South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

SFFD

SFFD SFPD

Will the SFPD get serious about fireworks violations this year?

l3wis 4Comments

I first want to clarify something, I’m NOT a fun hater. As a child growing up, fireworks at my grandparents farm was a BIG tradition. My uncle and grandpa would buy tons of fireworks. My grandparents acreage was about a mile out of town and we would NEVER shoot them in town. Fireworks are fun, if enjoyed properly.

I guess it’s not the noise that bothers me the most about people illegally shooting fireworks in city limits, its the fire hazard. I keep telling people, do we have to wait until an entire neighborhood burns down and several people die before we get serious about fireworks in town and the fire hazard they cause?

While we cry and complain about 8 inch grass, guess what, if that grass gets to be 9 inches, it won’t burn down your house.

The SFPD does have a good argument when it comes to cracking down on the problem; they have to catch them in the act, I get it. My suggestion to them and the city council last year was they used unmarked police cars and plain clothes officers to catch the offenders in the act when responding to complaints. When people see flashing lights coming down the street, the first thing they do is hide the fireworks. Duh.

I just find it extremely hypocritical calling people BAD NEIGHBORS because they have 9 inch grass, but if those same neighbors are creating a fire hazard in your neighborhood the police just say, ‘Oh Well.’

So please, don’t shoot off banned fireworks in city limits, and if you do, I hope the SFPD catches you and fines you accordingly.

Paramedics Plus SF City Council SFFD SFPD Sioux Falls

Phantom Directors of Health and EMS quality talk Phantom Ambulances

l3wis 1Comments

It’s Alive! Sioux Falls Health Director, Bride of Franken

As if they caught the ghost of Tuthill Park, suddenly Jill and Julie decided to show up to a meeting and start splaining what an ambulance is, and what it does (Notice they are calling this the ‘101’ course on ambulance contracts with ParaPhantom Plus). As if our city council and public are so naive.

The public is ignorant because there has been ZERO information provided to them. It’s about that whole transparency thing I speak of, like if you are a SFPO and you accidentally shoot at a shadow in the dark, yah tell someone . . . wait.

It will be fun to listen to the Double J’s tell us what we already know; Greed is why Paramedics Plus has convinced Metro 911 to not call in mutual aid (there’s a couple of other reasons also).

Why does this all seem like an episode of ‘Scooby Doo’?

Brad Goodroad SF City Council SFFD Sioux Falls

New Fire Chief Questions

l3wis 10Comments

Maybe the city council needs to be asking appointed fire chief Goodroad these questions Tuesday Night during his approval process by the city council.

1. Property loss caused by fire damage has almost tripled in the last three years, what is your plan to reduce/reverse this trend? (Other than focusing on increasing the department’s social media presence?)

Data from the Department’s Annual Reports:

Fire Property  Loss

2016

Not published yet

2015

$  4,500,000

2014

$  3,176,788

2013

$  2,536,859

2.  What was the fire property loss for 2016? (The department has the data, it just hasn’t been published yet). (If he is taking the job seriously, he should have looked at the numbers before going into this meeting).

3.  When you managed the fire department’s training center, you advocated and followed a 4-day work week as much as possible for yourself and your staff. How did that best serve the department’s mission? Do you plan on working that schedule as fire chief?

4.  As of the last published Standards of Coverage manual (2015), the department was not meeting its required response times for re-accreditation  for medical calls, all code 3 & 4 calls, and Hazmat calls (See attachment). What is your plan to ensure the department is reaccredited?

These are just the questions that come up by looking at the Annual Report and Standards of Cover manual for 20 minutes. Imagine what someone who actually had access to the department performing a forensic audit could come up. So why is the Mayor going to put a clone of Sideras in there who might let the union run the show just like Sideras did the entire time he was chief.

Sadly most citizens really don’t care about the fire department. They can live off the goodwill of one big rescue operation for a long time even when realistically they are performing horribly (the numbers don’t lie).

Paramedics Plus SFFD Sioux Falls

Medical board member unknowingly makes case for public ambulance

l3wis 2Comments

Sumption’s attempt to defend Paramedics Plus may ultimately make the case for a public ambulance;

Police officers, often first on the scene in emergencies, are trained in first aid as well as procedures like CPR, the use of defibrillators and applying strategies to stabilize a patient. Police can assess the medical status of an individual and call in additional support if it hasn’t already been requested or dispatched.

Paramedics Plus, the fourth level of emergency care, provides stabilization and transportation for people who require hospital services.

Notice who the first three entities that are involved with an emergency call are, PUBLIC entities. Metro Communications (911), Police and Fire, all of which are subsidized by taxpayers. So wouldn’t it just make sense for the fourth and final entity to be Public also?

And the argument gets even stronger with this statement;

Sioux Falls benefits from an integrated emergency medical system that not only works very well, but is also very respectful of taxpayers’ money. Sioux Falls spends no city money on ambulance service other than the cost of quality oversight. None. Citizens don’t need to pay personnel or buy, supply and maintain ambulances and facilities. Only users of the transport service are billed as used.

This of course is only partially true. We actually are subsidizing the FOR-PROFIT ambulance service by being the first responders, but are receiving NO compensation for that subsidy.

Our contracted ambulance provider takes on all that expense and risk, while holding the city harmless for any costs.

Who takes on the risk if an ambulance doesn’t arrive but the SFPD and SFFD does? Well your guess is probably as good as mine. We do.

The way the system is set up now, as Sumption described in great detail, taxpayers are subsidizing the ambulance service with NO payback except fines while PP cashes in on the transport. If we went with a public ambulance service through the SFFD at least there would be some kind of reimbursement from patients, Medicare, VA or insurance. Right now we receive NOTHING for our assistance. I actually believe, as Sumption laid out, that if we went with a public ambulance service, not only would it be better and more regulated, it would probably be cheaper (the profit factor would be thrown out) and the city would ultimately be reimbursed for it’s services.

Isn’t it time we sent our FOR-PROFIT ambulance service packing and replace it with a public ambulance service that has a proven record of SHOWING UP?

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