Hazelwood Fire Department
Featured on News 20

News 20 anchor Randy Gardner interviewed Fire Chief Jim Matthies and Battalion Chief Randy Getz for a 30-minute program on the Hazelwood Fire Department, which will air on News 20 between Nov. 16 and Nov. 25.

They covered a broad range of topics from what's the difference between a fire department and a fire district to the City of Hazelwood's unique situation of being serviced by three fire protection agencies -- Hazelwood Fire Department, Robertson Fire Protection District and Florissant Valley Fire Department.  The Hazelwood Fire Department covers the heart of the City while the other two serve areas that have been annexed.  It doesn't matter which one people call for emergencies, because all three are comparatively the same in terms of quick response time, highly trained personnel and state-of-the-art equipment.

Matthies and Getz also emphasized the department's proactive efforts to educate the community about fire safety.  They urged residents to stop by and take a tour of their firehouses and meet some of the firefighter/paramedics.

Here are some other interesting facts that were discussed:

• The Hazelwood Fire Department is the first in North County to install and bring online heart monitors and defibrillators capable of transmitting 12-lead EKG data to area hospitals via advanced Bluetooth technology. Doctors are then able to activate their cath labs ahead of time and operate on heart attack and stroke victims as soon as they arrive by ambulance.
• A city-wide campaign is underway, with assistance from Robertson and Florissant Valley, to go door-to-door and make sure every household has at least one working smoke detector. Phase one involving neighborhood canvassing of nearly 6,500 single-family homes is near completion. Phase two begins next spring on multi-family units and apartments. The goal is to reach more than 10,000 homes.  If batteries are found to be dead, they are replaced.  Also, new smoke detectors are installed if existing ones don't work.

Program schedule of News 20 programs featuring Hazelwood Fire Department:

2 a.m.
5 a.m.
7 a.m.
9 a.m.
12 p.m.
2 p.m.
4:30 p.m.
7 p.m.
9:30 p.m.
11:30 p.m.