Hopefully by now all of you have changed your batteries in your

smoke alarms as you prepare for the upcoming winter months. Many

of you may have heard on the news recently about the grant Decatur

Fire Department received. This grant required smoke alarms to be

installed in communities which are the hardest hit by fires. Decatur

Fire Department with cooperation of Wayne Township Fire Depart-

ment distributed over 1,000 smoke alarms in four days. If you are in

need of a smoke alarm, please let us know! Being out in the

community those four rainy, sunning and chilly days knocking on

doors, asking residents if they wanted a free smoke detector, and

installing them was a great feeling. Working side by side with the

men and women who protect and serve Wayne Township reassured

me of what I have already seen since I have been in office, these employees have a servant’s

heart. During the installations, I was able to build bonds with many of them and I am grateful

to get to know more about them and their families. Looking forward to the upcoming months

of family get togethers, Thanksgiving and Christmas; it reminds me to again reflect on my life

and be thankful for my blessings of family, health, food on the table, the ability to serve

neighbors and friends in their times of need. I am also grateful for all the men and woman who

work for the Wayne Township Fire Department and the Wayne Township Government Center.

It is an honor to surround myself with these men and woman who serve Wayne Township and

the surrounding communities. In this newsletter you will see pictures from our Smoke Alarm

Blitz and from our Halloween soup pitch-in (below) with the Wayne Township Government

Center employees. I have to say, my staff makes the best food! They did a variety of soups,

breads and yummy desserts.

Have a safe November everyone, and remember to count your blessings, because no one is

promised tomorrow....

From the Desk of: Andy Harris, Trustee

Wayne Township Trustee’s

Newsletter

Inside this issue:

Note From Trustee Harris 1

Breakfast with Santa 2013 2

Fire Prevention Division 3

Project Livesaver 4

Neighbor Power 4

Historic Fire Page 5

In The News 6/7

Smoke Divers Online Auction 8

Stats 9

911 Slugfest 10 Community Giving 11 Fall Festival 11

Smoke Detector Blitz 12

Accolades 13 WT Board Meetings 14

IFRH 15

Contact Us 16

“The Voice for Grassroots Government

Faithfully Serving with Trust and Integrity”

November 2013

Wayne Township

Emergency Assistance

Wayne Township

Fire Department

Volume 2 Issue 9

5401 W. Washington Street, Indianapolis, IN 46241 (317) 241-4191

November 11, 2013

November 28, 2013

Employee Soup Lunch Halloween Celebration

Wayne Township Trustee’s Newsletter

15th

Annual Saturday, December 14, 2013

9:00 AM-1:00 PM

Chapel Hill 7th & 8th

Grade Center

7320 West 10th Street

The History of Breakfast with Santa

“Where a thought was mentioned, an idea was acted upon, and a dream became the reality.” Breakfast

with Santa began in 1999 at the former Speedway Steak ‘n Shake; the founding members: Kim Boyd,

Jim & Pam Cole, Marshall Lewis, Kim Sims-Finger, and Chris & Vicki Walker, envisioned an idea

that would herald the community involvement of their company. Various community agencies as well

as local individuals and businesses quickly followed suit in also committing themselves. In doing so, the

1st Annual Breakfast with Santa event served approximately 150 children and since its inception, we

can proudly say the number served for the past 14 years is approximately 45,000 families and children.

None of which could be done without the numerous amounts of volunteers and sponsors, and for that

we are extremely grateful.

Please join us December 14th as we continue to celebrate the “giving” to families in need. This is a

wonderful event and may be the only Christmas a child receives.

If you would like to volunteer please call Becki Viewegh at 317-246-6269

or email Becki.Viewegh@waynetwp.org (Deadline for Volunteers is December 2, 2013)

If you would like to register your child (And it is required that every child register)

You can go to the following locations:

700 N. High School Road - Wayne Township Fire Department Headquarters

6696 Rockville Road - Westlake Church of God

IPS 67 and IPS 87

1301 N. Goodlet Avenue - Friendship Missionary Baptist Church

Steak-n-Shake (Holt, High School, 38th St. and Avon)

Volume 2 Issue 9

Volume 2 Issue 9 Volume 2 Issue 9

Since conducting a joint Wayne/Decatur Township smoke

alarm blitz a couple of weeks ago, we thought it would be

prudent to discuss these essential life safety devices. It’s

important to note that the number of civilian fire deaths in this

country in 1976 was estimated at 8,000 with a population of

slightly more than 218 million. In 2011, the number of civilian

fire deaths was 3,005 with a population of slightly more than

309 million. While this is a decrease of more than 62 percent,

smoke alarms alone cannot be attributed solely to the decrease.

There have been many other advances in fire and building

technologies and public education programs since 1976. First

and foremost both state and local law requires a minimum

“one” smoke alarm on every living level of the home. Second,

if you are a landlord of a home, apartment building or mobile

home, it’s “your” responsibility to “provide” the smoke alarms

for every rental unit. The “tenants” responsibility is only to

ensure that the smoke alarms are maintained in “operable

condition” while occupying the home. Smoke alarms are a self

-contained device having its own power source, its own

detection chamber and its own audible alarm. Commonly

found in the vicinity of sleeping areas of one and two-family

homes. There are 3 types of smoke alarms; (1) the ionization

(I) technology, which works best for fast flaming fire such as a

fire in a kitchen; (2) the photoelectric (P) technology, which

works best with slow smoldering fires such as a cigarette in a

couch; and (3) the dual sensor (I)(P) smoke alarm which

provides both technologies in a single unit. The dual sensor

smoke alarm is what we are recommending to the public when

replacing their smoke alarms. With that being said any smoke

alarm that is or suspected to 10 years old or greater should be

replaced as soon as possible. There are also 3 different types of

power sources for smoke alarms, they are; (1) battery operated,

use type battery recommended by manufacturer of smoke

alarm; (2) hard-wire only, using homes electric service; and (3)

hard-wired with battery backup in case of loss of electric

service. Newer homes (less than 13 years) may have

hard-wired smoke alarms located in each bedroom and hallway

outside the bedrooms are interconnected. Interconnected

means if one detector sounds they all will sound alternately

thru-out the home. This technology will quickly alert you to a

fire issue in one part of the home while you are in another part

of the home. In regards to the title of this article, Smoke

Alarms; Smoke Detectors—There’s a difference. Smoke

Alarms as described above are fundamentally different from

Smoke Detectors. A Smoke Detector is an initiation device

that is part of a fire alarm system. These are commonly found

in corridors of hotels, schools and nursing homes. A Smoke

Detector detects particles of smoke and then sends a signal to a

fire alarm control panel The fire alarm control panel reads the

signal and activates the audible and visual notification (strobe/

horn) devices of the fire alarm system thru-out the building for

evacuation purposes. A Smoke Detector by itself has no power

source or alarm capability, it’s provided by the fire alarm

system, unlike the Smoke Alarm. If you have any questions

about Smoke Alarms, Smoke Detectors or Fire Alarm Systems,

please feel free to contact us in the Fire Prevention Bureau.

Until next month,

Randy, Jamie, Adam,

Barb and Sean

Wayne Township Trustee’s Newsletter

Station 84 called to assist Pike Township on October 21st at 21:20 with a Project Lifesaver call on a 26 year old missing man with

special needs. Ladder 84 Johnny Balding, Engine 84 Chris Abel and Car 857 Joy Lorch tracked the man with their receivers and

located him running across 47th toward Georgetown Rd. He had been missing for about 1 hour and was cold but in good condition.

We are very familiar with this man. Joy Lorch has cared for him on the Project Lifesaver Program for several years.

Wayne Township continues with a perfect search record on Project Lifesaver calls countywide.

INRC recognized Near West Collaborative' s "Great Indy Clean up" for their 8th

annual "Collaborative Spirit Award" project which involves partnerships between

neighborhood associations, organizations, schools, businesses, faith-based organizations, not-for-profits, etc. The

project must embrace the spirit of cooperation and community involvement. Near West "Great Indy Clean

up" encompassed over 400 volunteers in the area. We were able to complete the following projects: Painted over 50

fire hydrants; Painted Near West logos along the neighborhood streets connecting one neighborhood to the next.;

Mulched and spruced up Hawthorne Park, Stringtown Park, and Rosalie Park; Clean up a portion of the potential bike

trail from Concord Street to Michigan Street; Picked up 10 truck loads of trash throughout the Near West area; Planted

over 50 trees in the Stringtown area and painted murals on two bridges in the We Care Neighborhood. In addition, we

had multiple organizations and partners that made this day possible: Special thanks to Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and

Tammy Stevens for trusting that Near West could accomplish a great initiative kick off; Hawthorne Center, IUPUI,

George Washington, Indy Parks, and Citizens Energy Group. In addition each of our community leaders worked

diligently to ensure their neighborhood participated in the overall effort, special thanks to: Julie Ellison- Hawthorne NA,

Francetta Peterson- Haughville, Tim Ingram- Stringtown, and Leigh McCall- We Care. We also want to thank our local

businesses: Jimmy Johns, King Ribs, Domino's, Papa Johns, Kroger, and Marsh. Also, a big shout out to Ann Krieker

and her husband 300 hotdogs for everyone, Russell Heckman, Betty Harris, Annette and Rebecca Lovejoy for

serving breakfast; and Earl Hunt for helping us organize and pass out water. In addition, we had a performance from

the MOTUS dance group. It was a spectacular event and we accomplished so much, thank you INRC for recognizing

our efforts.

Volume 2 Issue 9

Have you ever wondered where Wayne Township’s name came from?

1745-1796—Wayne Township was named after General Anthony Wayne. This hero of the Revolution defeated the

Indians at Fallen Timbers, 1794 and opened large areas for settlement by the Treaty of Greenville, 1795.

The Peshtigo Forest Fire occurred on October 8, 1871, the same day as the Great Chicago Fire. The Peshtigo Fire which was over-

shadowed by the Chicago fire is known for being the "Deadliest Fire in U.S. History". This fire raged through 6 counties in the

Green Bay area of Northeastern Wisconsin, destroying upwards of 16 communities and more than 1.5 million acres of forested land.

The human loss was also significant; "between" 1,200 to 2,200 lives were lost, another 1,500 plus were seriously injured or

disfigured and over 3,000 were made homeless. The greatest loss of life occurred in the Town of Peshtigo which virtually vanished

from existence in about 1 hour due to the firestorm claiming about 800 lives alone. (The reason for the large gap between the

number of lives is that most records were destroyed in the fire. By utilizing 1870 U.S. Census records an estimated 1,300 to 1,500

people disappeared from existence after the fire.) The fire damage loss for this historic fire was conservatively estimated in the $5

million plus range. Today, that would equate to over a $96 million dollar loss. Not included in these fire loss estimates were the 2

million plus trees, tree saplings and wildlife losses. The

territory around Peshtigo was fertile ground for farming,

trapping and hunting. The soil was good, there was lots of

water, but the short growing sea- son and heavily timbered terrain

made farming a challenge. By the 1850's the country's need for

lumber with the forests already cut in the Eastern States found

new sources of lumber in Michi- gan and Wisconsin. Because of

this the Peshtigo area became a boomtown in the 1860's with

many saw mills, grist mills, sta- bles, stores, banks, hotels,

schoolhouse, three active church congregations along with harbor

and railroad facilities. This rapid growth caused many fire safety

issues: farming, clearing of land for growth of farm crops using

"slash and burn methods; log- ging, slash from huge areas of

forest was intentionally burned or left in piles in the woods and clearings creating dry tinder for forest fires; railroads, trees and brush

cleared from rights-of-way were left by the wayside. In dry weather, sparks from steam engines often ignited grass, brush and slash;

industry, sawmills and factories with large supplies of raw materials such as logs or products such as lumber and woodenwares

created waste bark and sawdust; building construction created wooden buildings, board walks, sawdust floors and streets. For

clarification purposes, "slash and burn" is a method of agriculture in which existing vegetation is cut down and burned off before

new seeds are sown, typically an old time method for clearing forest land for various uses. Slash is the sawdust and other wood

waste. The weather, similar to Chicago's Fire we discussed last month. It was a prolonged and widespread drought with high

temperatures. The lack of rain led to the point of where the many ponds, bogs and creeks within the forest became dried up. Due to

the poor fire safety habits in clearing the forest for the various reasons along with the hot dry weather and a cyclonic windstorm from

the Southwest occurring on the October 8th turned the many slash and burn piles into a full fledge forest fire. As the fire grew with

intensity it created small fire tornados which traveled ahead of the blaze at some 5 to 6 miles an hour, eventually becoming a fire-

storm with internal winds of approximately 80 miles an hour, uprooting trees, tearing roofs off buildings and blowing barns apart.

Many of the farms and homes were outside Peshtigo were so isolated there was little chance for warning, as the speed of the fire

caught many inhabitants totally unprepared. The consequences of this fire were that the forest regeneration in the burned region was

almost nonexistent for some twenty years after this tragedy. The ecosystem regeneration was not immediate either. Basically, over

1.5 million acres of land was unable to support any form of life for many years after. So what changes resulted from this fire? The

federal government came to the realization that they needed to implement new forest management programs to prevent future large

scale destruction of the forests. New firefighting and fire prevention policies were developed. This is essentially how modern day

conservation and environmental principals found their start as a result of such natural disasters that were in many ways unavoidable

but preventive planning would result in less chaos, less property loss and fewer lives taken.

Until next month be nice and be safe, Randy

Building Fire at 4955 W. Washington

Street. One male occupant pulled from

the building by civilians.

Captain Caceres rescued the puppy!

Station 81 Teaching Public Education.

Wayne Township Fire Department involved

in a Multi agency citywide code enforcement

sweep. They were checking for non-

working fire alarms and no batteries as well

as expired fire extinguishers and exposed

electrical wiring.

Station 85 teaching first aid to Girl Scouts at

Camp Dellwood Station 85 Training with Speedway Fire at old Motel 6.

Wayne Township Trustee’s Newsletter

Congratulations to Zach Tennant

on his graduation from the Indiana

Smoke Diver Program.

Volume 2 Issue 9

The Indiana Smoke Diver Association is a direct descendent from the Georgia Smoke Diver program and is a 501(c) nonprofit organization. Eligibility for membership is limited to certified Indiana Smoke Divers. The organization conducts advanced firefighter training known as the Indiana Smoke Diver course. The association allows Smoke Diver instructors a chance to educate students in one of the best environments in the fire service. No member of the association receives any compensation for their work and each member is required to cover all or part of their expenses related to the delivery of the Indiana Smoke Diver course. The mission is to prevent death and injury by training firefighters to be adaptable and to develop critical decision making skills in high stress environments.

Wayne Township Trustee’s Newsletter

Total Number of Household

Recipients of Township

Emergency Assistance

Total Value of Benefits Provided

to Recipients of Emergency

Township Assistance

Volume 2 Issue 9

Wayne Township Trustee’s Newsletter

What a blessed day this has been and this is why...I was contacted a few weeks ago by Northview

Christian Church in Hamilton County. I was asked if I knew someone within the IMPD family

that could use some TLC…As many of you know a couple months ago we lost IMPD Officer Rod

Bradway, who is also a past member of the Wayne Township Fire Department. With my

experience in community clean ups and guessing Rod’s lovely wife Jamie Bradway could use an

extra hand around the house getting it ready for winter, I knew she would be a good candidate. So

I quietly reached out to Jamie who lives just outside of Wayne Township in Decatur Township and

told her what we would like to do for her, along with any requests she might have, she graciously

accepted our offer. My Deputy Chief of Administration Rick Scott, myself and a dozen members

from Northview Christian Church did a “Day of Service” by doing all of her yard work which

consisted of cleaning her gutters fixing her fence, power washing her home, cutting her grass,

edging all of her sidewalk and driveway, planting shrubbery, trimming her trees and spreading

grass seed. I am grateful that I have been given the opportunity to serve the community! Thank you all for caring enough to give

your time and talents by helping those who need a little TLC!

~ Trustee Andy Harris

Wayne Township Trustee Community Team, Trustee Andy Harris and

Susan Scott joined Bridgeport Elementary Fall Festival on Saturday

November 2nd and passed out a lot of information, services for the

community and free food! Another great turn out.!

Thank You Bridgeport!

Volume 2 Issue 9

On October 21, 22 , 23 and 24 Decatur Township and Wayne

Township Fire Departments implemented a smoke detector blitz in the

Mars Hill area. Firefighters and volunteers went door to door, not just

giving the community “free” smoke detectors but installing them and

checking the existing ones, as well. “This was a proactive campaign to

make sure that everyone has a smoke detector that’s working and if

not we can replace it,” stated Wayne Township Fire Captain Michael

Pruitt. Over 1,000 were handed out.

Wayne Township Trustee’s Newsletter

ACCOLADES

Andy, Love the Newsletter!! It’s loaded with tons

of information and it’s very engaging. Thanks

for sharing ~Cindi

Thanks for a great newsletter! Very informative.

~Trish

Thanks Andy for all you do!. ~Mike E.

Andy and Susan, your Victim Assistance pro-

gram is an amazing way to help the victims of

fire in their time of need. I really appreciate you

guys and I am sure the community does too!

Andy, you are so much more BLESSED than

you realize!! It is GREAT that you have a humble

heart to help others and it was great that the

Northview Christian Church reached out to help

Officer Bradways’ family! Keep on keeping on!!

You are a great Trustee, Neighbor and more im-

portantly, a friend! Gods Blessings to you.

~Terry H.

Keep up the good work! ~Annette J.

If you enjoy our Newsletter and you would like to give feedback, please

email me at TrusteeAndy.Harris@waynetwp.org we would love to hear

from you with any recommendations on how we may better serve you.

Thank you, Andy

*Please note in your email if you do not wish to have your statement in the Newsletter.

October 12, 2013

Ben Davis University High School

1155 S. High School Road

8:00am to 11:00am

Price $6.00 at Door

Pre-Sale Tickets from any Ben Davis Lion $5.00

All you can eat Pancakes, Sausage, Coffee, Juice

and Milk

Volume 2 Issue 9

2013 WAYNE TOWNSHIP

BOARD MEETINGS

TIME: 6PM LOCATION: 5401 W. WASHINGTON ST.

The Wayne Township Board meets the following

dates, please join us:

No meeting in November

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Wayne Township Trustee’s Newsletter

Page 15

Volume 2 Issue 9

www.waynetwp.org

https://www.facebook.com/

WayneTWPTrustee

Danny Vaughn, Judge

Bill Newman, Constable

The Wayne Township

Government Center

5401 W. Washington Street

Indianapolis, IN 46241

(317) 241-4191

Email: information@waynetwp.org or

TrusteeAndy.Harris@waynetwp.org

Small Claims Court

(317) 241-9573

Services Provided through the

Trustee’s Office

Food

Shelter

Burial

Heating

Utilities

Clothing

Transportation

Medical Assistance

Your caseworker can explain these

services to you in detail.

Hours

Monday through Friday

8:30 a.m.

to

3:00 p.m.

By appointment only.

Wayne Township Trustee’s Newsletter