Medina FD has second busiest year ever with nearly 3,000 calls in 2016
Photos by Tom Rivers: Medina firefighter Steve Cooley (left) uses a chain saw to cut through a garage door at a fire on June 28 at a fire in Shelby on Maple Ridge Road. Jonathan Higgins also responded to the fire.
MEDINA – Medina firefighters responded to 2,920 calls in 2016, the second busiest year in the department’s history.
The call volume last year was up from the 2,834 requests for service in 2015. The total call volume is just below the 2,986 in 2014, the most calls ever for the Fire Department.
The Fire Department released an annual report for 2016. Statistics include:
Total Department Responses, 2,920; Fire Responses, 292; EMS Responses, 2,628;
Overlapping calls, 889; Percentage of overlapping calls, 30 percent;
Average response time for all calls, 2.12 minutes; Busiest time of the day, 2 p.m.; Slowest time of the day, 5 a.m.;
EMS Call Breakdown
Second Ambulance out, 624; Inter-Facility Transports, 864; Third Ambulance out, 85; Mercy Flight Transports; 46; Fourth Ambulance out, 7.
911 Calls, 1718; Day Shift Incidents, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., 1,618; Night Shift Incidents, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., 1,002;
Total Billable Calls, 2261; Percent of calls that are billable, 86 percent;
Patients’ destination: Medina Memorial, 942; Buffalo General, 249; Strong Memorial, 201; ECMC, 119; Other facilities, 497.
Firefighters were dispatched to a fire at June 20 at the former S.A. Furniture Factory, when there were reports of smoke coming from the windows. There was a small fire in the building that was quickly put out.
Top Three callman by hours: Sergio DiCenso, 625.42; Bryan Ames, 575.75; and Dylan Parker, 368.00.
“Beyond the running of all the fire and EMS calls, as well as all the time spent training, is the personal commitment all our firefighters have for our community,” said Steve Cooley, the department’s public relations officer, and a firefighters/paramedic. “We make every attempt possible to have other positive interactions with our community.”
Medina firefighters also spent more than 60 hours teaching public education/fire safety to the 600 students of both the Head Start Early Childhood Education Program and Medina Central School District’s Oak Orchard Elementary School.
Firefighters also participated in the Medina Parks Program, National Night Out in Albion and the Medina Area Association of Churches Christmas gift collection and delivery. The department also welcomed interns from Albion High School and served as a clinical training site for the EMT and Advanced EMT students from the various programs throughout Western New York.
The department also for the first time last year welcomed the addition of students from the O/N BOCES Allied Health program for their internship and shadowing program. Fire Extinguisher training also was held for several businesses this year including Baxter Healthcare and the Snappy Company.
Firefighters put out a fire in an abandoned building along the railroad tracks and behind the Olde Pickle Factory in Medina on Feb. 15.
The department experienced a change in leadership following the retirement of Chief Todd Zinkievich. In March, Thomas Lupo was hired as fire chief, and Josh Wolck, a firefighter/EMT, was promoted to captain.
Ferdinando Papalia was hired as a firefighter/EMT. Daniel Scanlon was hired in June as a firefighter/EMT, bringing our total number of career firefighters to 15, including the chief. Paramedic Adam Fisher along with EMT Chris Seefeldt from the callman staff were hired to fill vacancies in the department. They will both be attending the NYS Fire Academy in Winter/Spring 2017.
Firefighter Michael Young was designated as the Fire Department’s Municipal Training Officer. MTO Young immediately went to work rewriting a training curriculum not only for the 100 hours of training time required for each career firefighter but also for the 19 members of the Callmen staff.
Firefighters completed 2,422 hours of training. Some highlights included training with the department’s new swift water and static cold water rescue suits, an updated Jaw of Life hydraulic rescue tool as well as the new low angle rope rescue equipment.
Several firefighters attended the NYS Fire Academy for Recruit Training as well as other specialty schools.
In September, Senator Ortt officially announced that we received grant funding from the State Assistance to Municipalities grant. These funds will allow Medina to purchase an SUV and trailer to house and transport the rope rescue equipment along with the swift and ice water rescue gear.
