Fire chief appointed to state committee

Mason has 30 years of fire-related experience

By Latreecia Wade
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 3:18 AM CST

Chief Russ Mason, of Central County Fire and Rescue, has sacrificed a lot to serve the residents of the fire district, and now residents throughout the state will benefit from his benevolence.

Mason, 51, of St. Peters, recently was appointed to the Advisory Committee for 911 Service Oversight by Gov. Matt Blunt.

Mason said he was recommended to the governor's office by the Missouri Fire Service Alliance because he is vice president of the Missouri Association of Fire Chiefs. He also is president of the Professional Fire and Fraud Investigation Association.

"A representative of each major group in the state get together and talk about joint issues related to fire safety," Mason said. "An opening for a fire service representative became vacant and I was chosen to fill the seat."

The husband and father of four has been with Central County for 14 years, and before that was with the Missouri Division of Fire Safety for eight years; he has 30 years of fire-related experience.

"I got into it (fire safety) as a volunteer firefighter growing up in North St. Louis County," Mason said. "The rest is history."

Mason said a career in fire safety was the last thing on his mind at first, until a conversation at a baseball game changed his mind.

"The local leagues needed a coach and I heard one of the guys was a volunteer firefighter and he told me about it and that was it," Mason said. "I knew what I wanted to do."

In 1977, he began his fire service career as a volunteer firefighter in Bolivar. In 1982, he was appointed chief of the Bolivar Fire Department.

Mason served as assistant chief for the Rolla Fire Department from 1985 to 1987. He then moved to St. Charles County after accepting a position as an investigator for the Missouri Division of Fire Safety.

In 1991, Mason was promoted to deputy chief and chief investigator in charge of the Criminal Investigation Unit for the Missouri Division of Fire Safety.

Mason joined the St. Peters Fire Protection District as an assistant chief in 1995. He was promoted to the rank of deputy chief in 1998 with the consolidation of the St. Peters and St. Charles fire protection districts. He became chief of Central County Fire and Rescue in February 2003.

"He's highly professional," Assistant Fire Chief Brian Ochs said about Mason. "He's very well versed on every aspect of fire service. He would be a great asset to the state committee."

Mason has a bachelor's degree in fire service administration from Western Illinois University. His appointment to the committee is subject to Senate confirmation for a term ending on April 9, 2010, according to a news release from the governor's office.

ROCKWOOD SCHOOLS: Staff learn rescue techniques in mock drill

Student "victims" like cool makeup

By Mary Shapiro
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 3:04 PM CST

A group of middle school teachers, carrying heavily-bandaged sixth-grader Nick Bertich on a makeshift cardboard stretcher, quickly puts him down in a hallway in Selvidge Middle School when an earthquake aftershock warning sounds Nov. 12.

As his group of "rescuers" exits the building without him, Nick, taped up almost mummy style, is aided by Metro West Fire Protection District personnel in getting himself free.

Smiling, Nick showed off his realistic "injury" makeup, saying "I'm supposed to be a person with a head injury and two broken legs."

"This makeup is really cool, but the best part was being trapped under all the boards," Nick admitted.

Nick, along with other Selvidge students, staff from all six Rockwood School District middle schools, and local police and firefighters took part in a mock earthquake disaster training exercise at the school, 235 New Ballwin Road in Ballwin.

It was the final day, and a kind of "final exam," of a three-day training exercise, allowing Rockwood Crisis Team members from each of the district's middle schools to learn the skills they'll need to react quickly and efficiently if ever faced with a major disaster at their school.

They learned, for example, how to fight a fire with a fire extinguisher, how to extricate someone trapped in a dangerous situation and how to provide first aid.

Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) instructors from the Metro West, Eureka and Fenton fire protection districts, Ballwin and St. Louis County police, as well as other CERT volunteers, led the training.

The scenario for last Wednesday was that an earthquake had hit the area, causing a disastrous situation at Selvidge. Rockwood Crisis Team members had to spring into action, make critical decisions and help the injured.

The school's lobby, for instance, was turned into a "triage" medical area, with different areas for those severely injured and not so severely, said Metro West Lt. John Bradley.

Selvidge Principal Sean Stryhal, looking on, said, "The best thing about this exercise is that our staff from all the middle schools can get firsthand experience."

He said the idea for the training session came from Selvidge assistant principal Mike Anselmo following a crisis-training workshop between Rockwood officials and local emergency services providers in September.

"We needed to make certain we know what to do in a crisis, and that's why this CERT training was important," Anselmo said. "And this was a great way for students to do their part."

Down a health science area hallway, "trapped" student victims, screaming "help!" at the top of their lungs, were buried under plywood debris, which supposedly was part of a collapsed ceiling.

Pieces of pipe were used by rescuers as crowbars and the plywood was used as "cribbing" to help lift debris off "victims."

"All this debris becomes tools; they're learning," Bradley explained.

Bill Roach, with the St. Louis County Police Office of Emergency Management, praised the effort.

"Especially in a catastrophe like a tornado or earthquake, you can't have enough trained people," Roach said. "Having trained people scattered through the schools is a valuable resource. We stress this kind of training because the time to figure out how to react is not when a ceiling has collapsed. We hope the students here can take this training home to help their parents."

Bradley agreed that in a disaster, emergency service responders could be spread thin, "and trained teachers can respond faster and make a greater impact."

"This is the first time we've done this activity, but we hope it will continue," he said.

Police school resource officers took part in the training. Selvidge's SRO, Ballwin police officer Dave Ovca, said the exercise "has given me an opportunity to interact with staff from various schools and see how we can all work together in an emergency situation, where working on students makes it realistic."

"Staff did well, showing a lot of flexibility, and the kids did a great job, too," Ovca said.

About two dozen Selvidge students had the chance to volunteer as victims and be made up with remarkably realistic "wounds" created by CERT trainer LaFaye Young.

"We prepped the kids, telling them to say how much their burns and wounds hurt and to yell and scream," Bradley said. "That was a way to build in 'stressers' for rescuers, challenging them psychologically. It's been pretty loud, which is why we chose a part of school where there wouldn't be too much class disruption."

A group of bandaged "walking wounded" - seventh-graders Hayley Nebrig and Molly Grotha and eighth-graders Jessie Berger and Gabby Tecklenburg - said they loved the chance to emote.

"I wanted to do this because I thought it would be fun and wanted to help our teachers learn," Hayley said. "My rescuers did good, asking if I was OK and what I needed."

For Molly, the best part "was getting to scream and being rolled on a stretcher."

"I'm going to leave my makeup on when I go home," she said.

"I really liked being buried in rubble," Jessie said. "I played someone who was blind, but I knew there were always people right there to help me."

Saying she hoped she could hang on to her "leg wound," Gabby said that if a disaster actually happened, "our teachers need to know what to do so a lot of us wouldn't be killed - like we supposedly were this time."

In a debriefing session, Metro West's Mike Thiemann, coordinator of community services and disaster preparedness, praised the group's response - even those who left Nick behind in the aftershock.

"Rescuers can't rescue anyone if they're injured themselves," he told the group.

Tina Priese, a business education teacher at LaSalle Springs Middle School, said the activity "helped me learn organization and to set priorities in a crisis."

"Before, I had never used a fire extinguisher and had no idea how to lift debris off somebody," Priese said.

Katie Kowalik, a seventh-grade language arts teacher at LaSalle Springs, said she learned how to stay calm.

"The teamwork was great, and I was surprised how much you can lift with the proper tools," Kowalik said.

"We found out a lot about disaster first-aid and the importance of planning, knowing what you're getting into," said Libby Guimbarda, an eighth-grade language arts teacher at Crestview Middle School. After this, I'm motivated to volunteer for more training."

Battalion Chief Ed Beirne of Metro West, which organized the effort, said, "We've been able to teach not just competency but confidence, so staff can take care of issues before we get there. This kind of hands-on exercise makes the difference."

More in Maryville involved in addressing emergencies

Village creates volunteer team

By Aaron Sudholt
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 3:01 AM CST

Maryville emergency responders will get extra help the next time the village is hit with a major wind storm, power outage or other emergency.

The Maryville Community Emergency Responders Team will provide 14 certified volunteers who can check on the elderly and answer non-emergency disaster response calls.

"The snow storms from last year were a big factor (in forming the group)," said Dan Wright, a member of CERT who serves on the Maryville Community Improvement Board. "We could have used some people volunteering in the community."

Snow storms that hit the St. Louis area during the 2007-2008 winter made roads treacherous, cut power and sometimes trapped people in their homes. According to the National Weather Service, St. Louis received 20.2 inches of snow that winter.

The snow was a big factor in forming the team, village officials said.

"We didn't have the manpower to make sure the roads were open and then still go door to door to check on some of our residents," said Mayor Larry Gulledge. "Our Fire Department and our Police Department were running in every direction."

The Maryville Community Improvement Board spearheaded the decision to have the CERT team formed. They sought out volunteers and had them trained by members of the Collinsville CERT team.

The team will be under the authority of the Maryville Fire Department and Maryville Police Department and deployed as needed.

"If we have any kind of emergency here, we'll call them out, either to direct traffic or go door to door to check on residents," Gulledge said.

The team was officially activated at the Nov. 5 Village Board meeting.

The CERT team will direct traffic and make sure elderly or ill residents are safe during such emergencies, when the weather can make it especially dangerous for them.

Each member works on a volunteer basis and is not paid for their commitment to the team.