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June was Safety Month for Port tenant "Lafarge Corp. Bruce Scott, General Manager of Lafarge-Milwaukee hired Cintas to train staff on how to put out a Class B fire. A Class A fire is ash, wood and garbage. A Class B fire is cooking oils, liquids, petroleum based fires. These are difficult to put out because the vapors or fumes are what are on fire. A Class C fire is an electrical fire (don't ever use water on a Class C fire).
It is important to know the ABC's of fire extingquishing. Cintas used five pound chemical extinquishers which all have an A, B, or C rating on them for you to know which extinguisher to use on what fire. The labels on extinquishers will say how many feet you should stand back from the fire, typically 10-12 feet. Extingquishers are a one-time uses. Even if you test it for a second, the tab will be released and continue to leak until empty.
Question: What should always be behind you when putting out a fire? (call Betty at 414-286-8131 or email her at bnowak@milwaukee.gov) with the answer and win a port of Milwaukee baseball cap.
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8/4/09 The Port's heavy lift crane was rebuilt and the work is now complete. The lowest bid was $1.5 million for the work. Port staff was able to do it for less than $400,000. Saving the city $1.1 million!
There was a total team effort in planning and executing the total rebuild of the crane: It started with Eric Reinelt, our port director, who obtained the support of the Mayor to do this in-house.
Key port people:
Joe DiGiorgio, Operations Manager- tenure 35 years; Wayne Johnson, Assistant Operations Manager, 27 years; Dave E. Corcoran, Crane Operator, 13 years; Eric Polzin, Crane Operator, 2 years and Erv Kehring who retired recently from 35 years of City service. Erv, who still works temporarily as a Port crane operator and crane mechanic, worked on this crane for 35 years and was a key person to give the Port the comfort level in proceeding down this road. Port staff worked outside in sub zero temperatures, blowing winds – forty feet above ground, tearing apart steel fittings, for weeks, and didn’t slow until someone got pneumonia. These guys are so dedicated to the city and the port.
These men really deserve our appreciation for the team effort and dedication to the City and the Port.
Other port mechanics very much involved in the repairs were: Daniel Acevedo, Lee Teasley, Dale Johnson, and Tom Bilicki.
The crane is a “Theilacker Stiff-leg Derrick”, with a Manitowoc electric motor, aka: Crane 15. This crane has the heaviest port capacity west of Erie, PA, with the ability to lift 440,000 pounds. The crane is used in lifting power plant equipment, transformers, local cruise boats and tugs for repairs, P&H and Bucyrus mining equipment and other heavy machinery that moves through the port.
It started two or three years ago when we went to the Budget Office to see if we could get a new crane, but this would cost over $4.5 million. The crane sheaves were worn to a critical condition, all the bearings were shot, etc. We started going to outside companies for repair bids with $1.5 million being the low bid. The metal was tested to see if it was still good (not rotted inside), and realized the rebuild could possibly be done with port personnel.
Local companies were hired to do some of the machining of parts that were needed.
The physical work started January 1, 2009 and was completed July 1, 2009 (literally thousands of parts from many different local vendors-many that had to be built – not available off a shelf). Paint is currently being applied and should be done in the next week or two to match the port’s other cranes. It was certified June 26, 2009 to lift the heavy pieces the Port and the City required to meet the needs of our manufacturing base.
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The Port of Milwaukee was honored to have the Hwy H20 organization sponsor the viewing of the Imax movie "Mysteries of the Great Lakes" on September 21, 2009. Pictured to the left (left to right) is Bruce Hodgson of the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (Canadian Management group of the Seaway), Rebecca McGill of the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (U.S. side of the Seaway), and Milwaukee's Port Director Eric Reinelt.
Over 100 people attended the cocktail reception and enjoyed the 45 minute thought provoking, informative movie about the history and current health of the Great Lakes.
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