Present:   Tom Burdette, Roger Simms, Barry Thorn,  Janet Stanovich, Chris Dragoo, Stu Tanner, Ed Guzman, Dick Rekart, Jerry Thompson, Dave Wolin                                                                

Meeting called to order:  0730 hrs 

Minutes:  February, 2006 minutes approved.   Motion – D. Wolin; Seconded –   T. Burdette

Discussion/Round Table: 

Chris Dragoo ( Oakhurst Community Medical Center ) reported on the Disaster Exercise Drill.  It is scheduled for May 12, 2006 – at 0800-1200 hrs.  The location for the drill will be Valley Children’s Hospital.  Chris does not know at this time how many people will participate from the various agencies. 

The tabletop will be on Pandemic Flu.  At one time the selected disaster topic was to cover natural disaster for a given area.  However, medical facilities MUST concentrate the drill exercises on Pandemic Flu.  Any follow-up to the drill in the mountain communities will be for Community Medical Center staff only.  We will look into doing another exercise later in year to include scenario using victims, etc.

The Surge Capacity Conference held on Thursday, February 23, 2006 was successful.  There were approximately 200+ people participating.  On Friday, February 24, 2006 , Madera County Public Health did a follow-up planning workshop at Valley Children’s Hospital – where the EOC is going to be.

Chris has had to complete a Surge Capacity survey for HRSA.  It is a very difficult survey to complete because it is difficult to predict – for example – how many people will show up to work in the event of a disaster/outbreak, etc.  Another area difficult to establish is what inventory the sites may have on hand.

The new Station 12 will be bigger: two more bedrooms and one more bay.  The property management would like to begin in Spring ’06 and finalize in Fall ’06.  It will be a 25-year lease; after that, the county will take possession.  

The County Board of Supervisors approved a “3-0 Staffing” to be funded by county and Bass Lake Home Owners.  This is not a specific problem to Bass Lake ; it’s affecting all stations everywhere. 

Ed also commented on how well the new dispatching process is working.  However, CDF and SAS want to be sure to maintain rapport with EMS agencies even with this change.

Sierra Ambulance is working on an on-going project for a couple of years now. Construction of a building is in the plans for that will house County Fire , North Fork Auxiliary (fire), and CDF.  The location is at the North Fork Mill Site.  The hope is to carve out one acre of land near Road 225 in partnership with fire department:  3 fire bays; one ambulance bay; restrooms and an office.  As the demand builds – living quarters will be built at the site.   

There was a double-fatal accident on March 8, 2006 .   

Barry Thorn  (OES) reported that the RMA Director (Roads Management Agency) is in the process of drafting new policy about sand bags.  It goes to the Board of Supervisors and then should be closer to being settled – in the next month or two.  Stations 12 and 19 will not be for public use; however, the public can use the sand.  There will be three locations established as sites for the public to attain free sand bags. 

Barry has several projects going on at this time; mostly waiting for County to approve:

1.  GIS Coordinator pilot program

2. Resource-Typing Program – cost is $33,000, which would fall under the criteria of the new NIMS and local government procedures system. 

Tom Burdette:  (SPCA) North Fork is planning an “Earth Day” celebration program to be held April 23, 2006 at the North Fork School .  The theme will be “Living Safely in the Foothills” – fire safety and emergency preparedness.  Booth space will be available.  Paul Abram will include an article in the Sierra Star. Tom commented on the work that SPCA is doing.  In regards to taking on small animals - having an outlined extensive commitment begins with education.  

Stu Tanner:  (Explorers) has been actively involved with activities in Mariposa.

Dick Rekart:  (A.R.E.S.) reported that 600 HAM radio operators responded to Katrina.

Jerry Thompson:  (R.A.C.E.S.) reported that communications will be using a digital mode of operations versus voice.

Janet Stanovich:  (Community Response Team, SAR) reported that along with discussing SAR and Community Response Team efforts, she will report on her Practicum studies on “special populations” – as this is an area we will also need to incorporate into our emergency preparedness planning.  

There was also discussion about the scheduled training to be held on March 27, 2006 .  It will be conducted at the Oakhurst Community Center ; this is the first training scheduled – with many more to come in the future.  The topic for the evening will be the ICS/SEMS/NIMS and presented by Barry Thorn-County OES Coordinator.  This training is for all community members interested in emergency/disaster preparedness.

Dave Wolin:  reported that he is now taking the CERT course through the Fresno County Citizen Corps Council.  

Dave made reference about the Committee participating as an EMS exhibit at the Fall Festival in October (21^st).  The Committee will take it under consideration.  

Next Meeting:   April 13, 2006 Sierra Ambulance Training Headquarters - 0730 hrs.

Meeting Adjourned at:   0855hrs.

Respectfully submitted,

Janet Stanovich