Ritzville Council approves headsets for city fire truck

The Ritzville Fire Department will be acquiring new equipment for one of its vehicles.

At their Oct. 3 meeting, the Ritzville City Council allocated up to $10,000 for the Ritzville Fire Department to purchase six wireless headsets and two wireless base stations for one of the department’s trucks.

Assistant Chief Joel Bell explained the fire department’s vehicles produce a lot of noise, making it difficult for firefighters to communicate with each other during an emergency. He said the headsets will block out the noise and allow firefighters to speak to each other, which will increase safety on calls.

Police Chief Dave McCormick agreed with Bell about the benefits of the department having the headsets on the vehicle. While McCormick acknowledged the headsets are expensive, it would make sense for the department to have them.

Council also approved a motion for City staff to set aside $15,000 for the Public Works Department to purchase materials and rent equipment to crack seal a portion of the city’s streets.

Councilmember Dennis Chamberlain said the purpose of the work would be to see how much crack sealing the staff could do for $15,000, which would help the City have an idea on how much funds they should budget for crack seal work next year.

Ritzville Police Sergeant Mark Cameron gave a special presentation to council regarding the Active Shooter Training he attended in July 2017. Cameron explained the training focused on police officers providing education about active shooter scenarios to the general public.

He began by saying about 50 percent of shootings happen in businesses.

However, they can also occur in government buildings and schools, as well as other places people would not expect such as concert halls, churches, medical facilities and movie theaters.

Cameron said when an active shooter is in a building, there are three actions a person can take: evacuate the building, find a hiding spot or attack the shooter. He said an attack is unpredictable and victims are usually chosen at random.

Whenever a civilian enters a building, Cameron said they should be thinking of potential emergency situations and keep an eye on exits in case a live shooter enters the premises.

In the case of the City Council chambers, Cameron pointed to the windows behind the council’s seats as exit points.

He also presented a video produced by the City of Houston. During the video, the narrator encouraged everyone to be prepared for the worst case scenario, and to be aware of their environment.

When it comes to evacuating the building, the narrator said everyone should leave their belongings, find the closest exit and encourage others to leave with them.

After everyone has left the building, they should prevent others from entering the building. Once a person is out of danger, they should call 911.

The narrator stated if a person cannot leave the building, they should find a secure hiding spot to conceal and barricade themselves, turn off the lights, silence their phones and stay calm.

The third action is for people to fight back as a last resort. If a person decides to attack the shooter, they should act with aggression, improvise weapons and follow through with their actions to immobilize the attacker.

The video’s narrator explained the first wave of responders arrive at the scene will focus on neutralizing the shooter instead of evacuating civilians. While they are being evacuated, people should keep their hands up and follow directions the responders provide to them.

Cameron said shooters will sometimes scout a building for law enforcement personnel and will even make false emergency calls to get officers to leave the area.

“Bad guys think outside of the box, just like we do,” Cameron added.

In other business, Mayor Gary Cook announced Western Artists Association member Jim Lisk will no longer organize Art in the Park after 2018. Cook said he received a resignation letter from Lisk, who cited health concerns as the primary reason he can no longer organize the event.

Cook also appointed Mark Ryker to the Ritzville Public Development Authority’s board of directors.

Public Works Director Larry Swift said staff is preparing to winterize equipment and public restrooms.

Swift noted the public restrooms in Pioneer Plaza suffered some vandalism. Council asked staff about the possibility of installing security cameras on nearby buildings as a way to deter potential vandalism.

McCormick said the staff would need money and a reasonable equipment to install cameras in the downtown area. He added he would also like to upgrade to the camera system installed on the City Park’s public restrooms.