Lego City Fire Department
Behind the Scenes
This page will explain the why's and how's of my Lego City Fire Department collection.
How It All Began
I got my first LEGO set, ironically a fire truck, from my Grandparents on Christmas Eve of 1982. I was ten years old and had already been in love with the fire department for a year.
Starting out, I simply bought every LEGO set that I could. After quite a few years, I had a nice little collection of TOWN sets. Then, when I "grew up", I got rid of all my LEGOs. But a Firefighter at heart, I just couldn't part with the few fire trucks that I had. So I kept 'em.
When I finally was able to join a fire department at the age of 19, I started learning how things were handled in a real fire department. So I decided to try to add a little more life to my fire truck collection.
Naming the City
I started out by naming the city. I thought about using the name of a real city, but that wasn't much fun. I wanted a name that reflected the LEGO part of the whole thing. After a little thought, I came up with Lego City. It was perfect!
Naming the Personnel
I then decided that my firefighters had to have names. So I started giving them names, using the names of my friends and family. For example, Gaylon P. has been my best friend since I was 5, when we first met. I'm proud to say that he is also the Godfather of my two daughters. He's a good man! (Gaylon, you owe me! haha) He became the Assistant Chief for awhile there. But he isn't the type of person to push pencils, so he stepped down to a position where he could still "fight fire".
The Command Structure
It took off after the names were thought up. Then I came up with the chain off command. From the firefighter all the way upto the Fire Chief. This means that I had to have a Leiutenant for each unit, or fire truck. The Firefighters reported to their respective Leiutenant and the Leiutenants reported to the Captain of thier respective station, as each Station also had a Captain. As LCFD grew larger, I needed a little more people in the chain of command. At first, I added a Battallion Chief, which is just above the Station Captains. Then the city got too large for just one Battallion Chief, so I added another two. Then I needed someone for the Battallion Chiefs to report to who worked by the Fire Chief, thus the District Chief. As I get more stations and Lego City grows, I will have to add more Battallion Chiefs.
The Fire that Gave me EMS Supervisors
It was not too long before I had joined onto a local volunteer fire department, that I had witnessed the first fire related death in my lifetime. It was about 2:00 am on a Saturday morning in the city of Anoka, MN.
It involved a three story apartment building in which none of the smoke detectors or smoke alarms worked. The fire was started by a gang member from Minneapolis who lit and then threw a BBQ grill through a bottom floor window. That room was the bedroom to a 6 month old girl. She was the only fatallity of the fire. Through the night, the Firefighters spent their efforts first searching for victims, since everyone was sleeping. Though the fire was small and quickly extinguished, the smoke was overbearing. In all, 19 people were transported to hospitals. There was such a demand on the EMS system, that they special called North and HCMC ambulances from Minneapolis, which is about 30 miles south of us. In my entire life and career, I have never personally seen something like this. Of all the places I could have been standing, I ended up standing within three feet of where they ahd set up triage for the smoke inhalation victims. As ambulances arrived, the paramedics would stop in the road - they didn't even get out - the firefighters opened the rear doors of the ambulance, sat the victim or two inside, closed the doors, pounded twice, and the paramedics drove to the next available hospital. At one point, they were loading three ambulances at once. It was harsh! To this day, I can remember what that 6 month old girl looked like as an Anoka Firefighter to revive the child. He was still in full turnout gear, minus the helmet. The girl was cradled in his arms as he was performing CPR on her. He wasn't even watching where he was going - his only concern was saving that girl's life - a police officer had him by the arm leading him to an awaiting ambulance in the road.
Well, due to the strain on the EMS system, an "EMS Supervisor" was called to the fire scene to oversee the EMS end of the fire. This was the first time I had even heard of such a person. So, of course, I had to have one too. The EMS supervisor acts like a Battallion Chief, but handles the EMS end of the department. As you can see from the rosters and station assignments, LCFD has three of these as well.
The EMS Supervisors report to the EMS Coordinator, who, in turn, reports to the Fire Chief.
Testing Proceedures
I started testing for a career position as a Firefighter. This taught me how hiring was handled. So I also have eligibility lists of names (usually of new friends and new co-workers). I rank them according to many points they score.
I have questions I answer about each "candidate". For example: "How many years have they been my friend?" One point is awarded for each year. Questions like that.
There are three areas in which questions are asked. Each area is worth a percent of the overall score, as follows:
Written 4 questions 20%
Physical Agility 4 questions 25%
Oral Interview 9 questions 55%
"Candidates" are then ranked on an "Eligibility List". The person with the highest score is ranked #1 and so on until all candidates are ranked. The #1 person is hired onto the department first, etc.
Testing is done at the beginning of each real year or when everyone on the current list is "hired".
Truck and Station Data
Not knowing the exact year that sets came out, I considered them "made" in whatever year it was that I got the set. For example, even though the Blaze Battler (set #: 6593) came out in 1991, I have it listed as a 1992 Pierce Telesquirt because I bought it in 1992.
"If only I knew then what I know now" I would have listed the years from when the set came out rather than when I bought it. Maybe I'll changed that someday. Who knows.
Now, we list the year the set was released and the date that LCFD put that particular unit in service.
For brand names, I used the brands of real fire truck manufactorers - Pierce and E-One are my personal favorites with Medtec being my personal favorite for ambulance manufactorers.
For equipment in a station or on a truck, I listed the actual LEGO elements put on the truck or in the station, but also listed out items that you have to imagine being there. For example, none of the fire stations have a teletype element, but each one has a teletype there, "for pretend". There also are no foam elements for the fire trucks, so once again, you have to imagine then being stored on the apparatus.
As for the staffing of apparatus, I have some basic concepts. These are concepts that I personally feel should be followed in the real world, but I don't get to make the rules, so most of the time, they are not followed. Do me and all firefighters a favor, contact your legislature and demand that more finances, resources, and manpower be put back to the fire department. There is a fire department bordering my city that has 3 firefighters assigned to each station! This is 3 people to either take out the rescue engine (for EMS) or take out the engine (for fire calls). This is NOT enough personnel !!! Guess why I don't live in that city.
All engines have 4 firefighters assigned to them. Ladder units have 5 firefighters assigned. Grass units have 2 firefighters assigned. Medic units (ambulances) have 2 Paramedics assigned. The technical units, such as the Rescues and Utility units, didn't really have a standard. I used what I felt was a realistic and safe number of personnel.
Another standard is the length of hose on apparatus. LEGO makes a few different types of hose for their fire trucks.
First, there are the full hose beds, as in the Blaze Battler (set #6593). There are also hose reels, like in the engine in the Fire Control Center (set#6389). There are also really long hose in hose beds, such as the ones in the Hook and Ladder (set #6340). The hose beds and hose reels are considered to be 50 foot lengths of hose, while the really long hose beds are considered to have 100 feet of hose. I haven't done it yet, but I'm sure I will, and that is too attach more LEGO threads together to get super long lengths of hose. Hmmmm, I'll have to do that!
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is "comparing your data to data of competitors." This is usually used in the business world, but this is perfect for helping me determine statistics.
The reference material I use is a set of 5 volumes of books titled "Fire Engineering's Municipal Fire Department Directories". These are published by Fire Engineering (as in the Magazine), which is a division of PENWELL Publishing Co.
These directories are my dream come true. They list EACH and EVERY fire department in the great US of A! They list such things as mailing addresses, scanner frequencies, nuber of fire and EMS calls, station addresses, number of personnel, and what units are assigned to each station. These directories are used very often by me for coming up with statistics and data on LCFD.
The other major source of data to me is Firehouse Magazine's National Run Surveys. This is an "article" that they publish each year. Fire departments around the coutry fill out surveys and Firehouse ranks each department. Here is what was listed in 1998's National Run Survey: population served, budget, number of engines and ladders, number of personnel, number of fire, EMS, and false alarms reponded to, and the busiest units: stations, engines, ladders, haz mats, ambulanecs, battallion chiefs, and rescue units.
What usually takes place is that I research something in the Fire Department Directories and then I compare it to the National Run Survey. For your information, Firehouse publishes a similiar article for the american volunteer fire departments.
The two sources listed above are my man sources for compiling statistics and data for LCFD.
Emergency Call Statistics
I have created a system and designed a computer program that creates the call statistics for me.
My whole "Call Determination Process" is derived from the St. Paul, Minnesota Fire Department's statistics, as I used from their 1992 and 1993 Annual Reports.
I have a first program that establishes the Number of Calls (both fire and EMS) Responded to. The number of days in that month plus a random number for each day between 1 and 20 is added up to give the total number of calls responded to that month. Next, the program automatically determines the number of calls for various components, giving a final number of calls for each unit. This is done for both Fire and EMS calls.
The program also determines any Multi-alarm fires or Mutual Aid requests from neighboring cities. Adds a little "coolness" to my statistics. I then email those other Lego Fire Departments with which we have mutual aid agreements with requesting mutual aid.
At the end of the year, I add up all 12 months worth of responses and then distribute them by each engine and medic unit, etc. This part is time consuming since I don't have program set up for that.
Budget
There are two parts to the budget: Actual and Theorectical.
The actual budget is actual US dollars that I spend on LCFD. Items such as purchasing LEGO sets, etc.
The theorectical budget is how much is would be in LEGO terms.
An example would be: I spend $9.25 for set #6666, the Ambulance. In actual expenses, that would be $9.25, but in theorectical terms, that would about $70,000, which is about what an ambulance would cost for real. I'm half guessing here.
For salaries, I benchmarked and found out what the minimum, maximum, and average salaries were for each position. I wanted LCFD to be the best, of course, so I made the salaries a little higher than normal.
For benefits, I use the high standard given to the industry, which is 35% of each employee's salary.
For training expenses, I use what each class would cost for just manuals and supplies since we use our own Training Facility and Instructors.
Meeting Minutes
As I learned from my beginning firefighting days, I learned how the organization part of firefighting is handled.
So I also included a monthly record of events that happened in that month. Such things would include when I bought a new set or any other important events to LCFD.
Civillian Fire Related Deaths
When I purchase a LEGO set and there are people or pieces that I don't use, I give them to my daughter. For each person that I do not use myself, I consider that a Fire Related Civillian Death. For example, set #6666 - Ambulance has a paramedic minifig, which I use, and a patient, which I don't use. If I bought two ambulances that day, there would be two such deaths that day.
If you look carefully, you will notice that in the years in which a lot of Actual money was spent on LEGOS that year, the number of Fire Related Civillian Deaths is also higher.
As you read through the stories, you will notice a very common theme amoung them - not using smoke detectors or not having working batteries in them. PLEASE - install smoke detectors and test them every six months !!!
URL: http://members.aol.com/LCFDFireChief/lcfd.htm
Copyright © 2000 Eric S. McDonald
This page was last updated on 2-1-02