Deputy Chief RL Colina from Monroe County Fire and Rescue joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM yesterday morning to talk about what’s been going on in the county.
The crash and collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday was incredibly tragic.
Chief Colina said, “We just want to express our hearts and prayers go out to those families and those that may have been impacted by this incident. A lot goes into these incidents. There’s a lot of different facets of communication that needs to be established. So many different agencies are involved when it comes to something of this magnitude. They’re well trained, well trained personnel out there, doing their best to ensure that if there’s any survivors or any chance, they’re going to do their best to make that happen. The primary mission always is going to be life safety and trying to get that out. Then obviously, the long road will be the investigation to ensure that these types of occurrences don’t happen again. We’re glad we have emergency responders and workers and we just ask everyone to keep them in their thoughts and prayers, because that’s exactly what we’re doing at this point.”
Hurricane season is just around the corner and preparedness is so important.
Chief Colina said, “We do a great job. Monroe County Rescue, just the citizens within Monroe County, Monroe county government, we are always in a constant state of being prepared of what’s coming. The past tornado watches that we’ve had previously and some of that inclement weather that has come in, it definitely kind of gives us a little pre plan of what we may potentially be facing. It’s just one of those things, you always want to be prepared and that’s why we’ve already started with, we have an all hazards emergency operational plan, we’re getting that updated for the June 1 start. I know emergency management, they stay busy year round, making sure that everything is ready, everything’s prepared in case, we have to start thinking about evacuations and emergency type responses. So Monroe County Fire Rescue, we pretty much go through a monthly check of all of the equipment, especially the equipment that we’re going to be utilizing, in case of the need for a hurricane or a natural disaster.”
The new Emergency Operations Center in Marathon will help a whole lot.
Chief Colina said, “We are definitely waiting for the opening of that new facility, which will be housing emergency management. Monroe County Fire Rescue headquarters will be located in there and we’ll also have communications by the sheriff’s office in there. So it’s going to be a great consolidation of the county resources in one facility that’s going to be state of the art, and just a great centralized location to help mitigate these emergencies and kind of control what we need to control.”
With the road construction in various areas throughout the Keys, how does that affect emergency personnel with alternate routes?
Chief Colina said, “We’re in constant communication with DOT and the contractors associated with the improvements that have been happening in Big Pine with the roads. We’re limited on roads down here, so when we do have area that needs to be repaired or enhanced, and it goes into any type of modification, unfortunately, it does cause sometimes delays in those areas. So for us, the main thing we always combat is time. If an emergency comes out, we want to ensure that we can get there and in the right amount of time and these road closures, we stay abreast of any of the changes to make sure that any of the routes that we need to get to that we make those modifications already ahead of time. It also it helps out the residents of that area as well that they understand that they might have a slight delay or an impact on their daily travel to work or to school. We just get that out there that message. They’re going to be starting the 1st to the 15th. They’ll be working off of Key Deer Boulevard and then once that project is completed, they’ll be turning their efforts over to the Watson area and that’ll be the 15th through the 30th. So I would just anticipate that there’s going to be potentially some delays in those areas. Hopefully they’re not too significant for you but we will definitely keep you aware of any changes or any delays when it comes time for those projects.”
How is recruitment going for Monroe County Fire Rescue?
Chief Colina said, “We hired four new personnel to Monroe County Fire Rescue, that we’re filling vacancies that will basically be fulfilled from people that had had retired, or had kind of relocated with their careers. So at this point, we have two that are through the academy, we have two more that’ll be starting the orientation academy with us, and we’re doing strong. Our retention rate has definitely increased recently, in the last year, year and a half. We’re looking good. Feeling good. And the department’s growth is just shown in order to keep protecting this community.”
About 36,000 people are treated in hospital emergency departments for injuries with chainsaws every year.
Chief Colina said, “Especially when we start talking with hurricane seasons, and trying to clear areas, we’ll definitely continue to put the message out there between the chainsaw safety and just, I’d say like a situational awareness, you always have to be cognizant of what’s around you, you might be cutting a branch that might impact the power line, or there might be a power line that’s down, these are things that we always want to ensure that the community understands that if you have any doubt, or you have that feeling in your stomach, that is just going to work or not, go ahead and call a professional out there. There’s plenty of professionals out there that can come out there as a resource. If in doubt, contact Fire Rescue, if there’s something we can do, we will definitely help you do it. But we’d rather you be safe in any operation that you conduct out there. The chainsaws become an issue because it’s a quick way to clear an area, but sometimes you don’t know what you’re clearing or what might be above it or below it, is what we miss sometimes. We’ve had some tragic events happen that we’d like to say that be a little bit more cautious of what you do. Realize our wind and the gusts around here, they may be dead for hours, and all of a sudden, they pull up in breeze and that ladder that was five to 10 feet away from the line now becomes a target and goes right into the lines. So it’s those type of circumstances that even with people that are trained and skilled to be using these ladders, they encounter. So we just always want to be aware and no need to take useless chances or risks when they’re not warranted.”