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Commission approves MOU with Dickinson State University; fire chief presents 2024 annual report
Summary
The Dickinson City Commission approved a memorandum of understanding with Dickinson State University to allow the fire department to use the university's high-fidelity simulation lab and received the Dickinson Fire Department's 2024 annual report, which highlighted rising EMS calls, training totals and language-barrier challenges.
The Dickinson City Commission on Feb. 4 approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Dickinson State University that lets the Dickinson Fire Department use the university's high-fidelity simulation lab and heard the fire department's 2024 annual report.
City fire Chief Justin Presnell told the commission the MOU allows firefighters to train in the university's simulation lab for advanced EMS skills, including labor-and-delivery scenarios, and that the university does not charge for facility use. The department will pay the university $50 per hour for a technician and a $50-per-hour maintenance fee. The agreement runs through May 2027. Chief Presnell said the MOU had been reviewed by legal staff and recommended approval.
The approval matters because the simulation lab expands the fire department's practical training capacity without a facility rental fee; the city will still incur personnel/technician costs. Commissioners voted to approve the MOU; Commissioner Frederick moved the motion and Commissioner Oderman seconded it. The motion passed by recorded voice vote with the commissioners present voting aye.
In his annual report, Presnell said the department responded to 2,102 calls in 2024 and that fires accounted for roughly 69 incidents, about 3% of total responses. He said the department recorded a pre-incident property value of just over $18 million and an estimated loss of just under $2 million, meaning firefighters helped limit property loss compared with the value at risk. EMS and rescue calls make up the majority of the workload, Presnell said.
Presnell described training and prevention activity totals for 2024: 9,525 hours of training (about 101% of the department's tracked requirement), 1,157 routine inspections, 891 other prevention activities (plan reviews, education and outreach) and 35 certificates of occupancy issued. He also presented maps showing call concentrations in multifamily and apartment areas and said Station 1 responded to slightly more than 60% of calls, with the public safety center covering the rest.
Commissioner Oderman pressed Presnell on language barriers during responses. Presnell said language challenges have increased, citing roughly seven to eight recent incidents in the previous month, and that the department has been using dispatch's LanguageLine and ad-hoc tools such as Google Translate in the field. He said the department is tracking those interactions and that the city is exploring devices and bilingual hiring preferences to improve communications.
The commission did not take separate action on the annual report; it was presented for information.
Looking ahead, Presnell said department staff will continue to track language-barrier incidents and incorporate experience from simulation-based training into EMS readiness.
Provenance: Chief Presnell presented the MOU and report during the public safety portion of the Feb. 4 meeting; his MOU remarks begin with the presentation of the simulation lab proposal and the financial terms (see meeting transcript).
