UNITED FIRE FIGHTERS ASSOCIATION MEETING MINUTES
Tuesday June 9, 2015
Location: Hamburg Fire Station
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 P.M. by President Mark Morse
Present: 40 attendees representing 16 Departments: Chanhassen, Eden Prairie, Excelsior,
Hamburg, Hopkins, Mayer, Montrose, New Germany, NYA, Prior Lake, St. Boni, Savage,
Shakopee, Victoria, Waconia, and Watertown. Guests were from SFM, HSEM, and MBFTE and
Henn. Tech.
Not Present: Representatives from Bloomington, Buffalo, Carver, Chaska, Cologne, Delano,
Edina, Jordan, Long Lake, Loretto, Maple Plain, Minnetonka, Mound, and Wayzata.
Moment of Silence for deceased firefighters.
Chief Justin Buckentin welcomed everyone. Hamburg FD has 25 members and response to 45
calls per year. Hamburg has 25 paid on call fire fighters. Their first apparatus was a hand
pumper purchased in 1901.
Mayor Dick Malz is a retired Hamburg firefighter after 30 years of service. Hamburg has a
population of 560. They are the last town in the western metro area. With their location they
advised the rest of Carver County of severe weather.
PROGRAM: Responding to Petroleum and Haz-Mat spills.
Jim Stockinger works for the MPCA. He is an Asst.Chief for Lindwood Twp. FD. Who owns a
spill or Haz-Mat incident? Public Safety along with the responsible party (RP). The RP reports
the incident and is responsible for cleanup. During an incident many State agencies can become
involved. The State Duty Officer is contacted and will contact the proper agencies to help with
an incident. The local FD is still in charge of the incident.
The two main Statues are SS: 115.061 which is the law on reporting and clean up. SS: 115E is
the “Spills bill” which states that business needs a response plan for handling an incident. FD’s
should review these plans.
REGULAR MEETING:
Minutes: A motion to approve the minutes from Savage and seconded by Excelsior. Motioned
carried.
Treasurer’s Report: The starting balance was $5,603.46. Deposits of $900. Current balance
$6,503.46. The account was move to Shakopee. Motion made by Waconia, seconded by
Montrose. Motion carried.
REPRESENTATIVES REPORTS
Bob Van Lith: Director Van Lith was tied up at a retire firefighter wake. Nothing to report.
Board meeting will be held Wednesday at the conference. Look Bob up if you have questions. .
The conference will be held in St. Cloud on June 11th to 13th. Hope to see everyone there.
Contact Dee Dee deedee@msfda.org. or Bob. Bob can be reached by e-mail
bvanlith@delano.mn.us or 763-276-4203.
Ray Carlson: Out of the area for work. VFBA had two claims this year. Both were heart attacks
and they are doing well. Ray will be at the September meeting and give an update on claims.
Ray can be reached at www.vfbaofmn.com.
Dale Specken: Chief’s conference will be held in Duluth Oct. 22nd – 24th. Banquet will be
different. You will need tickets to eat. Will be able to reserve tables. Will have great classes.
New website is up and running. 2016 conference will be in St. Cloud and 2017 will be in
Rochester. Two members are running for President, George Esbensen and Mark Hovland. Two
are running for VP, Tim Butler and Jay Wood. This year they will have online voting. Sending
out RFP to other areas to see if they would like to host the conference. Dale has the Kitchen
trailer if you would like to rent it. The Assn is going through an audit. Dale can be reached at
dspecken@hopkinsmn.com.
State Fire Marshall: Fire Investigator Casey Stotts gave the report. 2014 Annual report is online.
Fire in Minnesota report will be at the conference. Only 10 FD’s did not report in 2014. One
department did not have any calls so they didn’t report. So far 12 FD’s have received AFG
grants. The SFM will help with your grant writing. The SFM received a grant for 3 mobile
training prop trailers.
Consumer Product and Safety Division should be contacted if you find a product that started a
fire. Two main ones are off brand cell phone chargers and e-cigarette chargers. The State Fire
Code is almost done. Started in 2011. The SFM conference will be on April 25,, 2016. The
Recruitment & Retention is going on and look for results for the next three years. If you have a
pipeline that was hit contact the Office of Pipeline Safety. The HSEM is working with the Avian
Flu. Sept 14th North Oaks will be hosting the Burn Aid Classic. There have been 25 fatals from
fires so far in 2015. Check SFM website for Begining Arson and Advance Arson classes. Any
questions contact bruce.west@state.mn.us.
Kathi Osmonson from the SFM reported that they are forming Youth Fire Intervention teams.
Info at the Chief’s conference. They have handouts in different languages coming out on
website. There website along with Vision 20/20 website are being updated.
Certification: President Morse gave report. See attachment.
MBFTE: Kevin Sedivy is the Fire Training and Licensing Specialist. Kevin retired from
Owatonna FD and had 30 years in the fire service. Kevin is meeting with FD’s to encourage
them to go for the Training Funds. 3 FD’s in the United Region did not use the funds last year.
The goal is to get 600 FD’s to use these funds. The new data base is up and running for the
license program. All the MBFTE meetings are on the website. The ISO training will go to July
1, 2016. In 2014, 700 FF’s trained in 1001, hoping to get that to 1200 FF’s. They sent out a
sheet to update your FD contact list and how many FF’s you have. The amount of FF’s help with
the training fund process. Kevin can be reached at Kevin.sedivy@state.mn.us. Steve can be
reached at Steve.Flaherty@state.mn.us.
Rick Luth: No report. Any questions contact rick.luth@state.mn.us.
Dan Roeglin: Henn. Tech has less staff now and has some changes. Fire Officer 1 class will be
held in Savage. Air management class will be held this fall. Community Risk Assessment
classes coming up. Online training classes are now available. Contact Dan at
Daniel.roeglin@hennepintech.edu.
Chief Esbensen: See Attachment
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: None
NEW BUSINESS:
State Firefighter Conference this week.
2014 United Firefighter of the Year. No nominations. Send nominations to Hubie by Aug. 15,
Some regional grants were received. Mdewakanton FD gave $350,000 in grants from 5.4 million
in request. Fill out paperwork for an AED.
No changes to the Firework laws.
Chief McColl requested that we support Chief Esbensen for President of the MSFCA.
MAJOR INCIDENTS: None
Upcoming fire department events:
Eden Prairie FD Relay for Life Golf Tourney at Bear Path on June 29th.
Excelsior FD dance on July 17th.
St. Boni FD Summerfest on July 25th.
NYA Stiftungfest August 28th to 30th.
Meeting adjourned at 21:34 p.m. motion made by Excelsior, seconded by Montrose. Carried.
Next meeting will be held at Mayer on September 8, 2015.