Item 7.4 ERFD Annual ReportCity of Elk River
Fire Department
2022
Year-end Report
Otsego
From the Chief’s Desk
Greetings,
I would like to start out by thanking the City of Otsego leadership for their continued support of
our fire department, and the community who we serve. The year 2022 brought substantial changes
in our department. We were fortunate to be able to build a beautiful new fire station on the east side
that is already proving to be an asset to the entire city, and also includes training capabilities our
firefighters have never had before. We enhanced our current fire station 2 with a re-model and
addition that provides us with decontamination rooms, bathrooms with showers, two larger
apparatus bays, and an HVAC system that will keep toxic gases out of the station. We also were able
to purchase a new state of the art aerial truck that we hope to have operational by 2026. We also
started a Community Risk Reduction program and enhanced our emergency management with
technology updates to our Emergency Operations Center.
The year 2022 year-end report shows a breakdown of the emergency responses provided to the City
of Otsego by the Elk River Fire Department. We saw a significant decrease in both structural fires
and wildland fires during the year. However, alarms still make-up the majority of our responses and
motor vehicle accidents with significant injuries or fatalities are still very high. We are addressing
both issues in 2023 with a comprehensive analysis for risk reduction that will provide us data on
creating safer travel on our roads and for pedestrian traffic.
We also had some hard times hit our department in 2022, with three of our firefighter’s families
having tragedy strike. Two of our firefighters lost a child due to unfortunate circumstances, both of
which we responded to as an emergency event. In addition, we most recently had another one of our
firefighters three-year-old son diagnosed with Leukemia on Christmas day. These events sent
shockwaves through our department and not only effected our firefighters but their family members
as well. Our fire family is very close which is why we have persevered through these tough times,
even though it impacted all of us we were also able to provide the support for these families that
they needed.
In conclusion, we are working hard to find creative ways that will provide exceptional service to our
community and partners businesses and members, expanding our community risk reduction
program that will create a safer and more resilient community, and planning for inevitable changes
that will impact our department in the future. As always, if you have any questions regarding this
year-end report, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Mark Dickinson
Fire Chief & Director of Emergency Management
The Elk River Fire Department received a total of ninety-six calls for service in 2022. The pie chart
above breaks down the 96 incidents into categories based on the National Fire Incident Reporting
Systems (NFIRS).
Category #1 (Fires) are generally what most people think of when they picture a fire department
response. This includes all structural, vehicle, wild land, cooking, rubbish, and mutual aid.
Category #2 (Alarms) includes all carbon monoxide, sprinkler, and fire alarms responded to where
no fire was found upon arrival.
Category #3 (Hazardous Materials) pertains to incidents involving a hazardous materials leak, spill,
or release (i.e., natural gas, fuel, carbon dioxide, etc.).
Category #4 (Vehicle Accidents) involves a response to motorized vehicle accidents that include
both injured and non-injured patients. Extrication of patients from vehicles is an advanced skill that
is often needed.
Category 5 (False alarms) includes all 911 activations where we responded but no problem was
found upon arrival, or we were cancelled by dispatch en-route.
Category 6 (Agency assists) refers to responding to an incident to assist another agency (i.e., law
enforcement or utilities for downed power lines).
Category 7 (medical) includes all medical responses requested by ambulance.
10%
27%
9%23%
26%
0%5%
2022 Total Incidents for Otsego -96
Fires (9)
Alarms (26)
Hazardous Materials (8)
Vehicle Accidents (22)
False Alarms (25)
Agency Assists (1)
Medical (5)
Additional information For the City of Otsego
Total loss for structure fires > $60.000
Total loss for outbuilding/sheds >$30,000
Fires:
• Commercial or residential four
• Cooking/confined to stove two
• Brush fire/wildland one
• Vehicle fire one
• Other one
Motor Vehicle Accidents:
• MVA/with injuries twenty
• MVA/without injuries two