Firefighters Donate 40-Hours of Work

It is no secret that “the White Mountain Apache Tribe is currently going through an unprecedented period of economic distress”. The Tribal Council continues to make tough, but necessary, cost-saving measures during these difficult times. In order to assist the Tribe in cutting costs, all thirty-three fulltime firefighters of the White Mountain Apache Fire & Rescue Department have volunteered to “donate” forty hours of work before the end of September 2010. By having the firefighters work their regularly scheduled shifts and then donating the 40-hours the department is able to maintain its minimum level of staffing and yet do its part in curtailing expenses.

On July 7, 2010 the Tribal Council passed Resolution 07-2010-190 mandating a 40-hour furlough for the majority of the Central Tribe’s employees. “To ensure public safety and the continued essential functions of the Tribe”, the Fire & Rescue Department was one of the nine departments that were exempt from this mandated furlough. However, in a meeting with the Tribal Treasurer, Edwin Kane, Fire Chiefs Paul Kuehl, Mark Tessay, Wayne Cole, and Jacob Brock offered to furlough the seven Fire Administration staff members. This seven included the four chief officers, office manager, accounts payable clerk, and secretary. Yet the chief officers wanted to do more. They met with the firefighters of all three stations and suggested that a voluntary furlough would be a great opportunity to assist the Tribe. The firefighters agreed unanimously to work for free for forty hours. Chief Kuehl was very proud of this fact. He stated that “this says a lot about our firefighters. Like the other Central Tribal employees they have lost a week’s pay, but unlike the other employees, they actually worked those forty hours. This was a true sacrifice on their part.”

The Tribe’s mandatory 40-hour furlough came after a 40% reduction in force (RIF) of Central Tribe’s employees. This RIF affected the fire department as well. Twelve firefighters and two recruits were lost due to this RIF. Seven new recruits that were about to be hired were told that they would have to wait until the Tribe’s financial situation improved. Unfortunately this prevented several young Tribal members from entering the upcoming fire academy. The chief officers hope that things will improve by next year so that they will have the funding to send Tribal members to the fire academy.

WMAFR Seeking Bids for Self Contained Breathing Apparatus

The White Mountain Apache Fire & Rescue Department is seeking sealed bids for the purchase of forty-four (44) SCBA and spare bottles. The SCBA must meet the 2007 Edition of NFPA 1981 and 1982 and be of the high pressure (4,500 psi) design.

These SCBA will be purchased through a grant provided by the Assistance to Firefighters Grant under the Department of Homeland Security. Our matching is only 5% of our request (see May 26’s article Fire & Rescue Awarded $305,600 Grant). This grant comes at a great time to replace vital firefighter personal protective equipment.

Bid closing date is July 21, 2010. Click here to download the Request for Bid's Scope of Work and Technical Specification sheet.

WMAFR Seeking Bids for SCBA Compressors

The White Mountain Apache Fire & Rescue Department is seeking sealed bids for the purchase of two (2) high pressure breathing air compressors. The scope of work includes the purchase of two (2) high pressure SCBA breathing compressors with fill stations and air storage systems, the delivery, removing of, unpacking of, setting up of, and installation of the SCBA Breathing Air Compressor Systems and training for the Whiteriver and Cibecue Fire Stations.

Through the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) is the White Mountain Apache Fire & Rescue able to purchase these compressors, which will replace obsolete low pressure compressors currently still in use today.

Bid closing date is July 14, 2010. Click here to download the Request for Bid's Scope of Work and Technical Specification sheet.

Firefighter Completes Paramedic Training

Paramedic class 2010 was honored Thursday night, May 27, at the Show Low Northland Pioneer College campus for successfully completing an arduous year long program. Among the eight (8) students who successfully completed the program was a firefighter from the White Mountain Apache Fire & Rescue Department – Mr. Daniel Metzger (left).

Mr. Metzger was hired full-time with the Mountain Apache Fire & Rescue in October of 2009. Before that he served as a part-time firefighter and was selected by his peers and supervisors as the 2009 Paid On Call Firefighter of the Year for his positive, hard working and friendly attitude. No doubt these traits helped him accomplish a monumental goal in his life.

A paramedic is a medical professional who primarily provides pre-hospital advanced medical and trauma care to those injured or ill. In order to become a paramedic, the individual must possess a current Arizona EMT certification with one year documented pre-hospital experience; possess a valid Healthcare Provider CPR card; show successful completion of a HAZ-MAT First Responder 24-hour training; pass an entrance examination (written and skill demonstration); have placed or successfully completed the English and math requirements; and be accepted into the program through an application and interview process. Once accepted into the program, students will attend class, usually twice a week, for over a year. Course length as required by Arizona law is a minimum of 1,000 hours - 500 hours of didactic (classroom) and 500 clinical (hospital rotations) and field training.

We congratulate Firefighter Metzger for this great accomplishment and hope he has inspired many of our firefighters to continue their education to help better serve and care for the residents, and visitors, of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation.

If you are interested in a career in the fire or ambulance service, feel free to stop by any of our fire stations to learn more.

Fire & Rescue Awarded $305,600 Grant

A representative of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently notified the White Mountain Apache Fire & Rescue Department that they were awarded $305,600 through the 2010 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. This funding will allow the department to upgrade their entire breathable air system with new self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and breathable air compressors.

SCBA is the portable equipment (tank, face mask and harness assembly) that allows firefighters to breath safe air when they enter hazardous environments. Only twelve of the department's SCBAs meet the 2007 NFPA Standards. These twelve units will be upgraded with the newest features. The remaining forty SCBAs, considered to be obsolete, will be replaced. This grant also provides us with the opportunity to upgrade our SCBAs from "30-minute" bottles to "45-minute" bottles.

Funding from this grant will also allow the department to replace the "breathable air" compressors at the Cibecue and Whiteriver Fire Stations that are approximately twenty years old.

Chief Kuehl stated that this award is "a real blessing to the department. This grant provides safer equipment for our firefighters, our number one priority. The department's in-kind contribution for this grant is 5% of the total award or $15,280." (One SCBA alone costs approximately $5,250.) Kuehl also stated that the department has received close to five million dollars in grants since 1988. "If it weren't for these grant opportunities we would not be where we are today."

The primary goal of the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) is to meet the firefighting and emergency response needs of fire departments and nonaffiliated emergency medical service organizations. Since 2001, AFG has helped firefighters and other first responders to obtain critically needed equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training, and other resources needed to protect the public and emergency personnel from fire and related hazards.

Fort Apache Receives Two New Trained Firefighters

Northland Pioneer College held its Fire Science Completer Ceremony on May 19 at the Performing Arts Center on the Silver Creek Campus in Snowflake AZ. Among those who completed their respective fire academies were Regan Armstrong Jr. and Osife Bergen.

Regan (center) has been with our department for several years as a recruit firefighter and certified wildland firefighter. Regan can now cover shifts for the fulltime firefighters and will be eligible for a full time position after he obtains his Emergency Medical First Responder Certification and passes the AZ State Firefighter I/II exam.

Osife is a 2010 graduate of Blue Ridge High School. He attended the NAVIT Fire Academy during his junior and senior years of high school. He has expressed an interest in taking NPC's EMT training next semester. The chiefs have encouraged him to apply for a part-time position in July when he turns 18.

Congratulations to both of these new firefighters and a big thank you to their families for supporting them in achieving their goals.

Just a reminder: our department is always recruiting. Our Handbook and applications are available on this website.

Winter Storm 2010

A strong winter storm swept into Arizona and across the White Mountains on Monday, January 18, 2010 piling snow in the communities of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. Schools were closed for over one week, while volunteers, community members, and Tribal, Private and Government workers, worked to remove snow off of roadways, homes and even the fire station.

Sunrise Ski Resort reported receiving 93 to 137 inches of snow throughout the week. Snow levels in the HonDah and McNary areas were reported up to five (5) feet, while Whiteriver and Cibecue reported receiving a little over 1 foot.

This winter storm collapsed many structures, including the Pinetop Fire Station #2 and the Casino Mini-Mart Canopy. Many structures were threatened, including the HonDah Public Safety Complex. In Whiteriver, many homes were damaged by falling trees and threats of flooding were ever present. In Cibecue, power was out for over three days and threats of flooding were and still are a concern in the days to come.

Firefighters were recalled back to duty to help mitigate many of the emergencies and inconveniences encountered by this storm. These emergencies included partially collapsed buildings, downed electrical and telephone lines, fallen trees on houses, flooding, several motor vehicle crashes and two structure fires.

The White Mountain Apache Fire & Rescue would like to send out a special thank you to community members who helped remov snow off of the HonDah Public Safety Complex, to the Pinetop Fire Department and HonDah Casino who helped with snow removal operations at the HonDah Public Safety Complex, all the firefighters who put in extra time away from their family members and to those community members who were prepared for this storm.

Click here for a picture slide show of Winter Storm 2010.

Disaster Preparedness: Are You Ready?

A 20-year snow fall record was broken on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation (FAIR) during the week of January 18, 2010. Up to eleven feet of new snow was recorded in the high country and up to one foot in the low country. Prior to the storm all major news channels and local newspapers reported and warned the entire State of Arizona to be prepared, however many people were not.

This snow fall was nothing according to many of the elders. Five to seven feet of snow in the communities of Hon Dah and McNary was common during the winter months. "It is the younger population who are ill prepared, both mentally and physically for this snow fall", one elder recently commented. "Today, we rely too much on electricity and help from the Tribe. We must get back to the basics". The implied basics include: storing water and food, flashlights and batteries; having spare tools (i.e. shovels); stock piling wood; getting away from an "all electric" home; getting a back-up generator; ensuring your propane tank and your vehicle's gas tank are full; getting outside early and often to shovel your driveways and roof as needed.

Preparation is key to survival. Every household should be self-sufficient for at least the first 72 hours (3 days) of the emergency or disaster.There are many publications available on-line to help you prepare for an emergency. FEMA, Ready.gov, and the CDC all have information packets and check-list to help you prepare for the next emergency.

Remember, if you are unprepared you become part of the problem.

Got NIMS Training?

On February 28, 2003, President George W. Bush issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-5, Management of Domestic Incidents, which directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop and administer the National Incident Management System. HSPD-5 required all federal agencies to adopt the NIMS and to use it in their individual domestic incident management and emergency prevention, preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation programs and activities.

The directive also required Federal departments to make adoption of NIMS by State, tribal and local organizations a condition for Federal preparedness assistance beginning in Fiscal Year 2005. Basically, NIMS compliance is a prerequisite to obtaining any federal preparedness grants. All State, tribal and local emergency personnel with a direct role in emergency preparedness, incident management or response were to have completed NIMS training by October 1, 2005.

The steps required to achieve compliance are:

• Incorporating NIMS into existing training programs and exercises
• Ensuring that Federal preparedness funding supports NIMS implementation at the State and local levels
• Incorporating NIMS into Emergency Operations Plans (EOP)
• Promotion of intrastate mutual aid agreements
• Coordinating and providing technical assistance to local entities on NIMS
• Institutionalizing the use of the Incident Command System (ICS)

Training is one of the important NIMS Implementation activities that Federal, State, Territorial, Tribal, and Local entities must complete as they work towards becoming fully compliant with NIMS. We need all Tribal Departments and Programs to follow the above steps to achieve compliance.

Click here to go to FEMA's Emergency Management Institute website to begin the Independent Study [Training] Program for ICS.