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Fire

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1. How do I get rid of old fireworks?

Soak them in water for 24 hours and then you can throw them in the garbage.

2. Where can I find more information about fire safety for kids?

This site promotes fire safety for kids and does it in a fun way, with games, videos, and worksheets:  http://www.firesafekids.org/games.html 

3. Where can I find information about hazards in the home?

This interactive resource gives homeowners a visual understanding of hazards in the house and it has a feature showing all of the rooms that are particularly fire prone. https://www.budgetdirect.com.au/homehazards/

4. Do you charge or recycle fire extinguishers?

No. It is typically more cost effective to buy a new extinguisher for your home.  The Recycling Center in Eagan will take fire extinguishers to be recycled.

5. Do you check car seats?

No; the Inver Grove Heights Fire Department does not check car seats. The Police Department does child safety seat inspections.  Please contact them at 651-450-2525 to make an appointment.

6. If I am unsure if it is an emergency, can I call the Fire Department directly?

No. First, your phone call to a fire station may go unanswered if everyone is away from their work areas. However, even if you think it is not an emergency, the best thing to do is call 911. These calls go into Dakota 911 dispatch center, who sends out fire, police and medical personnel for both emergencies and non-emergencies. 

7. Where can I get my blood pressure taken?

You can stop by Station 1 or Station 2. Both stations are staffed 24/7, unless they are out for a call.

8. I would like to take my kids on a tour of the fire station. Do you do that?

Yes. Please call the main office number at 651-455-5082 to set up an appointment, or visit www.ighmn.gov/1412 to complete a tour request form for one of the fire stations.  Please specify which station. Days and times for tours are limited.

9. Who do I call if I have a complaint about burning?

Call 911. A police officer will be dispatched first to evaluate the situation. 

10. Do we have a volunteer or full-time department?

We have what is called a “combination” fire department. We do have some full-time staff, however, about 75% of the firefighters are considered paid-on-call (POC) firefighters. These are similar to volunteer firefighters who have other full-time jobs outside the fire department and participate when not at their regular jobs. The difference between a POC firefighter and a volunteer is, the POC earns an hourly wage for being on shifts and attending calls, training and events. They also earn time toward a pension, where volunteers do not get compensated in any way.  

11. What kind of pension program do you have for your paid-on-call (POC) firefighters?

All paid-on-call firefighters can earn time toward a fire department pension program. There are minimum requirements that must be met, such as signing up for and working shifts, responding to the pager when called, and training in order to earn time toward that pension. At 7 years of service, a POC firefighter who has met all minimums, can qualify for 60% vesting of the approved pension amount, multiplied by the number of years served. The vesting percentage increases 5% each year until the firefighter has reached 15 years. At that time, the firefighter is 100% vested in the pension program. If someone leaves before 7 years, there is no pension earned. Full-time staff also earn a pension, but that is through a state plan. 

12. What kind of training or experience do IGH firefighters need to get on the fire department?

You do NOT need any previous training or experience to apply. We provide all training in-house as we host the Northern Dakota Training Academy. You will earn an hourly wage while you are going through training.   This academy, along with our weekly drills will, provide the firefighting, hazardous materials, water and land rescue, operation of different emergency vehicles (engines, ladders, water tenders, specialty) and emergency medical training you need. To pass your probationary period, you will be evaluated and tested for your skills and abilities. 

13. Do the paid-on-call and full-time firefighters work together?

Yes. First, both full-time and paid-on-call (POC) firefighters are trained to the same level. We have two staffed fire stations (Stations 1 and 2), each with a crew ready to respond 24/7. Depending on the type of call, each crew may staff an engine, or one crew could staff a ladder truck. Each crew has a full-time officer, a full-time firefighter, and a paid-on-call firefighter (POC). Each crew responds to all calls that come in. If the emergency is large, we will page out our POC personnel to respond to assist.  Our Station 3 is not staffed. 

 

While the full-time staff works 24-hour long rotating shifts, the paid-on-call firefighters can sign up to work 4 or 8-hour shifts. We string those 4/8-hour shifts together with different POC firefighters throughout the day in order to cover that one firefighter spot 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  Both full-time and POC also train together. The POC also wear pagers when not working a shift and respond to their closest station to get on an apparatus, if paged. 

14. I don’t like the sight of blood; can I just sign up to go to fires?

No. Because every firefighter, whether full-time or paid-on-call, is trained to the same level, they are all cross trained in everything we do. Since we only have a limited number of full-time firefighters, paid-on-call personnel always have to be trained and ready to respond to any type of call, whether to assist either of the two crews on-duty or because both of those crews are busy. 

15. I hear you can sign up for different “shifts” like a part-time job. Is that the only time commitment I will have to be a paid-on-call firefighter?

No, all paid-on-call (POC) firefighters must sign up to work shifts, but they also have other requirements. There are weekly ongoing training and public education events they have to attend. In addition, POC firefighters still need to carry a pager and respond to callbacks from home/work for bigger and simultaneous incidents.

16. Why do you take a big fire truck to medical calls?

Since the most we have is two crews on duty at any one time, we have to be prepared for any kind of emergency. We get quite a few calls that come in close together, so we don’t want to take a small vehicle for a medical call as the next call coming in could be a fire, vehicle accident or rescue situation requiring a larger truck. Depending on the location of the separate calls, that could mean a 5-10 minute delay in a crew getting to the scene, if they had to get back to the station to switch to a bigger truck.   

17. Do you work with fire departments in other cities?

Through formal mutual aid agreements, a request can be put out to give to and receive help from any fire department in Dakota County, as well as many departments in southeast Washington County. In addition, for structure fire calls, we have what is called auto-aid, as no single department has enough personnel to always cover their community for those larger incidents. 

 For auto-aid calls, certain types of emergencies are programmed into the computer aided dispatch system to call one of our neighboring departments for help at the same time our own firefighters are alerted. This is done to bring additional trained staff to the scene as quickly as possible, without someone having to remember to request them. Our auto-aid agreements are recognized by many insurance companies who consider the neighboring fire department as an IGH fire station. As a result, residents and businesses are able to see a reduction in their insurance premiums because of our auto-aid agreements.  

18. How does the IGH fire department affect my insurance rates?

Many insurance companies use what is called a fire rating which is established by the Insurance Services Officer (ISO). ISO evaluates the fire department operations, equipment and training, along with the city’s water supply, every 5-10 years. Even some insurance companies who do not use the ISO rating still use the benchmarks within the ISO system. 

Some insurance agents do not realize that our auto-aid agreements with our neighboring fire departments can result in lower insurance rates. If you have questions on what the ISO rating is for your address, please contact the fire chief. 

19. Does the fire department have an ambulance service?

No. The IGH FD or the City of Inver Grove Heights does not run an ambulance service. Our city is covered for emergency medical transportation by MHealth Ambulances. Firefighters will go to some of the medical calls in our city and work with MHealth on treatments and transportation of the patients. You may see MHealth ambulances parked at our fire station #3. We provide them space in that station to serve as a base for their operations for this area. That provides our residents and visitors with quicker response time by having them located within our city. Occasionally, you may see other ambulances driving through our city. That could be because all MHealth rigs covering IGH are busy and they need to call in mutual aid ambulances. 

20. When can I apply to be a firefighter?

We have no openings for full-time firefighters, but we accept applications year-round for paid-on-all firefighters. We typically process those applications each spring and hire once a year in late summer. If you already have fire/medical training and/or experience, we may be able to hire you at other times of the year. To apply, you can go to the city website at www.ighmn.gov/jobs and complete an application. 

21. Can I live anywhere and be an IGH firefighter?

No. To be a paid-on-call firefighter, you need to make sure you live within a seven-minute, normal driving response time from your home to one of the three fire stations in the city. You can use Mapquest and Google Maps to verify. You have to already live within that seven minutes before we will consider your application. We do not consider applications for those with the future intent of moving into this area.  You must also maintain this seven-minute response time throughout your time with our fire department. 

22. What do I need to do if I want to have a recreational fire or burn some tree limbs on my property?

Permits are required for any size of fire in ALL parts of the city. Applications can be found on the city website. A recreational fire is considered no more than three-feet by three-feet with a two-foot flame height. To be able to have a recreational fire, a resident is required to have a fire ring on their property and get a permit through the fire department. If your fire ring meets the requirements of a permanent ring, the owner can apply for a permit that is good as long as that person owns that house. It is not transferable. If you are having company and just want to have a small one-time fire without creating a permanent ring, you can apply for a single-use permit. When you apply for the permit, you will get detailed instructions on placement of your fire ring and other requirements. 

If you are burning tree limbs or other brush, you will need a special open-burning permit for that larger fire. That permit also has requirements for size and location of the fire, as well as weather conditions needed to burn, and instructions for calling in your fire before you burn. You can ONLY BURN clean, dry wood in any fire. No treated wood, furniture, leaves, grass clippings, garbage, or chemicals are allowed. 

23. Can I use a grill on my deck if I live in an apartment?

No. Neither charcoal and gas grills are allowed to be used or stored on the decks of apartment buildings. There are also some condos and townhomes where grills are also prohibited. When in doubt, please call the fire department at 651-455-5082 with your questions. 

24. Why do you have dorm rooms in the fire stations?

Emergencies come in at all hours, including the middle of the night. The quickest response we can get is if firefighters are already at the fire station, where the trucks are located. It is much quicker to have firefighters in the station, rather than waiting for firefighters to wake up at home, get dressed and drive to the station, before even getting a truck out the door. 

25. Do you have any volunteer jobs or is there anything I can do to help without being a firefighter?

Not at this time. We are continually exploring ways where an ordinary citizen can help within the fire department without such a serious time commitment, safety concerns, or without the same physical strength and endurance requirements of our firefighters.