Community Report to the

Year in Review 2013

Harrisburg Fire Department

Report to the

Thank you for taking a moment to read through our Annual Report for 2013. This report is a new labor of love for us and we hope this magazine will give you a better glimpse of how your

Harrisburg Fire Department operates.

Since opening our doors in 1954,

Harrisburg Fire Department has grown from a volunteer station to now a full time station with 2 locations and 8 fire fighters on duty 24/7. Harrisburg

averages 1700 calls per year and

expected to grow with the rising

population in Harrisburg and

Cabarrus County.

We hope this report will give you a greater understanding of the

responsibilities of our fire fighters and staff who keep this department

running smoothly. This is your fire

department and we are here to assist you.

www.harrisburgfd.com

Community Report to the

Year in Review 2013

We appreciate the opportunity to let you know how much we take pride in serving our community. Harrisburg Fire Department continues to see our call volume increase, especially for emergency medical calls. Our ability to have a firefighter/ EMT- I on every piece of fire apparatus allows us to effi-ciently and effectively serve those in need.

As the Chief of the Harrisburg Fire Department, it is my privilege to submit the department’s Annual Report for 2013. The facts, figures and descriptions found in the following pages represent literally thousands of hours of work put forth by the department’s personnel toward our goal of providing the citizens of Harrisburg with a safe community in which to live, work and play. The economy and associated construction of single family houses will be a challenge to our fire de-partment in the future as fire resources are impacted with increased service levels. Even with a tightened budget, the department has been able to maintain its staffing and therefore has seen no reduction in service levels of personnel. We were fortunate in the past year to have been able to re-place some obsolete equipment. The department purchased a new fire truck to replace our current Engine 2, made minor renovations to Fire Station 1 and 2, and we should break ground on our new Fire Station 3 in early spring. These acquisitions, along with improvements to existing equipment and procedures should enhance the safety of our personnel and increase their operational efficien-cy. One of our goals for 2014 is to improve our Insurance Services Grading so your fire insurance pre-mium could decrease. Basically, if you are within 1000 feet of a fire hydrant then you receive a low-er rate than those outside of the 1000 foot distance. Our goal is for each structure within the Harris-burg Fire District to benefit from an improved grade. In February of 2013 we lost one of our own to brain cancer at the young age of 28. Jonathan “Goose” Sapp started his career with Harrisburg as a junior firefighter and progressed through the ranks to become a full time firefighter. He loved serving this community and was proud to be a firefighter. He will be forever remembered. As 2014 begins, this department stays steadfastly committed to our mission of providing quality service and reducing harm to the Town’s residents and guests. We sincerely appreciative our com-munity for the continuing support shown by the Mayor, Town Council, Town Administrator and citizens of this great community. Stay safe.

Bryan R. Dunn,

Chief of the Harrisburg Fire Department

Community Letter to the

Total for 2013:

1710

Fire Calls- 231

Harrisburg firefighters responded to 231 fire

calls in 2013. Top three Causes of fire :

Equipment Failure/Heat Source

Cooking Fires, confined to container

Unintentional

Harrisburg Fire Department

2013 Calls

Medical Calls- 946

55% of Harrisburg’s responses are for medical

emergencies:

72% Medical/Illness

28% Trauma/Injury

Additional Calls- 533

Other calls include:

HazMat

Service Calls

Severe Weather

Other

In 2013, Harrisburg Fire Department responded to 1710 emergencies. The majority

(55%) of our 911 emergencies continued to be for Medical illness and injury. During

the course of the year we had a few incidents in 2013 that left a lasting impression on

our community.

In the early spring the Harrisburg responded to a double murder/suicide on Coach-

man Ct. This event drew local media attention to our community. Our department re-

sponded to a medical emergency, which turned into a standoff for several hours with

the gunman and police. Unfortunately there was not a positive outcome to this inci-

dent for our community.

In June of 2013 we responded to a house fire on Stallings Rd. Our units arrived on sce-

ne and found the second floor of the structure involved. Our firefighters quickly went

to work to extinguish the fire, but due to the amount of damage that occurred at this

fire, one of our communities families were displaced to another location.

In the late summer our units again responded to yet another tragic emergency in our

community. At the intersection of Hwy 49 and Shamrock Rd. crews were sent to an

MVA with a pin-in. Crews worked swiftly to remove the occupant from the vehicle,

but while en-route to medical facilities that individual succumbed to their injuries.

Fire, Medical & Rescue Calls

Apparatus

CALL RESPONSE BY APPARATUS

Harrisburg Fire Department has an apparatus replacement plan that ena-

bles us the ability to plan for the cost of an apparatus in our CIP (Capital

Improvement Plan).

Harrisburg replaced Engine 2 with a new unit this year. We generally re-

place engine companies every 10 years and then move them to a reserve

unit for 5 additional years.

This chart illustrates the number of calls that each unit responded to in 2013. The total number is

different from the total number of incidents (1710) because multiple units respond to individual in-

cidents. Both of our stations house more than one response vehicle.

Call Breakdown

EMS CALL BREAKDOWN

Fire4%

EMS55%

Haz Mat2%

Public Assists8%

Good Intent19%

Alarms10%

Other2%

Fire

EMS

Haz Mat

Public Assists

Good Intent

Alarms

Other

Emergency Medical Incident, 88.50%

Rescue, 2.43%

Vehicle Accidents with Injuries, 3.70%

Vehicle Accidents without Injuries,

5.28%

Emergency Medical Incident

Rescue

Vehicle Accidents with Injuries

Vehicle Accidents withoutInjuries

2012 vs. 2013 Call Breakdown

Fire4%

EMS55%

Haz Mat2%

Public Assists8%

Good Intent19%

Alarms10%

Other2%

Fire

EMS

Haz Mat

Public Assists

Good Intent

Alarms

Other

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

2013 Calls vs. 2012 Calls

2012

2013

This year the Harrisburg Fire Department has been involved with a new program within our coun-

ty. We have partnered with Concord Fire and Life Safety and the Kannapolis Fire Department to

participate in an Enhanced Automatic Mutual Aid program. This program is under a trial run at

this point. What this means for your fire department and our community is that it enables us access

to far more resources then we had previously. This program is allowing our fire department to put a

guaranteed number of fire personnel on scene for emergency calls, something we have struggled

with in the past. With this program, all three departments have created a response document and

this document allows us to all operate in the same fashion on emergency calls. This program has al-

lowed us the ability to increase our training regiment, since we now do mutual aid company train-

ing with these departments once a month. We hope to continue moving forward with this program

in the future, since the department feels that it is a benefit to our community.

Last year we reported that we would be having an ISO inspection to help lower fire insurance pre-

miums for homeowners. Well our testing date was put on hold by the NCDOI (North Carolina De-

partment of Insurance). They put the entire state on hold until they had completed adopting a new

testing standard. They have completed the standard and are now in the process of training their

personnel on the changes. We hope to hear something from the state soon so we can complete this

testing procedure. Currently our rating is a 5/9 meaning, people that live in the incorporated areas

of Harrisburg are rated at a 5 and the people in the un-incorporated areas are rated at a 9. Our goal

is to get a single rating of 5 for our entire fire district and dropping the rates for the un-incorporated

areas. As we get more information on this we will get it out to the community. Also we have start-

ed moving forward with our new fire station (Station 3) which will be located at the corner of Rocky

River Rd and Pembrook Rd. We have contracted with Stewart, Cooper, Newell as the design firm

and D R Reynolds will be the construction manager. We still hope to break ground in late March or

early April with a completion date of December or January.

Updates

Fire Marshal’s Division

Special Recognition

The Fire Marshals Division is committed to the preservation of life and property through the applica-

tion of codes and standards, from the planning phase through the entire life of the structures in our Dis-

trict. We work closely with engineers and architects to ensure that fire safe buildings are designed and

constructed. 2013 was a year of growth in the District. A large variety of businesses and homes have

been built and improved throughout the area.

Over 68 plans were reviewed in 2013 to ensure fire codes were met at the design phase. The average

time for reviewing plans was less than eight days. More than 300 inspections were conducted to con-

firm that buildings were constructed and kept in accordance with the approved plans and the fire code.

Almost 917 violations were discovered and corrected during the inspection process.

The Fire Marshals Division also has special permitting process for temporary events, unique risks, and

hazardous materials handling.

When fires do occur, the Fire Marshals Division is responsible for conducting an investigation to dis-

cover the cause. Hours can be spent on processing the fire scene, collecting evidence, documenting wit-

ness statements and following leads. In some instances this leads to the discovery of a crime and filing

of a court case. Information gained by the investigation of fire causes helps Harrisburg deliver effective

fire safety programs.

Every effort is made to account for and mitigate fire and life safety dangers through inspection, code

enforcement, investigation, and prevention.

In February of 2013, the Harrisburg Fire Department lost

one of its own. Jonathan “Goose” Sapp a Firefighter I,

from Station 2-B lost his battle with brain cancer. It was a

tremendous lost to the department to lose a vibrant

young firefighter such as Goose. He is gone but will re-

main in our hearts forever.

Honor Guard

Special Events

Our Honor Guard represents our department during

the course of the year at various functions throughout

the county. This year they participated in Concord’s

Recruit graduation, NC Fire Chiefs Mid-Winters Con-

ference, Cabarrus County Fallen Firefighter Memori-

al, and others.

Harrisburg Fire Department delivered educational programs to more than 1695 people, 370 adults

and 1325 children in our community in 2013. These efforts are intended to help lower the incidence of

fire and injuries in our community. Through classroom and community presentations, we aim to pre-

vent losses resulting from fires and injuries.

Programs in Our Community

The Harrisburg Fire Department is involved in the community with a variety of programs. Here are a

few:

Harrisburg Fire Department Open

House

Car Seat Checks

Station Tours

Career Days at Local Schools

Fire Prevention Week

Portable Extinguisher Classes

CPR Classes

HFD Training Division

The Harrisburg Fire Department Training Division is dedicated to providing Harrisburg Firefighters

training, professional and career development. To achieve this, the Training Division supplied each

Harrisburg Firefighter with an average of 87.83 hours of training per full time employee and com-

bined with the part time employees equates into over 3172 hours of training in 2013.

Also, due to the Enhanced Mutual Aid Program, we are now training once a month with Concord

and Kannapolis Fire units. This allows us to expand our horizons on how other departments over-

come different obstacles through their training methods.

In 2013, we welcomed two new members to the Harrisburg Fire Department, Cody Johnson and

Ryan Sellers. They were part of Concord Fire and Life Safety’s recruit class 19-8. The recruit class

lasted for 17 weeks and they went through various firefighting classes. Upon graduation from the

class they meet all NC Firefighter I and II standards.

Important Contact Information Harrisburg Fire Department

Administrative Offices

6462 Morehead Road

Harrisburg, NC 28075

(704) 455-3574

Harrisburg Station #1

6450 Morehead Road

Harrisburg, NC 28075

(704) 455-3574

Harrisburg Station #2

9650 Rocky River Road

Harrisburg, NC 28075

(704) 455-5596

Fire Advisory Board

Bryan R. Dunn

Fire Chief

bdunn@harrisburgfiredepartment.com

Ken Bradey

Deputy Fire Chief

kbradey@harrisburgfiredepartment.com

Jeff Williams

Fire Marshal

jwilliams@harrisburgfiredepartment.com

Robin Torrence……………………………....……(704)455-1352

Graydon Choinski……………………….………..(704)567-1726

Jim Canter…………………………………..….…..(704)455-9648

Bill Harper……………………………….…….…..(704)455-3574

Tim Wooten…………………………….……...…..(704)453-1401

Kenny Long……………………………………..…(704)568-4686