mention it 251 00:20:15,420 --> 00:20:19,120 before this station 2 is going to have our public health staff and public 252 00:20:19,120 --> 00:20:24,860 health division as well as our fire station 2 staff all assigned to it. So 253 00:20:24,860 --> 00:20:29,760 So we want to have a space that's inviting so that people can come seek assistance from 254 00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:33,960 our public health staff or stop in if there's an emergency and really know how to get a 255 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:34,480 hold of people. 256 00:20:35,460 --> 00:20:41,420 At a fire station, we work, when we're working 24-hour shifts, this becomes a second home 257 00:20:41,420 --> 00:20:42,480 and a second family. 258 00:20:43,060 --> 00:20:47,860 And so one of the unique features of a fire station is it really is a workplace where 259 00:20:47,860 --> 00:20:52,740 we have an office space, an area to work, a garage where you have a large apparatus 260 00:20:52,740 --> 00:20:57,540 bay for our large apparatus that we both maintain and make sure that they're in working order. 261 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:02,700 And then a house, a house inside of a commercial building. And you start to see, 262 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:07,920 as you look at the second level here, a space that's going to be dedicated to that firefighter 263 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:13,960 space, a space that they can go and really help restore them to prepare them for the next 264 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:20,940 call, the next emergency. Working for 24 hours has a lot of tax on the staff. We want to 265 00:21:20,940 --> 00:21:26,100 make sure that that that time has both demand and non-demand time and that space 266 00:21:26,100 --> 00:21:31,060 that you can see there is a is an exterior space for the fire staff so 267 00:21:31,060 --> 00:21:35,640 they can enjoy some outside time almost like a deck that you'd see in many of 268 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:41,080 the Minnesota structures that you drive around the city right now. Another view 269 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:44,800 of our training room again you can see the the tall ceilings bringing in 270 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:49,940 some features similar to our city hall setup where they make these iconic 271 00:21:49,940 --> 00:21:54,640 structures really really bring in these design features that were make this 272 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:59,060 building fit in to the area bring in some of that height but really make the 273 00:21:59,060 --> 00:22:03,820 space a special space for our community to come attend and be a part of our 274 00:22:03,820 --> 00:22:09,140 our station. And then again another bit another view you can see here the 275 00:22:09,140 --> 00:22:14,440 the training tower that's incorporated into this fire station. We have our 276 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:18,740 training facility right here in town but one thing that happens with 277 00:22:18,740 --> 00:22:23,380 training is we have to dedicate that staff to the other side of town so it 278 00:22:23,380 --> 00:22:28,740 makes for a longer response time. That training facility will still be utilized 279 00:22:28,740 --> 00:22:32,940 for the majority of our training but this training tower here allows our 280 00:22:32,940 --> 00:22:37,900 staff to stay in their response area and still conduct some some components 281 00:22:37,900 --> 00:22:44,060 of our training. They can conduct daily trainings, utilize this hose tower to 282 00:22:44,060 --> 00:22:49,400 hang or dry hose, store training equipment and really get training reps 283 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:53,320 while still be able to commit to emergency response in that station or 284 00:22:53,320 --> 00:23:00,900 that station area. And then a picture just looking again from this southwest 285 00:23:00,900 --> 00:23:05,700 corner looking northeast. You can see how this incorporates a lot of green 286 00:23:05,700 --> 00:23:10,820 space into the into the station's exterior. Another important feature 287 00:23:10,820 --> 00:23:17,300 that both staff and residents were really wanting to make sure was maintained with this design. 288 00:23:18,940 --> 00:23:22,640 In addition to this, there are the apparatus bays. 289 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:24,780 Let me see if I can find that picture here quick. 290 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,640 So this has drive-through apparatus bays. 291 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:29,360 You can see the ambulance parked out front. 292 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:33,000 In the next rendering, you see the engine parked out back. 293 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:35,020 This allows us to drive through. 294 00:23:36,260 --> 00:23:40,320 Backing is an area we try to avoid when we don't need to 295 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:43,880 because we can maintain safety when we're driving forward better. 296 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:48,940 So this station has drive-through bays that allow us to access that 297 00:23:48,940 --> 00:23:51,340 and keep us ready to respond to the next incident. 298 00:23:52,780 --> 00:23:55,020 Now we're going to talk a little bit about Station 3. 299 00:23:55,380 --> 00:24:00,440 That 2019 study did talk about a recommendation in 5 to 10 years 300 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:02,300 building a Station 3. 301 00:24:02,300 --> 00:24:08,880 That Station 3 area where that Station 3 identification or recommendation was 302 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:14,860 recommended to be near City Hall. Our northeast quadrant of the city is an 303 00:24:14,860 --> 00:24:19,140 area that we know is continuing to develop and it's an area that we want 304 00:24:19,140 --> 00:24:22,820 to make sure that we have staff with an ability to respond. So that 305 00:24:22,820 --> 00:24:28,370 recommendation was in five to ten years to build a Station 3. Part of 306 00:24:28,370 --> 00:24:32,570 Some of the goals that we currently have are identifying land for Station 3. 307 00:24:33,070 --> 00:24:38,850 In areas that are already developed, it's challenging to try to identify land to build 308 00:24:38,850 --> 00:24:39,570 a fire station. 309 00:24:40,610 --> 00:24:43,790 And so we're going to talk a little bit about some of the opportunities that we've identified 310 00:24:44,390 --> 00:24:49,110 and some of the reviews that we've currently done forecasting a Station 3 in our future. 311 00:24:50,670 --> 00:24:55,690 Part of that is the Grand View Project, which you may or may not be familiar with. 312 00:24:55,690 --> 00:24:58,210 and I'll talk a little bit about the Grandview project 313 00:24:58,210 --> 00:25:00,910 and what that might do for our fire station access. 314 00:25:01,550 --> 00:25:04,030 So on the screen, you can see a design 315 00:25:04,030 --> 00:25:05,870 for our Grandview Street project. 316 00:25:06,090 --> 00:25:09,530 This is a project to redo the Vernon Avenue Bridge. 317 00:25:10,190 --> 00:25:13,450 It's a confluence of a number of different projects, 318 00:25:13,670 --> 00:25:17,850 both city and county projects 319 00:25:17,850 --> 00:25:21,150 that they're gonna try to provide the construction 320 00:25:21,150 --> 00:25:22,110 at the same time. 321 00:25:22,770 --> 00:25:24,270 It will be a large impact, 322 00:25:24,270 --> 00:25:25,950 but a large impact for a shorter time 323 00:25:25,950 --> 00:25:29,050 rather than a mini short impacts. 324 00:25:29,510 --> 00:25:31,030 So it's projects trying to pull together 325 00:25:31,850 --> 00:25:33,990 to replace the Vernam new bridge. 326 00:25:34,910 --> 00:25:37,410 I don't, I can't speak to all the details 327 00:25:37,410 --> 00:25:38,670 of this road project. 328 00:25:38,830 --> 00:25:40,770 I'm sure our engineering department 329 00:25:40,770 --> 00:25:42,970 would be happy to talk about any of these details 330 00:25:42,970 --> 00:25:46,010 but I'm aware of the generalalities of this project. 331 00:25:46,750 --> 00:25:49,870 This project does abandon the off ramps. 332 00:25:49,890 --> 00:25:50,770 You see checkered here. 333 00:25:50,770 --> 00:25:57,690 There's multiple on-and-off ramps in this area and one of the important notes of this 334 00:25:57,690 --> 00:26:03,370 project is the abandonment of those on-and-off ramps from Highway 100. 335 00:26:04,530 --> 00:26:11,870 If this project is constructed, it opens up an area which could be utilized for the 336 00:26:11,870 --> 00:26:14,890 construction or the use of a fire station. 337 00:26:14,890 --> 00:26:20,570 It makes area available to us that we have been identifying as part of this project. 338 00:26:21,150 --> 00:26:29,830 So the Station 3 project includes the Fire Station 3 in this 5 to 10 year study. 339 00:26:29,990 --> 00:26:31,770 Right now our goal is to identify this. 340 00:26:32,190 --> 00:26:36,770 We're continuing to work with the State of Minnesota in ensuring that with the abandonment 341 00:26:36,770 --> 00:26:41,950 of these on and off ramps it creates some space and now we want to look at what's 342 00:26:41,950 --> 00:26:48,530 the best use of that space and how can we make the ability for a fire station to be constructed 343 00:26:48,530 --> 00:26:50,090 on or near City Hall. 344 00:26:52,090 --> 00:26:56,790 One of the last areas I'm going to talk about is just kind of some of our staffing changes. 345 00:26:57,330 --> 00:27:01,070 I talked a little bit about what's happened with the repositioning of our staff at Station 346 00:27:01,070 --> 00:27:01,430 2. 347 00:27:02,050 --> 00:27:05,930 I'm putting that engine at Station 2 here in 2024. 348 00:27:06,810 --> 00:27:10,370 But another exciting project that we're a part of is the alternative response team. 349 00:27:10,370 --> 00:27:16,790 The Alternative Response Team is a team that provides alternative response to 9-1-1 calls, 350 00:27:16,970 --> 00:27:23,510 some 9-1-1 calls, and it's really a collaboration between a couple of cities in the county. 351 00:27:24,250 --> 00:27:29,170 The collaboration with Hennepin County, providing the social workers, Edina Fire Department, 352 00:27:29,270 --> 00:27:34,730 which provides the paramedic, and the Edina and Richfield Fire and Police Departments 353 00:27:34,730 --> 00:27:38,010 are all coming together to support an Alternative Response Team. 354 00:27:38,010 --> 00:27:46,570 Today, when a 911 call or a person in crisis calls, there are limited options for that 355 00:27:46,570 --> 00:27:48,430 resident who is seeking services. 356 00:27:49,330 --> 00:27:54,790 And this collaboration, this pilot project, is meant to provide an alternative response 357 00:27:54,790 --> 00:28:01,010 which can provide additional resources for these individuals to get the right treatment 358 00:28:01,010 --> 00:28:02,690 for the patient at the right time. 359 00:28:02,690 --> 00:28:02,750 time. 360 00:28:03,370 --> 00:28:12,050 And so this collaboration pairs a social worker and a paramedic to respond and also has the 361 00:28:12,050 --> 00:28:16,750 ability to incorporate a detective and to work through some of the investigations to 362 00:28:16,750 --> 00:28:23,270 provide resources to individuals who may need it, whether that is in behavioral health, 363 00:28:23,490 --> 00:28:30,250 mental health, or even just follow-up work of providing resources to a patient or resident 364 00:28:30,250 --> 00:28:35,810 to aid them in their care team and so this is an exciting project we've been 365 00:28:35,810 --> 00:28:42,570 working on for the last few months. We're beginning to put the policies and 366 00:28:42,570 --> 00:28:46,290 procedures together around this alternative response team and we would 367 00:28:46,290 --> 00:28:51,850 expect to start seeing them respond in the next few months. Looking into our 368 00:28:51,850 --> 00:28:55,990 future the big things that we're talking about is the Station 2 369 00:28:55,990 --> 00:29:02,570 construction that's going on right now. It is expected to open in 2025 so barring 370 00:29:02,570 --> 00:29:07,250 no setbacks we would look to open station 2 in 2025 in the fall of 2025. 371 00:29:08,190 --> 00:29:14,090 With that station 2 opening it allows us to reposition some of those staff and 372 00:29:14,090 --> 00:29:18,830 evaluate our call volume both this year and into next year to make decisions 373 00:29:18,830 --> 00:29:22,870 around where the right the right resources and where that should be 374 00:29:22,870 --> 00:29:24,370 placed within our city. 375 00:29:24,910 --> 00:29:26,830 The constraints of our current station two 376 00:29:26,830 --> 00:29:28,770 don't allow us to add units there. 377 00:29:29,350 --> 00:29:31,570 With the new station two, construction 378 00:29:31,570 --> 00:29:34,210 that allows us to position units where they might better 379 00:29:34,210 --> 00:29:37,230 respond and have a faster response time. 380 00:29:38,030 --> 00:29:40,050 We talked about the alternative response team 381 00:29:40,750 --> 00:29:43,830 and some of the new pilot project 382 00:29:43,830 --> 00:29:45,510 with the alternative response team, 383 00:29:45,630 --> 00:29:47,930 what that might do for us evaluating 384 00:29:47,930 --> 00:29:50,150 those alternative responses and the impact 385 00:29:50,150 --> 00:29:51,330 that it has on our residents. 386 00:29:51,330 --> 00:29:54,910 And then the staffing changes to accommodate the growth. 387 00:29:56,510 --> 00:29:59,750 The impact on public safety services continues to. 388 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:08,320 I talk a lot about our baby boomers who are now getting into an age where they have a few 389 00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:13,560 more needs for services. And so we want to continue to evaluate that and make sure that 390 00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:19,120 we're staffing appropriately to accommodate the needs of our residents. The outlook on 391 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:27,210 station three and that continued push towards providing those staff and resources to the 392 00:30:27,210 --> 00:30:32,470 east quadrant with the station three construction and then just that continued evaluation of 393 00:30:32,470 --> 00:30:38,750 response and community need. The community need really drives our response and derives 394 00:30:38,750 --> 00:30:45,290 our staffing decisions in 2025. We'll have an additional six positions that are budgeted 395 00:30:45,290 --> 00:30:51,450 for the fire department and assign that in concert with the opening of station two 396 00:30:51,450 --> 00:30:56,790 so that we can provide that response and continue to focus on customer service and 397 00:30:56,790 --> 00:31:00,130 what our customers, the residents need during an emergency. 398 00:31:01,750 --> 00:31:04,490 With that, I'm going to stop for questions. 399 00:31:05,270 --> 00:31:09,130 We have a link here and a couple of numbers. 400 00:31:09,470 --> 00:31:11,850 So I have been instructed to advise. 401 00:31:12,450 --> 00:31:14,910 You can call in now for questions. 402 00:31:15,110 --> 00:31:17,090 If you're going to call, you can call 403 00:31:17,090 --> 00:31:22,650 by using the number 312-535-8110. 404 00:31:23,650 --> 00:31:24,410 I'll repeat that. 405 00:31:24,410 --> 00:31:39,250 the call number is 312-535-8110. The access code you're going to need is 2633-344-3315. 406 00:31:40,390 --> 00:31:51,890 Again, the access code 2633-344-3315. The password for this call line is 5454. 407 00:31:51,890 --> 00:31:58,970 The password is 5454 and then you can press star three when you're ready to ask a question. 408 00:31:59,390 --> 00:32:07,110 And so I will talk to my partner here, Jennifer, and see if we have any callers on the line. 409 00:32:07,550 --> 00:32:11,070 We don't have anyone signaling a question right now. 410 00:32:11,890 --> 00:32:16,050 I want to give people plenty of time because there is a delay in the broadcast. 411 00:32:16,810 --> 00:32:21,130 My clock shows that it's 7.32, we'll wait until 7.33. 412 00:32:21,990 --> 00:32:25,870 Actually just turn 7.33, so I'll come back to you at 7.34 413 00:32:25,870 --> 00:32:29,310 or when I have a caller signaling a question, whichever is first. 414 00:32:29,850 --> 00:32:30,930 Alright, thanks Jennifer. 415 00:32:31,950 --> 00:32:36,190 While we wait for that, I just want to talk a little bit about, 416 00:32:37,310 --> 00:32:40,610 I mentioned earlier the discussion around EMS 417 00:32:40,610 --> 00:32:44,770 and kind of you probably heard through some of the legislative updates 418 00:32:44,770 --> 00:32:49,690 this year that there's a lot of changes in EMS and there was a spotlight on EMS 419 00:32:49,690 --> 00:32:54,830 this year. Identifiers really proud of the the fact that we provide our EMS and 420 00:32:54,830 --> 00:33:01,850 ambulance services through our city and so you you likely have seen and heard 421 00:33:01,850 --> 00:33:05,610 from other residents or maybe neighbors on the impacts and having 422 00:33:05,610 --> 00:33:10,290 questions around EMS but it's again just I want to outline that the 423 00:33:10,290 --> 00:33:12,510 the national EMS week that just took place. 424 00:33:13,610 --> 00:33:15,950 The mission or the theme for this year 425 00:33:15,950 --> 00:33:18,650 was honoring our past and looking to our future. 426 00:33:18,850 --> 00:33:21,150 And I really want to recognize those individuals 427 00:33:21,150 --> 00:33:24,450 who made that decision to provide this service 428 00:33:24,450 --> 00:33:25,650 from the city standpoint. 429 00:33:26,210 --> 00:33:28,530 Many communities did not and they're looking at ways 430 00:33:28,530 --> 00:33:31,390 to try to increase or better their service right now. 431 00:33:31,570 --> 00:33:34,350 So I just want to recognize those people from our past 432 00:33:34,350 --> 00:33:36,090 that made those important decisions 433 00:33:36,510 --> 00:33:39,130 so we can continue to provide that great EMS service. 434 00:33:40,290 --> 00:33:46,850 Andrew you've provided a lot of great information tonight. So good. We don't have any questions tonight. Well, perfect 435 00:33:46,850 --> 00:33:50,990 We don't have any questions. That's not the only way you can participate. So 436 00:33:51,570 --> 00:33:55,330 Another possibility or another way to participate is through our discussion online 437 00:33:55,330 --> 00:33:59,790 Are better together edina page better together edina and org 438 00:34:00,410 --> 00:34:03,110 We'll have this discussion on you can ask questions 439 00:34:04,270 --> 00:34:10,150 You can ask questions on things we presented or questions in general about fire department the fire department 440 00:34:10,150 --> 00:34:14,210 Fire Department operations. I'll be watching that and responding to those 441 00:34:14,210 --> 00:34:19,790 questions, providing answers. The discussion closes June 11th so quickly go 442 00:34:19,790 --> 00:34:23,930 log online and get your questions. And with that I want to thank everyone for 443 00:34:23,930 --> 00:34:26,890 their time today. I appreciate the ability to talk about our A.D.I.N.A. Fire 444 00:34:26,890 --> 00:34:28,970 Department and have a great and safe evening.