Single Family Dwelling Chief 102 on location with smoke and flames showing. 102 had command. Engine 131 was fire attack and found a small fire in the kitchen. Fire was contained to the kitchen. Home of former RVFD chief and longtime member's widow. She escaped with the help of a Postal Employee, and was not injured. Damage was estimated at 60,000.

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OMAHA, Neb. -- Cigarettes sparking fires is a multimillion dollar problem that damages homes and endangers lives. But now, a local group is pushing to make apartment living smoke free.

"Smoking-related fires in apartments have been a trend lately where it's just too hard to ignore," Assistant Fire Marshal James Gentile said.

The Omaha Fire Department said the recent fires have caused $1.2 million in damage. Since the end of October, cigarettes are to blame for eight apartment fires in the city.

"Luckily, by the grace of God, we haven't lost any body's life yet," Gentile said.

To help prevent these fires, the Metro Omaha Tobacco Action Coalition created a public service announcement that will air on local television stations in English and Spanish.

Every year in America, roughly 1,000 people die because of smoking-related fires. Twenty-five percent of those killed are non-smokers.

MOTAC encourages apartment owners and managers to consider offering smoke-free living spaces.

"They save money. They're preferred by renters. They add value to property. They protect the health of tenants employees and visitors," Athena Ramos said.

The Omaha Fire Department agrees.

"Make smoke-free apartments if you can," Gentile said.

According to MOTAC, apartment owners have the legal right to make their rental properties smoke free.

Read more: http://www.ketv.com/news/29927832/detail.html#ixzz1foeozGa5

Watch the commercial here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/fndmhotlvemwet#p/a/u/1/0-srIlIQZyw

By Adam Klinker
Recorder Editor

Calls for service continue to go up and response times are still going down for the Ralston Volunteer Fire Department.

RVFD's annual report, released last week, shows an 18 percent increase in calls from 788 a year ago to 932 between the department's Nov. 1, 2010 to Oct. 31, 2011 statistical year.

And with the department's easing of residency restrictions, RVFD Chief Kyle Ienn said the 76 members who were in on at least one call for the year helped drop the average response time to a service call to six minutes, an improvement from last year's time of six minutes, 27 seconds.

"More calls and shorter response times aren't often things that go hand-in-hand," Ienn said. "But with 76 members helping out, it has been a case where we get a group-effort making a difference."

The 76-member department is a 13-member bump over last year's RVFD, more evidence that the department's work to recruit and retain more members and to ease its residency restrictions are all having an effect on the department size.

In 2009, the squad doubled in size to more than 50 members when Ienn and RVFD — through a four-year grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency — was able to put together a recruitment and retention program focusing on bringing in more firefighters and emergency medical personnel from around the area.

Residency restrictions lifted, those new members living outside a proscribed area had to meet a 40-hour standby requirement on a monthly basis to retain membership with RVFD — meaning they had to log at least 40 hours at the RVFD station.

In 2010, RVFD membership climbed to 63 and in 2011, the department is bigger than it has ever been at 76 members.

"It's been huge for us," Ienn said. "But we've seen this as a national trend. Call volume is up, volunteers are down. We had the foresight to get out ahead of that and what we've seen is people are willing to serve. They see this as a very worthwhile opportunity and it's helped us tremendously."

Earlier this year, RVFD received another four-year grant from FEMA to continue the program and Ienn said the department will continue to build its ranks.

While response times and membership are going in the right direction, Ienn said one alarming statistic for the department is the number of large-scale structure fires to which RVFD responded this year.

That figure doubled from seven a year ago to 14 this statistical year, including a pair of major fires at apartment complexes at Ponderosa Pines, 72nd and Harrison streets in April, and at Orleans Square, 84th and L streets in September.

RVFD also responded to two apartment fires in La Vista, first at the Alpine Village Apartments at 84th and Harrison streets last December and again this spring at Shadow Ridge near 84th and Granville Parkway.

The two La Vista fires and the Ponderosa Pines fire, along with a rash of similar blazes in Omaha, were all caused as a result of carelessly disposed cigarettes, something over which Ienn and other area fire chiefs have gone on the offensive.

High winds also helped fan those fires into much more destructive events.

Last week, Ienn filmed a public service announcement for the Metro Omaha Tobacco Action Coalition to explain the added fire danger accompanying the smoking habit.

"The structure fires we saw, especially the ones caused by a still-lit cigarette on a dry wood deck are moving faster, burning hotter," Ienn said. "It's concerning and it's something we need to publicize.

"We can go through all the training and readiness for a fire like that, but sooner or later, if they keep coming, your luck runs out and a resident or one of my guys gets hurt."

That RVFD has gone through another year without serious injury or death is something Ienn always considers at the top of his list when giving the annual report.

"Not every fire chief around the country can say everyone came home," he said. "We lose 100 firefighters a year nationwide. We feel very fortunate to say everyone came home in Ralston."

Up ahead for the department, Ienn said RVFD has already begun the process of evaluating emergency response capabilities at the sports and events center currently under construction at 72nd and Q streets.

The department has also measured its new responsibilities with an eight-building apartment complex just north of the arena.

"We're plunging ahead," Ienn said. "We're getting ourselves ready for a new situation in Ralston. We know the arena has the potential to increase calls, but that's why we're staying ready."

In accepting the RVFD report, Ralston Mayor Don Groesser and the Ralston City Council thanked the department for its continued service.

"We're blessed in Ralston to have the fire department we do," Groesser said. "We thank everyone on the department for their hard work."


http://www.omaha.com/article/20111130/NEWS2005/711309855/1124#service-calls-up-response-times-down--

By Adam Klinker
Recorder Editor

One thing to be thankful for over last week's holiday is the mutual aid relationship shared between Ralston and La Vista first responders.

On Friday, Ralston Volunteer Fire Department Chief Kyle Ienn was driving near 96th Street and Giles Road when he spotted smoke in the west.

By the time he arrived at Fantasy's on 126th and Giles in La Vista, Ienn found an SUV engulfed in flames next to a gas pump.

Ienn called dispatch and RVFD and La Vista arrived on the scene simultaneously.

With Keith Kettelhut at the wheel of Engine 131, RVFD firefighters Bo Wilson and Tim Jepsen formed an attack line with Andrea Neukirch in support and were able to extinguish the fire before it spread further.

"Everyone did a great job making a quick attack and keeping a bad situation from getting much worse," Ienn said. "Time is of the essence in something like this and it goes to show how our training pays off."

http://www.omaha.com/article/20111130/NEWS2005/701109985/1124#rvfd-quells-potentially-explosive-fire

The Ralston Fire Department is going pink during the month of October to support Breast Cancer Awareness.

Members purchased the pink department shirts and will be wearing them on emergency calls and events during the month of October to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The idea was initiated by Christine Ienn, the Administrative Assistant, who presented the idea to the members and took care of the design and ordering of the shirts.

Chief Kyle Ienn stated, “Just as Fire Prevention is important for the department to promote, preventive care of health issues is just as important, and I’m proud of the members for supporting this worthwhile cause. I hope this will encourage residents get screened as early detection of Breast Cancer is the key to battling the disease.”

We will be hosting our Annual Open House Sunday October 9th, from 8am-1pm.  There will tons of fun for the entire family including pancakes, a bouncy house, face painting, tool demonstrations, and LifeNet Helicopter.  Free to the public, donations accepted. Hope to see you there!

On September 13th at approximately 14:14 the Ralston Fire Department was dispatched to a reported vehicle on fire in a garage at the Orleans Square Apartments.  First in Engine 133 with four firefighters arrived with heavy fire and smoke showing from a one story row garage. The fire had extended to the mansard roof on the apartment building. Initial crews advanced an 1 3/4" attack line and began knocking down the fire while a water supply was established. Once a water supply was established, crews advanced a 2 1/2" line.  Engine 133's engineer directed the deck gun to the exposure to knock down the fire on the exposure. Due to rapidly spreading fire conditions, a second alarm was quickly called bringing in crews from Papillion and Omaha,  During the peak of the fire crews utilized two deck guns, two ladder pipes, two 2 1/2" attack lines, and four 1 3/4" attack lines. Crews had the fire under control within 45 minutes, with no extension to the interior of the apartments. In total five cars and eleven garages were destroyed.  The apartment building sustained water and smoke damage, and fire damage to the exterior, resulting in an estimated $500,000 dollars worth of damage.

Units Responding: Ralston 101, Ralston Engine 130, Ralston Engine 133, Ralston Medic 111, Ralston 161, Ralston 120, LVFD Truck 651, LVFD Medic 610, OFD Batallion 3, OFD Engine 30, OFD Engine 33, OFD Rescue 33, OFD Truck 30, Papillion Truck 1, Papillion Medic 1.

www.omaha.com/article/20110913/NEWS01/110919893/0#2-alarm-fire-in-ralston

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/129747608.html

http://www.ketv.com/news/29171640/detail.html

By Adam Klinker

Ralston Recorder

Breakfast in the lounge at the Ralston Fire Station had a bit of unexpected international flair Saturday morning.

While the fare remained the usual pancakes, bacon and eggs, the Ralston Volunteer Fire Department firefighters and emergency medical personnel on duty were joined by a brother and sister in service who had traveled halfway around the world and were gradually making their way across the United States to raise money for charities in the United Kingdom.

Last Tuesday, Jayne Putland and Adrian Davis of Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Services flew into San Francisco with the goal of making it to New York City in 18 days in an effort to raise £2,000 (about $3,300) for Cancer Research UK, the Firefighters Charity and the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

"We dropped in with just a backpack and no real plan," Davis said. "But we've found all of the people we've met along the way to be helpful and interested in what we're doing. It's neat that the little town of Ralston here can be a part of it."

In just five days, Putland and Davis had made it to Ralston, putting them well ahead of the schedule they'd roughly scratched out upon landing in California.

After braving the Western mountains and deserts with the help of other small town fire departments, who provided rides from station to station, Putland and Davis were hoping for a respite from the blistering temperatures of mid-July. But upon reaching Denver last Thursday and then Nebraska on Friday, they saw the heating trend was quickly becoming the norm, not a comforting climate, as the two were both dressed in full bunker gear.

"We'd been wearing our full kit for a few of the days," Putland said. "But after we felt the full effect of that heat, we decided maybe we'd just go with our trousers."

After waking up Friday morning in Hershey, Putland and Davis pressed on to Kearney — where they visited the Nebraska Firefighters Museum and Memorial — and then to York.

"It was hot," Putland said. "We started to wonder, 'How can it possibly get cool around here?'"

The heat notwithstanding, Putland and Davis made their way through Nebraska with a new motivation.

"They called Friday looking for a place where they could get a good Nebraska steak," RVFD Chief Kyle Ienn said. "We had just the place for them. We said, 'Yeah, we can get you a steak.'"

By the time the weary and sweaty travelers rolled into Ralston Friday evening, reservations had been made at Anthony's Restaurant at 72nd and F streets and the welcome wagon was preparing to make the rounds

Despite some trouble deciphering accents on both sides, Putland and Davis said the wait staff and the kitchen at Anthony's delivered.

"You hear a lot about great steaks whenever you mention Nebraska to anyone," Davis said. "I wanted to try one of these Nebraska steaks and Anthony's did not disappoint. Great steak. Just what I was hoping for."

"Delicious," Putland agreed and she relayed her review back home via Twitter, where colleagues are following their moves — sometimes through places they've never heard of — with each passing mile.

"We've got a lot of people back home following us on Twitter, texting us," she said. "A lot of them will text us and say, 'Where are you?' and sometimes, if we're on the road, I'll write back, 'I do not know.' But that's all part of the fun."

After dinner, Putland and Davis spent the evening swapping stories and comparing equipment with RVFD members Shane Conelly, Theresa Pratt, Lawrence Springston and Charlie Wilkins before beginning the next leg of their journey to Des Moines, hitching a ride with Springston and Wilkins.

"It's been a lot of fun," Wilkins said. "Getting over some of the differences in terminology, you see that the job, a lot of the process, they're the exact same."

After Des Moines, Putland and Davis would be on to Chicago and from there, traversing the rest of the nation's midsection to New York, where they hope to link up with one of the world's most renowned fire departments on Aug. 3.

Davis said the trip has been full of excitement and even though hanging out with the Fire Department of New York is seen as the culminating portion of the 18-day excursion, everything in between is really what he was after.

"We really hope to see New York and spend some time with them there," he said. "But this has really been about seeing the real America. So far, I think we've done quite well. Ralston has been a great piece of that for us."

www.omaha.com/article/20110727/NEWS2005/707279786/1124#uk-firefighters-stay-the-night-at-rvfd-on-u-s-charity-trip
 

After starting with 118 applicants, the top 20 were voted on as probationary members at last nights monthly business meeting. Included in this group are three certified as both Firefighter 1 and EMT-B, two certified as Firefighter 1,  eight certified as EMT-B's, and seven with no certifications but are in classes right now.

The new members are in no specific order John Bicknell, Dallas Kaspar, Taylor Fluent, Matthew Hobbs, Ryan Schoening, Matthew Conroy, Wesley Dacus, Theresa Pratt, Dan Heimann, Wayne Neuhofel, Matt Cotton, Jay Kunz, Charity Roe, Todd Longenecker. Derek Larson, Andrea Dellovechio, Jordan Wallace, Branson Osakoda, Andrea Neukirch, Lawrence Springston.

These members come from Omaha, Lincoln, Council Bluffs, Papillion, Bellevue, Bennington, and Logan, Iowa

Congratulations and Welcome!!!