Each year in May, our Nation celebrates National EMS Week. This week is dedicated to emergency medical technicians everywhere. Here in the community of Lafayette, our EMS team is made up of highly skilled and qualified EMS professionals who dedicate themselves to their community each and every day. On Monday May 20, 2013, the Lafayette Township Trustees will meet in regular session. At this meeting, a proclamation will be rendered from the board of trustees proclaiming the week of May 19-25, 2013 as National EMS Week in Lafayette Township. You are hereby cordially invited to attend this event. Members of Lafayette Township Fire Department will be on hand to be recognized for their hard work and dedication to the service they provide to the communities of Lafayette, Chippewa Lake, and Gloria Glens. Afterward, cake and refreshments will be provided and Emergency Medical Technicians will be on hand for an informal “meet-n-greet” session. Both ambulances will also be present and on display. The meeting will be held on May 20, 2013 at 6:30pm at the Lafayette Township Hall located at 6776 Wedgewood RD Medina, OH 44256. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact publicrelations@lafayettetwpfire.com

When it’s time to "spring forward" and change the clocks on Sunday, March 10, make sure to change the batteries in all of your smoke alarms. If batteries were recently changed, it's still very important to conduct your monthly test of your smoke alarms. It could save a life!  Did you know that having a working smoke alarm reduces a person's chance of dying in a fire by half?

For the best protection, install smoke alarms on every level of your home, outside every sleeping area, and in every bedroom. Smoke alarms should be mounted high on walls or ceilings and tested monthly.
 
It's important to replace smoke alarm batteries at least once a year, unless they're 10-year lithium batteries. Even if your smoke alarms are hardwired, replace the batteries in case of a chirping sound or a power outage.
 
Reminder: Smoke alarms do not last forever. The maximum life span is 8-10 years. After that time, the entire unit should be replaced. If the unit does not respond properly when tested, it should be replaced immediately.

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CrossPointe Community Church is holding a Valentine Dinner Dance on Saturday February 9th. 100% of the profits will go to the fire department to help purchase auto extrication tools. Tickets are $20.00 each, please spread the word. 

Hearts are blazing for the Lafayette Township Fire Department on Saturday, February 9th!  A Valentine Dinner/Dance, sponsored by CrossPointe Community Church, will be held to raise money for the fire department.  Proceeds will help us to purchase much needed automobile extraction equipment.

Dinner will be served at 6PM, and will include homemade spaghetti, meatballs, salad, breadsticks, dessert and beverage.  Live music, provided by the CrossPointe band, will begin at 7PM.  Music will be mostly rock ‘n’ roll, for your listening, or dancing pleasure! Tickets are $20, and are available for purchase from either the fire department, or from CrossPointe Community Church.  You may either call the church office for tickets at 330-723-9009 or Annie, at 330-807-8148.  CrossPointe is located at 7230 Lake Road, in Chippewa Lake.

Recently, the Lafayette Township Board of Trustees approved a proposal that allows the fire department to increase our staffing hours from 40 hrs per week to 84 hrs per week. Currently the fire department staffs one fire station between the hours of 8am and 4pm Monday through Friday. Only one fire station is staffed. Station #1 is staffed on the odd days of the week (e.g. 1,3,5,7,9,11 etc); Station #2 is staffed during the even days of the week (e.g. 2,4,6,8,10,12 etc). The stations are staffed with a total of 3 personnel, one firefighter and at least 2 EMTs. Starting February 1, 2013 LTFD will start staffing 12 hours a day, 7 days per week from 6am to 6pm. We will continue to rotate stations on the even and odd days of the week. During the week (Monday - Friday) beginning at 6am 2 personnel will cover the township until 10am when a 3rd person comes in. The township and villages will then be covered by 3 personnel for 8 hours until 6pm. After 6pm, personnel respond from their homes. Lafayette Township began daytime staffing back in 2007 and since then has allowed us to drastically improve our response times during the day. Staffing also allows the fire department to maintain day to day operations and engage in programs such as our daily blood pressure checks.

On January 15, 2013 the Lafayette Township Board of Trustees met in regular session. One of the items on the agenda was the swearing in of 5 new fire department applicants. The applicants were interviewed by members of the department and carefully selected for their back ground and character. The new members include: Andrew Berger who is a recent graduate of Cloverleaf High School and former fire explorer with Lafayette. Andrew is currently seeking his certification as an EMT-basic. Tim Brunenmeister who is a certified paramedic with Westfield Fire & Rescue. Tim also works as a full-time paramedic in the emergency room at Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital. Dan Guadet who is also a former fire explorer with Lafayette. Dan is an active member in the Chippewa Lake Ski Team and has also served our country in the US Coast Guard. Dan is currently seeking his degree in nursing from the University of Akron. Scott Oring, who comes to us with many years in the fire & emergency medical field. Scott is a former member of Seville Fire & EMS as well as Westfield Fire & Rescue and is currently a member of the Medina Life Support Team. Finally, Deb Juba. Deb also comes to Lafayette with many years in the fire and EMS service. Deb is a former member of Valley City Fire Department & Erhart-York Fire Department. She currently serves as a full-time paramedic with the Medina Life Support Team and in her spare time, teaches EMT-basic students at the Medina County Career Center. We welcome all of our new members to our team and our excited to get to know them and their families as they begin their new positions with us.

It's that time of year again! February is right around the corner and soon the eggs will be scrammbled, the pancakes will be flipping, and the crepes will be stuffed! The first of the Lafayette Township Firefighter's Association 2013 "All-You-Can-Eat Breakfast" will be Sunday February 3! Breakfast is EVERY Sunday in the month of February from 8:30am to 1:00pm at fire station #2 located at 5834 Heather Hedge DR in Chippewa Lake. Adults: $9.00 Seniors (65 & up): $7.00 Kids (ages 3-8): $5.00 Kids (under 2): FREE Menu Items include: Pancakes, Sausage, Eggs, Bacon, Sausage Gravey & Biscuits, Juice, Coffee, & our customer favorite Crepes. ALL PROCEEDS WILL BENEFIT THE LAFAYETTE TOWNSHIP FIREFIGHTER'S ASSOCIATION

This past Saturday December 22, 2012; the Lafayette Township Firefighter's Association held its annual "Visit from Santa" This years event included a total 90 household stops within the township & Village of Chippewa Lake. Santa visited a total of 223 children and handed out 223 gifts. Special thanks to our residents who make this event a great success every year!

Recently Lafayette Township Fire Department's Daytime Staffing crew took place in a fire prevention detail at Cloverleaf Elementary School. On display was Lafayette's fire engine 101-2 along with FF Dan Romanoff as the guest speaker for the elementary school children. Afterward the children were able to tour Engine 101-2 in order to get a closer look of how a fire engine operates.

Among the children in the crowd, one child stood out to FF Romanoff, a young blind boy by the name of Russell. FF Romanoff noticed Russell standing by the engine while other children were climbing in and out of the cab, on the pump panel, and back pumper exploring the vehicle in which they were not use to seeing every day.
 
FF Romanoff went over to Russell and asked "would you like feel the fire engine?" Russell replied with "Am I Allowed to?"
 
FF Romanoff assisted Russell in to Engine 101-2 and began to explain the operation of the engine as well as the importance of leaving personal possessions, such as Russell's stuffed elephant in the house in order to get out safely in the event of a fire. Russell was able to feel the different objects and learn about them. 
 
After the event was completed, FF Romanoff was confronted by Russell's Principle who gave him a letter that Russell had written in Braille.   
 
The letter reads:
 
Mr. Dan
 
Thank you for letting me feel and sit in your fire truck, it was really cool and when I get home I will tell my mom and dad all about it and how you said to leave the elephant in the house if it was on fire they will always find a way out.
 
Thank You,
Russell
 
Russell’s letter was framed by the Lafayette Township Firefighter’s Association and presented to FF Romanoff as an award at last night’s association meeting.

It's that time of year again!  Santa has been contacted and he can't wait to come back to visit the kids and families of Lafayette Twp. on their own special day. 

December 22, 2012 the Lafayette Twp. Firefighters Association will be assisting Santa in some pre-Christmas Day deliveries.  The best part is, he'll be riding on Firetrucks instead of the normal reindeer drawn sleigh, as the reindeer need rest before their big day. 

Just click on the attached flyer for more information!  Be sure to share this with your friends, family, & neighbors!
 

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT members can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help. CERT members also are encouraged to support emergency response agencies by taking a more active role in emergency preparedness projects in their community.

Information obtained from: http://www.fema.gov/community-emergency-response-teams