Fire Department
How many firefighters does the City of Merrill have on its department?
The City of Merrill has 23 full-time cross trained Firefighter/Paramedics, this includes the Fire Chief and Administrative Battalion Chief. All Hazard training allows each personnel to work as a firefighter or a Emergency Medical Technician, this flexibility is paramount for the Fire Department staff to handle all fire, rescue and medical emergencies within our coverage area.
What areas are covered by the full-time fire and EMS staff from Merrill?
For fire and rescue emergencies our department covers the city of Merrill, along with the Towns of Merrill, Scott and the southern half of Rock Falls.
Emergency Medical or Ambulance coverage is provided for the City of Merrill, along with the Towns of Birch, Corning, Harding, Harrison (southern part), Merrill, Pine River, Rock Falls, Russell, Schley and Scott.
Who pays for the fulltime firefighter/paramedics?
Of the 23 full-time staff on the Merrill Fire Department, 9 positions are paid for by the county for full-time paramedic ambulance service protection to the southern half of Lincoln County; which includes the City of Merrill and the 9 surrounding towns. The remaining 14 positions are paid by the City of Merrill, who receives contracted revenue annually, from the Towns of Merrill, Scott and Rock Falls for full-time fire and rescue service to be provided by the Merrill Fire Department.
Where is the fire station located?
The Fire Department is located at 110 Pier St. Merrill WI.
Why are there so many firefighters?
With 23 full time members there are 3 shifts that consist of 7 personnel plus the Fire Chief and the Administrative Battalion Chief who provides managerial support and training for the shifts.
Personnel are strategically placed onto 3 separate shifts to utilize and spread out unique talents and training equally. The 3 shifts consist of 7 firefighter/paramedics per shift, with a minimum manning of 5 Firefighters per duty day.
What kind of schedule does a firefighter work?
In Merrill, firefighters work 48 hours, then are off for 96 hours, after which the cycle starts all over again. Firefighters cover the station everyday of the week and every minute of the day. Each firefighter works an average of 56 hours per week with this schedule. Off duty firefighters are also summoned if the need arises due to fire or rescue calls along with multiple ambulance calls.
Do firefighters really get to rest at night?
Sometimes! It depends on the number of calls or emergencies that they have to respond to during the night time hours. If there are no emergencies or required reports or paperwork to be finished from earlier runs, then they are on their own down time. All their gear is ready to go on a moment’s notice, in case they receive a 911 call from dispatch for an emergency call. Being at the station allows for a 3 minute response time or less anywhere within the city limits. With the number of ambulance, rescue and fire calls that we receive rarely do the firefighters get to rest during the 24 hour shift.
What is a typical workday like for a Merrill Firefighter Merrill?
Firefighters report to the Fire Station before 7 a.m., they then ready their fire gear for the day.
They meet with their officer to receive the communications from the day before and get the information for work for that day.
They then check the ambulance's to make sure everything is in order from the night before such as medications and the Cardiac monitor/defibrillator.
Next, check fire equipment and some type of station maintenance. They do fire safety inspections for area businesses and/or community service projects (blood pressure checks, station tour, fire prevention talk. etc.)
Lunch time
After lunch, they have either a training class or drill, or continue with fire safety inspections for area businesses, usually for the rest of the afternoon.
During these times they are always ready to respond at a moment’s notice from wherever they are at or whatever they are doing.
If they go on an emergent call and after they complete the call they must do EMS patient report and a NIFR (National Incident Fire Report) for every call which can take up to as hour to write depending on call, and get whatever vehicle they used back, ready to go with proper supplies for the next call.
In the evening, they wash the vehicles and clean the station after the day of being used for multiple uses, CPR training, fire training, EMS training, local government meetings are all held here at the station and then after the station is cleaned they may have free time, waiting for the next emergency.
If they get to rest at night, they get actively moving again at 06:00 to sweep the floors, clean the kitchen and bathrooms and vehicles again from calls that took place in the night and then pass the information along to the oncoming shift after they finish their 48 hour shift.
How many fire calls does the Merrill Fire Department respond to in a year?
Over the past 10 years the Merrill Fire Department has responded to an average of 190 calls that we have had to make out a NFIR – National Fire Incident Report. A NFIR call includes all fires, rescues and gas investigations. Fire calls have declined around the country as firefighters have become more proactive in the area of fire prevention, rather than in the past where firefighters only reacted to fires by extinguishing them after they started. Today, our goal is to prevent them before they start. Zero is our goal but we realize that is not realistic!
How many ambulance runs does the Merrill Fire Department respond to in a year?
The exact number varies from year to year, but the trend has been an increase in call volume. In 2017 there were 1,744 EMS calls in the EMS response area for the Merrill Fire Department. These numbers have risen dramatically in the past 10 years, in the year 2001 there were 1,232 ambulance runs. Ambulance runs include emergent runs, non-emergent calls, no transports and transfers from one facility to another facility.
How many ambulances does the Merrill Fire Department have?
There are 3 ambulances in service at the Merrill Fire Department. Medic 62 and Medic 63 are first response ambulances; they are primary response ambulances. Medic 61 is primarily used for inter-facility transfers, from hospital to hospital; however when dealing with multiple emergency medical calls or large incidents Medic 61 can be utilized as a primary response ambulance as well.
What is the average “turn out time” and “response time” for the Merrill Fire Department?
Response times are a vital aspect of delivering emergency services to the citizens of Merrill and the surrounding community. When someone calls 911 they need help and want to receive it as soon as possible. Research by the National Fire Protection Association shows that a fire doubles in size between every thirty seconds to one minute. When a taxpayer calls 911 for a medical emergency they also expect a quick response as well. Irreversible brain damage begins within six minutes of being deprived of oxygen. The recovery from many other compromises to the body is reliant on rapid treatment for improved results. It has been shown over and over that the faster response to emergencies, the better the outcome whether it be in property protection or medical recovery.
The Merrill Fire Department tracks two important measurable pieces of data related to the delivery of our services. They are turn out time and response time.
Turn out time is measured in the time between our page from 911 dispatchers until the time our vehicles leave from wherever they are to an emergency.
For all Fire and EMS calls, the average turn out time was one minute and eight seconds (1:08).
Response time is the time that begins when the emergency units leave the stations to the time of arrival at the emergency incident.
For all Fire and EMS calls, the overall response time from the time our units were dispatched till the time the first unit arrived on scene was an average of four minutes and twenty-two seconds (4:22).