Fire departments battle duplex blaze

By TERRI PEDERSON, Staff Reporter

As printed in the November 14, 2009 edition of the Daily Citizen

The Beaver Dam Fire Department responded to a house fire at 400 N. Center St. shortly after 2 p.m. and spent the next few hours battling the blaze as police barricaded the area.  "We got the call of a possible fire on a porch," Beaver Dam Fire Chief Alan Mannel said. "Firefighter Jim Yaroch, former firefighter Jeff Omen and officer Andy Strachota found a subject sleeping upstairs. They woke him up and probably saved his life."  The home at 400 Center Street was a duplex.

Flames could be seen from blocks away but were quickly battled back by Beaver Dam firefighters.  "They used the deck gun to knock the bulk of the fire down, but it got into the ceiling of the porch," Mannel said.   Like many older homes, the house has balloon construction. Mannel said it's a problem for fire departments to battle fires in these homes because of the framework, but they are familiar with the required procedures.  "The guys did a good job," Mannel said. "There was heavy fire damage on the first and third floor."  There was significant fire damage, but Mannel said it was possible that the house could be repaired.

One cat was saved by a firefighter and was given oxygen before being turned over to the Dodge County Humane Society.   Mannel said the department is doing a routine investigation and it is trying to determine the cause of the blaze.

Beaver Dam police officers blocked off the street and handled traffic around the area which remained blocked off until 4:30 p.m. Police officers had an additional battle when Beaver Dam Middle School students were released at 2:42 p.m.  School officials were contacted and agreed to let the students out of the back of the school.  "Two officers were positioned in the back of the building and three officers were in the front of the building," Beaver Dam police lieutenant John Kreuziger said. "We didn't let anyone out the front of the school. It worked very well. There was great cooperation by the school."

Kathy Barrientes lives in the bottom apartment of the duplex with her husband Benny and children Keith and Tabitha. Keith's girlfriend Carina Sell also lives in the home.  The family was planning on celebrating Tabitha's 19th birthday today.  "We lost everything," Kathy Barrientes said.  She said she was in the kitchen when she heard someone yell that there was a fire. She grabbed one of her cats, Skittles, and yelled for everyone else to get out of the home.  "I was worried about Brad upstairs, but he got out," Kathy Barrientes said.

Muriel Harper, from the Red Cross, said the first thing they worked on was getting replacement medication for several family members and finding housing for them for the night.  "We will also be providing them with emergency food and personal clean-up kits," Harper said.

Faye Sherron, who works for a fellowship who is trying to help out the family, said that they hope that people will try to stay away from the home and help the Barrientes.  "Anyone who knows this family knows that it has been one struggle after another for this family," Sherron said.   Sherron is attempting to set up a fund for the family.

Fire departments from Burnett, Juneau and Fox Lake assisted in battling the blaze. 

Department Begins Paramedic Service

Effective June 1, 2009, the Beaver Dam Fire Department is offering full Paramedic service to the citizens in the Beaver Dam area.  This level of service is nationally known as the highest level of pre-hospital care available.  Paramedics can provide treatment for many medical conditions right at the scene of the emergency. 

The members of the Beaver Dam Fire Department are excited to bring this new level of care to our community.

Firefighters Archive Stories and Photos

By TERRI PEDERSON, Staff Reporter

As printed in the the April 24th, 2009 edition of the Daily Citizen

There are firefighter picnics and awards and then there are structures that have been destroyed by fire or cars mangled as the result of accidents.  They all have a place at the Beaver Dam Fire Department where articles and photos are kept and stored to show the department's rich history and the impact it has had on the city of Beaver Dam.

Currently, firefighter Alyson Skelton is the one in charge of scrapbooking the fire department's paper memorabilia.  "When someone retired, they asked if I could take over the scrapbooking," Skelton said. There are boxes of pictures that Skelton is sorting through.  "It's quite a big project," Skelton said. "It's unbelievable some of the stuff we have here."

The opera house in downtown Beaver Dam burning down has a presence in the scrapbook. There are still mountains of pictures in boxes from the Monarch Range fire in the early 1990s. Car crashes are documented as well.  "Monarch Range was one of our biggest fires," Skelton said. "We have tons of those pictures. I have to go through those and try to keep them in order."

The flow of information grows daily as items are added to the scrapbooks, Skelton said. After Daily Citizen is read, it is put in a box at the firehouse for Skelton to go through. She then looks through the papers and finds articles related to the fire department.  Stories about the flooding last summer are ongoing in Skelton's scrapbooks as the city continues to deal with the aftermath.

It is the older photos that are closer to Skelton's heart.  "It's neat to see how the personnel has changed," Skelton said. "If you look at pictures from 10 or 20 years ago, it's amazing to see how things have changed. The attire and patches are all different."

The pictures also show how the city has evolved over the years, Skelton said.  Old firefighters have also brought in their scrapbooks and contributed them to the collection.  Skelton has used firefighter records or she talks to old firefighters to find out about the timing of the photos and articles. "Sometimes it's easy and the back of the photos are dated," Skelton said.

Even with smaller projects, Skelton said to make sure that everything is dated so you can make your scrapbooking projects easier to organize.  "Keep records and stay organized," Skelton said. "It's also important to have a theme. Our theme here is obviously firefighting."

"It's nice to look through and see our achievements and be recognized as contributing to the community," Skelton said.  She also hopes to take pictures out of the books and place them on the walls of the firehouse.  "There is something about the black and white photos that is so nostalgic," Skelton said. "They are neat to see."  Skelton said the scrapbooks at the firehouse date back to the early 1930s.

Skelton, who came to the department five years ago, said it's something she will enjoy seeing her career advance in over the years.  "It's always nice to reflect on the department," Skelton said.

 

Record Call Rate Continues

2009 is off to a record setting pace with back to back record months for EMS calls.  Our previous record of 123 calls, set just in November and December 2008, has been shattered in January and February of this year.  The new record is 154 EMS calls during February, the shortest month of the year.  In the 5 day period from 2/23 - 2/28, the department did 50 EMS calls.  Six times during that period there were 2 EMS calls at the same time including 2 simultaneous EMS calls while the department was fighting a barn fire.

 

Typically, the department responds to 3-4 EMS calls during an average day and have a couple simultaneous calls per month.  This volume easily triples our normal rate.  See the related Daily Citizen article also.

 

Department Assists with Barn Fire

 

2/26/09 - A fire has destroyed a barn in the Town of Calamus.  The Beaver Dam Fire Department got a call just before 3:30pm about a barn on fire located along Highway 151 near the intersection of East Salem Road.  When firefighters arrived, the barn was fully involved with flames visible through the roofline and smoke billowing across the highway.  The barn was packed full of hay and shredded corn stalks on both the upper and lower levels. There were no animals in the barn.  Normally, barn fires happen in later summer or early fall.  It is very unusual to have one in February.  Fire Departments from Columbus, Fall River, Reeseville and Lowell assisted at the scene. 

 

 

 

New Chief Announced

 

The Beaver Dam Police and Fire Commission has announced that Mr. Alan Mannel, from Matteson, Illinois, is to be the city's next fire chief.  He is a second generation firefighter who has served 30 years with the Matteson department and is currently a Lieutenant serving as Arson Inspector and EMS Coordinator and has experience as a water rescue diver. He is also a certified Paramedic.  He is scheduled to begin service on April 1.

2009 Off to a Big Start

January 18, 2009 - The cold weather hasn't stopped the members of the Beaver Dam Fire Department from continuing to work at a record setting pace.  As of January 15, the EMS had responded to over 75 EMS calls in the first 15 days of the month.  At that rate, the department will easily shatter the previous record of 123 EMS calls in a month. 

On Saturday, January 17, we responded to 10 EMS calls during a 6 hour period starting just before 3pm.  3 of these calls were for vehicle accidents and 5 EMS calls (including 1 of the car accidents) happened in just over 60 minutes of total time between 8 and 9pm.

Since 1998, EMS call volume to 911 calls has increased over 49%, or an overall average rate of 4.9% per year.  2003 was the first year we responded to more than 1,000 EMS calls in a year and we've never looked back.  In addition, 2008 was the first full calendar year of enhanced service to our community by offering interfacility transports from hospital to hospital or hospital to nursing home.  In 2008, the department responded to 1,361 EMS calls as a 911 provider and conducted an additional 549 emergent and nonemergent interfacility transports.  This brings total EMS calls for last year to 1,910.

 

Friend does CPR to help heart attack victim survive

By TERRI PEDERSON, Staff Reporter

As printed in the 11/26/08 edition of the Daily Citizen

 

William Sweetman has a lot of people to be thankful for this Thanksgiving after a friend and local emergency workers banded together to save him from a heart attack on Nov. 13.

Sweetman said he got back from pheasant hunting in South Dakota the previous Sunday and was cleaning the mud off his truck that Thursday afternoon.   He was working in front of the barber/beauty shop he shares with his wife Jeanne in the 1100 block of North University Avenue when his friend Gregory Shave approached him.   "Greg pulled over to talk to me," Sweetman said. "I walked towards him and then he just caught me."

Sweetman said he has been battling heart disease for the last 23 years. In the past, he has had a few heart attacks. Two, one in 1985 and another in 1992, resulted in bypass surgeries.  This heart attack was different, Sweetman said.  "I didn't feel nothing," Sweetman said. "I didn't feel like it was hard to breath or any chest pains."  Shave knew something was wrong. Shave lowered him to the ground and then began giving chest compressions and quickly called 911.  "It's amazing," Jeanne Sweetman said. "Bill could have been anywhere else. He could have been alone."

Beaver Dam police officers Lisa Jones and Kevin Rohde were on the scene within minutes and quickly hooked Sweetman up to an automatic external defibrillator.   "When the AED said to shock I pushed the button," Jones said. "Rescue (EMTs Alyson Skelton and Matt Christian) arrived as we shocked him and they took over. Kevin monitored Sweetman's pulse and kept trying to talk to him. By then Sweetman started breathing on his own."   Sweetman was taken to Beaver Dam Community Hospital before being transferred to UW-Hospital in Madison.

Beaver Dam officers are required to have AEDs in their vehicles at all times. Beaver Dam Fire Department trains police personnel on AED use every two years. Beaver Dam Community Hospital Foundation donated half the money for the AEDs to the police department.

BDCH Foundation has helped provide funding for AEDs to Green Valley, Family Center, Hillside Manor, First Ev. Lutheran Church, Beaver Dam police and South Beaver Dam Elementary School.  "The fact that I'm sitting here and things are back to normal," Sweetman said. "It just seems like a bad dream."

Sweetman said he wanted to thank everyone who helped him that day. His wife Jeanne feels the same way and said they were blessed to be together this Thanksgiving Day.  "God was definitely in on this," she said.