MOUNT VERNON – Fire Chief Chad Christopher and Police Chief Robert Morgan told the Mount Vernon News that their departments worked together on forcible entry training during the past week.
“We borrowed a forcible entry training simulator to work from Frederick County Fire Department,” Christopher said.
After using the simulator, the officers and firefighters went to Mount Vernon High School.
“Mount Vernon High School was replacing doors and then they actually put their training to use on some real doors,” he said.
Morgan said the breach training his officers had was beneficial.
“That was pretty invaluable for us, especially getting into the schools and that goes along with our response plan to if we ever have an incident in the school and we have to get into the school, that was that was pretty invaluable training in how do we get in,” he said.
The Fire Department also had two staff members in rescue tech school. The year-long classes run every other month. Eric Fisher and Lt. Ben Harrod received tech-level certification in rope rescue, trench rescue, confined space, structural collapse, vehicle and machinery extrication and water rescue, Christopher said.
Fire Department hires Kenyon College student
The Fire Department hired Kenyon College student Samuel Jankey.
Christopher said Jankey, who will work part time with the department, is certified as a Firefighter 2 Level and an EMT. As the student’s schedule allows, he’ll work as a firefighter.
In addition, the interview process will start soon for three new personnel whose salaries will be funded through a SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant the city received. They will be hired around the first week of April, he said. The grant funds three years of salary with possible extensions.
Other FEMA grant projects include installing a MagneGrip vehicle exhaust removal system for both bays of the fire station, set for the end of March or April. And the department has started the process for its hose and appliance project.
Mount Vernon awards $1.08 million paving contract
A $1.08 million contract was awarded to Smalls Asphalt Paving of Gambier for Mount Vernon’s street resurfacing program.
Mayor Matt Starr said the engineer’s estimate of the construction cost is $1.7 million.
Work will be done on North Road, Ohio Avenue, Sandusky Street, Commerce Drive to State Route 661 in the industrial park, Grandview to the dead end and some areas along Newark Road, Starr said.
The mayor said he has begun making State of the City addresses, starting with The Exchange Club and continuing with the Rotary and Kiwanis clubs, in addition to some local churches.
“I'll be taking it on the road and letting everybody know where we’re going and how we’re going to manage all this growth coming our way,” he said.
Police Department ordering replacement cruisers
The Police Department is in the process of ordering two new cruisers – if the supply chain will cooperate, Morgan said.
“We normally replaced two cars a year of our marked police cars," he said. "They go on to about a three-year rotation, so we order two a year."
In other news, the Police Department was 90% to 95% recovered from the data breach that hit the city just before Christmas, he said.
The department also is looking for lateral transfer applications for a full-time job to fill a recent vacancy. Requirements include certification and two years of previous experience.
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