Chief's Report
As part of our Initiative 2024: Be Seen, the Chief of the McDonald Volunteer Fire Department will be providing quarterly updates to the public here on our dot-com page and on social media. Enjoy!
2024 - Q3 Report
September 26, 2024
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I know I’m a few days early for the end of Q3, but thought I’d share my report now while I have a few minutes to spare!
What a roller coaster ride the third quarter of 2024 has been! So much has happened in a short 3 months, but I’ll try to keep it as short as possible!
Top of mind is our brother Ryan Johnston. If you’ve followed along with our posts, Ryan was taken into surgery the week before McSummerfest to remove a brain tumor. The surgery was successful and Ryan has started additional treatments to get rid of whatever was left. He is doing great and in great spirits! So please keep those prayers and positive energy flowing!!
We had an incredible McSummerfest this year even with a bit of rain! Thank you to all of YOU for coming out and supporting us! A big thank you to all of our sponsors who support us as well! And none of it would be possible without the volunteers of our great department, mutual aid departments, family and community members that give up many hours to help make this event a huge success!
As of this moment, we have responded to 381 calls for the year, with 103 of those in 2024-Q3 (to date). The emergency breakdown for Q3 is as follows:
- Accidents/Medicals/Rescues: 59
- Good Intent (includes cancellations): 20
- Hazardous Condition (no fire): 11
- Fires: 2
- Service Calls: 6
- Other: 5
Total Individual Responses for Q3: 615
(Total personnel that responded to all of the calls)
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We are working on a new service bringing drones into our arsenal of tools! Earlier this year, Captain Matt Frazier, Lieutenant Brian Boggs, and myself all became certified Part 107 Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) pilots. We are in the process of acquiring a drone and have begun outfitting a vehicle with additional tools to facilitate sUAS operations. This new service will enable us to use sUAS to aid in search and rescue missions, wild land fires, structure fires, and many other applications! More to come on this in the very near future!
The new Wagon 12 is set to hit the production line in the upcoming weeks with delivery still planned for 2025-Q1.
We’ve taken in some new members over the past few months. We have 2 junior firefighters taking their Essentials of Firefighting course, another junior firefighter taking an EMT course, and our newest interior certified firefighter awaiting results from his Firefighter 1 test!!
We’ve been making lots of public appearances lately too! We’ve been to the first game of the season for the Fort Cherry Rangers on First Responder Appreciation Night, Tunnel to Towers - Pittsburgh run in Canonsburg (thank you to all that donated to our team!), Battle of the Barrel in Oakdale, and the First Responders Night at PPMS race track, just to name a few!
The entire month of October we will be promoting Fire Prevention! We will be posting videos and other materials to help educate the communities on fire safety and prevention. We also welcome you to reach out and schedule a Talk-n-Tour at the station with your family or organization (Facebook message our contact us on our website). We’re gonna talk about a program we offer as well that we partnered on with our good friend and state representative Jason Ortitay! We are also hosting a blood drive on October 18 and a Breakfast with Santa on December 14!
Did you catch all that? GOOD! That’s a lot for 3 months, and it’s just a summary. As the end of 2024 rapidly approaches, we will continue to do what we do: strive for excellence in providing the very best and highest level of service that we possibly can for our communities! Great things continue to happen here at 12 House! Thank you to our entire team! And thank you for all of the support that YOU give to us each and every day!!
Stay safe,
- Philip Boggs, Chief 12
A 27" monitor added to a compartment in Medic 12 with video input cables. This enables us to plug a drone controller into the screen and have multiple people watch the screen when searching an area.
Truck 209 and Truck 12 displaying our nations flag at the PPMS race!
Truck 12 waving the red, white, and blue at the Fort Cherry Rangers game!
Team 12 House and some friends after the Tunnel to Towers 5K run in Canonsburg!
12 House remembering September 11, 2001
A hero's welcome home for Ryan after he was discharged home. Then we headed back for our parade and night 1 of the 2024 McSummerfest!
2024 - Q1 and Q2 Reports
July 10, 2024
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Good evening! Earlier this year when I met with my line officers, we touched on many items to tackle this year, one of which we called Initiative 2024: Be Seen. This initiative has many important elements: one of which is communication and relationships with our communities. So, with that being said, at least once per quarter I will share some highlights of what’s going on here at 12 House!! I realize the first two quarters are already behind us, so I’ll cover both of those in this report.
As of this moment, we have responded to 289 calls so far this year. The first quarter of 2024, 2024-Q1, we responded to 116 calls with a total of 690 individual responses (total responders to the total calls). For 2024-Q2, we responded to 162 calls with a total of 1,017 individual responses. Of the 278 calls for the first two quarters, we responded to the following types: 140 medical or rescue calls (including vehicle accidents), 52 good intent calls (includes cancellations), 30 hazardous condition calls (no fire), 27 fires, 11 service calls, and 18 other types of calls.
In early February we placed the new Truck 12 in service! Last month, we approved the purchase of a new pumper/engine that will be delivered in early 2025.
We’ve had 3 successful fundraisers this year so far and the largest fundraiser for us is coming up in just a couple of weeks!
Great things are happening here at 12 House and it’s all thanks to our team and the support of the communities we serve. We strive for excellence in an effort to provide the very best service possible to all of you! Thank you for your continued support! We’re excited to see you at the 32nd Annual McSummerfest!!
Stay safe,
- Philip Boggs, Chief 12