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New fire chief faces challenges
By LETA NOLAN CHILDERS
Capital
Journal Staff
Thursday, December 15, 2005
When
William Alexander started his new job as Pierre’s first paid fire chief, he hit
the ground running—responding to the bomb threat at Riggs High School.
Alexander hasn’t stopped running since--something he said he enjoys. In fact,
he’s already outlined his goals for his first year.
“It’s a really good department,” said Alexander. “But there are a few things we
need to do.”
Alexander said that his first goal is to “get back to basics.”
“What happens in fire departments is that they start working on advanced
training but forget to retrain on the basics,” said Alexander, “It may seem
mundane, but we have to do it.”
At the same time, a dozen new firefighters have volunteered for service during
the past year. Alexander is organizing certification classes that will begin
around the first of February.
Alexander’s second goal is “aggressive fire prevention.”
“It’s cheaper and safer to prevent fires in the first place,” said Alexander.
Toward that goal, Alexander is offering the services of his department to
business owners and homeowners to conduct fire inspections.
“This isn’t like the sort of inspections where an inspector goes in and writes
up violations,” said Alexander. “If we are requested to perform an inspection,
we’ll go in and make suggestions about how they can make their business or home
safer from fire.”
Alexander’s third goal is to “get back to standards.” In the past, the fire
department established the standard that firefighters must respond to at least
33 percent of all fire calls and take at least 40 hours of training each year.
“Most of the firefighters take several hundred hours of training each year,”
said Alexander. “But, there are some who don’t.”
Alexander said that he’s going to assign the job to the department captains to
check their rosters and ascertain who is meeting the standards and who isn’t.
For those not meeting the standards, the captains will need to find out why and
if the person is still interested in serving with the department.
Story by: LETA
NOLAN CHILDERS
Capital Journal, Pierre, SD
www.capitaljournal.com
For more information about the Pierre Fire
Department, e-mail the PFD
webmaster.
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