Haddam Fire July 2012 Activity

Haddam Fire July 2012 Activity

Members of the responded to 42 calls for emergency services in July. The breakdown of calls is as follows:

Medical Emergencies -21                       

Fires, alarms etc. -5                       

Motor Vehicle Crashes -8

Marine -1

Other -7                       

Haddam Fire responded to an extended on July 25 at the High Meadow housing neighborhood. A resident discovered an unidentified white substance inside her home.

Even though the Fire Company covers a nine-mile stretch of Route 9, a Haz-Mat call such as an overturned gasoline tanker is thankfully a rare event.

Not knowing the nature of the substance, the High Meadows call was treated with utmost caution. Firefighters surveyed the home in full gear, wearing Self Contained Breathing Apparatus. The two Firefighters who contacted the substance were quarantined and decontaminated; the Firefighters who conducted the decontamination also had their gear rinsed and bagged until the substance could be identified. Members of the Killingworth Ambulance Association evaluated all those closely involved on scene.

A mobile Department of Energy and Environmental Protection lab, sent all the way from Derby, tested and identified the substance as a “possible type of building product,” determining it did not pose a threat. Residents were cleared to return home.

Drills included a built in an old state garage in Tylerville. The gauntlet of tight turns, narrow hallways, wires, ropes, tunnels and nets is designed to teach air management, survival tactics and self-extrication, and test the psychological willpower of Firefighters under stress. Members also attended a Communications Drill led by guest Valley Shore Emergency Communications Supervisor Gregg Prevost. 

One of the more significant milestones last month was the Fire Company officially went “live” as an Epi-Pen service.

In an effort to improve care to victims in the field, in partnership with the Fire Company’s Auxiliary, Haddam Fire is now authorized to carry and use emergency doses of epinephrine. The drug treats anaphylaxis, a severe, potentially life-threatening reaction that can occur within seconds or minutes of exposure to an allergen, such as the venom from a bee sting or a peanut. 

Haddam Fire EMTs now have the life-saving drug available within minutes of a 911 call.

The Fire Company recently swore in three new Probationary Firefighters and one Fireground Support member. Kyle Kuchyt moved up to Probationary status after being in the Junior Fire Company for the past four years. Kyle is already an EMT and completing the testing phase of his Firefighter I course. William Buganski is entering as a Probationary Firefighter, along with Jed Morrissey, who previously served as a member of the Haddam’s Junior Fire Company. Doug Pierce will be assigned to Fire Police detail. Doug is a member of the Haddam Volunteer Ambulance Service and his son, Franklin, has been a Firefighter and MRT with Haddam Fire for 12 years.

Jesse Drake has successfully completed his Probationary Period and is now a Firefighter.

It’s not too late to join the Haddam Volunteer Fire Company and be eligible to take the Firefighter I course being hosted at our Station #1 beginning in late summer.  Please call the main information line (860-345-4945) and leave a message for the Membership Committee.

More information on the activities of the and ways you can get involved can be found on our website.

Submitted by Bob Norton

Haddam Volunteer Fire Company Public Relations Liaison