Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, October 21 2008 @ 01:35 PM CDT

Is there any surprise here Dale? He's done a nice job, why even the hiring process?

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, October 21 2008 @ 02:15 PM CDT

Heck yeah, process. Have a look at the PD and ask why the hiring
process.

Is it coincidental that the new fire chief and an alderman share the same
last name (spelled the same, I think)?

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Authored by: dale on Tuesday, October 21 2008 @ 02:56 PM CDT

Is it coincidental the the new Fire Chief and an Alderman share the same last name? I don't know. Is it a coincidence that two brothers that have lived in the community their entire lives both are civic minded enough to serve their community, one as a fire fighter and one as an elected official? I don't think that is coincidence, it think it is good community involvement and good parenting.

If you are implying that Steve had any influence on the decision made by the PFC, then I suggest that you spend some time actually getting to know these gentlemen. I suspect you will find your concerns are not warranted. In the short time I have actually known Kevin and Steve, I can tell you have have not met anyone more dedicated to their job than Kevin or anyone who cares more about how the government effects the residents than Steve. So if you want to go down the 'share the same name' road, all I can say is... I think it is a dead end street.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, October 21 2008 @ 04:24 PM CDT

Just asking. Didn't know.

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Authored by: dale on Tuesday, October 21 2008 @ 05:36 PM CDT

Here you go and ask a simple little question and I go off the deep end. Go ahead and call me a jerk, I deserve it.

My apologies. The somewhat less than supportive attitude of some commenters recently has left me a bit jaded and I misinterpreted your comment. My mistake.

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Authored by: dale on Tuesday, October 21 2008 @ 02:43 PM CDT

A agree, Kevin is a great choice. He is a dedicated individual who really puts everything into the job. I bet that Kevin bleeds fire engine red.

Why the hiring process? I am sure it is because the Police and Fire Commission wanted to make sure we had every opportunity to get the best Chief we could.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, October 21 2008 @ 04:19 PM CDT

I have every confidence that Chief Kevin Bierce will do his best for the fire department and lead it to where it needs to be as one of the finest in the county.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, October 21 2008 @ 06:21 PM CDT

amen!!!

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, October 21 2008 @ 07:54 PM CDT

Nice guy, good boss, well respected. If the two attorneys on staff (admin and HR) let him do his job the way he knows how he will be great. If they interfere and try to take over the FD the way they have the PD watch out. By the way, what ever happened to the FD web page, and the PD web page - the ones that were separate from the "mother ship"?

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 22 2008 @ 09:45 AM CDT

Dale, you have to admit there is a conflict of interest here. They may be great guys and all, but if my brother was asking for additional funding it would be difficult to ask the tough questions (and I have not met a fire or police chief who say they are adequately staffed at any time......Chief Bach where are you?). It just seems like those guys are always asking for more money or more staffing. How about cutting back on some things like the rest of us in this recessionary economy.

Jim

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 22 2008 @ 12:31 PM CDT

CUTTING BACK????? Are you serious???? Would you want to jeopardize your family or anyone elses safety by cutting back firefighters or police??? Those are 2 areas where there should be no cuts at all...

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 22 2008 @ 03:03 PM CDT

Where do you suggest the cut backs are made?

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 22 2008 @ 04:38 PM CDT

Let's start with the request to increase full time staff by 50%. Seriously, who out there in the real world works for a company that is increasing staff by 50%. But, of course, government workers and elected officials don't always live in the real world. Just once, I'd like a police or fire chief come out and say, yes...we are well staffed and came in under budget last year. Just once....that's all I am asking.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 22 2008 @ 05:17 PM CDT

The following was taken from the "2009 Budget" thread. Enough said!

Public Safety

During the public input meetings held by the Strategic Planning Committee, public safety was a top priority expressed by the taxpayers. However, many do not realize that we have a fire and rescue department that operates with minimal staffing and aging equipment. We currently have three fire stations in the city, but how many people actually know that we operate only one during the day because we do not have the staff to man the others. If you look at the make up of the fire department, we really are closer to an all volunteer department that many believe. We operate with 10 full time fire fighters and the rest as paid on call... a short step up from volunteer. Volunteer departments work well when there is a low volume of calls and there are community active people to volunteer and employers that support them. In some respects, we are a bedroom community in that many of the residents of Pewaukee work outside the area. While we have a lot of industrial and commercial offices in the city and many people to work in them, are there employees willing and able to drop everything and respond to an emergency call? It is not as likely as it once was. To make matters worse, the period of time when we are faced with worst staffing problems is also the busiest time of the day due to all the transient traffic during the day.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 22 2008 @ 05:31 PM CDT

The Strategic Planning Committee was a farce. A bunch that did know even how to approach strategic planning.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 22 2008 @ 05:44 PM CDT

Emergency service needs grow with a community, Pewaukee has grown. Calls will begin to decrease when the population stops demanding services. And if you wish to follow by the national picture, the #1 problem and concern with paid on call or volunteer fire departments is recruitment and retention. Spending can be reduced when calls for service decrease, or the community lowers expectations of what level of services they want the village to provide. This isn't a PR campaign for public safety, this situation exists in many other communities besides Pewaukee.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 22 2008 @ 06:50 PM CDT

How can you say enough said? The "budget thread" that you posted was written by a fire department employee. Again, I have nothing against the FD, but like I said, in these economic times, could we get someone to stand up and say this is not the right time to add $450,000 to the budget. I realize it takes someone with courage to question the requests of the FD and PD.....Dale, are you out there?

Jim

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, October 23 2008 @ 10:16 AM CDT

I don't know where cuts can be made. But I do know public safety has
a price. So does health and wellness. So does education. How great it
would be to have limitless resources to throw at all of these vital
components of society, but we don't.

So we have to make some hard choices. Heck we do it every day. I
climb a treestand a couple days a week and just bought a safety
harness for about $50, one for me and one for my son. I could've
spent $120 apiece. I could've also bought a Volvo that had airbags
popping out of every door panel. Didn't do that either. I have a
mortgage that needs attention, food to put on the table and a life to
live. So in the eyes of the FD employee above, am I a bad dad?

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, October 23 2008 @ 11:29 AM CDT

the economy is not that bad if you are still able to purchase these things

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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, October 24 2008 @ 10:23 AM CDT

"public employees" DO live in the real world. In fact we see more of the "real" world than most. It is impossible for most people to fathom the feeling of being in a life and death situation and not having the resources available to safely complete the task at hand. We knowingly chose to serve the public with the inherent risks. We just hope our elected officials take those risks and requests to heart when they are asked to spend money. It is not a "luxury" to safely equip each fire house or police station. You can safely drive your car without airbags in all doors, but if a crash occurs, you will require the assistance of you local police and fire departments. Spending of tax dollars should be scrutinized, but public safety should come first. That is, safely staff the fire and police departments so they in turn can safely serve you.
Freddy the Public Citizen

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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, October 24 2008 @ 05:12 PM CDT

OK, I'l bite. Freddy, what "resourses" do you currently not have to safley complete your task?

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Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, October 25 2008 @ 12:52 AM CDT

Back on point. Kevin Bierce is a dedicated, professional, and well qualified choice. He has support both in the city and the village, because he deserves it. The requested positions were approved because PFD needs the full time manpower and he worked hard to show it. You can't continue to increase tax base and response demands and not increase personnel to meet minimum response needs. Sorry, not trying to be overly dramatic, but sometimes minutes do mean lives. The city had the foresight to recognize that this was a safety issue. Congrat's to Chief Bierce from a local non city police officer. Flash

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Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, October 25 2008 @ 07:13 PM CDT

Really couldn't have been summed up any better. THANK YOU Flash!!

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, October 28 2008 @ 12:37 PM CDT

Well, let's get another hovercraft then. The one we have has been
awesome giving rides to kids at the Fire and Ice Day.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, October 28 2008 @ 10:06 PM CDT

A few years ago the Hover Craft was also responsible for rescuing a large Orange Leaf bag. But it's probably not a bad idea to keep it. Kind of like the 75 year old guy with a condom in his wallet; You never know what may happen.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, October 28 2008 @ 10:18 PM CDT

You have got to be kidding!

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 29 2008 @ 12:04 AM CDT

One of the dumbest posts I've ever seen...

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 29 2008 @ 07:55 AM CDT

If by "dumbest" you mean "funny, but yet, thought-provoking", then yes, I agree with you. Duke LaCrosse's hat is off to that poster.

The D. LaC - Pewaukeetown

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 29 2008 @ 09:18 AM CDT

"..the economy is not that bad if you are still able to purchase these
things..."

I thought that was the dumbest post I'd ever seen.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 29 2008 @ 12:55 PM CDT

fine, i'll give you that... the economy comment wasn't exactly well thought out, BUT it was thought provoking..as in perhaps you shouldn't be buying those items at all if in the writers mind things are "that bad"

also, the hovercraft comment may have been funny to some, but i'm sure there are those out there that found no humor in it at all, especially to the FD people out there who work very hard for the citizens of the village and city. (many of them the paid on call type who spend lots of hours at the stations receiving very little or no pay at all.) thought provoking?? perhaps... i'm not an expert, but i'm pretty darn sure the people who have been pulled out of the lake in the middle of winter are pretty happy that the hovercraft does exist, unless you would seriously like to do a cost-benefit analysis of having the hovercraft vs saving a human life. and keep in mind, if you do just a little bit of research, you'll find out that the hovercraft was purchased and donated to the FD by i believe the rotary club.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 29 2008 @ 01:57 PM CDT

Look if we did a cost-benefit analysis of the risks of operating
automobiles vs. the value of human life none of us would own one. And
can someone tell me exactly how many lives the hovercraft has saved?
And I don't mean the local yahoos who dropped their ATVs through 2 feet
of water on Pewaukee a couple years ago, or the fact that it's been used
in recovery -- not rescue -- in several Pewaukee operations. A canoe
could have served the same purpose on those occasions. I'd like to know
if it has actually, as you claim, saved a life

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 29 2008 @ 02:37 PM CDT

True, it was purchased with funds raised by the Rotary Club - and I'm not totally against it - It's definitely a metaphorical 75 year old with a condom. THAT's if it's ready and able to be dispatched immediately.

Seeing how survival time when falling through the ice is 15 minutes AT BEST, how soon can The DarleyCraft be on the ice once the call is received? Also, is it available for children's birthday parties and bahmitvah's?

Duke LaCrosse - Isthmus of Pewaukee

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 29 2008 @ 07:42 PM CDT

The Hovercraft IS readily available and can be on the ice in less then 10 minutes from the time the call is dispatched. There is nothing more valuable then a human life and if that means to purchase something that might save 1 life then it is money well spent. Now I am not sure how many lives if any the hovercraft has been responsible for saving but why do you care that the FD has it? It was bought by money raised and cost the taxpayers nothing. So what if it is used mainly for public events. It is there for the possibility of saving a life. And whoever said that a canoe would have served the same purpose is an idiot. Try pushing a canoe across the ice and see how far you get. The hovercraft is a great piece of equipment. Just because it hasn't saved many lives doesn't give you the right to deem it not necessary.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 29 2008 @ 09:19 PM CDT

Dale,
This is a hot topic, as can be seen from the responses. Can you respond?? Are you out there, or are you in the pocket of the Fire Department, with your buddies, the Bierces. This is a serious topic and you seem to be hiding. I realize some of these posts are silly, but many of them are thought provoking. I have serious doubts about your leadership qualities.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 29 2008 @ 10:07 PM CDT

"or are you in the pocket of the Fire Department"

WHAT DO YOU HAVE AGAINST THE FIRE DEPARTMENT???????

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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 29 2008 @ 11:24 PM CDT

I really don't understand the issue of fire department spending. It's not like they are asking for gold plated fire trucks or the latest designer fire suits. They are asking for people to do the job safely, first for the firefighters, secondly for the citizens. Proper staffing, bodies on the trucks to respond when someone calls for help, nothing more nothing less. I ask you, what would you have the city do?? Please be specific and elaborate.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, October 30 2008 @ 11:08 AM CDT

Why can't the city and village join forces for a common good?

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, October 30 2008 @ 11:29 AM CDT

oh boy... let's not bark up that tree again. the city and town will merge when rotary club does a fundraiser to reopen eli's...

i for one would like to see the PFC get the money they ask for. so long as it is used to for staffing and equipment replacement. The people that complain about fire department spending are the same people that complain when their house catches fire and the response time is slow. it's called karma and will work itself out in the end.

as for the hovercraft, thank god it was donated. because a fire department with a hovercraft is like a mule with a spinning wheel, don't know how he got it and damned if he knows how to use it. but it's bought so we need to move on.

where in the world is dale noll? or even a dale substitute like the ones that have posted on here in the past?

Maxwell Power, Pwauk

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Authored by: dale on Monday, November 03 2008 @ 06:00 AM CST

I am sorry that I missed the bulk of the hot topic. Where was I? At the time of you posting, I was somewhere along the side of a mountain in West Virginia following the Hatfield & McCoy Trail with 9 friends and family. Not a hot bed of Internet access up there.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, October 30 2008 @ 11:31 AM CDT

I can understand the questioning of the fire departmnet requests. There is a history of the fire department getting most anything that it asked for under the prior administration. After all we are getting by with something less than the $6 million fire station. I realize that there is new leadership at the fire department as well, but from a citizen point of view, questioning what is actually needed and what is wish list is a very reasonalbe question which i admitedly do not know. But the question is legitimate.

Rick

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, October 30 2008 @ 12:47 PM CDT

I can certainly understand questioning. Nothing wrong with that, but I think the reasoning for the funding request has been very publicly laid out in front of the common council. Not to mention it was also explained in a previous post in reference to the strategic planning.

If you look at what they want to do, it's all about improving response times so that they are more in line with national standards. I'm glad you said "getting by" in your post. That's exactly what it was, just getting by. The city and the fire department have been "playing with house money" for many years. What I mean, is that eventually something rather big and potentially deadly will occur, probably due to the fact that staffing was at a bare minimum. Be it a death of a citizen or a firefighter or both. I am aware that times are tight, but giving the MINIMUM amount of qualified people to properly staff a fire department seems to me to be mandatory. As far as I know, adding full time personnel had been put off for the past few years, and if not now, then when was it going to happen? I would strongly disagree that the fire department got whatever it wanted in the previous administration. However, questioning is good. Although I believe Dale laid a very strong foundation as to the hiring of additional full time staff.

This is not "wish list" stuff, it is very much a need.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, October 30 2008 @ 02:41 PM CDT

"There is a history of the fire department getting most anything that it asked for under the prior administration."

I just about spit my drink out when I read this. Under the prior administration the FD got hardly anything because the previous management was to chicken to ask for anything because he was too afraid he would upset the higher ups. He was not very well liked and thus he got nothing done for the department. He made the FD a laughing stock of Waukesha County Fire Departments. The FD was behind in almost all aspects of what the job entails. PFD is the 2nd busiest combination department in the county and had the lowest level of care. Bierce is trying to bring the department up to higher standards where they can be respected and to where they should have been if Pinter would have done his job.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, October 30 2008 @ 07:59 PM CDT

Sounds like many different avenues have entered the fray? Eventually most chiefs turn into politicians in the bigger communities and play the game. If you read the previous chiefs resignation letter it was very clear that funding would be needed.

Now here is a good question, how many applicants for chief were there? I heard from a pretty good source that a couple of the finalists dropped out in the middle of the process. The number of applicants might tell you how the department is perceived.

That said, I think the new chief will do fine and there will always be debate about funding.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, October 31 2008 @ 10:48 AM CDT

This whole thing is nothing but a big cycle...I've seen it all before over the decades...and in different places. Only the names change.

You get a new guy coming in at the bottom. The politicos are ready to throw big $$$ their way to correct real or perceived ills. This window of opportunity is open for about 6 months-1year. Then reality sets in and the purse strings close and it is business as usual with everyone getting along for a period of time. Critical mass develops over time with more wants than needs. Pro and con factions develop over how things are or should be run or money spent. Everyone wants to be a Chief, but not an Indian. Things begin to spiral downwards over time ( usually 4-8 years ) to a point where a wise person will pull the rip cord on their golden parachute and float down to the next life opportunity..be it a better job or retirement and let everyone else hold the bag. Only the dumb ones will wait to be kicked out and maybe get nothing more than a kick in the butt out the door.

Next, a new person is hired with new ideas and more $$$ and the cycle repeats itself again.

From my experience, most administrative jobs, as well as those of priests and ministers, have a life cycle of 4-10 years before most people get pissed off and the wheel turns and leadership changes are made. There are only a very few who are able to defy the odds such as Ed Baumann and Clink. Everyone else are new timers these days.

I wish Kevin well and hope that he will know when its time to pull the rip cord before the party is over.

Andy Mueller, Pewaukee Village, an old timer.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, October 31 2008 @ 06:43 PM CDT

Very interesting post Andy. I would agree with your thesis.

Jim Matel

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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, October 31 2008 @ 09:53 PM CDT

I call them as I see 'em.

Andy Mueller, Pewaukee Village

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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, October 31 2008 @ 10:07 PM CDT

Mr. Matel

I believe you ran for City Alderman 2 years ago. Is that right? Do you have any plans to run again this year? Each District has one aldermanic position which is up for election next April. Doug Kiser, Kathy Novack and Mike Hasslinger are the present representatives.

For anyone who is interested, the time to take out Nomination Papers is approaching. Call City Hall for more info, but please wait until a few days after the Nov. 4 election, they are swamped with early voters and will be busy verifying the voter tallies most of next week.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, November 01 2008 @ 04:30 PM CDT

I realize that anyone can post anything at this site
irregardless of facts, but just a slight correction here
to the post. For FD activity, the cities of Waukesha,
New Berlin, Brookfield and the village of Menomonee
Falls all have run volumes quite a bit higher than the
city of Pewaukee fire department in Waukesha
County.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, November 07 2008 @ 04:07 PM CST

"For FD activity, the cities of Waukesha,
New Berlin, Brookfield and the village of Menomonee
Falls all have run volumes quite a bit higher than the
city of Pewaukee fire department in Waukesha
County."

Are you kidding me????????? Let's see where PFD sits shall we?

City of Waukesha Fire Department: 109 career (Fulltime) firefighter/PARAMEDICS, and they are hiring more this year, staffing five stations, running about 6000+ calls a year. PFD runs about 2000 calls a year. that's 1/3rd the calls with less than 1/10th the staffing. Does this math make sense in anyone's brain? If it does, I have some ocean front property to sell you in Arizona.

City of Brookfield Fire Department: Again a career fire department providing PARAMEDIC level service, staffing three stations and running a little less than the City of Waukesha. Less calls gets them two less stations and the personnel that go along with it.

New Berlin FD: Runs more calls than PFD. They also have twice the full time staff and a population of 40,000. That's twice that of the village and the City of Pewaukee combined. Also as a tax payer in any community, I would not want My Fire Department ever compared to New Berlin FD. They have major issues over there and have been behind the power curve for hiring Full time employees. They should be almost entirely a full time department already.

Menomonee Falls FD: They are neck and neck in regards to run volume. I am not sure how many full time staff they have, but am pretty sure it is currently comparable. They have four stations they can't staff, as opposed to our three, and if you ask anyone that has been around a while on that Department they will tell you they are struggling to provide their community with minimally staffed rigs with adequate response times. Not to mention they done have POC's. They have Part-time employee's that augment their full time employee's.

Pewaukee Fire Department: 10 Career firefighter/EMT's. approx 40 Paid on Call/sign-up FF/EMT's, running about 2000 calls a year, serving a population of approx 20,000 with a transient population (business' full) that soars during the day well above that, when the departments staffing is at it's least, PFD has three stations. During the day PFD can only staff one. During the nights and on the weekends PFD can staff all three, MINIMALLY! The POC staff is dwindling, kinda like the economy, but PFD calls continue to rise. Simple math would tell you what needs to happen with PFD's staffing

For the gentleman that made the remark about spending during a recession, I say this. If call volume continues to go up, the economy doesn't mean squat! If PFD doesn't get manpower to fill those rigs, it may be you, or me waiting 20 minutes or more for a mutual aid ambulance from another community, all the while your grabbing and clutching your chest having the big one. If you don't care about yourself fine, maybe you care about all the kids filling those schools and daycares or maybe your parents who may be living at one of the many senior living facilities throughout Pewaukee.

After all this I still don't know why anyone is complaining. The City of Pewaukee has cheaper property taxes than any other city in the state. And the village, as far as I am concerned has nothing to say in this matter. They lost any say when they sold off all their equipment and wanted out of the fire department. I do love how they are proposing to screw their taxpayers now. I wonder when the village will start charging for the Police to come to your house for a burglary call, or an armed intruder, or to report a stolen bike, or when they'll start charging you to plow the road in front of your house. I guess as a city taxpayer you could always have it worse. You could live in the village.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, November 09 2008 @ 11:00 AM CST

Thanks for confirming my point that other
departments in the county are much busier than PFD.
The post was in response to an earlier poster that
said PFD was second busiest in the county. FYI,
Menomonee Falls has 15 full time, 2500 calls per
year (from their web site)

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Authored by: dale on Monday, November 03 2008 @ 12:26 PM CST

What kind of leadership do you want on this? We have several people discussing the merits of of a hovercraft that the PFD already owns. The craft was not paid for with tax dollars, it was obtained via generous donations. Excuse me for not canceling my planned vacation to address these pressing concerns.

The question was brought up about if the craft was ever used to actually save someone's life. Honestly, I do not know and this point in time, I really do not care. Why? Because we own it, it cost the taxpayers nothing to obtain it and it does not appear to have a high maintenance cost. However, at some point in time if the Fire Chief asks to have it replaced, or the maintenance cost becomes very high, the the question becomes relevant. Another question to ask is, does every other department around use have one or if necessary do we provide assistance to the neighboring communities? Immediately some will say, "why should I pay for equipment used to rescue someone in Hartland?!" To that I say... is it also OK to rely on mutual aid instead of adding additional personnel to Pewaukee to handle the number of calls? If so, why is it OK for residents of Lisbon or Sussex to pay for calls in Pewaukee?

Let's talk about the real question here, and this really belongs under budget public hearing story but for some reason it is here, so be it.

The real question comes down to this, are we spending too much on the Fire Department as we look at adding 5 additional fire fighters. Some will say yes, some will say no. Someone in another comment stated that I had made the case well. Some of you appear to believe that I did not do as good of a job. And some of want to make light of the whole situation, again, so be it. I have stated the facts as I have been told. The data shows an increasing number of calls, and increasing reliance on mutual aid and aging equipment which requires increased maintenance. When I looked at the information that was presented to the Council and considered the greater good of the citizens of the city of Pewaukee, as well as those who work here, play here or are just passing through, I felt it necessary to include the additional fire fighters. It is also necessary to replace equipment before it is completely useless. If you feel different, I invite you to the Public Hearing on November 10th, 7 pm at City Hall in the Common Council chambers. That is a much better forum to state you feelings because it will be in front of ALL the elected officials, not just me.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, November 03 2008 @ 05:41 PM CST

Dale,

The only time the Hover Craft is used is when someone falls through thin ice. To my knowledge it has only been utilized on Pewaukee Lake. I believe "mutual aid" to another lake would be useless, since a person falling into freezing water doesn't last long, especially when they're dressed in heavy winter clothes.

Unfortunately, when someone goes onto the lake when the ice is bad, it is the responsibility of our Rescue team to try to save them. At least with the Hover Craft there is a little more protection for the rescuers.

While we have little use for this piece of equipment, it needs to be available, since there is no way to prevent people from venturing out on the lake, even if they can see that there isn't enough ice to support their weight.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, November 03 2008 @ 11:48 PM CST

Seems to me that the Hovercraft has been to Oconomowoc a few times and also to Muskego over the years.

These dopes who venture out on the ice and have to be rescued need to get some hefty fines and an IQ test. Of course, they don't teach this kind of safety stuff in high schools either.

Andy Mueller, Pewaukee Village

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Authored by: dale on Tuesday, November 04 2008 @ 05:39 AM CST

Andy is correct, the hovercraft has been used in other communities around Waukesha county. We have the only hovercraft in the county.

Unfortunately, while the crews are trained for rescue operations, quite often they are performing recovery operations.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, November 01 2008 @ 09:05 AM CDT

found this to be interesting:
http://www.loudoun.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=2384

very much like an average pewaukee home, notice how little time it takes for this to get completely out of control reference the importance of proper staffing and yes, mutual aid agreements

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