Folsom (Sacramento), CA Management Consultants
Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment for the Cosumnes CSD
Fire Department
Volume 2 of 3 – Technical Report
May 26, 2015
2250 East Bidwell St., Ste #100 Folsom, CA 95630 (916) 458-5100 Fax: (916) 983-2090 This page was intentionally left blank Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Page VOLUME 1 of 3 – Executive Summary (separately bound)
VOLUME 2 of 3 – Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Technical Report (this volume)
Section 1—Introduction and Background ...... 1
1.1 Report Organization ...... 1
1.2 Project Scope of Work ...... 2
1.3 District and Department Overview ...... 4
1.4 Previous Studies of the Cosumnes Fire Department ...... 6
Section 2—Standards of Coverage Introduction ...... 7
2.1 Standards of Coverage Study Processes ...... 7
Section 3—District Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment ...... 11
3.1 Why Does the Department Exist and How Does it Deliver the Existing Fire Crew Deployment Services? ...... 11
3.2 Community Risk Assessment ...... 14
3.3 Risk Assessment Result ...... 24
3.4 Existing District Deployment ...... 24
Section 4—Staffing and Geo-Mapping Analysis ...... 29
4.1 Critical Time Task Measures—What Must be Done Over What Time Frame to Achieve the Stated Outcome Expectation? ...... 29
4.2 Distribution and Concentration Studies—How the Location of First-Due and First Alarm Resources Affects the Outcome ...... 35
Section 5—Statistical Analysis ...... 45
5.1 Historical Effectiveness and Reliability of Response—What Statistics Say About Existing System Performance ...... 45
5.2 Service Demand ...... 46
5.3 Response Time Analysis ...... 51
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5.4 Simultaneous Incident Activity ...... 57
5.5 Station Demand Percentage and Unit Hour Utilization ...... 59
5.6 Analysis of Unit Workload by Hour ...... 63
Section 6—SOC Evaluation and Recommendation ...... 65
6.1 Overall Evaluation ...... 65
Section 7—Headquarters and Support Services Evaluation ...... 69
7.1 Overall Impressions ...... 69
7.2 Management Organization ...... 69
7.3 Organization Structure ...... 70
7.4 Citygate’s Significant Organizational Observations ...... 71
7.5 Management Systems ...... 73
7.6 College Internship Program ...... 79
7.7 Fire Prevention Program ...... 80
7.8 Emergency Medical Services Program ...... 84
7.9 Safety and Risk Management ...... 88
7.10 Wellness Program ...... 92
7.11 Serious Accident Review Team (SART) ...... 93
7.12 Training ...... 94
7.13 Technical Rescue Program ...... 101
7.14 Hazardous Materials ...... 104
7.15 Apparatus Purchasing ...... 105
7.16 Apparatus Maintenance ...... 106
7.17 Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) Testing and Maintenance ... 107
7.18 Radio Maintenance and Repair ...... 108
7.19 Facilities ...... 108
7.20 Water Supply ...... 109
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7.21 Logistical Support ...... 110
Section 8—Next Steps ...... 111
8.1 Next Steps ...... 111 Appendices ...... 113 Appendix 1—Regulatory Best Practices ...... 115 Appendix 2—Fire Department Apparatus and Vehicles (December 2014) ...... 119 Appendix 3—Fire Department Facilities ...... 127 Appendix 4—EMS Mandates ...... 129
Table of Tables Table 1—Standards of Response Coverage Process Elements ...... 8
Table 2—Fire Department Deployment Simplified ...... 9
Table 3—Probability and Consequence Matrix ...... 17
Table 4—Daily Minimum Staffing per Unit for the Department – 2014 ...... 25
Table 5—Resources Sent to Common Risk Types ...... 26
Table 6—First Alarm Structure Fire – 16 Firefighters ...... 30
Table 7—Multi-Casualty Traffic Collision – 7 Firefighters ...... 32
Table 8—Cardiac Arrest – 5 Firefighters ...... 33
Table 9—Number of Incidents by Fiscal Year ...... 46
Table 10—Incident Demand by Property Type by Fiscal Year ...... 50
Table 11—Dispatched to 1st Arrival Minutes/Seconds for FY 13/14 ...... 52
Table 12—Total Response Time for FY 13/14 ...... 54
Table 13—Turnout Time Performance for FY 13/14 ...... 55
Table 14—Travel Time Performance for FY 13/14 ...... 56
Table 15—Simultaneous Incident Activity – 3-Year Average ...... 57
Table 16—Suggested Staff Responsibilities ...... 77
Table 17—Recommended Firefighter Training...... 95
Table of Contents page iii Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
Table of Figures
Figure 1—Risk Types Studied ...... 15
Figure 2—Products of Combustion per Minute...... 19
Figure 3—Survival Rate vs. Time of Defibrillation ...... 20
Figure 4—Number of Incidents by Fiscal Year ...... 46
Figure 5—Number of Incidents by Year by Incident Type ...... 47
Figure 6—Number of Incidents by Month by Year ...... 47
Figure 7—Number of Incidents by Month by Incident Type ...... 48
Figure 8—Number of Incidents by Hour of Day by Year ...... 48
Figure 9—Number of Incidents by Day of Week by Year ...... 49
Figure 10—Number of Incidents by Station by Year ...... 49
Figure 11—Station Compliance Percentage for Dispatch to Arrival (CAD) at 360 Seconds ...... 53
Figure 12—Hourly Compliance Percentage for Dispatch to Arrival (CAD) at 360 Seconds ...... 53
Figure 13—Number of Station Simultaneous Incidents over 3 Years ...... 58
Figure 14—Number of Station Simultaneous Incidents by Year ...... 59
Figure 15—Station Area Utilization ...... 60
Figure 16—Ambulance Utilization...... 61
Figure 17—Engine Utilization ...... 62
Figure 18—Fire Department Organization Chart ...... 70
VOLUME 3 of 3 – Map Atlas (separately bound)
Table of Contents page iv Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
SECTION 1—INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
Citygate Associates, LLC’s detailed work product for a Standards of Response Cover (SOC) review for field deployment and headquarters staffing functions for the Cosumnes Fire Department (the Department) is presented in this volume. Citygate’s scope of work and corresponding Work Plan was developed consistent with Citygate’s Project Team members’ experience in fire administration. Citygate utilizes various National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) publications as best practice guidelines, along with the self-assessment criteria of the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI).
1.1 REPORT ORGANIZATION
This report volume is structured into the following sections. Volumes 1 (Executive Summary) and 3 (Map Atlas) are separately bound.
Section 1 Introduction and Background: Introduction to the study and background facts about the Cosumnes Community Services District (District or CSD) and Fire Department. Section 2 Standards of Response Coverage Introduction: An introduction to the Standards of Coverage (SOC) process and methodology used by Citygate in this review. Section 3 Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment: An in-depth examination of the Fire Department’s deployment ability to meet the community’s risks, expectations, and emergency needs. Section 4 Staffing and Geo-Mapping Analysis: A review of (1) the critical tasks that must be performed to achieve the Fire Department’s desired outcome; and (2) the Department’s existing fire station locations and future locations. Section 5 Response Statistical Analysis: A statistical data analysis of the Fire Department’s incident responses and an overall deployment evaluation. Section 6 SOC Evaluation and Deployment Recommendation: A summary of deployment priorities and an overall deployment recommendation.
Section 1—Introduction and Background page 1 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
Section 7 Fire Department Review of Headquarters Program Functions: A review of the Fire Department’s non-emergency operations and headquarters programs. Section 8 Next Steps: A summary of deployment and headquarters services short- and long- term next steps. Appendices Four appendices, including lists of: (1) regulatory best practices; (2) current Department fire and EMS apparatus and vehicles; (3) Department facilities; (4) and emergency medical services (EMS) mandates.
1.1.1 Goals of Report As each of the sections mentioned above imparts information, this report will cite findings and make recommendations, if appropriate, that relate to each finding. There is a sequential numbering of all of the findings and recommendations throughout Sections 3 through 7 of this report. To provide a comprehensive summary, a complete listing of all these same findings and recommendations, in order, is found in the Executive Summary. Section 8 of this report brings attention to the highest priority needs and possible next steps. This document provides technical information about how fire services are provided, legally regulated, and how the District’s Fire Department currently operates. This information is presented in the form of recommendations and policy choices for the District and Department leadership to discuss.
1.2 PROJECT SCOPE OF WORK
1.2.1 Standards of Response Coverage Review The scope of the Standards of Response Coverage review included the following elements: Modeling the need and effects of the current fire station locations. Although this is not a study of fire departments adjacent to the Department, the study considered the impacts of the Department’s existing or potential automatic and mutual aid agreements on the Department’s needs. Establishing performance goals consistent with best practices and national guidelines from the NFPA and CFAI. Using an incident response time analysis program called StatsFD™ to review the statistics of prior historical performance. Using a geographic mapping response time measurement tool called FireView™ to measure fire and ambulance driving coverages.
Section 1—Introduction and Background page 2 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
SOC Study Questions To prepare and develop a Standards of Coverage document for the District, Citygate reviewed computer data, response time analysis, and past performance. As a result, this portion of the study addresses the following questions: 1. Is the type and quantity of apparatus and personnel adequate for the District’s deployment to emergencies? 2. What is the recommended deployment to maintain adequate emergency response times as growth continues to occur?
1.2.2 Headquarters Assessment The core process and study methodology for the headquarters study did not include an in-depth work flow or program analysis; this study was intended to provide a high-level overview. Citygate used several recommended best practices and documents, such as CFAI and NFPA, as a baseline from which to assess the functions of headquarters to determine if they meet the needs of the Department for the field services currently or in the near term. As part of this review, Citygate assessed stakeholder perceptions and expectations of the entire Department by reviewing SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, and Opportunities, and Threats) questionnaires filled out by Department staff members. We also conducted interviews with management team members in all of the headquarters services themes.
Headquarters Study Questions Preparing a review of the Department’s headquarters functions required data analysis, review of administrative duties assigned to the staff, administrative policies, regulatory compliance measures, and standard operating guidelines. The headquarters study process addresses the following questions:
1. Is the current fire prevention program meeting the needs of the District, for community risk reduction, public education, and life safety? 2. Is the current fire training program meeting the needs of the Department and does it comply with all state and local training mandates for both fire and EMS?
3. Is the current methodology and staffing for Fire Administration and EMS oversight appropriate and meeting all best practices for the Department? It is important to state that administrative and programmatic functions, in every fire department, are critical to its overall mission delivery and the safety of the firefighters and public. Fire and emergency services departments in the 21st century must be data-driven. Decisions for staffing
Section 1—Introduction and Background page 3 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report and deployment should be made carefully, with a foundation of data to support that decision. Fire departments are businesses and they should be operated and reviewed as such.
1.3 DISTRICT AND DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW
The Cosumnes Community Services District Board of Directors, elected by its constituents, governs the District, Parks and Recreation, and fire services. The Fire Chief oversees the general operations of the Fire Department under the General Manager in accordance with the policy direction prescribed by the District Board of Directors. In Fiscal Year 14/15, the Fire Department employs/shares 166 personnel in all program areas including Fleet Maintenance. Due to recession-caused reductions, the Department had to reduce 14.5 positions. The District maintains eight fire stations strategically located throughout the District and one fire administration office, plus maintenance and training facilities. The Department staffs fifteen front-line companies daily, which include eight fire engines, one ladder truck, and six paramedic ambulances, plus specialty units. The specialty units include OES Type I and Type III fire engines, Cosumnes wildland Type III fire engines, two water tenders, an air trailer, a heavy foam unit, a heavy rescue unit, a technical rescue trailer, a mass decontamination trailer, a mass casualty incident trailer, and three swift water rescue boats (one boat on order). All of these specialty units are “cross” staffed using fire engine personnel as seasons and emergency circumstances dictate. The Department receives fire dispatch from a sub-regional center serving communities in Sacramento County known as the Sacramento Regional Fire/EMS Communications Center (SRFECC). The region’s police and sheriff’s departments are the District’s Primary Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) for all 9-1-1 emergency calls. A request from a caller for the Fire Department is forwarded to SRFECC for dispatch of the Fire Department’s resources. The District’s service area encompasses approximately 157 square miles. Within the boundaries of the District are expansive wildland areas, large and typical single-family homes, multi-family residential complexes, hotels, two railroad lines, freeways, two non-commercial airports, numerous convalescent/assisted-living facilities, the Sacramento County jail facility, businesses of all types including some using hazardous materials, and recreational sports venues. The total population served by the District is estimated to be 185,000 residents in 2014 by the California Department of Finance. The projected populations found in the General Plans of Elk Grove, Galt, and Sacramento County can increase this figure to over 200,000, but the pace of growth post-recession is very uncertain. General Plan build-out could take several more decades. On business days, the District’s population grows somewhat with daytime workforce employees and passengers on the freeways. Residents leaving for employment elsewhere in the Sacramento region offset some of this “in-migration” of employees.
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1.3.1 Legal Basis for Agency1
The roots of the Cosumnes CSD Fire Department date back to 1893, when the Elk Grove Fire Department started with a single hose cart and a small group of dedicated volunteers, and to 1921, when the all-volunteer Galt Fire Protection District was formed. Today, the two fire departments operate as one, serving the growing communities with progressive, modern firefighting practices and equipment.
The Cosumnes CSD Fire Department is the product of two mergers. The first, in 1985, combined the prior Elk Grove Fire Department with one of the oldest parks districts in the state, the Elk Grove Parks and Recreation District, to become the Elk Grove Community Services District. The second was in 2006, when the Elk Grove CSD merged its fire services with the Galt Fire Protection District, resulting in the formation of the Cosumnes Community Services District.
1.3.2 Funding Sources and Restrictions In Fiscal Year 14/15, the Board-approved Final Budget for the Fire Department was $36,880,118. Revenues inclusive of property taxes, transfers in from reserves, permit and ambulance fees were projected to be $36,880,118. Included is this balanced budget was a transfer of $563,224 from District General Fund Reserves into the Fire Department budget to cover retiree health care programmed saving; thus, the District was not able to fund replacement accounts for the replacement of stations, fire apparatus, and small tools/equipment. Thus, even at this point after the recession, the District is still operating at a deficit. To their credit, the District Directors will begin making the actuarially required contribution (known as the “ARC”) towards their unfunded retiree health care obligation and also are fully funding annually the required CalPERS state pension system contribution, effective in FY 15/16. In summary, the District Directors and Department management are fiscally prudent and striving to live within their revenue means.
1.3.3 Topography and Climate The District is located south of the City of Sacramento in the lower Sacramento Valley of Inland Northern California. Its climate is a combination of Continental and Marine West Coast. While the District is only 100 miles from the Pacific Ocean, the Coast Range separates the District from the open sea. This allows for a variation in seasonal temperatures not seen at the coast. This is especially true in summer, when temperatures in the valley can peak at over 100F while those at the coast remain in the 50’s and 60’s. Conversely, in winter, the District can see daytime highs dipping into the upper 30’s and lower 40’s while those in the nearby Bay Area can remain in the 50’s.
1 Fire Department web site history.
Section 1—Introduction and Background page 5 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
The majority of the District consists of relatively flat to small rolling hills. There are not steep slopes with heavy brush and timber. The majority of the wildland fire fuel mix is grasslands and smaller bush and tree species.
1.4 PREVIOUS STUDIES OF THE COSUMNES FIRE DEPARTMENT
The District Directors have not conducted a complete Standards of Cover study and have not, by Board Resolution, adopted a complete and best-practices-based response time deployment policy. In the pre-recession years, the Department conducted a strategic plan in 2007 internally, and during the recession, the Department conducted an impact fee study for new development costs.
Section 1—Introduction and Background page 6 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
SECTION 2—STANDARDS OF COVERAGE INTRODUCTION
2.1 STANDARDS OF COVERAGE STUDY PROCESSES
The core methodology used by Citygate in the scope of its deployment analysis work is the “Standards of Response Coverage” 5th Edition, which is a systems-based approach to fire department deployment, as published by the CFAI. This approach uses local risk and demographics to determine the level of protection best fitting the District’s needs. The Standards of Response Coverage method evaluates deployment as part of the self- assessment process of a fire agency. This approach uses risk and community expectations on outcomes to help elected officials make informed decisions on fire and EMS deployment levels. Citygate has adopted this methodology as a comprehensive tool to evaluate fire station locations. Depending on the needs of the study, the depth of the components may vary. Such a systems approach to deployment, rather than a one-size-fits-all prescriptive formula, allows for local determination. In this comprehensive approach, each agency can match local needs (risks and expectations) with the costs of various levels of service. In an informed public policy debate, a governing board “purchases” the fire and emergency medical service levels the community needs and can afford. While working with multiple components to conduct a deployment analysis is admittedly more work, it yields a much better result than using only a singular component. For instance, if only travel time is considered, and frequency of multiple calls is not considered, the analysis could miss over-worked companies. If a risk assessment for deployment is not considered, and deployment is based only on travel time, a community could under-deploy to incidents.
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The Standards of Response Coverage process consists of the following eight parts:
Table 1—Standards of Response Coverage Process Elements
Element Meaning
Reviewing the deployment goals the agency 1. Existing Deployment Policies has in place today. Reviewing the expectations of the community 2. Community Outcome Expectations for response to emergencies. Reviewing the assets at risk in the community. 3. Community Risk Assessment (In this Citygate study, see Section 3.2 Community Risk Assessment.) Reviewing the tasks that must be performed and the personnel required to deliver the stated 4. Critical Task Study outcome expectation for the Effective Response Force. Reviewing the spacing of first-due resources 5. Distribution Study (typically engines) to control routine emergencies. Reviewing the spacing of fire stations so that building fires can receive sufficient resources in 6. Concentration Study a timely manner (First Alarm assignment or the Effective Response Force). Using prior response statistics to determine 7. Reliability and Historical Response what percent of compliance the existing system Effectiveness Studies delivers. Proposing Standard of Cover statements by 8. Overall Evaluation risk type as necessary.
Fire department deployment, simply stated, is about the speed and weight of the attack. Speed calls for first-due, all-risk intervention units (engines, trucks, and/or rescue ambulances) strategically located across a department responding in an effective travel time. These units are tasked with controlling moderate emergencies without the incident escalating to second alarm or greater size, which unnecessarily depletes department resources as multiple requests for service occur. Weight is about multiple-unit response for serious emergencies such as a room-and- contents structure fire, a multiple-patient incident, a vehicle accident with extrication required, or a heavy rescue incident. In these situations, enough firefighters must be assembled within a reasonable time frame to safely control the emergency, thereby keeping it from escalating to greater alarms.
Section 2—Standards of Coverage Introduction page 8 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
This deployment design paradigm is reiterated in the table below:
Table 2—Fire Department Deployment Simplified
Meaning Purpose
Speed of Attack Travel time of first-due, all-risk Controlling moderate emergencies intervention units strategically located without the incident escalating to across a department. second alarm or greater size. Weight of Attack Assembling enough firefighters within Number of firefighters in a multiple-unit a reasonable time frame to safely response for serious emergencies. control the emergency.
Thus, small fires and medical emergencies require a single- or two-unit response (engine and specialty unit) with a quick response time. Larger incidents require more crews. In either case, if the crews arrive too late or the total personnel sent to the emergency are too few for the emergency type, they are drawn into a losing and more dangerous battle. The science of fire crew deployment is to spread crews out across a community for quick response to keep emergencies small with positive outcomes, without spreading the crews so far apart that they cannot amass together quickly enough to be effective in major emergencies.
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SECTION 3—DISTRICT DEPLOYMENT GOALS/MEASURES AND RISK ASSESSMENT
3.1 WHY DOES THE DEPARTMENT EXIST AND HOW DOES IT DELIVER THE EXISTING FIRE CREW DEPLOYMENT SERVICES?
3.1.1 Existing Response Time Policies or Goals – Why Does the Agency Exist Given that the District Board of Directors have not SOC ELEMENT 1 OF 8* adopted a complete and best-practices-based response EXISTING DEPLOYMENT time policy, the initial response time and methods source POLICIES document to refer to is the District’s overall 2007 Strategic *Note: This is an overview of Element 1. Plan and the Fire Department’s current Standard The detail is provided on page 24. Operating Procedures. The Strategic Plan called for a response time in the urban areas of the District to be within 5 minutes of unit dispatch, 80% of the time, and in rural areas within 7 minutes of unit dispatch, 80% of the time. The Department’s current Standard Operating Procedure for response calls for a crew turnout time from dispatch to unit rolling in 90 seconds, which includes donning the required protective clothing. The policy further states the urban area response time to be 6 minutes, 90% of the time, and 20 minutes in rural areas, 90% of the time. In both of these measures, the clock start time is not clearly defined as “fire dispatch call receipt,” “fire crew notify,” or “responding.” Thus, today it is impossible to measure current performance to national best practices that define a start and end time. Another place to look for community response time policies are the Safety Elements of the two cities’ and the County’s adopted General Plans. In the City of Elk Grove Safety Element, Goal SA-32 states, “Cooperate with the Elk Grove Community Services District (EGCSD) Fire Department to reduce fire hazards, assist in fire suppression, and promote fire safety in Elk Grove.” The City of Galt General Plan Safety Element Goal SS-4 states, “To minimize the risk of loss of life, injury, distress, and damage to property resulting from natural and human-made fires.”
The County of Sacramento’s General Plan Safety Element Goal SA-23 states, “The County shall require that all new development meets the local fire district standards for adequate water supply and pressure, fire hydrants, and access to structures by firefighting equipment and personnel.” None of these three General Plans set goals for specific response time measures and desired outcomes, both of which are current best practices for fire departments nationally.
Section 3—District Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 11 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
The response goals outlined even in the Fire Department goal document is not completely congruent with best practices for emergency response time tracking. Nationally-recognized standards and best practices call for a time line with several important time measurements that include a definition of response time. In the statements above, the beginning and end points of the Department’s 6- and 20-minute policy is not defined. It could be from the time the 9-1-1 call is answered, or the time the fire crew is notified, or only driving time. The District also has not identified response goals for technical rescue and hazardous material responses; both are required to meet the Standards of Coverage model for the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI). In this Standards of Coverage study, Citygate will recommend revised response time goals to include all risks including fire, EMS, hazardous materials, and technical rescue responses. The goals will be consistent with the CFAI systems approach to response.
3.1.2 Existing Outcome Expectations The Standards of Response Cover Process begins by SOC ELEMENT 2 OF 8 reviewing existing emergency services outcome COMMUNITY OUTCOME expectations. This can be restated as follows: for what EXPECTATIONS purpose does the response system exist? Has the governing body adopted any response performance measures? If so, the time measures used need to be understood and good data collected. Current best practice nationally is to measure percent completion of a goal (e.g., 90% of responses) instead of an average measure. Mathematically this is called a “fractile” measure.2 This is because the measure of average only identifies the central or middle point of response time performance for all calls for service in the data set. Using an average makes it impossible to know how many incidents had response times that were way over the average or just over. For example, if a department had an average response time of 5 minutes for 5,000 calls for service, it cannot be determined how many calls past the average point of 5 minutes were answered in the 6th minute or way out at 10 minutes. This is a significant issue if hundreds or thousands of calls are answered far beyond the average point. Fractile measures will identify per minute the number of incidents that are reached up to 100%. The Department has data from the regional computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system and its Records Management System (RMS) indicating its actual performance. Upon completion of this study, the District should consider adopting the performance goals recommended for its emergency response systems consistent with the recommendation of the
2 A fractile is that point below which a stated fraction of the values lie. The fraction is often given in percent; the term percentile may then be used.
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NFPA and CAFI. There are other organizations that suggest different criterion; however, CFAI is the most detailed and system-wide analysis available. More importantly within the Standards of Response Coverage Process, positive outcomes are the goal, and from that crew size and response time can be calculated to allow efficient fire station spacing (distribution and concentrations). Emergency medical incidents have situations with the most severe time constraints. In a heart attack that stops the heart, a trauma that causes severe blood loss, or in a respiratory emergency, the brain can only live 8 to 10 minutes without oxygen. Not only heart attacks, but also other events can cause oxygen deprivation to the brain. Heart attacks make up a small percentage; drowning, choking, trauma constrictions, or other similar events have the same effect. In a building fire, a small incipient fire can grow to involve the entire room in an 8- to 10-minute timeframe. If fire service response is to achieve positive outcomes in severe EMS situations and incipient fire situations, all responding crews must arrive, size-up the situation, and deploy effective measures before brain death occurs or the fire leaves the room of origin. Thus, from the time of 9-1-1 receiving the call, an effective deployment system is beginning to manage the problem within 7 to 8 minutes total response time. This is right at the point that brain death is becoming irreversible and the fire has grown to the point to leave the room of origin and become very serious. Thus, the District needs a first-due response goal that is within the range to give the situation hope for a positive outcome. It is important to note the fire or medical emergency continues to deteriorate from the time of inception, not the time the fire engine actually starts to drive the response route. Ideally, the emergency is noticed immediately and the 9-1-1 system is activated promptly. This step of awareness—calling 9-1-1 and giving the dispatcher accurate information—takes, in the best of circumstances, one minute. Then crew notification and travel time take additional minutes. Once arrived, the crew must walk to the patient or emergency, size-up the situation, and deploy its skills and tools. Even in easy-to-access situations, this step can take two or more minutes. This time frame may be increased considerably due to long driveways, apartment buildings with limited access, multi-storied apartments or office complexes, or shopping center buildings such as those found in parts of the District. Unfortunately, there are times that the emergency has become too severe, even before the 9-1-1 notification and/or Fire Department response, for the responding crew to reverse; however, when an appropriate response time policy is combined with a well-designed system, then only issues like bad weather, poor traffic conditions, or multiple emergencies will slow the response system down. Consequently, a properly designed system will give citizens the hope of a positive outcome for their tax dollar expenditure. For this report, “total” response time is the sum of the fire dispatch, crew turnout, and road travel time steps. This is consistent with the recommendations of the CFAI.
Section 3—District Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 13 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
Finding #1: The District Directors have not adopted a complete and best- practices-based deployment measure or set of specialty response measures for all-risk emergency responses that includes the beginning time measure from the point of fire dispatch receiving the 9-1-1 phone call, nor a goal statement tied to risks and outcome expectations. The deployment measure should have a second measurement statement to define multiple-unit response coverage for serious emergencies. Making these deployment goal changes will meet the best practice recommendations of the Commission on Fire Accreditation International.
3.2 COMMUNITY RISK ASSESSMENT
Risk assessment is a major component of developing a SOC ELEMENT 3 OF 8 Standards of Cover (SOC) document. A risk assessment COMMUNITY RISK identifies the type of incidents a fire department will ASSESSMENT respond to and the resources and staffing it will need to mitigate the situation. To better understand risk it is necessary to define the types and levels of risk a community might encounter. For risk assessment in an SOC study, it is typical to consider low, moderate, high/special, and maximum risk occupancies. Risk also can be classified by probability and consequences. Probability is defined as the likelihood of a fire occurring in an occupancy type. Consequences are defined as the effects of the fire on the property and community. These classifications will be discussed later in this section. The figure below identifies the risks that Citygate studied to develop this Standards of Cover report. As the Department is an “all risk” response agency, each of the types of incidents was studied.
Section 3—District Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 14 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
Figure 1—Risk Types Studied
The District’s Fire Department and this SOC study used several types of demographic data to understand the risks to be protected and methods for deploying emergency response or prevention resources to these risks to lessen or prevent the seriousness of an emergency. The data sets are: Population data from City/County Planning and U.S. Census Bureau data sets. Building fire flow and type of construction data as collected by the Insurance Service Office (ISO). Hazardous material chemical reporting through the Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA). The cities’ and County’s General Plan, Zoning, and Safety Elements.
3.2.1 Building Fire Risk Assessment The response area for each fire station is identified as a station district. When a request for service is received through the 9-1-1 system, the fire dispatch center verifies the call location and
Section 3—District Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 15 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report uses the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system to identify the required resources to send. The CAD system takes into consideration the type of occupancy and associated risk. Once the call type has been identified, the correct type of predetermined response is dispatched. This utility allows the dispatcher to dispatch a predetermined fire alarm assignment quickly to the emergency.
Building Risk Types The Department and regional response system has identified risk hazards for each type of occupancy within the District. Risks are divided into the following four classifications defined below: Maximum-Risk Occupancies High/Special-Risk Occupancies Moderate-Risk Occupancies Low-Risk Occupancies. Maximum Risk Occupancies: These types of occupancies are usually found in the nation’s largest cities and require significant responses, personnel, and resources. There are no maximum risks in the District. High/Special-Risk Occupancies: Schools, apartments, hospitals, nursing homes, low-rise buildings, commercial structures, dwellings in water-deficient areas, and other high-life hazard or large fire potential occupancies such as the propane plant. The Fire Department has pre-plans for buildings and wildland preserve areas and that contain special or unique risks for the responders to understand. Moderate-Risk Occupancies: One-, two-, or three-family dwellings and small commercial and industrial occupancies. Approximately 70% of the occupancies within the District fall into the moderate-risk category including the single-family residences. The most common risk in any community like the District is fire. The cities in the District have a mix of occupancy uses, which help to determine risk level. For example, the City of Elk Grove has over 493 buildings classified as a business. The City of Galt has 107. Typically these buildings are moderate risks because the cities have a mix of newer construction and older housing stock. Newer building codes have more definitive and comprehensive codes for construction and fire safety than in years past. Low-Risk Occupancies: Small non-commercial structures that are remote from other buildings, such as detached residential garages and sheds. Given the zoning and urban character of most of the District there are not a significant number of these types of buildings.
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The County of Sacramento also completed a Local Hazard Mitigation Plan in 2011. This plan identifies major hazard types, sensitive populations, buildings, employers, etc. In the City of Elk Grove alone the plan identified 343 sites that were deemed Critical Facilities. In addition, the plan identifies multiple natural and environmental hazards such as flooding. To some extent, the Fire Department is the first responder and line of defense to all of these varied hazards.
Probabilities and Consequences of Building Risk Types Table 3 illustrates the probability and consequences for each of the four fire risk types. As indicated earlier, probability is defined as the likelihood of fire occurring in an occupancy type; consequences are defined as the effects that the fire will have on the property and community. Both probability and consequences are reviewed by the fire department to assure proper distribution (location) of fire stations and concentration (the number of units needed to suppress the fire and limit the consequences).
Table 3—Probability and Consequence Matrix
Low Consequence High Consequence
Moderate Risk Maximum Risk
(High Probability) (High Probability) (Low Consequence) (High Consequence)
High Probability
Low Isolated Risk High/Special Risk
(Low Probability) (Low Probability) (Low Consequence) (High Consequence)
Low Probability
For building fire risk, to determine the appropriate response mix of fire units and staffing, the Department uses an extensive data file from the ISO of local properties the ISO reviewed on-site for underwriting purposes. In its most recent rating of the District, the ISO classified the District as a Class 2/2Y, on scale of 1-10, where 1 is the best. The ISO classifications are multi-part assessments of a fire department’s capabilities and the ability of the community’s water system to prevent conflagrations from occurring. The ISO to help insurance companies develop premium costs does not measure a fire departments ability to keep all fires very small. In total, the file listed 493 buildings in Elk Grove and adjoining County areas. One of the measures the ISO collects is called “fire flow,” which is the amount of water that would need to be applied if the building were seriously involved in fire. The measure of fire flow is expressed
Section 3—District Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 17 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report in gallons per minute (gpm). Of the buildings in the ISO data set, 250 buildings have required fire flows of 2,000 gpm or higher. There are a total of 22 buildings with fire flows in excess of 4,000 gpm and 11 buildings at 5,000-7,000 gpm or greater. This is a significant amount of firefighting water to deploy, and a major fire at any one of these buildings would require the entire on-duty District firefighting force. Using the generally accepted figure of 50 gallons per minute per firefighter on large building fires, a fire in a building requiring 2,000 gallons per minute would require 40 firefighters, which is more than the 29 on- duty fire-engine-based firefighters in the Department. There are also 12 ambulance personnel, and due to EMS demands, they cannot always be counted on extended attack firefighting. Even if all of the ambulance staff were committed to a large fire, the total District force is just 41, which is only sufficient for 2,000 gpm, not the 22 buildings in the District with a required fire flow exceeding 4,000 gpm. For fires exceeding the on-duty Department forces, then the regional automatic and mutual aid system is used. In the City of Galt, there are 107 commercial buildings in the ISO data file. Of these, 30 have required fire flows equal to or greater than 2,000 gpm. Five buildings have fire flows greater than 4,000 gpm. Again, a fire in a building requiring 2,000 gpm exceeds not just the on-duty 6 firefighters on fire engines in Galt, but that of the entire District. Deployment resources and response time are two critical components necessary for a good outcome. As indicated in the chart below, response times of 7 minutes are ideal to stop the fire near the point of flashover in the room of the fire’s origin. Flashover is the point at which the entire room erupts into fire after all objects in that room have reached their ignition temperature. If a person is in that room, survivability diminishes significantly.
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Figure 2—Products of Combustion per Minute
Source: http://www.firesprinklerassoc.org
3.2.2 Emergency Medical Services System Risk Assessment The emergency medical services (EMS) system provided by the Department consists of six ambulances staffed with at least one Advanced Life Support Paramedics (EMT-P). These units are equipped to meet the standards set forth by the Sacramento County Emergency Medical Services Agency requirements. All nine of the Fire Department’s engine and ladder companies are also equipped for Advanced Life Support (ALS) response, staffed with at least one paramedic per crew/shift. The Department’s EMS system provides 24-hour emergency paramedic ambulance response, treatment and transportation of ill and injured patients in the
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District, plus the planning and staffing of medical coverage for special events and related activities. In the District, a 9-1-1 call for medical assistance receives an ambulance and a fire engine or ladder truck, whichever is closest. This level of response provides a minimum of two paramedics and three firefighters to every call for service. In addition to the six paramedic ambulances, the Department also provides reserve ambulances available for immediate use. The most serious medical emergency would likely be a heart attack or some other emergency where there was an interruption or blockage of oxygen to the body. The figure below indicates survivability rate of a heart attack victim. There are other factors that can influence survivability as well such as early CPR, early defibrillation, and early ALS intervention. The District’s Fire Department has a very robust EMS delivery system.
Figure 3—Survival Rate vs. Time of Defibrillation
Source: www.suddencardiacarrest.org
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3.2.3 Hazardous Materials Risk Assessment Hazardous materials risk assessment is for fixed facilities that store, use, and produce hazardous chemicals. Additionally, with the road transportation infrastructure in the District, the risk assessment also includes transit risk. California Health and Safety Code Chapter 6.95 and the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) regulate hazardous materials use in businesses. In addition to certain sections of the District’s adopted state fire code, the County Department of Environmental Health manages the CalEPA regulations for all area of Sacramento County. For the state environmental regulations, the County has to inspect each business once every three years to assure compliance with the business’s environmental disclosure, use of chemicals, and emergency plans. Additionally, the goal is that each facility will receive an annual fire and life safety inspection from the Fire Prevention Bureau. Hazardous materials are present throughout the District and the Fire Department needs to deliver services to mitigate these incidents. Before service levels can be defined, the amount and type of chemicals needs to be assessed. This assessment is based on the level of risk; not all chemicals present a high level of risk or concern. The Department then responds to chemical release emergencies in a tiered approach. Each fire department in the County operates at the “First Responder Operational” (FRO) level that is trained to determine the severity of the problem, isolate bystanders from the area, perhaps begin chemical containment/runoff, and then, as needed, call for the regional Hazardous Materials Team, staffed by the City of Sacramento Fire Department and Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.
3.2.4 Technical Rescue Risk Assessment It is difficult to predict and locate where technical rescue requests for service will occur in an urban area. The potential types of technical rescues that might occur in the District range from trench collapses from water pipe installations, high angle rescue of window washers, structural collapse after an earthquake, confined space rescues from tanks and underground vaults, and swift water rescues from flooded urban streams. Technical rescues can also come from industry. Personnel trapped in machinery, transportation accidents, aircraft crashes, and motor vehicle accidents account for many technical rescues. The Department has prepared and trained for these events and has established a response matrix with Sacramento Regional Fire/EMS Communications Center (SRFECC) to send the appropriate number of personnel and equipment to mitigate the situation. The Department formed a Special Operations Division in 2006, which was staffed by one Battalion Chief and one Fire Captain. Using Impact Fees, the Department purchased a Pierce Heavy Rescue apparatus with all of the
Section 3—District Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 21 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report necessary tools to meet California and national heavy rescue requirements as the first major endeavor of the Special Operations Division. In total, the Department operates two rescue apparatus. Located at Station 71 is a California Office of Emergency Services (OES) Type I fire engine that is also equipped to be a State Type III Rescue. The second unit is the Type I heavy rescue located at Station 74 that was purchased with Development Impact Fees. If technical rescue resources are required, the County Fire Automatic Aid agreement will dispatch 1 engine company, 2 rescue units, 1 ladder truck, 1 ambulance, and 1 Battalion Chief. To provide a technical rescue response, the Department trained a significant number of its personnel to a Rescue Specialist level. Each member of the Department is trained to California Rescue Systems 1 level at a minimum. Sixty (60) members of the Department have additional levels of training that meet the criteria set forth by the Sacramento County Fire Chiefs Association and are designated as “Rescue Technicians” or RTs. In order to meet the requirements of this designation, each firefighter must have training in Low Angle Rope Rescue, Rescue Systems 1, Trench Rescue, Confined Space Rescue, and Rescue Systems 2. The on-duty personnel and the Department’s technical rescue apparatus are “Typed” and thus available for greater Sacramento area or state-wide mutual aid responses. In addition to the technical rescue skills describe above, all firefighters are also trained to the Swift Water Rescue Awareness level, and nearly half of the personnel have achieved the level of Swift Water Rescue Technician. All personnel have completed the Coast Guard boating course and are certified as boat operators for both static and dynamic water. Training is conducted annually. Boat operation training is conducted on even years and swift water technician training is conducted on odd years. Each front-line apparatus in the District is equipped with basic water rescue equipment. Each unit has a Personal Flotation Device (PFD), helmet, throw rope, flash lights, and warning and illumination equipment. The Department has several water related assets, consisting of two inflatable boats with 25 horsepower (hp) motors. One of the boats is trailered and is pre-connected to a towing vehicle capable of emergency response. The second inflatable is stored on the technical rescue apparatus and must be hand deployed and inflated prior to being launched. One more Swift Water Motorized boat that is grant funded will arrive soon. The Department also has two Flood Rescue Boat trailers each containing four 15-foot aluminum John boats with 5 hp and 10 hp motors, as well as two NRS rubber river rafts designed to be towed behind one of the flood boats. This gives the District a total of eight aluminum John boats, eight out-board motors, and two river rafts dedicated to flood rescue. These resources are deployable within the California Mutual Aid system.
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Given the many utility towers in the District, the 27 firefighters (nine per shift; three shifts) that are stationed at Station 74, the designated rescue station, have been through the Cal/OSHA competent climbers course. These firefighters have been trained to climb different types of towers in order to rescue trapped workers, or anyone who is stuck or injured on a tower. This one-week enhancement training took place at a Western Area Power Authority (WAPA) training center in north Sacramento in the spring of 2014. The District purchased all of the appropriate climbing equipment for the Rescue Company to better prepare for vertical tower rescues. The Cosumnes Fire Department has become more involved over the last several years in our federal region’s Urban Search and Rescue Task Force (USAR), Task Force 7. Currently, the Department has two rescue technicians on the team as well as five over-the-road truck driver/logisticians. The District has recently allowed one more member to join the ranks of rescue technicians with the task force with a possibility of five more in the near future. The District is also a registered training center with the state of California for the following disciplines: Rescue Systems I, Rescue Systems II, and Confined Space Rescue Operations. The Department’s training center has a full additional heavy rescue tool cache at the training center.
3.2.5 Wildland Fire Risk Assessment Citygate reviewed the wildfire threat zones in the District. These areas, based on fuel type, density, and percent of slope, range from moderate to high. Some of these areas abut buildings. Most of the areas are grass and wetlands native to the greater Sacramento region. As such, the Department’s response plan is designed to deliver the right mix of structural and wildland fire apparatus to each area. The Department currently has eight cross-staffed Type III wildland engines capable of rough terrain firefighting. The Department has also entered into a year-to-year wildland fire mutual aid agreement with the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District for bulldozer and helicopter resources.
3.2.6 Natural and Man-made Disasters Risk Assessment The General Plans of the two cities and County contain mandated Safety Elements that describes the local area risks associated with public safety. Specific natural hazards of concern to the District’s overall area include earthquakes, flooding, and contamination of soil and groundwater resources by hazardous materials and other weather-driven events. These hazards can impact the District’s residents, workers, and visitors, and can cause the disruption of critical facilities (hospital, schools, fire stations) and essential facilities (water, gas, sewage, electricity, communications). The Department needs to be prepared to respond to these emergencies; to date, the Department’s risk assessment has helped them identify the hazards, locations, and impacts of such natural and man-made emergencies. Evidence of this is seen in how the Department has built up its technical rescue and water rescue programs and is part of a regional hazardous materials response team.
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3.3 RISK ASSESSMENT RESULT
Upon Citygate’s review of the risk assessment data, the District has: Urban population densities in many areas Significant building stock ranging from single-family detached homes to one- to three-story residential and business properties. In the ISO database, there are no building taller than three useable floors in the District Unique commercial and institutional uses such as schools and health care facilities
Many residential areas that are bordered by open space areas containing quantities of wildland fire fuel types mixed in with the housing Several major freeway corridors, rail systems and bulk propane storage Strong automatic aid agreements and resources on several sides of the District. Based on the these factors, the District has staffed and designed its response system to field an “Effective Response Force” of multiple units to reported serious fires in buildings and wildland areas, and operates paramedics for emergency medical responses. The Department’s multi-unit force (First Alarm) is designed to stop the escalation of the emergency and keep it from spreading to greater alarms. This “informal” goal will be the foundation of updated deployment measures as part of this Standard of Response Cover Process.
3.4 EXISTING DISTRICT DEPLOYMENT
3.4.1 Existing Deployment Situation—What the Department Has in Place Currently As the District Directors have not adopted a complete SOC ELEMENT 1 OF 8* and best-practices-based response time policy, this study EXISTING DEPLOYMENT will benchmark the Department against the response time POLICIES recommendations of NFPA 1710 for career fire service *Note: Continued from page 11. deployment. These are:
Four (4) minutes travel time for the first-due unit to all types of emergencies Eight (8) minutes travel time for multiple units needed at serious emergencies (First Alarm).
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The Department’s current daily staffing plan is:
Table 4—Daily Minimum Staffing per Unit for the Department – 2014
Extended Per Unit Minimum Staff Minimum
8 Engines @ 3 Firefighters/day 24 6 Rescue Ambulances @ 2 Firefighter-Paramedics/day 12 1 Truck Company @ 4 Firefighters/day 4 Subtotal firefighters: 40 Battalion Chief 1 Per day for command 1 Total: 41
This daily staffing is adequate for the immediate response fire risk needs presented in the more built-up urban areas of the District. However, for this staffing statement to be accurate for a building fire, the assumption is that the closest crews are available and not already operating on another emergency medical call or fire, which can and does happen. For example, if one engine and one rescue-medic unit are committed to an EMS call, then an adjacent engine company or truck company must respond. This situation will be evaluated separately in Section 4 of this volume where simultaneous incident workload is analyzed. The Department has solid automatic and mutual aid partnerships with the surrounding fire departments that, via regional dispatch, will send their closest units into the District if the District’s units are committed to other emergencies.
Services Provided The Department is an “all-risk” fire department providing the people it protects with services that include structure fire, paramedic ambulance, technical rescue, and first-responder hazardous materials response as well as other services. Given these risks, the Department uses a tiered approach of dispatching different types of apparatus to each incident category. The Sacramento Regional Fire/EMS Communications Center’s CAD system selects the closest and most appropriate resource types and handles this function. As an example, here are the resources dispatched to common risk types:
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Table 5—Resources Sent to Common Risk Types
Total Firefighters Risk Type Minimum Type of Resources Sent Sent
1-Patient EMS 1 Engine or Truck and 1 Ambulance 5-6 FF Auto Fire 1 Engine 3 FF Building Fire 4 Engines, 2 Trucks, 1 Ambulance, 2 Battalion Chiefs (BCs) 24 FF* Wildland Fire 2 Wildland Engines, 1 BC 7 FF Technical Rescue 1 Engine, 2 Tech Rescues,** 1 Truck, 1 Ambulance, 1 BC 18 FF * In some instances the fourth engine comes from automatic aid, the second truck and second Battalion Chief always come from automatic aid. ** The second technical rescue unit comes from automatic aid.
Fire The Department provides typical structural fire protection services utilizing eight engine companies, one Truck Company, and six ambulances out of eight stations. In addition, the Department has the capability to handle wildland fires and vegetation fires with its eight wildland engines and two water tenders. The Department has two technical rescue units, reserve engines, and reserve rescue ambulances, along with other specialty and command apparatus. The Department is very well equipped for the risks present in the District, if all of the fire stations are staffed. During the economic recession, the District’s revenue shortfall caused it to temporarily close (brownout) one fire engine on the three staffing shifts. One fire engine was closed 87% of the time when there were not enough personnel on duty to staff it due to vacation and sick and injury leaves. Thus, the economic savings from the closure came from a reduction in the use of overtime to backfill personnel absences. On January 1, 2015, the company closure was restored on one of the three shifts. The Fire Department has proposed a complete elimination of the brownout program in its FY 15/16 Preliminary Budget utilizing new revenues from increased ambulance transport cost recovery. If approved by the Board, the elimination of the remaining engine company closures would be effective July 1, 2015.
Rescue The Department operates a heavy Type I technical rescue unit, cross-staffed by the truck company.
Medical The Department deploys six Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances staffed with firefighter/paramedics.
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Finding #2: The Department has a standard response dispatching plan that considers the risk of different types of emergencies and pre-plans the response. Each type of call for service receives the combination of engine companies, truck companies, ambulances, specialty units, and command officers customarily needed to handle that type of incident based on fire department experience.
3.4.2 Emergency Unit Staffing The eight engine companies are staffed on a daily basis with a minimum staffing of three firefighters, with the exception of one engine closed 87% of a month. The ladder truck is staffed with four personnel. The daily minimum shift staffing count is 28 firefighters on firefighting units plus one Battalion Chief. Per NFPA 1710, 14-15 firefighters plus a command chief are required for a typical room and contents fire in a home in a suburban area. For a single-patient EMS event, one fire company plus an ambulance is needed. Thus, the daily staffing depth of the Department is adequate to handle two simultaneous modest building fires and several medical emergencies before relying on automatic aid. However, the Department does not need to use all of its resources at once. In the regional automatic aid closest-unit agreement a mix of different agencies is sent based on shortest response times. Doing so leaves other Department units available for simultaneous calls for service.
Finding #3: Apparatus staffing is appropriate for the size and risks present in the District.
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SECTION 4—STAFFING AND GEO-MAPPING ANALYSIS
4.1 CRITICAL TIME TASK MEASURES—WHAT MUST BE DONE OVER WHAT TIME FRAME TO ACHIEVE THE STATED OUTCOME EXPECTATION?
In order to understand the time it takes to complete all of SOC ELEMENT 4 OF 8 the needed tasks on a moderate residential fire and a CRITICAL TASK TIME modest emergency medical rescue, Standards of Coverage STUDY (SOC) studies use time-task information to determine the firefighters needed within a timeframe to accomplish the desired fire control objective. These time-task evolutions are utilized below to demonstrate how much time the operations take. The following tables start with the time of fire dispatch notification and finish with the outcome achieved. These tables are composite tables from Citygate clients in communities very similar to Cosumnes with unit staffing similar to Cosumnes. These tasks and times also are consistent with national published studies. There are several important themes contained in these tables: 1. The evolution test results were obtained at training centers under best conditions, in that the day was sunny and moderate in temperature. The structure fire response times are from actual events, showing how units arrive at staggered intervals. 2. It is noticeable how much time it takes after arrival or after the event is ordered by command to actually accomplish key tasks to arrive at the actual outcome. This is because it requires firefighters to carry out the ordered tasks. The fewer the firefighters, the longer some task completion times will be. Critical steps are highlighted in grey in the table. 3. The time for task completion is usually a function of how many personnel are simultaneously available so that firefighters can complete some tasks simultaneously. 4. Some tasks have to be assigned to a minimum of two firefighters to comply with safety regulations. An example is that two firefighters would be required for searching a smoke-filled room for a victim.
The following tables of unit and individual duties are required at a First Alarm fire scene for a typical single-family dwelling fire. This set of duties is taken from typical suburban fire department’s operational procedures, which are entirely consistent with the usual and customary findings of other agencies using the Standards of Response Cover process. No conditions existed to override the OSHA 2-in/2-out safety policy which requires that firefighters enter serious
Section 4—Staffing and Geo-Mapping Analysis page 29 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report building fires in teams of two, while two more firefighters are outside and immediately ready to rescue them should trouble arise. Shown below are the critical tasks for a department’s response to structure fires in built-up suburban areas with three engines, one ladder truck, one ambulance, and one Battalion Chief for a minimum force total of 16 personnel. Scenario: This was a simulated one-story residential structure fire with no rescue situation. Responding companies received dispatch information as typical for a witnessed fire. Upon arrival they were told approximately 1,000 square feet of the home was involved in fire.
Table 6—First Alarm Structure Fire – 16 Firefighters
Task Clock Elapsed Time Task Description Time from 9-1-1
Time of call 00:00 00:00 Dispatch 01:20 Crew turnout 02:00 Travel to scene 05:13 08:33 First-due engine on scene, size up, pull fire attack line 08:33 Ladder truck on scene / ventilation 00:40 First ladder to roof 02:54 Forcible entry 04:05 Attack team entry pre-connect 04:05 12:38 2nd engine on scene 04:20 Provide water supply line 05:22 Rescue-ambulance on scene 05:00 Battalion Chief on scene, transfer command 05:40 3rd engine on scene 07:27 Primary search completed 08:03 16:36 Roof ventilation completed 08:06 Rapid Intervention Crew established 08:21 Water on fire 09:05 Fire knocked down 09:10 17:43 Secondary search completed 09:20 Fire under control 09:30 18:03 Total Time to Control: 09:30 18:03 Total Personnel: 16
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The above duties grouped together to form an Effective Response Force or First Alarm assignment. Remember that the above discrete tasks must be performed simultaneously and effectively to achieve the desired outcome; arriving on-scene does not stop the escalation of the emergency. While firefighters accomplish the above tasks, the clock keeps running, and has been since the emergency first started. Fire spread in a structure can double in size during its free burn period. Many studies have shown that a small fire can spread to engulf the entire room in less than four to five minutes after free burning has started. Once the room is completely superheated and involved in fire (known as flashover), the fire will spread quickly throughout the structure and into the attic and walls. For this reason, it is imperative that fire attack and search commence before the flashover point occurs, if the outcome goal is to keep the fire damage in or near the room of origin. In addition, flashover presents a serious danger to both firefighters and any occupants of the building.
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For comparison purposes, the critical task table below reviews the tasks needed on a typical automobile accident rescue. Scenario: This was a simulated two-vehicle accident with three patients, two of whom were trapped. Extrication required total removal of the driver’s door. A standard response of one engine and two ambulances responded with a total of 7 personnel. Table 7—Multi-Casualty Traffic Collision – 7 Firefighters
Task Clock Elapsed Time Task Description Time from 9-1-1
Time of call 00:00 Dispatch 01:20 Crew turnout 02:00 Travel to scene 05:13 08:33 First-due engine on scene 08:33 Size-up by 1st engine fire captain & ambulance paramedic 02:00 Foam line flowing onto fuel spill 03:30 12:03 Car #2 cribbed to support it on its side 04:30 1 FF into upright car (#1) for patient assessment 04:30 13:03 2nd ambulance on-scene, patient #2 assessed in car #1 05:11 Car #1 driver door removed 05:30 FF into car #2 for patient care 08:00 16:33 Patient #1, car #1 removed by backboard 09:40 Windshield removed from car # 2 10:50 Patient #1 packaged, ready for transport 11:15 19:48 Patient #2, car #1 removed by backboard 11:30 Patient #2 packaged, ready for transport 12:20 20:53 Roof cut & removed from car #2 15:40 Patient #3,car #2 removed from car 16:15 Patient #3 packaged, ready for transport 16:30 Total Time to Begin Transport: 16:30 25:03 Total Personnel: 7
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As another comparison, below are the critical tasks needed on a typical cardiac patient full arrest: Scenario: This was a simulated one patient full arrest indoors. A standard response of one engine and one ambulance responded with a total of 5 personnel.
Table 8—Cardiac Arrest – 5 Firefighters
Task Clock Elapsed Time Task Description Time from 9-1-1
Time of call 00:00 Dispatch 01:20 Crew turnout 02:00 Travel to scene 05:13 08:33 First-due engine on scene 08:33 Engine crew determine full arrest and start CPR 00:55 Rescue ambulance on-scene 01:35 Cardiac monitor attached to patient 02:10 Auto pulse CPR unit attached 03:18 Intravenous line placed 03:24 11:57 Bag valve mask ventilation started 03:42 Epinephrine administered 05:32 14:05 Intubation completed 06:10 14:43 Defibrillate, positive change in patient rhythm 06:53 15:26 Patient on gurney 07:28 Patient in ambulance 10:15 18:48 Total Time to Begin Transport: 10:15 18:48 Total Personnel: 5
4.1.1 Critical Task Analysis and Effective Response Force Size What does a deployment study derive from a response time and company task time analysis? The total task completion times (as above) to stop the escalation of the emergency have to be compared to outcomes. We know from nationally-published fire service “time vs. temperature” tables that after about four to five minutes of free burning, a room fire will grow to the point of flashover. At this point, the entire room is engulfed, the structure becomes threatened, and human survival near or in the fire room becomes impossible. Additionally, we know that brain death begins to occur within four to six minutes of the heart having stopped. Thus, the Effective Response Force must arrive in time to stop these catastrophic events from worsening.
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The response and task completion times discussed above show that the residents of the District are able to expect positive outcomes and have a better chance of survival in a serious fire or medical emergency. This is because the District’s first responding units are typically available in 6:26 to 9:59 minutes/seconds or less total response time and the follow-on units for serious emergencies (the Effective Response Force or First Alarm) typically arrive on-scene within 11 minutes total response time. As has been discussed, the District is staffed per day with enough firefighters to deliver two such forces at once for two large fires or all resources to one major fire. The point of the tables above is that mitigating an emergency event is a team effort once the units have arrived. This refers back to the “weight” of response analogy. If too few personnel arrive too slowly, then the emergency will worsen, instead of improve. Control of the structure fire incident still took 09:30 minutes after the time of the first unit’s arrival, or 18:03 minutes from fire dispatch notification. The outcome times, of course, will be longer, with less desirable results, if the arriving force is later or smaller. In the District, the quantity of staffing and the arrival time frame can be critical in a serious fire. Fires in older and/or multi-story buildings could well require the initial firefighters needing to rescue trapped or immobile occupants. If a lightly-staffed force arrives, it cannot simultaneously conduct rescue and firefighting operations. Fires and complex medical incidents require that the other needed units arrive in time to complete an effective intervention. Time is one factor that comes from proper station placement. Good performance also comes from adequate staffing and training. In the critical task measures above, the departments that staff units similar to Cosumnes can perform well in terms of time. However, major fires and medical emergencies where the closest unit is not available to respond still challenge the District’s response system to deliver good outcomes. This factor must be taken into account when fire station locations are considered. If fire stations are spaced too far apart, then when one unit has to cover another unit’s area, or multiple units are needed, these units can be too far away and the emergency will get worse. Previous critical task studies conducted by Citygate, the Standard of Response Cover documents reviewed from accredited fire departments, and NFPA 1710 recommendations all arrive at the need for 15+ firefighters arriving within 11 minutes (from the time of call) at a room and contents structure fire to be able to simultaneously and effectively perform the tasks of rescue, fire attack, and ventilation. Given that the Department sends at least 16 personnel to an incident involving a working First Alarm building fire, the District and its leaders understand that firefighting crews arriving closely together are needed to deliver a positive outcome that protects lives and property by stopping the escalation of the emergency as found by the arriving force. This begs the question, “If fewer firefighters arrive, what from the list of tasks mentioned would not be done?” Most likely, the search team would be delayed, as would ventilation. The attack
Section 4—Staffing and Geo-Mapping Analysis page 34 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report lines would only have two firefighters, which does not allow for rapid movement above the first- floor deployment. Rescue is done with only two-person teams; thus, when rescue is essential, other tasks are not done in a simultaneous, timely manner. Remember what this report stated in the beginning: effective deployment is about the speed (travel time) and the weight (firefighters) of the attack. Sixteen initial firefighters (three engines, one ladder truck, one ambulance, and one Battalion Chief) from just the Cosumnes Fire Department could handle a moderate risk house fire; however, even a department-based Effective Response Force of 16 will be seriously slowed if the fire is above the first floor, in a low-rise apartment building or commercial/industrial building. This is where the capability to add alarms to the standard response becomes important.
However, due to the County Automatic Aid response agreement using a single dispatch center, the actual Department First Alarm (Effective Response Force) uses automatic aid to deliver 24 personnel to a moderate risk building fire reflects the District’s goal to confine serious building fires to or near the room of origin and to prevent the spread of fire to adjoining buildings. This is a typical desired outcome in built-out areas and requires more firefighters, more quickly, than the typical rural outcome of keeping the fire to the building, not room, of origin. Given the Department’s current response to building fires, it is in effect the District’s de-facto deployment measure to built-up urban/suburban areas. Thus, this becomes the baseline policy for the deployment of firefighters.
4.2 DISTRIBUTION AND CONCENTRATION STUDIES—HOW THE LOCATION OF FIRST-DUE AND FIRST ALARM RESOURCES AFFECTS THE OUTCOME
The District is served today by eight fire stations. As part SOC ELEMENT 5 OF 8 of this deployment study, it is appropriate to understand DISTRIBUTION STUDY what the existing stations do and do not cover, if there are any coverage gaps needing one or more stations, and what, if anything, to do about them. SOC ELEMENT 6 OF 8 CONCENTRATION STUDY In brief, there are two geographic perspectives to fire station deployment: Distribution – the spreading out or spacing of first-due fire units to stop routine emergencies. Concentration – the clustering of fire stations close enough together so that building fires can receive sufficient resources from multiple fire stations quickly. As indicated, this is known as the Effective Response Force, or, more commonly, the “First Alarm Assignment”—the collection of a sufficient number
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of firefighters on-scene delivered within the concentration time goal to stop the escalation of the problem. To analyze first-due fire unit travel time coverage for this study, Citygate used a geographic mapping tool called FireViewTM that can measure theoretical travel time over the street network. For this next portion of the study, Citygate and Department staff used the base map and street travel speeds calibrated to actual fire company travel times from previous responses to simulate real-world coverage. Using these tools, Citygate ran several deployment tests and measured their impact on various parts of the District. The travel time measure used was 4 minutes over the road network, which is consistent with the “benchmark” recommendation in NFPA 1710 and desirable outcomes in critical emergencies. When a minute is added for dispatch time and 2 minutes for crew turnout times, then the maps effectively show the area covered within 7 minutes for first-due and 11 minutes for a First Alarm assignment.
4.2.1 Community Deployment Baselines Map #1 – General Geography and Station Locations This view shows the existing District fire station locations with the District boundaries. This is a reference map view for the other map displays that follow.
Map #2a & b – Risk Assessment – ISO Surveyed Buildings Risk assessment is an effort by the Fire Department to classify properties by potential impact on service demand levels. In this study, building fire risk, separate from the housing areas, was examined by understanding the locations of the higher fire flow buildings as calculated by the Insurance Service Office (ISO) as a measure of how zoning locates the educational, commercial, and industrial uses in the District. These higher fire flow sites (shown in green) are the buildings that must receive a timely and effective First Alarm force to serious fires, thus requiring more firefighters in fewer minutes should a serious fire emerge. Most of these higher fire flow buildings are along the major road corridors.
Map #2c – Risk Assessment – Population Density As another measure of risk, this map displays the population density of the District. Humans drive most of the demand for emergencies, and for EMS and serious fires, the fire stations and the extent to which their coverage overlaps to assist each other on multiple-unit needed incidents should be the most effective where population densities are the highest.
Map #3a – First-Due Unit Distribution 4-Minute Engine Travel This map shows, in green colored street segments, the distribution or first-due response time for each station per a best-practice-recommended response goal of 4 minutes travel time. Therefore, the limit of color per station area is the time an engine could reach within this time, assuming it
Section 4—Staffing and Geo-Mapping Analysis page 36 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report is in-station and encounters no unusual traffic delays. In addition, the computer mapping tool uses mean fire company speed limits per roadway type. Thus, the projection is optimal or “perfect-world.” Real dispatch data shows response times to be a little slower in some edge areas. Most likely, this is due to the effects of the non-grid street design layout and open space areas and freeways that bisect parts of the District. The purpose of computer response mapping is to determine and balance station locations. This geo-mapping design is then checked in the study against actual dispatch time data, which reflects the real world. There also should be some overlap between station areas so that a second-due unit can have a chance of an adequate response time when it covers a call in another fire company’s first-due area.
It is not possible to serve every road segment out to the edge of the District’s urban/suburban areas in 4 travel minutes; however, these maps show that 85%-plus of the District’s paved public streets are covered to this standard.
Finding #4: Using the current eight fire station locations, not including automatic aid stations, the highest population density developed areas are within 4 minutes travel time of a fire station. This does not occur in southeast Elk Grove, where an additional station is planned.
Map #3b – First-Due Unit Distribution 4-Minute Engine Travel (Elk Grove) This tighter scale map displays in green the coverage in the northern half of the District, again without automatic aid and additional fire stations. The automatic aid coverage will be shown in later maps. This view shows only the existing District station coverage.
Map #3c – First-Due Unit Distribution 4-Minute Engine Travel (Galt) This map shows in green street segments that the first-due unit coverage is very good from two sites in the existing developed sections of Galt.
Map #3d – Automatic Aid Coverage for First-Due Unit Distribution 4-Minute Engine Travel The automatic aid coverage shown in green in the northern District for the first-due unit only helps northwest of Station 76. The areas northwest and west of Station 74 do not receive automatic coverage given the lack of partner fire stations in that area outside the District. Map #3e – Automatic Aid Coverage – North District for 4-Minute Engine Travel This tighter scale map shows the limits of 4-minute coverage in green from stations outside the District.
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Map #4 – ISO Coverage Areas This map exhibit displays the ISO requirement that stations cover a 1.5-mile distance response area. This makes it easier to see what the traditional 1.5-mile measure covers. Depending on the road network in a department, the 1.5-mile measure usually equates to a 3.5- to 4.5-minute travel time. However, a 1.5-mile measure is a reasonable indicator of station spacing and overlap. As can be seen, the ISO coverage is similar but less forgiving on the edges of the District than the 4- minute travel time measure. This is due to the fact that a “distance-based” measure cannot account for higher speeds on freeways and primary arterial streets that feed out into the neighborhoods. This map shows there is adequate overlap in the higher populated and risk core areas of the District. The other gaps are similar to the 4-minute coverage shown in Map #3, only slightly larger. This map shows a first-due fire company is located properly to provide most areas a distribution of neighborhood-based fire units to deliver rapid response.
Map #5a & b – Concentration (First Alarm) This map exhibit shows the concentration or massing of fire crews in green street segments for serious fire or rescue calls. Building fires, in particular, require 15+ firefighters (per NFPA 1710) arriving within a reasonable time frame to work together and effectively to stop the escalation of the emergency. Otherwise, if too few firefighters arrive, or arrive too late in the fire’s progress, the result is a greater alarm fire, which is more dangerous to the public and the firefighters.
The concentration map exhibits look at the District’s ability to deploy its plan based on the entire County’s regional closest-unit response plan to send four engine companies, two truck companies, one ambulance, and two chief officers to serious, working building fires within 8 minutes travel time (11 minutes total Fire Department response time). This measure ensures that a minimum of 24 firefighters (three firefighters per engine, four firefighters per truck staffing, and two firefighter/medics per ambulance) and two chief officers (one of whom arrives via automatic aid) can arrive on-scene to work simultaneously and effectively to stop the spread of a serious building fire. The colors in this map show the area in green where the District current fire deployment system should deliver the initial Effective Response Force. As can be seen, given the regional fire department’s policy to require four engines and two ladder trucks to respond to reported building fires, only the area above Station 71 can receive all these units within 8 minutes travel time. While this area north of Station 71 does not have the highest population density, it does contain many of the District’s higher fire flow commercial buildings as evaluated by the ISO.
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Map #6a & b – 4 Engines Only at 8-Minute Travel This map shows a different view of concentration by only showing the 8-minute coverage of engine companies. Here, the green color shows the areas receiving four engines in 8 minutes travel time. This coverage is better than in Map #5 because the Battalion Chief, ambulance, and two ladder trucks are removed, and there are more engines than other apparatus in the District and automatic aid departments. The important finding in this map is that four-engine coverage at 8 minutes is not possible in the southern areas of Elk Grove where additional fire stations will be needed as more growth occurs. Map #7 – One Battalion Chief Travel at 8-Minute Travel This map displays the coverage in green for one Battalion Chief at 8 minutes travel time. While, for safety reasons, the regional automatic aid agreement sends two chief officers to serious emergencies, there is only one District Battalion Chief on duty 24/7/365. Therefore, this map shows the minimum District-provided chief officer coverage. The coverage from Station 71 is very good to all of the developed areas in Elk Grove. Of course, Galt is smaller and only has two fire stations and does not have battalion chief coverage from Station 71 within 8 minutes travel. Map #8a & b – One Ladder Truck Coverage at 8-Minute Travel These two maps show in green the 8-minute travel time coverage for the one District ladder truck located at Station 74. Map 8b shows the two-ladder-truck coverage using automatic aid. The second ladder truck coverage does provide additional overlap for redundancy and for commercial building fires in the core of Elk Grove.
Map #9 – Ambulance Coverage at 8 Minutes Travel This map displays in green the coverage from any one ambulance within 8 minutes travel, which is consistent with the Sacramento County EMS Agency goal for ambulances. Given the 6 ambulance locations, over 90% of the most developed areas of the District are within 8 minutes of an ambulance station, if the unit is available. Even if the closest unit is not available, there is significant overlap at 8 minutes between the units to provide redundancy.
Map #10 – All Incident Locations These next maps are an overlay of the exact location for all incident types. It is apparent that there is a need for Fire Department services on almost every street segment of the District. The greatest concentration of calls is also where the greatest concentration of Fire Department resources is available. Given the Department’s boundary drop and closest-unit automatic aid partnerships, also shown are the locations outside the District where its units responded.
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Map #11 – EMS and Rescue Incident Locations This map further breaks out only the emergency medical and rescue call locations. Again, with the majority of the calls for service being emergency medical, virtually all areas of the District need emergency medical services. The District also has an agreement with the surrounding volunteer fire departments to provide paramedic ambulance coverage to fire districts adjoining the Cosumnes CSD. This effort is also captured in the settlement agreement between the County of Sacramento EMS Agency and most of the fire agencies.
Map #12 – All Fire Type Locations This map identifies the location of all fires in the District since July 1, 2011. All fires include any type of fire call, from auto to dumpster to building. There are obviously fewer fires than medical or rescue calls. Even given this, it is evident that all first-due engine districts experience fires; the fires are more concentrated where the population is higher and the Fire Department resources are more concentrated. This also happens to be the area where the building stock is older and less likely to be in compliance with current codes. Also, the commercial and industrial areas generate more fire calls than do newer housing areas. Again, as the coverage maps showed, the commercial, industrial, and high-rise building areas of the District receive excellent fire crew coverage.
Map #13 – Structure Fire Locations Displayed here are the structure fire locations. While the structure fire count is a smaller subset of the total fire count, there are two meaningful findings from this map. First, there are still structure fires in every first-due fire company district. The location of many of the building fires parallels the higher risk building type in commercial areas of the District where more significant risk and the ISO-evaluated buildings are more common. These areas and buildings are of significant fire and life loss risk to the District. Second, fires in the more complicated building types must be controlled quickly or the losses will be very large. Fortunately, concentration (First Alarm) coverage is excellent in these areas of the District. Map #14 – EMS and Rescue Incident Location Densities This map view examines, by mathematical density, where clusters of EMS incident activity occurred. In this set, the darker density color plots the highest concentration of all incidents. This type of map makes the location of frequent workload more meaningful than just mapping the dots of all locations as done in Map #10. This perspective is important because of the overlap of units and ensuring the delivery of a good concentration for the Effective Response Force. When this type of map is compared with the concentration of engines in Map #6, the best concentration should be where the greatest density of calls for service occurs. For the District, this occurs where development density is the greatest,
Section 4—Staffing and Geo-Mapping Analysis page 40 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report which is where the current Effective Response Force concentration is best. For example, the high incident volume area north of Station 71 can receive any one of three engines, three ambulances, and/or a ladder truck very quickly.
Map #15 – All Fire Location Densities This map is similar to Map #12, showing the hot spots of activity for all types of fires. Again, much of this incident activity occurs were the District’s deployment system is the strongest.
Map #16 – Structure Fire Densities This map shows only the building fire workload by density. The density is more focused in the older areas of the District and follows the higher population densities per square mile. These building fire densities indicate a structure fire workload throughout the District, although the core areas are still busier.
Finding #5: A neighborhood-based fire unit within a best practice recommendation of 4 to 5 minutes travel time covers all of the District’s neighborhoods, except for small outer-edge areas.
Finding #6: The District’s urban population density areas are within 8 minutes travel time of an Effective Response Force assignment of 4 engines, 2 ladder trucks, 2 Battalion Chiefs, and 1 ambulance unit.
4.2.2 Future Fire Station Tests In this next series of maps, Fire Department staff and Citygate tested several fire station changes to compare against the baseline coverage to understand the improvements needed and the effectiveness of the sites already identified by the District.
Ideally, any fire station should serve a 360-degree area and cover the most people and built-up properties in the least minutes of travel. Further, a station should not be pushed up against a natural barrier that prevents it from covering a wide circular zone. These siting principals become difficult when stations are needed at growing edge areas and not all of the new growth has been definitively planned or funded for development.
In the years prior to this study the District and Department staff appropriately planned for additional fire stations by acquiring sites in advance of development to keep pace with expected growth. While the recent recession affected the timing of new development, this study can still evaluate the feasibility of the sites already acquired.
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Map #17a – 4-Minute Travel Time Coverage for New Stations This map shows in a color unique to each tested fire station, the 4-minute travel time coverage from four sites in southern Elk Grove. Station 78a is the Department headquarters and this location was envisioned as a temporary fire station until development in the mall area west of Highway 99 increased. The coverage from each site is shown in a different color. While all of the sites do improve coverage on existing streets, it cannot be determined yet how all of the possible new development will be served. Given Citygate’s experience, we believe sites 77 and 78b are well positioned to cover the mall and other infill growth areas, as long as new major boulevards connect the subdivisions north and south. Site 79 covers the existing underserved streets to the north of the site. However, being placed on Grant Line Road, it does not serve the southeast well. District staff believes the areas southeast of site 79 could still be developed. If this development southeast of Grant Line Road to the wetlands does not occur, then Citygate would recommend the site be pulled a little to the north, to overlap Stations 71 and 73 more and only just cover south of the highway. A better location could be near the intersection of Bradshaw Road and Elk Grove Boulevard.
Map #17b – ISO 1.5-Mile Coverage for New Fire Stations Viewed from the perspective of the ISO 1.5-mile coverage extending from the new station sites, the added coverage from the new stations does help cover longer travel time areas that exist in other station districts.
Map #18a-f – Effective Response Force (1st Alarm) New Station Improvements This map series shows in green the multiple-unit coverage improvements, including automatic aid units, at 8 minutes of travel. As can be seen in Maps 18a and b, any one of four locations in isolation does not help the 4- engine coverage in Elk Grove south of Station 71 as the overall area is just too large.
However, as Maps 18c through 18f show, as each new station comes on line, that new station does expand the 4th engine coverage to the north of each new station. The improvements for Station 78b cannot be seen, as new north/south streets do not exist yet. Also, the ability of all three new stations at sites 77, 78b, and 79 together to provide effective 3- to 4-engine coverage when more east/west streets are built cannot be measured.
Finding #7: The three proposed additional fire stations in southern Elk Grove would improve first-due unit and multiple-unit coverage. Given the unknown timing of growth in each station area, it cannot be determined at this time which station will be needed first.
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Finding #8: Eventually, the District will be too large for one ladder truck once at least two of the three new southern Elk Grove stations are opened. The best-fit location for a second ladder truck would be Station 78b for southern Elk Grove coverage and to provide a closer ladder truck to Galt.
Finding #9: While Galt has long-term plans to develop more, especially in the northeast area, the need and location for a third fire station cannot easily be determined at this time. When final subdivision plans are approved and funded for construction, a fire station location could be determined.
Finding #10: When the third fire station is open in Galt, the City is too far from the southern Elk Grove ladder truck at site 78b.
Recommendation #1: Given the uncertain timing and location of new development in southern Elk Grove, the Department has to retest the existing three proposed station sites to determine if they are still in the best locations as final subdivision streets are approved and better fire unit time-over-distance analysis can be conducted.
Recommendation #2: When the District adds at least two more fire stations and becomes too large for one ladder truck, the District should add a second ladder truck at Station 78b for southern Elk Grove coverage and to provide a closer ladder truck to Galt.
Recommendation #3: If the proposed growth in Galt occurs, especially in the northeast area, a third fire station location should be planned. It is too soon to locate the exact best fire parcel.
Recommendation #4: Once a third station in Galt is added, the District can determine if risks and incident workloads require staffing a third engine and an aerial ladder truck as a fourth unit in Galt, or having the third station unit be a single crew quint (pumper/ladder truck).
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SECTION 5—STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
5.1 HISTORICAL EFFECTIVENESS AND RELIABILITY OF RESPONSE—WHAT STATISTICS SAY ABOUT EXISTING SYSTEM PERFORMANCE
The map sets described in Section 4 show the ideal SOC ELEMENT 7 OF 8 situation for response times and the responses RELIABILITY & HISTORICAL effectiveness given perfect conditions with no competing RESPONSE EFFECTIVENESS calls, light traffic conditions, units all in place, and no STUDIES simultaneous calls for service. Examination of the actual response time data provides a picture of how response times are in the “real” world of simultaneous calls, rush hour traffic conditions, units out of position, and delayed travel time for events such as periods of severe weather.
5.1.1 Data Set Identification The Cosumnes CSD Fire Department furnished 3 years of National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS version 5) data and related apparatus response times that were merged into a single data file. The resulting database includes 43,813 incidents and 78,901 apparatus response records. Dataset strengths include the following: 1. Use of seconds in all time fields 2. Multiple years of data available 3. Latitudes and longitudes in 97.82% of incidents 4. Station area tracked in each incident. Dataset weaknesses include the following:
1. CAD data tracked in NFIRS 5 system does not completely time-sync with regional CAD data 2. NFIRS 5 data tracks activity by vehicle, it does not track by operational company
3. Only 4.06% of NFIRS 5 incidents have different times for Time of Call and Time of Dispatch 4. Cosumnes CSD and regional dispatch use separate incident numbering systems making it difficult to merge CAD data 5. NFIRS 5 data may be tracking Medic clear scene time instead of Medic clear incident time.
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Cosumnes CSD tracks performance of vehicles, not companies. Over the course of a year fire companies may use several different vehicles for response. For statistical purposes, the performance of the company is the most important, not the performance of each of the vehicles which may be used by multiple companies. Regional dispatch center data was used to track company some company measures including Unit Hour Utilization.
5.1.2 Analysis Period The data range for this study is July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2014. This time period breaks down into three fiscal years (FY). Fiscal years begin on July 1st and end on June 30th of each year. This analysis will compare the years of 11/12, 12/13, and 13/14.
5.2 SERVICE DEMAND
In FY 13/14 the Cosumnes CSD Fire Department responded to 15,084 incidents for an average of 41.32 incidents per day (4.11% of incident responses were to fire, 74.53% to EMS, and 21.36% to other types of incidents). Incident activity in the District is rising year to year:
Table 9—Number of Incidents by Fiscal Year
Fiscal Year Incidents
FY 11/12 14,159 FY 12/13 14,570 FY 13/14 15,084
Figure 4—Number of Incidents by Fiscal Year
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 46 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
The next graph illustrates the number of incidents by incident type. Figure 5—Number of Incidents by Year by Incident Type
5.2.1 Breakdown of Incident Demand Over Time The number of incidents varies only slightly by month with a notable increase in late spring FY 13/14.
Figure 6—Number of Incidents by Month by Year
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The graph illustrates monthly trends by incident type for FY 13/14. Notice EMS activity peaked in May. Figure 7—Number of Incidents by Month by Incident Type
This graph compares incident activity by hour of day. The graph follows traditional fire department activity hours. The annual increase in incident activity appears to be roughly during business hours.
Figure 8—Number of Incidents by Hour of Day by Year
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Incident activity by day of week remains fairly consistent with slight peaks on Monday and Friday and slight declines on Sunday and Saturday.
Figure 9—Number of Incidents by Day of Week by Year
5.2.2 Breakdown of Incident Demand by Station Area The graph below illustrates the number of incidents by station for FY 13/14. Station 74 has the largest number of incidents followed by 71 and 76:
Figure 10—Number of Incidents by Station by Year
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Finding #11: The District’s time of day, day of week, and month of year calls for service demands are very consistent. This means the District needs to operate a fairly consistent 24/7/365 response system.
5.2.3 Breakdown of Incident Demand by Property Type Another way to understand the location of fire department responses is to review the types of properties at which incidents occur. The next chart below illustrates the count for property types receiving services from the Fire Department. Family residences, medical facilities, and roads make up the top property types. Only the property types with greater than 100 occurrences in FY 13/14 are listed here:
Table 10—Incident Demand by Property Type by Fiscal Year
NFIRS Code # and Description FY 11/12 FY 12/13 FY 13/14 Totals
419 1 or 2 family dwelling 6,669 7,025 6,897 20,591 429 Multi-family dwellings 652 651 700 2,003 311 24-hour care nursing homes, 4 or more persons 511 461 469 1,441 340 Clinics, doctor’s offices, hemodialysis centers 364 370 397 1,131 960 Street, other 310 359 344 1,013 962 Residential street, road or residential driveway 296 240 333 869 961 Highway or divided highway 288 262 279 829 963 Street or road in commercial area 255 217 244 716 965 Vehicle parking area 204 233 190 627 215 High school / junior high school / middle school 191 207 224 622 400 Residential, other 149 164 206 519 519 Food and beverage sales, grocery store 135 152 170 457 459 Residential board and care 104 135 179 418 439 Boarding/rooming house, residential hotels 106 133 177 416 500 Mercantile, business, other 111 124 132 367 900 Outside or special property, other 96 96 143 335 931 Open land or field 94 119 121 334
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5.3 RESPONSE TIME ANALYSIS
Once the types of incidents are quantified, incident analysis shifts to the time required to respond to those incidents. Fractile breakdowns track the percentage (and count the number) of incidents meeting defined criteria such as the first apparatus to reach the scene within progressive time segments.
5.3.1 Analysis Obstacles As noted at the beginning of this report, the Department incident report records tracks response time stamps of apparatus, not operational companies. For example, “Engine ID #357” versus “Engine #4.” When a reserve apparatus is used, the Department incident record indicates the chassis ID, and does not indicate the station area to which it was assigned for any incident. This creates a problem. One remedy is to use Sacramento Regional Fire/EMS Communications Center (SRFECC) dispatch data, which accurately tracks company performance (e.g., E#4), but the regional dispatch data does not track activity to specific station areas. Generally, it is possible to merge fire department incident records and regional dispatch data, but in this case the Fire Department data uses a numbering system independent from dispatch incident that makes merging difficult and unreliable. In the following analysis, in order to provide the best look at response time performance, Department station-oriented data will be used. It will be augmented, when specified, by performance measurements taken from regional CAD data as appropriate.
5.3.2 Call to 1st Apparatus Arrival A citizen measures the speed of fire department response from the time assistance is requested until the assistance arrives. This measurement is called “Call to 1st Apparatus Arrival” (or “Call to Arrival”). Unfortunately, only 4.06% of incidents in the Department incident records have separate “Time of Call” and “Time of Dispatch” field values. The regional dispatch data is of little use because there is no way to reconcile station-to-station variance in Call to Arrival performance. The only acceptable remedy is to focus on Department “Dispatch to Arrival” performance and use regional CAD data to calculate missing “Dispatcher Call Processing” times.
5.3.3 Dispatch to 1st Apparatus Arrival Data for the following Dispatch to Arrival analysis includes fire and EMS (emergency) incidents occurring within a Cosumnes CSD station area over the past 3 years. Incidents included in the analysis provided a valid first apparatus “Time of Dispatch” and “Time of 1st Apparatus Arrival.” Incidents with Dispatch to Arrival times greater than 20 minutes were eliminated as
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 51 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report outliers. The goal for Dispatch to Arrival is 6 minutes (or 360 seconds). This is made up of two component parts: Turnout Time: 2 minutes Travel Time: 4 minutes As indicated, callers of 9-1-1 measure the speed of fire department response from their request for assistance until assistance arrives. Police and sheriff departments, under state law, act as a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) for 9-1-1 calls. All 9-1-1 calls for Fire Department service in the District are routed to the Sacramento Regional Fire/EMS Communications Center. The SRFECC uses its initial received time stamp as the Fire Department time of call for the fire and ambulance units dispatched. National recommendations for call processing are 1 minute for 90% of the calls. Here is the breakdown for Dispatch to 1st Apparatus Arrival by station area. Note: The data in Tables 11 and 12 draw data from the NFIRS report “Station ID” field and, since prior to 2014 there was not an explicit Department policy on using the District field for out-of-District automatic aid responses, some of the counts below could well include responses outside the District. Table 11—Dispatched to 1st Arrival Minutes/Seconds for FY 13/14
Dispatched to 1st Station Arrival Time
45 06:26 46 09:59 71 06:48 72 09:35 73 07:00 74 07:21 75 07:52 76 07:04
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 52 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
The summary chart below illustrates the percentage of incidents meeting the 6-minute Dispatch to 1st Arrival goal for emergency incidents in the District’s station areas for FY 13/14.
Figure 11—Station Compliance Percentage for Dispatch to Arrival (CAD) at 360 Seconds
Shown below is the percentage compliance for the Department by hour of day. Compliance appears to decrease slightly in the early morning hours.
Figure 12—Hourly Compliance Percentage for Dispatch to Arrival (CAD) at 360 Seconds
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 53 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
5.3.4 Call Processing Time – Call to Dispatch Citygate used the SRFECC data to establish a Call Processing time for the Department. In 2014 we found that 90.2% of the calls were received and dispatched to the crews within 1 minute.
Finding #12: The Sacramento Regional Fire/EMS Communications Center’s dispatch processing times are very good and meet national recommendations.
If one minute is added to the Dispatch to Arrival times above, the total response time for the District becomes:
Table 12—Total Response Time for FY 13/14
FY 13/14 Total Dispatched to Dispatch Response Station Arrival Process Time Time
45 06:26 01:00 07:26 46 09:59 01:00 10:59 71 06:48 01:00 07:48 72 09:35 01:00 10:35 73 07:00 01:00 08:00 74 07:21 01:00 08:21 75 07:52 01:00 08:52 76 07:04 01:00 08:04
Citygate’s recommended goal is for the 90% Call to Arrival to be 7 minutes (or 420 seconds). This is made up of three component parts: Call Processing Time: 1 minute Turnout Time: 2 minutes Travel Time: 4 minutes
In the total response times above, none of the District’s station areas achieve less than 7 minutes total response time to 90% of the incidents. The probable reasons for this will be addressed after crew turnout and dispatch time increments are reviewed in the next sections.
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 54 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
5.3.5 Turnout Time Turnout time – This measure is for all crews to hear the dispatch message, don safety clothing, and begin moving the assigned unit.
Table 13—Turnout Time Performance for FY 13/14
Station Turnout Time
45 01:42 46 01:35 71 01:39 72 01:45 73 01:32 74 01:32 75 01:44 76 01:29
While the NFPA recommends 60-80 seconds for turnout time, it has long been recognized as a standard rarely met in practical experience. Crews must not just hear the dispatch, they must also don the OSHA-mandated personal protective clothing for the type of emergency. Citygate has long recommended that, due to this and the floor plan design of some stations, agencies can reasonably make a 2-minute crew turnout time to 90% of the emergency incidents.
Finding #13: The District’s turnout times are consistently under 2 minutes from station to station, which is very good. As such, no corrective action is needed.
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 55 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
5.3.6 Travel Time Travel time – The District-wide travel time measures for FY 13-14 to all emergency incidents are shown below. Travel time is defined as the time element between when the dispatch center is notified either verbally or electronically that the unit is enroute to the call and when it arrived at the address or location street front, not the patient side.
Table 14—Travel Time Performance for FY 13/14
Station Travel Time
45 05:24 46 08:34 71 05:49 72 08:26 73 06:16 74 06:33 75 06:33 76 06:31
NFPA Standard #1710 recommends a 4-minute travel time goal in urban and suburban areas. Given the travel times above, the District is challenged to meet this goal. There are several reasons for this: some EMS incidents occur outside of the District boundaries; traffic congestion varies; a non-grid road network design exists in many areas; open spaces, waterways, and highways that limit through streets; and, in some places, the station districts are too large to cover in a short travel time.
Finding #14: The travel times in the District are long which is reflective of the size of some station areas and other reasons. Short of adding more stations or peak-hour activity units for simultaneous incidents, for a modest number of emergencies between the 4th and 7th minute of travel, given the District’s geography, there is no way to appreciably lower the travel times.
5.3.7 First Alarm (Effective Response Force) Performance to Building Fires First Alarm or Effective Response Force Performance to Building Fires – A study such as this would normally be able to determine the time it takes to get all of the needed units to serious fires and other events. In the District, the regional closest-unit system response plan is for 4
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 56 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report engines, 2 ladder trucks, 1 ambulance, and 2 Battalion Chiefs (one of whom arrives from automatic aid). However, in this study, this measure cannot be determined. This is due to the Department’s NFIRS 5 data being tracked to vehicle chassis IDs and the regional dispatch data containing only three types of incident categories for all fires, EMS, and other. Thus, for a year of incidents, we cannot easily assemble all of the units’ arrival times to only building fires.
Finding #15: The Department is presently tracking incident response time stamps for units by chassis IDs which does not allow determination of first-due unit total response time measures and Effective Response Force (First Alarm) time measures.
Recommendation #5: The Department has to stop tracking time stamps by chassis IDs and convert to tracking fire engine unit numbers that align with fire station area IDs. The implementation of the ImageTrend Records Management System will address this problem.
5.4 SIMULTANEOUS INCIDENT ACTIVITY
Simultaneous incidents occur when other incidents are underway at the time the incident occurs. In the District in FY 13/14, 66.37% of incidents occurred while one or more other incidents were underway. Here is the percentage of simultaneous incidents broken-down by number of simultaneous incidents:
Table 15—Simultaneous Incident Activity – 3-Year Average
# of Simultaneous Incidents Percentage
1 or more 66.57% 2 or more 31.83% 3 or more 11.97% 4 or more 3.64% 5 or more .87% 6 or more .16%
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 57 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
In a large city or county area simultaneous incidents in different station areas have very little operational consequence. However, when simultaneous incidents occur within a single station area there can be significant delays in response times. The graph below illustrates the number of single-station simultaneous incidents by station area. For the 3-year period, 11.47% of incidents were simultaneous within a single station area. Here we see Station 074 is by far the most likely to have simultaneous incidents.
Figure 13—Number of Station Simultaneous Incidents over 3 Years
Next is the breakdown of station simultaneous incidents by year. Notice in the most recent fiscal year the number of station simultaneous incidents increased in Station 074 and Station 071. There was a slight decrease in Stations 073, 045, and 046.
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 58 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
Figure 14—Number of Station Simultaneous Incidents by Year
The simultaneous incident rates above are averaged over 24 hours per day for each year. So while even a two-incident rate of 66% seems high, in an eight-station department with nearby automatic aid to some areas, a two-incident simultaneous rate of 66% is not worrisome, if the two simultaneous incidents occur in non-contiguous station areas. If they occur in one or two adjoining station areas, the simultaneous rate can be problematic.
5.5 STATION DEMAND PERCENTAGE AND UNIT HOUR UTILIZATION
Due to the simultaneous incident rates measured in the section above, this next section of incident measures presents the location the demand occurs, the hour of day it occurs, and determines if the peak hour demand is so high that response times suffer since units must cross the District to cover for overly busy units.
In the tables to follow, the different colors illustrate the variation in demand; the lowest rates of activity are green, progressing up to yellow, and finally red, which indicates the greatest quantity of incidents or rate of activity. The following “Station Hourly Demand Percentage” report is broken-down by station for FY 13/14. This calculation was made using the Department’s NFIRS 5 data. The busiest stations are listed first:
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 59 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
Figure 15—Station Area Utilization
Station 74 71 76 72 45 46 73 75
00:00 11.43% 11.81% 10.37% 8.22% 4.89% 3.79% 9.51% 7.25%
01:00 6.88% 6.54% 6.89% 6.47% 4.86% 4.21% 3.32% 4.78% 02:00 5.03% 6.51% 5.79% 5.91% 5.49% 3.69% 3.98% 2.94%
03:00 6.91% 7.26% 5.39% 6.24% 4.99% 2.99% 2.54% 4.33%
04:00 8.63% 6.34% 4.51% 4.83% 2.67% 3.89% 4.18% 3.44% 05:00 9.59% 6.87% 5.80% 5.32% 6.22% 3.23% 5.28% 3.23%
06:00 10.95% 8.71% 6.37% 7.62% 6.56% 6.67% 4.21% 3.34%
07:00 14.00% 12.21% 11.28% 8.96% 9.07% 6.26% 7.74% 6.11% 08:00 18.83% 18.55% 14.69% 12.64% 12.44% 9.83% 8.13% 8.02%
09:00 19.00% 25.20% 15.10% 14.06% 16.24% 13.90% 6.90% 7.36%
10:00 23.29% 23.02% 14.74% 16.08% 12.95% 7.55% 6.84% 8.29% 11:00 29.66% 24.07% 14.85% 14.63% 11.65% 10.32% 6.98% 9.96%
12:00 31.03% 19.61% 14.34% 19.98% 15.75% 7.14% 7.86% 8.22% 13:00 25.59% 24.55% 14.45% 12.85% 16.68% 11.32% 6.07% 6.61%
14:00 27.53% 19.09% 16.53% 13.19% 14.18% 7.96% 10.02% 8.40%
15:00 28.05% 24.71% 17.37% 15.67% 12.15% 7.68% 10.30% 7.62% 16:00 25.80% 28.47% 14.78% 13.03% 13.11% 10.10% 6.98% 8.12%
17:00 27.12% 19.70% 16.61% 14.72% 10.41% 10.59% 11.11% 8.63%
18:00 21.54% 18.87% 13.58% 15.99% 12.00% 7.77% 7.53% 9.95% 19:00 18.65% 18.85% 15.21% 15.33% 9.89% 8.03% 5.27% 9.40%
20:00 16.97% 20.52% 13.93% 14.57% 13.84% 8.72% 8.34% 4.61%
21:00 15.61% 12.66% 13.88% 9.46% 10.69% 7.22% 6.28% 8.74% 22:00 14.48% 12.82% 12.93% 13.77% 6.78% 5.39% 5.96% 5.96%
23:00 9.63% 16.53% 8.78% 9.04% 9.32% 4.90% 5.61% 3.55%
Overall 17.76% 16.39% 12.01% 11.61% 10.12% 7.21% 6.71% 6.62%
Incidents 2,946 2,432 1,818 1,663 1,488 964 1,175 1,262
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It is apparent that Stations 71 and 74 are the busiest during the daylight hours. Next, it is important to understand the utilization of units. The following tables were constructed for each unit type. Figure 16—Ambulance Utilization
Vehicle M74 M71 M72 M76 M45 M46
0:00 19.31% 15.33% 18.41% 10.32% 7.85% 4.52% 1:00 12.91% 13.12% 13.64% 10.24% 5.33% 3.25%
2:00 10.42% 14.71% 13.30% 8.36% 7.44% 4.36%
3:00 12.58% 13.98% 9.97% 6.65% 6.38% 3.46%
4:00 16.27% 14.25% 12.51% 7.40% 4.54% 4.33%
5:00 14.92% 16.16% 8.14% 11.06% 7.83% 4.12%
6:00 19.37% 17.10% 14.23% 10.24% 9.29% 6.13% 7:00 26.37% 24.62% 21.53% 19.86% 11.42% 6.44%
8:00 35.29% 31.08% 26.46% 22.92% 15.73% 8.23% 9:00 32.68% 35.66% 33.65% 26.83% 24.13% 21.24%
10:00 40.89% 35.49% 32.99% 29.79% 19.79% 6.94%
11:00 41.86% 34.93% 33.18% 25.97% 17.26% 17.33% 12:00 42.04% 39.11% 39.14% 28.29% 22.41% 13.40%
13:00 36.26% 42.57% 26.60% 32.12% 19.31% 14.04%
14:00 41.09% 36.22% 26.74% 25.57% 19.22% 10.27% 15:00 39.52% 41.68% 33.92% 26.87% 14.39% 13.37%
16:00 37.35% 41.29% 28.30% 27.68% 20.11% 10.90%
17:00 40.76% 37.02% 30.58% 28.86% 13.02% 9.86% 18:00 34.05% 36.96% 25.83% 27.64% 15.45% 12.99%
19:00 32.00% 32.65% 26.79% 25.84% 14.18% 13.74%
20:00 29.58% 36.69% 22.22% 23.29% 19.13% 9.79% 21:00 26.31% 26.08% 18.87% 22.89% 13.10% 10.32%
22:00 26.29% 20.60% 24.10% 14.45% 9.79% 6.45%
23:00 17.26% 19.61% 15.32% 12.47% 10.82% 9.16%
Overall 28.56% 28.21% 23.18% 20.23% 13.66% 9.36% Responses 2,604 2,509 1,935 1,839 1,124 753
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 61 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
Figure 17—Engine Utilization
Vehicle E71 E74 TR74 E73 E45 E75 E72 E76 E46
0:00 12.90% 14.40% 9.25% 9.86% 9.07% 13.45% 10.76% 6.63% 5.02%
1:00 10.53% 10.33% 6.76% 6.86% 5.97% 8.84% 9.07% 3.90% 3.73% 2:00 12.14% 9.29% 7.58% 10.60% 8.38% 7.19% 6.35% 4.86% 4.89%
3:00 16.14% 9.72% 6.57% 6.32% 7.32% 8.32% 5.88% 4.83% 4.43%
4:00 13.61% 12.72% 7.69% 7.68% 5.61% 6.47% 6.17% 5.23% 5.06% 5:00 11.20% 10.67% 7.90% 10.82% 8.67% 5.48% 7.70% 4.61% 4.56%
6:00 15.35% 16.18% 8.50% 9.20% 9.69% 7.57% 7.92% 5.75% 6.00%
7:00 22.43% 15.64% 18.06% 16.16% 12.08% 10.86% 13.86% 10.67% 7.34% 8:00 27.77% 26.18% 21.34% 18.00% 18.23% 15.33% 12.42% 13.19% 11.14%
9:00 42.99% 34.79% 23.37% 28.74% 26.91% 19.49% 20.94% 11.54% 25.18%
10:00 35.36% 32.02% 23.56% 21.15% 19.27% 19.45% 17.01% 12.04% 8.17% 11:00 27.94% 32.77% 23.07% 15.47% 18.11% 19.07% 25.94% 13.46% 16.19%
12:00 37.74% 40.10% 27.44% 20.63% 22.98% 21.39% 20.51% 15.48% 12.37% 13:00 44.79% 31.32% 22.23% 21.29% 21.97% 14.44% 16.00% 12.48% 13.85%
14:00 36.43% 37.02% 25.38% 20.45% 20.05% 14.69% 14.49% 15.04% 11.14%
15:00 41.41% 37.80% 33.58% 24.85% 18.33% 22.27% 16.40% 13.97% 13.40% 16:00 37.63% 36.78% 26.51% 18.24% 21.62% 15.47% 11.60% 14.74% 10.62%
17:00 35.37% 32.57% 26.04% 21.61% 13.14% 18.99% 17.21% 13.74% 10.01%
18:00 31.53% 32.97% 20.51% 16.85% 18.41% 15.73% 15.30% 13.43% 11.34% 19:00 31.81% 31.94% 17.91% 14.11% 18.40% 14.54% 17.13% 9.19% 13.93%
20:00 31.90% 23.50% 16.25% 21.23% 20.80% 10.89% 15.33% 11.00% 12.09%
21:00 21.87% 17.17% 14.84% 15.91% 17.30% 16.05% 11.85% 10.99% 9.61% 22:00 18.73% 23.75% 11.12% 11.37% 11.29% 13.01% 13.34% 9.17% 7.29%
23:00 17.93% 15.87% 10.97% 9.89% 12.57% 7.31% 7.99% 7.09% 8.96%
Overall 26.48% 24.40% 17.35% 15.72% 15.26% 13.60% 13.38% 10.13% 9.85%
Responses 2,592 2,412 1,633 1,474 1,411 1,273 1,222 1,068 883
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5.5.1 Medic Full Commitment Analysis The Department also wanted to know the frequency of all ambulances being committed on incidents. For a 1-year period beginning June 24, 2013, there were 47 occasions when M45, M46, M71, M72, M74, and M76 were all committed to an incident for a period greater than 60 seconds. This commitment frequency translates into four times a month that all medic apparatus are fully engaged in incident activity.
5.6 ANALYSIS OF UNIT WORKLOAD BY HOUR
In Section 5.5 Citygate built Unit Utilization Hour tables for units by hour of the day. Clearly, four of the six rescue ambulances and two of the engines are the busiest during daylight hours. A question departments must ask is, “what is the threshold for ‘too busy?’” In EMS, the published data on “too busy” is limited, as most large private providers keep the data private. The published information typically states that an ambulance at 30-50% UHU is considered “full.” However, part-day EMS units only respond to incidents, they do not have much apparatus maintenance, station chores, physical fitness, fire prevention inspections, public education, or training. Most of these activities occur in the fire service’s 9-hour “workday” from 8 am to 5 pm. The utilization percentage only measures the number of minutes an apparatus is committed to an incident. It does not measure the amount of time required for an apparatus to travel back to the station, have the apparatus replenished, or for the reporting requirements for each incident to be completed. If the UHU factors for the current three rescue ambulances are averaged from 7 am to 8 pm, the result is 34%; the same analysis for the two busiest engines results in a 33% UHU factor. Because these figures do not account for re-stocking or re-fueling after a unit becomes “available,” Citygate will assume a 35% UHU factor. From a 9-hour fire service workday, these other duties should be subtracted: One (1) hour for apparatus checks and shift change briefing One-and-a-half (1.5) hours for lunch and two breaks One (1) hour for physical training.
Based on these core tasks, fire units lose 3.5 hours before incidents receive a response. Because of a 35% incident activity rate, another 3 hours is used on incidents. So in a 9-hour work day, a total of 6.5 hours is used, leaving only 2.5 hours for training, prevention, and public education. This also means that all incident reporting and general administrative duties are performed after the dinner break and before sleeping.
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Based on the above estimates and incident history, for the fire service, Citygate believes that a 30% fire ambulance UHU is the maximum, as there is little time left before 5 pm for other fire service duties for a crew on-duty for a 24-hour shift. To raise ambulance UHU above 30%, the fire ambulance should be a dedicated unit, only responding to ambulance incidents, which is the case in Cosumnes. Citygate has not seen even partial-shift ambulances worked above a 50% UHU in downtown metro areas of the state. Given the high simultaneous call-for-service rates described above, the question is, “where, and with what impact, could the Department add a seventh ambulance?” In Figure 16, three of the four ambulances in Elk Grove are at saturation if they are expected to also train and perform other fire service activities. The fourth ambulance is approaching saturation, especially in the early to mid-afternoon. However, the ambulances in Galt are under-utilized and when the four Elk Grove ambulances are committed, the fifth ambulance has to come from Galt if it is not available via automatic aid from the north. The Department should consider moving one Galt ambulance to headquarters when the fourth Elk Grove ambulance is committed. The ambulance can then be available to respond to the fifth call should one occur in Elk Grove, or if the Galt unit is committed, the move-up ambulance can be returned to Galt.
Finding #16: Due to high daylight hour ambulance utilization and multi-unit commitment demand, the Department is close to needing to field a part-time ambulance during weekday business hours in Elk Grove.
Recommendation #6: Due to high daylight hour ambulance utilization and multi-unit commitment demand, the Department is close to needing to add a part-time ambulance during weekday business hours in Elk Grove.
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 64 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
SECTION 6—SOC EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATION
6.1 OVERALL EVALUATION
The District’s Fire Department serves a very diverse land SOC ELEMENT 8 OF 8 use pattern with a geographically challenging and limited OVERALL EVALUATION road network in some areas. Population drives service demand and development brings population. Most of the outer District areas with slower response times also have the lowest population densities. While the District and now the state-mandated Fire Code has required fire sprinklers even in dwellings, it will be many more decades before enough buildings are replaced or remodeled using automatic fire sprinklers. For the foreseeable future, the District will need both a first-due firefighting unit and Effective Response Force (First Alarm) coverage in all parts of the District, consistent with current best practices, if the risk of the fire is to be limited to only part of the inside of the affected building. If the District wants to provide the three outcomes below, the District needs at least the current eight fire stations across its geography and will have to add at least three more as development occurs: Provide equitable response times to all similar risk neighborhoods Provide for depth of response when multiple incidents occur Provide for a concentration of response forces in the core for high-risk venues. For its current risks and desired outcomes, the District has the correct quantity of fire engines (pumpers) and ladder trucks, partially due to its strong automatic aid partnerships with the neighboring fire departments.
The first step for the District in the near term is to adopt complete, best-practices-based performance measures from which to set forth service expectations and, on an annual basis, monitor Fire Department performance as part of its annual budgeting process. Then the District should add an additional ambulance (part-time) in Elk Grove as soon as funding allows. Finally, the District has to continue to plan for the additions of at least three more fire stations to serve growth in the southern Elk Grove areas.
Section 6—SOC Evaluation and Recommendation page 65 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
6.1.1 Deployment Recommendation Based on the technical analysis and findings contained in this Standards of Coverage study, Citygate offers the following deployment recommendation:
Recommendation #7: Adopt Updated District Board of Directors Deployment Measures Policies: The District elected officials should adopt updated, best-practices-based performance measures to direct fire crew planning and to monitor the operation of the Department. The measures of time should be designed to deliver outcomes that will save patients medically salvageable upon arrival; and to keep small, but serious fires from becoming greater alarm fires. With this is mind, Citygate recommends the following measures:
7.1 Distribution of Fire Stations: To treat medical patients and control small fires, the first-due unit should arrive within 7 minutes, 90% of the time from the receipt of the 9-1-1 call in the regional fire dispatch center. This equates to 1 minute dispatch time, 2 minutes company turnout time, and 4 minutes drive time in the most populated areas.
7.2 Multiple-Unit Effective Response Force for Serious Emergencies: To confine fires near the room of origin, to stop wildland fires to under three acres when noticed promptly, and to treat up to five medical patients at once, a multiple-unit response force from the regionally agreed to response plan consisting of a minimum of 4 engines, 2 ladder trucks, 1 ambulance, and two chief officers (one from automatic aid) totaling 20 personnel should arrive within 11:00 minutes from the time of 9-1-1 call receipt in fire dispatch, 90% of the time. This equates to 1 minute dispatch time, 2 minutes company turnout time, and 8 minutes drive time spacing for multiple units in the most populated areas.
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7.3 Hazardous Materials Response: Provide hazardous materials response designed to protect the community from the hazards associated with uncontrolled release of hazardous and toxic materials. The goal of the Fire Department response is to minimize or halt the release of a hazardous substance so it has minimal impact on the community. It can achieve this with a travel time in urban to suburban areas for the first company capable of investigating a HazMat release at the operations level within 4 minutes travel time or less than 90% of the time. After size- up and scene evaluation is completed, a determination will be made whether to request additional resources from the Department’s multi- agency hazardous materials response partnership.
7.4 Technical Rescue: Respond to technical rescue emergencies as efficiently and effectively as possible with enough trained personnel to facilitate a successful rescue. Achieve a travel time for the first company in urban to suburban areas for size- up of the rescue within 4 minutes travel time or less 90% of the time. Assemble additional resources for technical rescue capable of initiating a rescue within a total response time of 11 minutes, 90% of the time. Safely complete rescue/extrication to ensure delivery of patient to a definitive care facility.
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SECTION 7—HEADQUARTERS AND SUPPORT SERVICES EVALUATION
This section provides an assessment of the systems that support the District’s emergency response functions. Citygate examined the fire station facilities; fire apparatus and equipment readiness, maintenance, and testing; and the training, safety, EMS oversight and risk management systems. All of these are important components of a fire department operation and are critical to ensuring that needed resources can respond quickly and effectively. Citygate requested a comprehensive list of documents before proceeding with this aspect of our study. Citygate reviewed the documents to become more familiar with the Department and its operations and to determine areas for focus during the review process.
The second part of the support program analysis was conducted using SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) questionnaires to gain feedback from the responsible employees on specific program areas. Each of the employees principally responsible for a support program area completed a SWOT for that program. In some cases, a generic form provided adequate feedback, while other programs required a tailored form to identify the status of best practices for those programs. The tailored forms were used for training, apparatus maintenance, fire prevention, and technical rescue. In all cases the responsible individuals returned the SWOT forms to Citygate promptly and completely. After review of the SWOT forms, Citygate conducted follow-up focused interviews on site, over the telephone, and by email to cover questions that arose from the SWOTs and to compare the records-based review with the perceptions of the actual workforce.
7.1 OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
The Department is equipped, staffed, led, and trained to provide community risk mitigation services pursuant to its mission. The District is doing a good job of providing services to the typical, high-volume emergencies that occur weekly. The recessionary-caused operating reductions and continuing soft revenues have strained the District and Department’s capacity to provide every service to the maximum extent, even if the probability of some types of emergency occurrences are very low. As this section will explain, the District’s fire operations have to meet safety and regulatory standards within the revenues available. The District may not, for some time (if ever again), receive revenues that can provide for the highest possible level of service for any type of emergency.
7.2 MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 1201 Standard for Providing Emergency Services to the Public states in part, “the [department] shall have a leader and organizational
Section 7—Headquarters and Support Services Evaluation page 69 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report structure that facilitates efficient and effective management of its resources to carry out its mandate as required [in its mission statement].” The Department’s mission statement is, “To protect lives, property and environment from fire or other natural and man-made disasters/emergencies in a courteous, timely and effective manner.” As part of this study’s process, the Department is also preparing a new strategic plan which will update the current mission statement described here. A fire department of the District’s size needs to have a management team that is properly sized, adequately trained, and supported. There are increasing regulations to be dealt with in operating fire services, and the proper hiring, training, and supervision of response employees requires an equally serious commitment to leadership and general management functions.
7.3 ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
Organizationally the Fire Department has gone through some recent significant challenges due to the recessionary-caused lowered revenues. In addition, the Department is currently engaged in a strategic planning process to develop a road map going forward. The strategic planning process will help the Department better understand the issues and implement business practices that will help it predict appropriate courses of action when challenges and opportunities occur. The Department’s organization chart is shown below:
Figure 18—Fire Department Organization Chart
COSUMNES FIRE DEPARTMENT FY 2014/15 Organizational Chart
Board of Directors
General Manager
Fire Chief (1.0)
ADMINISTRATION Deputy Chief (1.0) PREVENTION
Fire Marshal (1.0)
OPERATIONS EMS TRAINING SPECIAL OPS Inspector II (4.0)
Battalion Chief (1.0) Battalion Chiefs (3.0) Battalion Chief (1.0) Battalion Chief (1.0) Inspector I (1.0)
Logistics Tech (1.0) Captains (27.0) Captain (1.0) Captain (1.0) Captain (1.0) Plan Intake Co (1.0)
Admin Spec I (1.0) PT Courier (.75 FTE) Engineers (27.0) PDC (1.0) Pub Ed Officer (1.0)
Sr. Mgmt Analyst (1.0) FF/Paramedics (59.0) Admin Spec I (1.0)
Ass’t to Fire Chief (1.0) FLEET Firefighters (26.0)
Equip Mech III (1.0) Admin Spec I (.5 FTE)
Equip Mech II (1.0)
Equip Mech I (3.0)
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The current organization contains the typical fire department themes of Administration, Field Operations, and Fire Prevention. Within each theme there are work units to support or provide direct services. In any organization the span of control for one executive manager is an important consideration. The organization chart shows an organization that is somewhat out of balance. The Fire Chief has two direct reports, the Deputy Chief and Fire Marshal, and in theory, co-responsibility for the entire Administration section. The Administration section contains 4.75 positions; however, no one person is in charge of overall administration. The reporting in this area is split between the Fire Chief and Deputy Chief. The Administrative Battalion Chief reports to the Deputy Chief and the Senior Management Analyst (budget and finance) reports to the Fire Chief. Both of these two positions have large responsibilities. Additionally, the Assistant to the Fire Chief, while reporting to the Fire Chief, is one of only 3.5 office support professionals in the entire headquarters unit. As such, this position also is tasked with assisting the Deputy Chief and some of his direct reports. The Deputy Chief has ten direct reports including the three Duty Battalion Chiefs, Special Operations, EMS, Training, Fleet Management, an Administration Battalion Chief, and logistics. The span of control for the Deputy Chief is an issue that both the Fire Chief and Operations Chief realize and understand is untenable for long-term organizational effectiveness. For the Operations Chief, it is beyond the organizational span of control norms utilized by the Incident Command System (ICS) of 3 to 7 personnel reporting.
There is also, by any measure used in Citygate’s experience, an insufficient number of Office Support Professionals at a total of 3.5, one of whom is totally committed to ambulance billing. As a result, office support work not completed either remains incomplete or flows to the Assistant to the Fire Chief, who has to work extra hours frequently to keep up. During the recession-caused reductions, one Administration Specialist was cut which leads to the workload challenges today and going forward faced by the office support team.
7.4 CITYGATE’S SIGNIFICANT ORGANIZATIONAL OBSERVATIONS
Citygate’s operational review and the Department’s SWOT questionnaires revealed three significant issues facing the Department in addition to the organizational design issues mentioned above: 1. Becoming a data-driven organization – The significant problems already described with the response data are only some of the many problems with the Department’s current Records Management System (RMS) (Firehouse). In addition, the Department had a paramedic patient Electronic Patient Care Report (ePCR) for a period of time and reverted back to a paper PCR system due to
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significant issues with the program. The Department is implementing ImageTrend, a web-hosted RMS that also includes an integrated ePCR and electronic fire inspections. The challenge now is committing staff hours to complete the configuration and transition to presenting training for the new RMS and ensuring compliance. This will be a first step in becoming a data-driven organization. 2. Training and Development – There is a training facility and a training schedule, but there is no comprehensive training plan or comprehensive career development program. The training section provides a lot of training appropriate for a department of this size. The Battalion Chief in charge of the training program understands the critical issues on which the firefighters need to focus, but without a comprehensive career development based training program, there is less consistency. For example, the recruit academy for this year will be 22 weeks long, the prior academy was 16 weeks long; the Department recently had emergency vehicle operation training at the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District (Metro Fire) training site for which it traded use of its tower to Metro Fire. In addition, the Department now provides technical rescue and paramedic-based EMS, and the Department struggles to keep training and continuing education current with mandated training requirements for both services. A career development plan that mapped out the basics of a career from Firefighter through Battalion Chief would encourage employees who wished to get ahead and pursue development. It would also provide all employees with a clear road map for career development; senior employees could use it to mentor junior employees; and junior employees could map out their careers from the start. 3. Organizational Design Imbalance Due to Recession-Induced Constraints – What are the Department’s strategic priorities in a new economy? Pre-recession, over years of explosive community growth, the District was able to fund a generous level of fire services, especially in administrative programs, which was frankly atypical for most suburban fire departments with eight fire stations. Many programs were added for an all-risk response system, even if the actual risks and probabilities of some incident types were small. The Department still has programs at some levels that only large departments provide.
The recession caused serious personnel reductions, first in headquarters and then in line fire station staffing. In all, 11.5 full-time headquarters positions were eliminated. Three 24-hour shift-based Battalion Chiefs were eliminated who covered the southern District and Galt areas. Three line firefighter positions (one per shift) on both Rescue Engine 45 and Rescue Engine 71 were eliminated. Since
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April 2013, the Department has been browning-out (closing) one engine per shift. As a result, the affected companies are not staffed 87% of the time. The Department is beginning to phase-out of this reduction. The result is the Department’s headquarters staff feel overwhelmed with administrative work, a growing new development and emergency incident volume, and yet, not a dramatic economic recovery in overall revenues. The normal human feeling is, “if we only had the lost positions back, everything would be fine.” The reality is that the Department has persevered, gained efficiencies, and headquarters personnel often work outside normal working hours to complete the administrative work. Revenues have not yet completely recovered and may not for a long period of time. In the near future, it is not possible, nor necessary, to add back every reduced position; however, a balance must be achieved. However, the economy based on housing wealth has been permanently damaged. Recovery, if at all, will not be as rapid as the downturn. Citygate believes that some members in the Department have yet to confront and address the new economic realities. For the first time in years, in the current members’ careers, the Department really has to determine service priorities and methods to triage them in importance against realistic revenues. Some services may have to stop, be curtailed, or performed increasingly on a shared basis with regional partners.
This study and the accompanying strategic plan will guide the Department members and District leadership through these issues and solidify a data-driven, cost-beneficial fire and EMS services plan for the future.
7.5 MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
There is one best practice for fire department management and one best practice for the professional qualifications of the Department’s managers. The Department uses both of these best practices for guidance in its decision-making and management development processes. The Deputy Chief of Operations oversees the three Duty Battalion Chiefs, Special Operations, EMS, Training, Fleet Management, an Administration Battalion Chief, and logistics. From a span of control perspective, this is a significant number of direct reports. The Administration Battalion Chief oversees significant duties that are often not appreciated. The position facilitates all community emergency management (disaster management planning, special/large event pre-response planning, and maintaining communication and coordination with the cities of Elk Grove and Galt for mass care and shelter programs), the Citizen Emergency Response Team (CERT) program, daily staffing, the supply logistics position that handles
Section 7—Headquarters and Support Services Evaluation page 73 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report protective clothing, light-duty assignments, and personnel management functions. The position also oversees and manages expenses related to maintenance and repair of Fire Department facilities, and works closely with the District facilities staff. Some of the recession-caused cuts, including three Battalion Chiefs and a half-time staffing officer, shifted workload into this one “catch all” position. Each of the other headquarters positions reporting to the Deputy Chief has broad responsibilities and teams ranging from field operations to EMS, the training of all personnel, and the maintenance of the Department’s fleet and equipment.
7.5.1 Recession-Caused Reductions Over the years of the recession the management team had to deal with the loss of 11.5 headquarters positions plus the challenge of dealing with the “brownout” or closing of one station per day. The closings were accomplished on the following schedule: Station 72 A shift, Station 74 B shift, and Station 76 C shift, unless there were sufficient personnel to staff without overtime being incurred. This resulted in an engine closing on about 27 days out of 30 per month. On January 1, 2015, the company closure was restored on one of the three shifts. The Fire Department has proposed a complete elimination of the brownout program in its FY 15/16 Preliminary Budget utilizing new revenues from increased ambulance revenues. If approved by the Board, the elimination of the remaining engine company closures would be effective July 1, 2015. The following headquarters positions were lost:
3 Shift Battalion Chiefs that covered the southern District, also known as Battalion 37 1 Special Operations Battalion Chief who handled training and coordination of personnel in specialty response team such as technical and water rescue 1 Training Captain 1 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Captain 1 Arson Investigator (40 hour) 1 Geographic Information System (GIS) Mapping Technician 1 GIS Coordinator 1 Administrative Specialist 1 Fire Inspector .5 Staffing Officer to coordinate personnel schedules.
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7.5.2 Citygate’s Organizational and Management Observations The recession-caused headquarters reductions have created an imbalance with the span of control in the Department’s organizational design and created very unequal and, in some areas, excessive, workloads. The Department always has to handle the on-going challenge of retirements and recruiting qualified replacements. It is also a challenge for all agencies to maintain a full roster of qualified firefighter/paramedics. Replacement hiring and training is underway. The Department currently has no succession plan, staff development plan, or mentoring program. Department leadership is currently developing an Emergency Operations Plan, which will be followed by a Continuity of Operations Plan that will outline succession during a disaster. Managers have rank levels consistent with the best practices to carry out their duties. The Department strives for, but does not always complete, quarterly appraisals of each fire company’s ability to meet training standards conducted at the training grounds.
The Department performs cost recovery for its EMS program and for HazMat responses. The Department has a standard response plan that is highly detailed. Performance evaluations are not always given annually. There is no tracking performed, there are no clear measures of expectations, and there is no cultural imperative to use this tool to ensure an employee’s success to their job description requirements. Regarding administration of discipline, there is a constant trickle of low magnitude events, with about 3-4 open cases consistently; given new labor requirements, these require processing to closure and keeping sufficient documentation. There is a common thread that not providing sufficient supervisor training and simultaneously not holding people accountable early in their career can later lead to serious issues. There is not the data or the staff to “make the business case” plan regarding the Department’s direction in the long term.
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The recession-caused reduction in headquarters and line supervision positions cannot all be restored immediately or completely, given current revenue forecasts. The Department has to triage its remaining headquarters capacity to the programs that deliver day-to-day services first, along with ensuring safe, effective operations for the workforce. Overall, Citygate suggests the Department’s leadership—both command and union—adopt the theme of “Meet Mandates, Live Within Your Revenues.” Citygate makes the following findings, which are followed in the next sub-sections by recommendations for incremental improvements as revenue growth allows:
Finding #17: The Fire Chief’s and Deputy Chief’s spans of control are too big, leaving them not just with too many direct reports, but requiring them to perform day-to-day technical supervision instead of advance planning, labor relations, budgeting, and intra-agency coordination.
Finding #18: The Department’s headquarters has an insufficient number of office support professionals. Of the 3.5 personnel, one is dedicated solely to ambulance billing.
7.5.3 Upper Management Reorganization Advice A fire headquarters team for a Department of the District’s size easily has three broad themes below the office of Fire Chief that should be staffed with a mid-level sworn or non-sworn executive manager with the skills and authority to manage large sections of the Department in carrying out the Department’s strategic plan and annual budget goals, while meeting safety mandates. Organizing this way allows the Fire Chief to focus on strategy, inter-agency coordination, and major issues resolution, not day-to-day activities. The Fire Chief should have no more than four direct reports: 1 Deputy Chief of Field Operations 1 Administration Manager (non-sworn or Deputy Chief) 1 Fire Marshal 1 Assistant to the Fire Chief.
Designing the top management team structure has many variables and there is not one right way. Considerations include the pros and cons of using long-term non-sworn specialists in specialty positions versus chief officers on rotational, career development assignments. This is more of an issue in smaller departments, where not every chief officer has the education and desire to spend time in administrative and fire prevention assignments. Fiscal, operations, personnel, fire prevention, and even EMS have all become very technical at the upper management level. A
Section 7—Headquarters and Support Services Evaluation page 76 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report career public administration professional at the level of an Assistant to the City Manager or Assistant Department Head from outside the fire service can make a great administration manager. Conversely, if mid-management fire officers are not exposed to all functions, they can become Fire Chiefs and not possess deep skills in general administration, finance, and personnel. Before the recession and the changes to CalPERS for safety pensions, Citygate recommended more non-sworn technical positions for Administration, EMS, and Fire Prevention since, in addition to the needed technical skills, safety positions under the 3%@50 retirement formula were a lot more expensive. That gap will narrow in the decades ahead as the 3%@50 generation retires. Given that the Department’s management team is currently out of balance and overloaded, the question is, “what is the most cost-effective strategy for the next 1-3 fiscal years to fit within the District’s current ability to pay for changes?” The District should have an internal conversation between management, current and prospective chief officers, and labor unit leadership to build consensus on the best operational, fiscal, and career development plan to meet the District’s long term needs and fiscal capacity. Citygate’s preference would be to divide the staff responsibilities across the themes this way: Table 16—Suggested Staff Responsibilities
Administration Field Operations Fire Prevention
Fiscal/budget Shift Battalion Chiefs and New construction Department-based station crews Existing commercial/ personnel, staffing, workers Emergency Medical industrial inspections compensation Services Public education Office support positions Training Fire investigation coordination and supervision Special Operations Preparedness, community- based programs (the Citizen Emergency Response Team (CERT) program) Logistics Fleet
7.5.4 Position Title/Compensation Changes for Consideration Administration – This could be led by a non-sworn career public administration professional. A non-sworn disaster preparedness technician could replace the current Battalion Chief in Administration.
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Field Operations – While this is led by a Deputy Chief (the Department’s second in command) the multiple areas under operations are too large for effective supervision of daily technical issues. Citygate would transfer some of the sworn position cost from the Administration Battalion Chief to add a Division Chief in Field Operations that would oversee the programs in EMS, Training, and Special Operations. The Operations Deputy Chief thus would have four direct reports (three shift Battalion Chiefs and a Division Chief). Another choice would be to replace the Battalion Chief in EMS with a non-sworn, career EMS manager with broad health care and EMS Quality Assurance experience. For career development of future chief officers, any 40-hour/week technical headquarters positions that can be filled by field personnel on rotation should be at the Fire Captain level, as is already partially done. Citygate does not believe given the modern, complicated fire service issues, that all headquarters senior staff positions in a small agency can be rotated between Battalion Chiefs on approximately a two-year rotation. By the time they achieve journey level experience, the need to rotate and to absorb retirement losses causes experience gaps in critical leadership areas. We believe that general administration, disaster preparedness, EMS, and the Fire Marshal positions are too critical to not have the best available managers who have advanced on the career ladder in those specialties. Many of the larger departments in the state take this approach of blending in non-sworn managers. While this internal discussion occurs, however, Citygate believes that, at a minimum, the Department needs an additional office support position and at least an interim Administration Director to share the load of the Deputy Chief as soon as possible. Based on this, we recommend:
Recommendation #8: To reduce the span of control on the Fire Chief and Deputy Chief, as funds allow, an Administration Manager should be added to supervise all general administration functions.
Recommendation #9: Add one office support position as soon as possible to be shared with field operations and fire prevention.
Recommendation #10: Conduct an internal discussion regarding the final form, duties, and types of mid-manager positions to improve the balance of the Fire and Deputy Chief direct reports and overall workloads of the headquarters team more equitably.
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Recommendation #11: Set up and annually fund incremental payments to capital fleet, tool, and building repair/replacement funds. Include IT, radios, self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), and EMS electronics in addition to fleet and stations.
Recommendation #12: Management oversight needs to stress:
12.1 Developing a data-driven decision-making culture.
12.2 Scheduling time monthly for shared leadership and decision making, not just informational meetings.
12.3 Preparing a retirement schedule for all positions at the Fire Captain level and above. Design a partial succession plan to involve interested parties in organizational work above their current job descriptions.
7.6 COLLEGE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
This program helps to develop incoming firefighters. The students often enter into the Department’s hiring process thus allowing Deparment personnel to have an opportunity to provide basic training to determine if they have an aptitude for firefighting and EMS work prior to comitting to hire them. As part of this program, once the interns have completed basic training, they offer the Department additional personnel on the apparatus.
The Department is very supportive of the program. One improvement the Department could make to the program is to provide additional training such as EMT-1 and Rescue Systems 1. The program is run through Cosumnes River College and is an 8-unit course. There are lab fees of $2,500 and each semester lasts 17 weeks. Students “attend” Friday nights and all day on some Saturdays. The program lasts three semesters and provides participants a California Firefighter I certificate. There are currently between 40 and 50 students enrolled. To join the program, students need to have a card indicating they passed the California physical abilities test, have an EMT 1 certification, have completed a California Community College introduction to Fire Technology course for one semester, and have completed a background investigation. Once they have completed these basic elements of the intern program, they can
Section 7—Headquarters and Support Services Evaluation page 79 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report operate inside buildings with full-time firefighting crews. Over 50 of the firefighters now working for Cosumnes completed the program at the start of their careers.
7.7 FIRE PREVENTION PROGRAM
The District provides a variety of fire prevention services, including new development and existing building modification plan review, fixed fire protection system inspections, non- residential occupancy inspections, hazardous weed abatement, pre-fire planning, and public education and information. The current Fire Prevention staffing consists of: 1 Assistant Chief/Fire Marshal 4 Fire Inspector IIs 1 Fire Inspector I 1 Public Education Officer 1 Construction Plan Intake Coordinator. The Fire Prevention Bureau keeps track of workload data in a variety of ways and does not fully use the existing Fire Department Records Management System. Given the variety of records staff provided, the following count of workload in the most recent calendar year is: State Fire Code mandated inspections and public complaint inspections: 100 Plan checks for new buildings and remodels: 1,309 New construction inspections: ranges from 1,309 to approximately 2,600 Fire investigations: about 60 per year (which is less than the total number of fires).
Due to line fire station staff reductions during the recession, the fire engine crews no longer perform lower risk commercial occupancy inspections. Prior to this, the fire engine crews conducted about 1,000 inspections annually of existing commercial businesses. The Public Education Coordinator designs programs and, with fire station crew assistance, delivers public education programs on fire safety to the community, with a focus on school children. In total, the Department estimates about 50,000 persons annually receive some form of outreach education. The Fire Prevention Bureau also performs fire investigations; there are no full-time investigators. Pre-recession, the Bureau did have one dedicated fire investigator position. Currently, three of the Bureau personnel are trained in fire investigation, and after hours two of these personnel
Section 7—Headquarters and Support Services Evaluation page 80 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report serve as the on-call investigator. There are no accurate counts of the various levels of fire investigations from cause and origin determination to criminal and civil legal cases. The more serious the case, the more hours are consumed in investigation, writing reports, processing evidence and testifying. While the Bureau lost one dedicated fire investigator position and a general fire inspector position in the recession-caused reductions, Citygate does not believe that the fire investigation workload for the size of the District requires a dedicated fire investigation position. The after- hours call load, however, is burdensome being placed on only two positions, and is not a permanent solution. The Department needs to train either another fire prevention position or one or more line suppression personnel to be available in rotation to conduct “cause and origin” basic investigations. For serious cases and where evidence and witnesses are available, the initial or basic level investigator can call in a senior more experienced investigator.
7.7.1 Citygate’s Observations The Bureau has excellent working relationships with the two cities and the County. Since the recession-caused reductions of one investigator and one fire inspector, combined with the transfer of low-risk fire inspections to the Fire Prevention Bureau and the resurgence of new construction post-recession, Bureau leadership is concerned that new development and construction workload will overwhelm the existing staffing levels.
All agree that maintenance of effort inspections to existing commercial buildings is not being conducted to any appreciable level. The Fire Marshal feels they are barely keeping up with state fire-code-mandated new construction and complaint-driven inspections. In Citygate’s experience, not having at least a multi-year priority-driven plan for code compliance inspections for commercial and industrial buildings does not meet best practice recommendations. While the Bureau has one plan intake coordinator, it does not really have a dedicated general duties office support position. Additionally, due to the overall low office support staff in headquarters, a fire inspector is pulled from normal duties to cover reception and/or the incoming business phone calls when office support personnel are not available. If the Department’s goal is to investigate all fires for at least cause and origin, having just two people on stand-by is not enough to allow the employees enough unencumbered time off.
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There are no accurate counts of the various types of activities that the Bureau provides. The Fire Marshal has to keep up with two cities’ and the County’s new development processes, meetings, and pre-development review requests in a strengthening economy. Plus, he has to supervise the inspectors, fire investigations, and plan checks. The Bureau has a large quantity of poorly-organized paper records, and is running out of storage space. The Department does not have a clear set of triaged priorities for its fire prevention programs, nor the hard data upon which to conduct meaningful workload analysis. There is no evidence that the Department has considered prioritizing prevention workload by: performing inspections by mail for low-risk businesses, and/or using a 2- to 3-year rotation plan for on-going inspections, and/or outsourcing to consultants all plan checks, and/or implementing a fire permit fee program to cost-recover more Bureau staff additions. The District’s fire prevention program only charges appreciable fees for new construction applications. If a fee program were developed consistent with other agencies, either fire prevention costs could be further offset, or additional staff paid for to conduct the code compliance inspections for commercial and industrial buildings.
7.7.2 Workload Analysis A fire inspector work schedule is 2,080 hours per year or 260 8-hour days. When time is subtracted for vacation, sick leave, training, and holidays, the net amount of hours worked per year for an inspector is approximately 1,520 hours (or 190 days). An inspector cannot perform inspections for 8 hours per day; time is needed for scheduling, data entry, phone consultations, plan review, and filing. Assuming an inspector could be out of the office inspecting 5 hours per day, and that, on average, two inspections could be completed per hour, the result is that one inspector might be able to conduct 10 per day for 190 days (for a total of 1,900 annually). When this quantity is multiplied by 5 inspectors, 9,500 inspections can be performed. Even reducing this gross estimate by 50% leaves a possible 4,750 inspections that can be performed. In 2011, the Fire Marshal estimated that there were about 4,675 annual inspections needed in the District; this amount, plus last year’s new construction demand of 2,600, totals 7,275 inspections. These figures do not include some inspectors performing mostly new construction plan checks.
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Based on the above order-of-magnitude workload estimates, the Bureau staff should feel near full capacity. In theory, without performing plan checks and fire investigations, a team of 5 inspectors should be able to handle the estimated 7,275 inspections, which averages 7.6 inspections per net inspector workday. Additionally some low-risk inspections could be returned to the fire engine crews.
Finding #19: The Fire Prevention Bureau does not have solid data upon which to conduct a workload analysis or to develop service priorities.
Finding #20: The Fire Prevention Bureau tries to perform everything it did pre- recession where it could use a risk probabilities based approach, including different inspection time cycles for some services.
Finding #21: The Fire Prevention Bureau does not have even one full-time general office support position.
Finding #22: Other than for new development plan check fees, the Fire Prevention Bureau does not issue operating/inspection permits to the higher risk of fire businesses, nor collect fees for these permits. Other agencies of a similar or larger size do operate permit and fee programs.
Recommendation #13: The Fire Prevention Bureau needs to immediately begin collecting solid data upon which to analyze its time efforts on all of its services.
Recommendation #14: At least an additional half-time general office support (clerical) position, shared with field operations, is needed in the Fire Prevention Bureau in the next budget cycle.
Recommendation #15: Slightly increase the number of existing personnel trained to basic fire investigator level to improve the after-hours rotation system that currently only has two positions assigned.
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Recommendation #16: Evaluate, design, and gain approval for an expanded operating permit and fee system for fire prevention maintenance of code inspection activities for existing commercial/industrial buildings.
Recommendation #17: Once effective workload measures are established, the Fire Prevention Bureau needs to develop a prevention services master plan that should consider, at a minimum:
17.1 Prioritizing services to risks.
17.2 Establishing an operating permit and fee program.
17.3 Placing commercial maintenance inspections on a triaged 1- to 3-year cycle.
17.4 Contracting out for major plan checks.
17.5 Training city/county building inspectors to perform residential fire sprinkler inspections on subdivision production housing.
17.6 Performing self inspections.
17.7 Returning some inspections to the line fire crews.
17.8 Implementing a robust e-data system and a process to scan or eliminate paper records at legal retention intervals.
17.9 Adding an Assistant Fire Marshal / Lead Inspector position as finances and workload dictate.
7.8 EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES PROGRAM
The Department operates a paramedic first responder (fire engine based) and a paramedic ambulance transport program from incident location to the hospital. The Department does not typically perform inter-hospital or care home patient transport. Personnel are hired with paramedic licenses or obtain licenses on their own. The Department does not sponsor employees
Section 7—Headquarters and Support Services Evaluation page 84 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report to obtain this training nor does it require that employees attend a particular program as long as they obtain the license. The EMS Battalion Chief oversees emergency medical training. While the goal is always to deliver the best patient care, in many instances it is not up to the Department to determine the method for providing care. Unlike other aspects of firefighting, EMS care is heavily regulated and burdened with mandated oversight requirements. All of these requirements, while medically necessary, add to the Department’s overhead cost to provide EMS. The Department has no choice but to follow laws and regulations related to training, clinical oversight, data for tracking trends in care and paramedic skills, shelf-life of medical supplies, biomedical equipment certification, controlled drug tracking, etc. However, for many agencies (including this Department), the trend over recent decades, and especially during the last devastating recession, has been to make budgeting decisions that result in poor funding for EMS logistical support positions and equipment/data due to a lack of a full understanding of their mandated importance. If these issues are not addressed, eventually patient care will be negatively affected. A brief overview of the laws, administrative regulations, and agencies that, when combined, strictly control the Department’s provision of EMS is provided in Appendix 4 of this document; a comprehensive listing would require dozens of pages. The concept of providing focus and emphasis on Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) in patient care delivery became a top priority in EMS in the early 1990s. EMS providers and EMS oversight agencies across the United States developed systems that guaranteed objective feedback about performance both internally (to support CQI efforts) and externally (to demonstrate accountability to partners and oversight agencies). An effective CQI program must be consistent and systematic, must be based on evidence, and must be free of any perceived or real punitive involvement. It will include a fact-based decision- making process that involves industry-accepted performance measures and comparison of treatment to standard protocols for patient conditions. It will foster learning and knowledge sharing, and will motivate care providers to be the best possible clinicians with each and every patient contact. Clinical training, oversight, and command staff in the EMS program supports the field personnel. In turn, these technical positions must have office support professionals to support them. Functions such as recordkeeping, notifications, filing, internal communications, budgeting, purchase requests, telephone inquiries, scheduling, and a multitude of other assignments must be provided by the office support team. The current EMS headquarters staffing consists of: 1 Battalion Chief on a 40-hour/week schedule
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1 Fire Captain on a 40-hour/week schedule 1 Performance Development Coordinator or PDC 1 Administrative Specialist (clerical) for ambulance billing. This EMS staff is responsible for all Department paramedics and emergency medical technicians, their training, quality oversight, and billing for emergency incidents (which, in 2013/2014, was more than 11,000), and handling transport revenue of approximately $5.8 million dollars. The EMS operation is literally a “business within a business.” One EMS Captain’s position was eliminated due to financial cutbacks. The EMS Battalion Chief oversees all division operations. The Battalion Chief and remaining EMS Captain oversee the day-to-day ordering of EMS supplies and operations for the units within the agency. The PDC is responsible for the CQI for the agency. This involves reviewing each patient care report for the agency to ensure accuracy as well as coordination of the Department’s CQI Committee. The PDC, assisted by the EMS Captain, also is responsible for EMS education within the Department. Each EMT and paramedic is trained regarding policy and protocol updates/changes, infrequently-used skills, CPR skills, etc. each year. The EMS Administrative Specialist has stewardship over records for the agency. In addition, every PCR billed by the agency is reviewed and sent to the billing agency by the Division’s Administrative Specialist.
7.8.1 Citygate’s Observations Overall, EMS Division has many strengths based on its dedicated, passionate, and extremely resilient personnel. The team has extremely high standards and strives to perform their jobs to the best of their abilities. Although at times the job is incredibly demanding, the EMS staff’s passion was clearly seen by Citygate. The Fire Captain position is part of a rotation plan; to qualify, an individual must serve as a paramedic for at least two years. The Battalion Chief must also be a paramedic and is administratively assigned the Division indefinitely. The Department is just beginning to evaluate whether some of the EMS administrative positions should be non-sworn and permanent as is done in many other similar and larger agencies. This should include determining if either or both of the sworn Battalion Chief or Fire Captain EMS positions should be converted into permanent, non-sworn specialty positions. Doing so could increase EMS program long-term management. The downside to non-sworn EMS program management is the lack of a career ladder for the EMS positions and the lack of career development rotation for up-and-coming fire officers. The three EMS technical staff feel overworked, and under-deliver on all aspects of best-practices-based training, quality assurance, and improvement programs.
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Part of the workload is due to the Department’s heavy time commitment to an entry-level training academy. All of the EMS modules total 20 days and must be taught by two of the three EMS technical staff positions. In the recession, the Department stopped funding specialty paramedic continuing education off-duty. EMS education is now largely provided on duty by computer-based courses and two on-duty annual seminars. The only reason the lower amount of training is sufficient is that Sacramento County, due to short transport times to hospitals, does not use as many of the drugs and treatment skills used in other parts of the state. The EMS staff feels they have little to no time for advanced planning, research, and development. The Department just replaced all of the cardiac monitor defibrillators, out of reserve funds. These expensive units do not have a replacement fund being paid into annually. In addition to training, all of the Performance Development Coordinator’s time goes to Quality Assurance; there is little time for Continuous Quality Improvement programs.
The Department purchased an electronic patient care record system (ePCR) that turned out to be a technology failure. The Department is in the process of converting to another system, named ImageTrend. Therefore, Quality Assurance has been and continues to be a review of paper-based records, which is slow and does not produce trending data on skills across all of the paramedics. The Administrative Specialist hours are totally consumed with the paper-based billing system. There is no time for providing general administrative support to the rest of the EMS team.
7.8.2 Quality Assurance Workload Analysis There are about 11,000 EMS incidents per year. There are 8,604 transports performed per year (which is 78% of the total amount of incidents in 2014). One net full-time equivalent position in EMS Quality Assurance has about 220 workdays (net workdays, after subtracting vacation and other leaves) to review 50 patient care records per day, or in a net 6-hour day, 8 records per hour (an average of 7.5 minutes each). If only transports were reviewed, then 39 records per day would need to be reviewed, or 6.5 per hour (an average of 9.2 minutes each). Since records are
Section 7—Headquarters and Support Services Evaluation page 87 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report currently paper-based, this workload is impossible for even one person and a serious challenge even with the best ePCR and data trending software.
Finding #23: Due to the volume of paramedics and incidents, the EMS Division staff is inadequate to meet County and State mandates.
Finding #24: The Department’s leadership structure in EMS should not depend on volunteer Battalion Chiefs and Captains in two-year rotations. EMS is a very specialized profession and should be managed as such.
Finding #25: The EMS Division, similar to the Fire Prevention Bureau, is operating without a clear services master plan, set of priorities, and multi-year funding for capital equipment.
Recommendation #18: The EMS Division, as soon as possible, needs another 40-hour/week technical position for Quality Assurance and Continuous Quality Improvement programs.
Recommendation #19: Once good workload measures are established, the Department needs to develop an EMS services master plan that should consider at a minimum:
19.1 Total staff needed.
19.2 Identification of a leadership plan that is not as rotational and uses some if not all non-sworn EMS professionals.
19.3 Service and training priorities.
19.4 Emphasizing data-driven Quality Assurance and Continuous Quality Improvement.
7.9 SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
Firefighting is widely considered a dangerous occupation. However, it is not widely known that that while the incidence of fire has decreased dramatically since the 1970s, the number of
Section 7—Headquarters and Support Services Evaluation page 88 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report firefighter line-of-duty deaths has decreased only slightly, and the death rate for firefighters on a per-fire basis has almost doubled in the intervening four decades. This can be attributed to two factors: firefighter experience and firefighting conditions. Since firefighters respond to fewer fires, they have less opportunity to develop the practical on- the-job knowledge, skills, and abilities that only come from the experiences of actually fighting fires. (Sophisticated simulation programs administered by experienced firefighters can fill part of this gap in much the same way flight simulators do for airline pilots.) Meanwhile, the fire problem itself has become more perilous. Buildings, particularly residential structures, are larger, with more open space, more fire-prone construction assemblies, and contain more highly flammable furnishings and finishes. All this combines to produce fires that burn rapidly with more heat and more dangerous byproducts in the smoke. This is a deadly combination and the statistics bear this out. For these reasons the initial focus of this part of the report is on the safety and risk management system, examining whether the Department is meeting best practices for employee safety. Although there are no mandates requiring that a jurisdiction provide fire protection services, if it chooses to do so, then federal and state regulations specify the manner in which to provide the services safely for the Department personnel and the public. Among the necessary elements for a fire department is a safety orientation for new employees, a hazard communications system for employees to communicate hazards to supervisors, the Cal/OSHA process for post-injury reviews, the required annual report of injuries, and a standard for safety work plans. While NFPA has a number of standards that address safety issues, NFPA 1500 Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program and NFPA 1501 Standard for Fire Department Safety Officer are the umbrella documents that model the approach that every fire department should take regarding the safety and health of its firefighters, which, in turn, impacts the safety and health of the public it serves. NFPA 1500 states, “There must be a fundamental behavioral change in how fire fighters and fire departments address fire service occupational safety. In turn, they must continue to educate their members and, most importantly, the administration and citizens to what the hazards are of the fire fighting profession. The utilization and implementation of this standard can go a long way in reducing the staggering statistics involving fire fighter fatalities and injuries, but only if given the training and resources to do so.” [Emphasis added] NFPA 1500’s Component Analysis Chart recommends that a fire department’s risk management plan contain the following elements: Fire department organizational statement
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Risk management plan Safety and health policy Roles and responsibilities Occupational safety and health committee Record keeping Incident safety and health officer Laws, codes, and standards Training and education Accident prevention Accident investigation, procedures, and review Record management and data analysis Apparatus and equipment Facility inspections Health maintenance Liaison Occupational safety and health officer Infection control Critical incident stress management Post-incident analysis.
In addition to NFPA 1500, a number of other NFPA standards that apply to firefighter safety and health are listed in Appendix 1.
7.9.1 Citygate’s Observations The following observations about the safety and health program were noted. The Department has a Health and Safety Committee. The Department participates in countywide safety programs, such as safety stand- downs. There is a countywide Serious Accident Review Team.
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There does not appear to be a standard policy/procedure on accident investigations. This can lead to inconsistent methods of investigating accidents and developing findings. Even though the Department conducts daily tailgate safety sessions, the chair of the Health and Safety Council believes that there is poor communication with the line personnel concerning safety-related topics. The Department has partially adopted all ten of the NFPA best practices for safety and health. The Department conducted a Department-wide safety and health compliance evaluation in accordance with NFPA 1500 Annex B in October 2013. This is only the second fire department that Citygate has reviewed that has self-reported an Annex B evaluation.
Finding #26: The best practice of NFPA 1500 Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program is a critical element in a comprehensive fire department safety and health program. The Department has not officially adopted this best practice.
Finding #27: The best practice of NFPA 1403 Standard on Live Fire Training Evolutions is the result of tragic training incidents where firefighters were killed or seriously injured. While aware of and using NFPA 1403, the Department has not officially adopted this best practice in total.
Finding #28: Outside of the various policy and procedures statements based on the best practices, the Department does not have a comprehensive safety and health program plan.
Recommendation #20: The Department should consider officially adopting specific relevant portions of NFPA 1500 Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program, which is a critical element in a comprehensive fire department safety and health program.
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Recommendation #21: The Department should consider officially and completely adopting NFPA 1403 Standard on Live Fire Training Evolutions, which is the result of tragic training incidents where firefighters were killed or seriously injured.
Recommendation #22: The Department has to expedite the design and approval of a comprehensive safety and health program plan with the understanding that it is a living document and that over time it will be amended and edited as necessary.
7.10 WELLNESS PROGRAM
In addition to the safety and health program the Department maintains a separate wellness program. The focus of the program is to have all safety personnel participate in a medical wellness exam based on the following schedule: Every 3 years if under 40 years of age Every two years for those 40-50 years of age Annually for those over 50 years of age OR those identified as higher risk.
7.10.1 Citygate’s Observations The program has support from both management and labor and is widely accepted by the employees. This wellness program is both relatively unique and rare as well as a model for other agencies to follow. The program is entirely voluntary and employees can include or omit parts of the exam based on their own needs. The Department holds quarterly wellness lectures that are mandatory on a variety of topics including nutrition, physical fitness, etc. Also, the coach consults with employees after the wellness exam, should they take part, on the results and how to address shortcomings.
The medical exams appear to follow an appropriate criterion for the group being screened. Other portions of the program not included in the exam are employee physical fitness, nutrition, workplace safety, and mental health.
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Peer fitness training has been restored to the program. It is headed by a firefighter who is a licensed physical therapist. He is assisted by six firefighters who provide coordinated training, workouts, and motivation focus for safety personnel.
Recommendation #23: The wellness program appears to operate by itself separate from the Department’s safety and health and training efforts. As part of a comprehensive risk management program review, the Department should examine this relationship and determine if it is working or if the wellness program needs to be more closely coordinated with safety and health and training.
7.11 SERIOUS ACCIDENT REVIEW TEAM (SART)
Another aspect of the risk management program is the Serious Accident Review Team (SART). The program is a regional effort that includes all Sacramento County full-time fire departments: Cosumnes Fire Department, City of Sacramento Fire Department, Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, and the City of Folsom Fire Department. The purpose of the program is to: Identify causal and contributory factors related to accidents. Develop an accurate recreation of the accident and surrounding events. Recommend corrective actions to implement to avoid future accidents from occuring. Promote a safer workplace without fear of discipline.
7.11.1 Citygate’s Observations The SART is rarely activated. The team is assembled when a situation occurs that warrants an in-depth investigation. Representatives from each of the participating departments conduct the investigation as a team, producing a fact-finding document. The document is then distributed county-wide for future reference and training. Particpants in the SART report bringing back lessons learned to the Department. They believe that this information will filter out to the employees and, in turn, provide a higher level of safety to members of the Department. Particpation improves interagency cooperation by utilizing a variety of personnel from the particpating agencies based on their expertise and needs of the situation.
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The Department created a High Risk Training policy based on lessons learned from an accident review.
Finding #29: The Department is not using its incident and employee injury records to compile data and identify potential safety problems before they cause injuries or property damage.
Recommendation #24: Train employees on the value of an accident and injury prevention program and how reporting is a key element to the understanding of accidents and injuries and how they can be prevented in the future.
7.12 TRAINING
The job of a firefighter is extremely complex and the tasks a firefighter performs must be done correctly every time. This is particularly critical for those tasks that are very hazardous and do not occur very often, or for which there is no decision time. Training in the fire service has two parts: vocational training, which teaches the skill sets necessary to perform the “hands-on” work required of firefighters; and education, which teaches the knowledge necessary to perform the “mental” work required of firefighters. An effective training program is the keystone to effective emergency response. During emergency operations, time is always of essence and an effective training program can mean the difference between a fire contained to the area of origin and one that causes great damage or the difference between effective CPR that starts on time and a patient that dies. The NFPA3 and Federal and Cal/OSHA have many recommended standards that cover the training arena.
Many of the tasks firefighters perform on emergencies fall into the relatively routine category, and as long as nothing goes seriously wrong, there is no need for any specialized training. It is when the High Risk / Low Frequency, No-Decision-Time task is required that the routine training is not sufficient. The after-action findings of the tragic furniture store fire in Charleston, South Carolina in 2007 where nine firefighters lost their lives bear this out, along with sadly multiple wildland firefighter fatalities. Adequate, supervised, verified training is needed to prevent these types of tragedies, which have enormous long-term emotional and fiscal impacts on not only the firefighters and their families,
3 Referenced best practices are listed in Appendix 1
Section 7—Headquarters and Support Services Evaluation page 94 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report but the agency and the community as well. Charleston had to completely replace its fire department executive leadership, hire an outside training and leadership team, and totally revamp its entire training and incident management processes. The following table summarizes recommended training requirements for firefighters in California:
Table 17—Recommended Firefighter Training1
Multi- Annual Subject or Skill Year Hours Hours
EMT – Continuing Education2 24 Paramedic – Continuing Education 24 48 Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)3 4 Automatic External Defibrillator (AED)3 2 Bloodborne Pathogens 2 HazMat First Responder Operational 8 Noise Exposure 1 Respiratory Protection 1 Confined Space Rescue – Awareness 7 General Fire and Rescue Skills4 240 Sexual Harassment5 2 Total 283 80 1 Dowdle, M. & Schoonover, D. (2007) Training Mandates Study for the Fire Service (San Jose Fire Department) 2 Required every 2 years 3 Required every 3 years 4 To include 4 multi-company drills, 2 night drills, 16 hours officer training, and 12 hours driver/operator training 5 Supervisors only.
As the table shows, the District should be providing and requiring a minimum of approximately 259 hours of training annually for every response employee, and 291 hours of training on alternate years.
The District has many of the components of a comprehensive training program and training facilities better than many suburban departments its size. Organizationally the training section staff consists of a Battalion Chief training officer who leads the section, a Captain training officer (drill master), and an Administrative Specialist for administrative support. In addition, the
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Captain assigned to the technical rescue program assists the training program providing surge capacity, as needed, such as during a recruit academy. The Department has a dedicated training facility that includes the following features: dedicated classroom(s), a four-story drill tower with burn building attached as well as a “flashover” simulation prop and various rescue scenario simulation props. The facility is ten years old, includes a large paved area, and includes a water recovery system that allows the Department to conduct “wet drills” without significantly impacting the community water supply system. The NFPA has several recommended standards that apply to firefighter training. The District has partially adopted the NFPA best practices for training.
New-hire training is the basic building block upon which a firefighter’s entire career is built. The Department has a new-hire training program. Currently, the program is 22 weeks in length and appears to follow the current best practices for recruit firefighter training. There are 13 recruits in the current class. The recruit training is 22 weeks because most of the successful applicants are paramedics with ambulance experience and limited firefighting background, if any. The last part of new firefighter training development is the Joint Apprenticeship Program, a cooperative venture between the Department and the Califronia Professional Firefighters (CPF). It uses the acronym JAC based on the Joint Apprenticeship Committee that oversees all of these programs in California. The purpose of this program is to provide follow-up training for new firefighters called apprentices. The program lasts for three years after completion of the initial recruit fire training program. The Department receives funding from the JAC based on the hours apprentices use to follow the program. Apprentice supervisors enter the training hours for apprentices for this reimbursement. Driver operator training is an important component of firefighter safety and accident prevention. For that reason it receives special treatment by the Department and attention in Citygate’s analysis. Both US Highway 99 and Interstate 5 bisect the Cosumnes CSD, adding to the hazards that the firefighters face driving on these roads and responding to incidents on them as well. Last year, the Department provided computer-based driver/operator training for all personnel and manipulative training with all line personnel. The computer-based training took approximately nine hours per employee. The Department also provided manipulative training utilizing the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District training grounds Emergency Vehicle Operation Course (EVOC). All of the Department’s different types of vehicles and their normal operators were put through the course. Driver/operator training that utilizes an EVOC provides driver/operators with the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to avoid collisions and safely maneuver large and heavy vehicles. This did not cost the Department any money. The Department traded the use of its training
Section 7—Headquarters and Support Services Evaluation page 96 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report grounds for the time on the EVOC course owned by Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District. This kind of cooperation could be a model for additional related initiatives. Stations were assigned “Company Evolutions” as the monthly drill twice during the year. “Company Evolutions” give personnel an opportunity to operate apparatus equipment and pumps. All personnel qualified to act as a driver/operator (civil service title: Engineer) were assigned an Engineer Task Book that they need to complete in a year. The task book was developed to try and keep Acting Engineers current on Apparatus Operator skills. The Department participates in the Office of State Fire Marshal (OSFM) certification program for the California Fire Service Training and Education System (CFSTES). Approximately 75% of the employees participate by taking some classes in the program and approximately 50% are certified at their level (e.g., Captains certified as Company Officers, etc.). The Department also participates in OSFM Fire Service Training and Education (FSTEP) program. While CFSTES focuses on certification and career development, such as management and command courses, FSTEP focuses on specific subject matter, such as technical rescue courses. The Department participates in the California Incident Command Certification System (CICCS). It receives CICCS training from the both FSTEP and National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) training opportunities. While the Department is able to get certification at the 100-200 levels (approval by the local agency), one of the limitations the Department is encountering with CICCS is finding opportunities for personnel to attend courses, obtain experience, and become certified at the 300 series (unit leader level) and 400 series (command and general staff level) levels. The 300 and 400 series certifications are granted at the regional and state levels, respectively, and not only is the threshold higher, the availability of the training courses and trainee opportunities is much lower.
7.12.1 Citygate’s Observations The Department’s training program requires a minimum of 240 hours per year of drill time. This number is consistent with the hours required by the Insurance Services Office (ISO) to comply with the grading schedule and in the best practices Table 17 on page 95.
Not all firefighter apprentice supervisors know how to enter their apprentice training hours, and in some cases, they do not enter the hours on a regular basis. The consequence of this is threefold: the Department is not capturing all the training hours that are needed for an ISO grading; the individual apprentices may be kept in the program longer than necessary; and the Department is missing out on funding from the JAC.
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The Department provides quarterly live fire training to all personnel. Multiple training teams have developed expertise in their specific training subjects, including examples such as extrication team, fire control team, rapid intervention crew team, and wellness team. The Training Division is responsible to develop and give promotion examinations each year. As a result of the budget cutbacks, the Training Division no longer performs networking and attends conferences. Professional journal and magazine subscriptions were cut for the fire stations.
Training hours for all parts of the Department are recorded in the computer-based Target Solutions system and in the FireHouse RMS. This dual approach will cease with the adoption of the new ImageTrend RMS. The Department has “partially adopted” current best practices, which means it uses best practices as reference material for the development of departmental policies and practices. Generally, this approach, if followed faithfully, will yield policies and practices consistent with current best practices. The Department participates in the California Fire Service Training and Education System (CFSTES) programs of the Office of State Fire Marshal, but does not track participation and completion of the CFSTES training.
The Department does not actively participate in the National Fire Academy (NFA). One chief officer is a graduate of the NFA’s Executive Fire Officer Program, and one chief officer and one captain have been accepted into the program. The Department should consider taking advantage of the National Fire Academy training and education programs.4
4 The National Fire Academy is located in Emmitsburg, Maryland about 40 miles east of Washington D.C. The Academy works to enhance the ability of fire and emergency services and allied professionals to deal more effectively with fire and related emergencies. Free training courses and programs are delivered at the campus in Emmitsburg, Maryland, online and throughout the nation. The Academy presents a wide range of courses and outreach programs that benefit the fire service. The only cost to the jurisdictions sending students is the meal ticket, which runs about $25 per day, employee time while the employee is at the Academy, and airport parking or transfer to Sacramento Airport. Lodging, airfare to the East Coast, and airport shuttle are all provided at no cost to the Department. Courses offered include prevention, command, management, investigation, and incident management.
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Finding #30: While many of the components of a training program that meet best practices are in place in the Department, there is no overall training policy/program that provides general guidance to the employees, the program manager, and the budgeting process.
Finding #31: The Department’s training program staffing is sufficient for the Department’s current size, with the following caveats:
1. The EMS program needs the additional recommended position in the EMS section of this study to allow for the impact on EMS for new firefighter training.
2. The technical rescue captain remains part of the training team.
3. The Battalion Chief continues to be a program manager, not an instructor.
4. The use of station personnel to develop expertise in a specific training area (ladders, ropes, salvage covers, hose lays, hardware, elevators, etc.) is continued. They teach that subject as directed by the training officer. The permanent training captains would oversee the more advanced and intense delivery of training such as live firefighting practice, driver operator, etc.
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Recommendation #25: Develop a Board of Directors policy that directs the training and safety program’s key requirements that, at a minimum, should include a career development path as well as necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities education and training at each level of responsibility from firefighter through chief officer. Utilize current best practice standards as guidance and reference. Simultaneously ensure that the program is realistic and reasonable for both necessary funding from the District and time commitments from the employees. NFPA 1001 Standard for Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications, NFPA 1002 Standard for Fire Apparatus Driver Operator Professional Qualifications, and NFPA 1021 Standard for Fire Officer Professional Qualifications should form the foundation for the Department’s training and career development program.
Recommendation #26: The Department should officially adopt NFPA 1403 Standard on Live Fire Training Evolutions in total.
Recommendation #27: Consider working closely with the other three Sacramento County region career departments to pool resources and policies and, over time, develop a regional fire training program.
Recommendation #28: Training Planning and Priorities:
28.1 Review the content and needed length of the 22- week fire academy versus new firefighter intake certifications minimums.
28.2 Design and implement an annual training calendar that revolves around a 3-year cycle with regulated mandates occurring annually. Track and enforce make-ups for all mandates.
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28.3 Once the mandated training schedule is set, compare it to a typical incident frequency. Consider shrinking or ending services that cannot be kept OSHA-compliant (technical rescue and water rescue). Contract with the City of Sacramento or Metro Fire to perform the services the Department cannot economically provide.
7.13 TECHNICAL RESCUE PROGRAM
Much of technical rescue falls into the “high risk, low frequency, no decision time category.” In other words, it is dangerous rescuing people from difficult situations that are even beyond the training and experience of most firefighters. For this reason, the training is highly specialized and usually only a small cadre of personnel develop and maintain the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities. There are three challenges for fire departments providing technical rescue services: 1. Training—There are both initial and ongoing legally-required training and certifications in various specialties such as confined space rescue and hazardous materials response. For some specialties the training is only available at certain locations at specific times of the year. If personnel cannot attend, regardless of the reason, it may be some time before another offering for certification is available.
2. Equipment—Each type of rescue service requires a different blend of specialized equipment. Some of this equipment has a limited shelf life and must be replaced whether it is used or not. Most of it is both specialized and costly. 3. Call frequency—Maintaining the balance between “rust out and wear out” is an ongoing challenge for departments that provide these services. In other words, if there is a dedicated technical rescue team or hazardous materials response team with a high call frequency added on top of all the other responsibilities, personnel will “wear out.” The converse of this is when there are too few calls personnel lose interest and skills become degraded or “rust out.” Despite these challenges, it is a desirable service for many fire departments to provide. There is no other public agency with the basic training, skill-sets, distribution network of stations and equipment, and dispatch systems except a fire department that can provide this service for the community. The NFPA has several recommended standards that apply to technical rescue. The Department has partially adopted the best practices for technical rescue. In addition, there are Cal/OSHA
Section 7—Headquarters and Support Services Evaluation page 101 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report standards that apply to some rescue work. The Department training does reference OSHA 29 CFR 1910.146, the standard for permitting confined space rescues. The Department technical rescue program has been an ongoing effort since the inception of the Rescue Systems 1 program in California. After September 11, with the help of UASI grant money, the Department had the opportunity to greatly improve the technical rescue program. The Special Operations Division was formed in 2006 and was staffed by one Battalion Chief and one Captain. With the cutbacks due to the 2008 recession, the staffing was cut back to one Captain who currently works in the Training Division. Using Impact Fees, the District purchased a Pierce Heavy Rescue with all of the necessary tools to meet the State and national heavy rescue requirements as the first major endeavor of the Special Operations Division. This vehicle is stationed at Station 74 and is cross-staffed by personnel assigned to Truck 74. The Department is also an assignee of an Office of Emergency Services (OES) Type III “light” rescue apparatus at Station 71 as part of the special operations program. Each member of the Department is trained to the Rescue Systems 1 level at a minimum. Sixty members of the Department have additional levels of training that meet the criteria set forth by the Sacramento Chief Officers and are designated as “Rescue Technicians.” In order to meet the requirements of this designation each member must have certified training in: Low Angle Rope Rescue, Rescue Systems 1, Trench Rescue, Confined Space Rescue, and Rescue Systems II. It is assumed by all automatic aid agencies that each member has all of the appropriate ICS and other administrative training in order to operate at this level. The Department is also a registered training center with the State of California for a number of technical rescue disciplines. The Department has become more involved over the last several years in the federally-sponsored Heavy Rescue USAR Task Force #7 based in Sacramento County. Currently the Department has two rescue technicians on the team and five personnel with over-the-road truck driver / logisticians. Rescue technicians have to obtain the required training beyond Rescue Systems I on their own time and expense. As a consequence, maintaining the pool of rescue technicians is challenging. In addition to the technical rescue capabilities outlined above, the Department also maintains two other technical rescue capabilities: water rescue and tower rescue.
Water Rescue—Each member of the Department is trained to the Swift Water Rescue Awareness level, and approximately half of the members have attained certification as Swift Water Rescue Technicians. All members have completed the US Coast Guard class as boat operators for both static and dynamic water. Training is conducted every other year, boat operation training is conducted on even years, and SRT training is conducted on odd years. Each first responder unit
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in the District is equipped with basic water rescue equipment. The District has several water-related assets including two inflatable powerboats, with a third grant-funded boat expected in the near future. One of the boats is trailered and is pre-connected to a code-three capable tow vehicle. The second inflatable is stored on the heavy rescue and must be hand-deployed and inflated prior to being launched. The District also has eight aluminum “John” boats with motors, along with three river rafts dedicated to flood rescue. These resources are OES deployable. Utility Tower Rescue—In 2014, all Station 74 personnel have completed the OSHA competent climbers course and are trained to climb different types of towers in order to rescue trapped workers, or anyone who is stuck or injured on a tower. The District maintains the appropriate climbing equipment on the rescue.
7.13.1 Citygate’s Observations According to a number of the members of the management team, the high cost (funds and personnel time for training) in the technical rescue program exceed the District’s real risks and needs. The number of technical rescue responses is low and most of them are outside of the District. Participation in the program has dropped off since the initial start-up enthusiasm and finding replacement employees to complete the training and participate is an ongoing challenge. There also are supporters of the program who are equally committed to its ongoing success. The Department started a technical rescue program with the best of intentions; however, the low call volume, the cutbacks due to the recession, and the need for employees to obtain their own training all have converged to cause some personnel to question the value of the program. The technical rescue program is part of a regional technical rescue program with the District providing a third of the program’s on-duty staffing and City of Sacramento and Metro Fire providing the other personnel. Citygate has always advocated that if an agency starts a program that services be performed safely and with the necessary tools and training. It appears that management needs to fully evaluate the validity of the program to determine the level of technical rescue service it can safely provide to the District and develop a path going forward.
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Finding #32: The technical rescue program has a very limited number of responses (averaging 6 per year) and the Department does not directly provide all of the required training; interested personnel have to obtain the training on their own time.
Recommendation #29: The Department should conduct an in-depth review of its higher-probability rescue incident risks and consider whether a comprehensive program capable of handling everything is cost-effective for the District, given its size.
7.14 HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
The District is traversed in a North-South direction by two main railroads, one state highway, one interstate highway, Kinder Morgan fuel pipelines, and a 720 psi, 36” diameter natural gas pipeline. Also there are many industrial operations that involve the use of hazardous materials. Finally the District, just off Highway 99, has the largest propane storage facility west of the Mississippi. Instead of maintaining a stand-alone hazardous materials response team, the District contracts for hazardous materials incident response with Sacramento County, and the response is provided from the City of Sacramento Fire Department and Metro Fire, which maintains a hazardous materials response team. The annual expense of this contract is $50,000 per year. This contract has been in place for the last two decades. The contract allows the Department to have access to Hazardous Materials Specialists and a full HazMat team at any time.
Within this response system are three main partners: (1) the Cosumnes CSD, providing First Responder Operational responsibilities and incident command; (2) the City of Sacramento Fire Department and/or Metro Fire, providing a HazMat technical operational team; and (3) the County of Sacramento, which also employs a full-time HazMat/Environmental specialist 24/7/365 that is dispatched to any level II or III hazardous materials spill, release, or fire.
Sacramento County has a plan in place that complies with all local, state, and federal laws and regulations pertaining to Hazardous Materials incidents. The Cosumnes Fire Department maintains one of County’s three mass and technical decontamination units. The decontamination unit is a self-contained trailer with a hot shower system, grey water retention bags, sump pumps, level B suits, and other appropriate equipment.
Section 7—Headquarters and Support Services Evaluation page 104 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
All Cosumnes Fire Department line personnel are trained to the first responder operational decontamination level as well as weapons of mass destruction gross decontamination and technical decontamination level. Additionally, the Department has Centers for Disease Control (CDC) resource Chem-Pac, a nerve agent antidote stockpile that is able to treat 450 people from either a terrorist attack or an organophosphate release/spill.
7.14.1 Citygate’s Observations Required annual refresher training for HazMat incident commanders is not complete. There are opportunities to provide additional first responder operational training, especially at the large propane storage facility. Contracting for Hazardous Materials response service with the County of Sacramento provides the District with the services it needs at a considerably lower cost than maintaining its own response team.
7.15 APPARATUS PURCHASING
Fire apparatus need to be properly maintained to ensure response readiness, safe arrival, effective operation, and return to readiness for the next assignment. Considering that a fire apparatus driver is entrusted to drive a vehicle weighing up to 17 tons or more at speeds up to 65 miles per hour, often against prevailing traffic at controlled intersections, officials should ensure that the maintenance, as well as the training program, meets all applicable legal and best practice standards. The fire service generally groups fire apparatus into two categories: (1) engine companies, which are primarily responsible for pumping and delivering water and performing basic firefighting functions, including search and rescue; and (2) truck companies, which are primarily responsible for forcible entry, ventilation, search and rescue, aerial operations for water delivery and rescue, utility control, illumination, overhaul, and salvage work. Other types of apparatus include water tenders, which are primarily responsible for carrying large quantities of water; squads or rescue companies, which carry a variety of rescue and emergency medical equipment; medic units or ambulances; command vehicles; and other auxiliary apparatus. To be effective, fire apparatus must be properly designed and well equipped with the proper hose, appliances, tools, ladders, and other equipment necessary to perform the complex work of firefighting, rescue, emergency medical, and public service tasks.
Section 7—Headquarters and Support Services Evaluation page 105 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has several recommended standards that apply to apparatus purchasing.5 The Department has partially adopted some of the best practices for apparatus purchasing. The District has an apparatus committee that developed standard specifications to standardize fleet. Fleet replacement timing varies with budget capacity. The apparatus committee does not know the budgeted amount for replacement apparatus when they are developing a specification; they develop a specification that best meets the needs of the Department, and if bidding shows the cost is too high, the Department can adjust accordingly. The Department participates in group purchases of a standard countywide apparatus specification (such as Type I engine, Type II engine, Type III engine, etc.).
7.16 APPARATUS MAINTENANCE
Appendix 2 provides a complete inventory of the Department’s fleet of apparatus and other vehicles. It consists of 35 fire apparatus including engines (pumpers), ladder trucks, rescues, wildland engines, rescue ambulances and reserve and training apparatus. The average age of the first-line engines is 6.6 years, consistent with best practices based on a front-line service life of no more than fifteen years. (Replacement parts become difficult to maintain after 15 years, and many of the standards for safety, emissions, lighting, and laborsaving change with technology.) The fleet also consists of 53 light vehicles, which includes command, utility, and support vehicles. This size fleet is consistent with departments of this size and complexity.
All the first-line engines and the truck are Pierce Fire apparatus and the Wildland engines are all Westmark buildups on International Chassis. The rescue ambulances are all Braun buildups on Ford chassis. Staying with one manufacturer for the majority of the fleet improves familiarity for the repair technicians speeding up repairs and reducing both down-time and mistakes. It also improves parts availability. The NFPA has two recommended standards that apply to apparatus maintenance. The Department has partially adopted the best practices for apparatus maintenance.
The Department has its own shop next to the Department’s headquarters in southern Elk Grove. The shop is large, modern, well equipped, and compared to the shops of many fire departments, a model fire department shop. The shop is properly staffed and the technicians are certified and receive regular training from both manufacturers and the annual mechanics academy. This shop performs heavy repairs, overhauls, and engine rebuilds, as well as body and warranty work. Other work is contracted out to vendors in the area, the closest being only 5 miles away. The Department adheres to a maintenance schedule and practice, which is similar to the practices of other departments and meets current best practice. Pre-trip inspections are done daily and
5 Referenced NFPA recommended standards are found in Appendix 1 to this report
Section 7—Headquarters and Support Services Evaluation page 106 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report recorded on Target Solutions. Problems identified during this inspection or at other times are always emailed to the shop. If the issue is severe the shop will also receive a phone call to provide immediate direction. A work order will be made out and if the issue is not severe or safety related, it will be held until the next regular service. An “A” service is performed at 6- month intervals. This service includes an oil change, an inspection, and fixing any minor issues. All first-due apparatus receive this service. A “B” service is performed at 12-month intervals and includes the “A” service tasks plus any heavy maintenance or repairs. Pump testing is performed annually and the shift engineers participate in this test. Citygate highly recommends this practice as it is one time that engineers get to operate their engines at maximum capacity for long periods of time. Fleet management provides training to engineers during their driver/operator training program.
Finding #33: The Department has a fire apparatus replacement program, partially funded with supplemental ambulance transport revenues for the replacements when they become needed.
Finding #34: The Department’s fleet apparatus and specialty tool preventive maintenance and repair program is excellent and meets the Department’s needs.
Recommendation #30: The District should strongly consider incrementally funding a capital apparatus replacement plan, in lieu of waiting, and if cash is not available when a unit is needed, then using debt financing at an additional cost. The current supplemental ambulance revenues being deposited into this reserve account will be inadequate for the necessary purchases.
7.17 SELF-CONTAINED BREATHING APPARATUS (SCBA) TESTING AND MAINTENANCE
In addition to apparatus repair, the fleet management unit also maintains and repairs self- contained breathing apparatus, radios, and small engines such as generators or chain saws. The NFPA has a number of recommended standards that apply to self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBAs). The District has partially adopted these best practices for SCBAs.
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There are also other requirements: the Department is in compliance with Cal/OSHA regulations 29 CFR 1910.156 and 29 CFR 1910.134 (e) (5) (i) and National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) 42 CFR 84. The Department uses Scott Health and Safety TC-13F-76 SCBA using 30-minute 4,500 psi air tanks with regulators along with an AV-3000 mask and AV-3000 “Sure Seal” with a high temperature version of the same mask used for training. The current SCBAs were put in service about 8 years ago. Partial replacement funds from supplemental ambulance revenues have been set aside for future replacement. The units and/or facemasks are being replaced or repaired on an “as needed basis.” Funds are budgeted for mask replacement. There is a budget for parts to repair and/or replace any part or components of the packs. When it comes time to replace the current SCBAs the pressure in the tanks will be increased to 5,500 psi. This extends the time a firefighter can utilize a tank of air. This will also require the updating of the three Bauer compressors to accommodate 5,500 psi tanks. Scott Health and Safety specialists certify the two technicians that work on the SCBAs. They have manufactured SCBA equipment needed for operations. This has saved the Department money and resources and put needed equipment to work more quickly. The District and Department staffs have put significant funding into fleet repair and SCBA maintenance programs. Both of these programs are very important for safety. The results are two model programs.
7.18 RADIO MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR
Radio maintnence is done by Fleet Management in the Department shop. The Department allows the radio program the freedom to perform the tasks of radio maintenance and repair, and supplies all necessary tools and equipment to complete the task. Currently there are three people also assigned to this task for the Department. Uniting the radio maintnenance under the control of one person would make the job of managing the radio maintnance program easier and more efficient. The radio program is undergoing a lot of changes revolving around County radio and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) changes, so there is a concern about overloading the technicans.
7.19 FACILITIES
Most of the facilities are relatively new. Modern fire stations are built with an economic life of at least 50 years before a major remodel should be required and, if properly maintained, can last up to 75 years. The Department has a comprehensive capital improvement program that was last fully updated in 2012.
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The District maintenance and repair staff is not under the direction of the Fire Department. Personnel assigned to that program try to be responsive to the needs of the Fire Department by addressing the various work orders they receive from the Fire Department promptly when they can, based on their daily staffing. Staffing levels for District facilities staff have diminished over the years.
7.20 WATER SUPPLY
The NFPA has two recommended standards that apply to water supply. The District has partially adopted the following best practices for water supply.
NFPA 1142 Standard on Water Supplies for Suburban and Rural Fire Fighting— This standard provides the minimum water supply requirements based on occupancy classification, construction classification, and total volume of the structure. NFPA 291 Recommended Practice for Fire Flow Testing and Marking of Hydrants—This standard describes testing procedures to determine the rate of flow available at various locations for firefighting purposes, classification of hydrants in accordance with their rated capacities, and color coding of hydrants to indicate their class. In addition, the Insurance Services Office (ISO) places great emphasis on fire departments having a sufficient water supply and that the water supply be consistent with the fire department’s efforts in other areas. Placing too much emphasis on one or the other results in a penalty called “divergence,” which can lower the ISO grade of a department. The public water agency for each area of the District performs its own maintenance and testing. Almost all hydrants in Cosumnes (99%) are public hydrants. Fire Inspectors conduct hydrant flow testing for new project areas. The Department also utilizes water tenders as part of the response in more rural areas where hydrants are not generally available. Water tenders are dispatched as a special order for an incident. Tenders carry 3,500 gallons of water. There are two tenders in the system, one at Station 45 and one at Station 71, that are cross-staffed by station personnel on an as needed basis. Additionally, there are other tenders available in the system through automatic and automatic aid agreements. The District has a very robust water supply system throughout most of the District. There are three water agencies that provide water supply. The two in the City of Elk Grove area have multiple interties for emergency situations. Each of the systems is a looped system providing
Section 7—Headquarters and Support Services Evaluation page 109 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report multiples paths of flow in the event of a failure. Almost all mains and hydrants, even on commercial sites, are public and maintained by the water agencies. The Fire Department really does not have influence in the day-to-day maintenance of the system. The Department does not annually flow test the hydrants, etc. Since the hydrants are owned and operated by the water agencies, it is their responsibility. None of the agencies do routine maintenance. They only address hydrants that are identified as leaking or having a problem. Additionally, the only marking system is that of the blue dots in the traffic lanes to identify location. However, the flow capabilities, because of system design, are mostly uniform throughout the service areas. All water is provided from ground water. As a result, if there were a long power outage, it would be possible to lose pressure in the system.
7.21 LOGISTICAL SUPPORT
The Logistics Technician in the headquarters unit maintains the daily stocking of supplies for the fire apparatus, stations, paramedic program, custodial and office supplies for the Department. It is to the Department’s credit that this is a funded position and not a part-time fire crew assignment, where, given the training and incident volumes, station personnel would not likely keep up with the internal needs of the Department.
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SECTION 8—NEXT STEPS
8.1 NEXT STEPS
The purpose of a Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment study is to compare the District’s current performance against the local risks to be protected as well as to compare against nationally recognized best practices. This analysis of performance forms the base from which to make recommendations for changes, if any, in fire station locations, equipment types, staffing, and headquarters programs. As one step, the District Board of Directors should adopt response time goals for the Fire Department and provide accountability for the Department to meet those standards. The goals identified in Recommendation #6 meet national best practices. Measurement and planning as the District continues to evolve over time will be necessary for the District to meet these goals. Citygate recommends that the District’s next steps be to work through the issues identified in this study over the following time lines:
8.1.1 Short-Term Steps Absorb the policy recommendations of this fire services study and adopt revised Fire Department performance measures to drive the deployment of firefighting and emergency medical resources.
Add the following two positions as soon as possible: another office support position and EMS Quality Assurance position. Designate a temporary Administration Manager and assign the duties suggested in this report to balance the span of control load on the Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Chief. Develop a job description and recruit for an Administration Manager. Meet with the current and potential managers and employee representatives to determine the final upper management organization chart design and job titles. Prepare the Fire Prevention internal assessment and master plan for services and fee recommendations.
Determine the funding and timing for the addition of a part-time seventh ambulance in Elk Grove.
8.1.2 Long-Term Steps Develop the training and EMS internal master plans. Consider the use of non-sworn personnel in the EMS program.
Section 8—Next Steps page 111 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
Monitor the performance of the Fire Department’s deployment system using the adopted deployment measures and the methods in this study. Plan for the staffing, operating, and maintenance cost for the addition of three fire stations in southern Elk Grove in the Capital Improvement budget.
Section 8—Next Steps page 112 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
APPENDICES
Appendices page 113 This page was intentionally left blank Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
APPENDIX 1—REGULATORY BEST PRACTICES
BEST PRACTICES
Safety and Health Standards NFPA 1201 Standard for Providing Emergency Services to the Public NFPA 1250 Recommended Practice in Emergency Service Organization Risk Management NFPA 1403 Standard on Live Fire Training Evolutions NFPA 1404 Standard for Fire Service Respiratory Protection Training NFPA 1451 Standard for a Fire Service Vehicle Operations Training Program NFPA 1500 Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program NFPA 1501 Standard for Fire Department Safety Officer NFPA 1582 Standard on Comprehensive Occupational Medical Program for Fire Departments NFPA 1583 Standard on Health-Related Fitness Programs for Fire Department Members NFPA 1584 Standard on the Rehabilitation Process for Members during Emergency Operations and Training Exercises
Training Standards NFPA 1001 Standard for Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications—This standard establishes the basic qualifications for Firefighter I and II. NFPA 1002 Standard for Fire Apparatus Driver Operator Professional Qualifications—The standard sets forth the performance objectives for driver/operators of all types of fire apparatus and emergency vehicles. NFPA 1006 Standard for Rescue Technician Professional Qualifications—This standard delineates the performance objectives for firefighters who perform technical rescue.
NFPA 1021 Standard for Fire Officer Professional Qualifications—This standard covers the four levels of fire officer progression: Fire Officer I, Fire Officer II, Fire Officer III, and Fire Officer IV. NFPA 1031 Standard for Professional Qualifications for Fire Inspector and Plan Examiner— This standard describes the professional performances of the fire inspector and plan examiner.
Appendix 1—Regulatory Best Practices page 115 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
NFPA 1041 Standard for Fire Service Instructor Professional Qualifications—This standard guides the development of the fire service training instructor through the three levels of advancement: Instructor I, II, and III. NFPA 1401 Recommended Practice for Fire Service Training Reports and Records—This standard includes all aspects of training documentation such as training schedules, reports, records, legal characteristics of training records, record management systems (RMS), and means to evaluate the RMS. NFPA 1403 Standard on Live Fire Training Evolutions—This standard outlines the procedures required for safe live fire training.
NFPA 1451 Standard for a Fire Service Vehicle Operations Training Program—This standard covers the minimum requirements of a vehicle operations training program.
Technical Rescue Standards NFPA 1006 Standard for Rescue Technician Professional Qualifications—This standard describes the professional certification of rescue technicians. NFPA 1500 Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program—This document provides the protocols required for everything from fire fighter training, vehicles, and tools to emergency operations, incident stress, and protective clothing and equipment. NFPA 1670 Standard on Operations and Training for Technical Search and Rescue Incidents—This standard primarily deals with identifying rescue needs and describing the performance criteria to operate at the awareness, operations, or technical level. NFPA 1983 Standard on Fire Service Life Safety Rope and System Components—This standard describes the strength, testing, and labeling of life safety rope, harnesses, and hardware.
Apparatus Purchasing Standards NFPA 1901 Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus—This standard defines the requirements for new automotive fire apparatus and trailers designed to be used under emergency conditions to transport personnel and equipment and to support the suppression of fires and mitigation of other hazardous situations. NFPA 1906 Standard for Wildland Fire Apparatus—This standard defines the requirements for new automotive fire apparatus, including apparatus equipped with a slip-on fire- fighting module, designed primarily to support wildland fire suppression operations.
Appendix 1—Regulatory Best Practices page 116 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
NFPA 1911 Standard for the Inspection, Maintenance, Testing, and Retirement of In-Service Automotive Fire Apparatus—This standard defines the minimum requirements for establishing an inspection, maintenance, and testing program for in-service fire apparatus. This standard also includes guidelines for fire apparatus refurbishment and retirement; it identifies the systems and items on a fire apparatus that are to be inspected and maintained, the frequency of such inspections and maintenance, and the requirements and procedures for conducting performance tests on components; and provides sample forms for collecting inspection and test data.
Apparatus Maintenance Standards NFPA 1071 Standard for Emergency Vehicle Technician Professional Qualifications—This standard shall identify and define the minimum job performance requirements (JPRs) for a person to be considered qualified as an emergency vehicle technician (EVT) and shall apply to personnel who are engaged in the inspection, diagnosis, maintenance, repair, and testing of emergency response vehicles. NFPA 1912 Standard for Fire Apparatus Refurbishing—This standard specifies the minimum requirements for the refurbishing of automotive fire apparatus utilized for fire fighting and rescue operations, whether the refurbishing is done at the fire department or municipal maintenance facilities, or at the facilities of private contractors or apparatus manufacturers.
SCBA Maintenance Standards NFPA 1404 Standard for Fire Service Respiratory Protection Training—This standard covers the proper use, inspection, maintenance, and program administration of SCBAs. NFPA 1500 Standard for Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program—This standard establishes the basis for a safety and health plan including, training, vehicle operation and maintenance, personal protective equipment, emergency operations, facilities, medical standards, wellness programs, and critical incident stress debriefing. NFPA 1852 Standard on Selection Care and Maintenance of Open Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA)—This standard specifies the minimum requirements for the selection, care, and maintenance of open-circuit self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and combination SCBA / supplied air respirator (SAR) that are used for respiratory protection during emergency operations in environments where the atmosphere is Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health (IDLH), or could become oxygen deficient or IDLH.
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NFPA 1981 Standard on Open Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus for Fire and Emergency Service—This standard specifies the minimum requirements for the design, performance, testing, and certification of new compressed breathing air open-circuit self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and compressed breathing air combination open-circuit self-contained breathing apparatus and supplied air respirators (SCBA/SARs) and for the replacement parts, components, and accessories for these respirators NFPA 1982 Standard on Personal Alert Safety Systems—This standard specifies minimum requirements for the design, performance, testing, and certification for Personal Alert Safety Systems (PASS) for emergency services personnel.
NFPA 1989 Standard on Breathing Air Quality for Fire and Emergency Services Respiratory Protection—This standard specifies the minimum requirements for breathing air quality for fire and emergency services organizations that use atmosphere- supplying respirators.
General Fire Service Management Standards NFPA 1021 Standard for Fire Officer Professional Qualifications NFPA 1051 Standard for Wildland Firefighter Professional Qualifications NFPA 1201 Standard for Providing Emergency Services to the Public
Appendix 1—Regulatory Best Practices page 118 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
APPENDIX 2—FIRE DEPARTMENT APPARATUS AND VEHICLES (DECEMBER 2014)
Fire Unit Build-up Current Projected Radio Equipment ICS Replacement Number Number Chassis Make Make In-Service Year Capacity Type Status Cost Replacement
Pumpers
Frontline/ E45 7187 Pierce Pierce 2008 1500gpm 1 675,000 2027 structure Frontline/ E46 7188 Pierce Pierce 2008 1500gpm 1 575,000 2027 structure Frontline/ E71 7103 Pierce Pierce 2013 1500gpm 1 575,000 2032 structure Frontline/ E72 7107 Pierce Pierce 2005 1500gpm 1 575,000 2025 structure Frontline/ E73 7192 Pierce Pierce 2008 1500gpm 1 575,000 2027 structure Frontline/ E74 7104 Pierce Pierce 2013 1500gpm 1 575,000 2032 structure Frontline/ E75 7167 Pierce Pierce 2006 1500gpm 1 575,000 2026 structure Frontline/ E76 7168 Pierce Pierce 2006 1500gpm 1 575,000 2026 structure Out of Training 7101 Grumman Grumman 1990 1500gpm 1 575,000 2010 Service
Reserve 7105 Pierce Pierce 2005 1500gpm 1 Reserve 575,000 2025
Reserve 7110 Pierce Pierce 1994 1500gpm 1 Reserve 575,000 2014
Out of 7111 Seagrave Seagrave 1979 1500gpm 1 Reserve 575,000 N/A Service
Reserve 7114 Pierce Pierce 1995 1500gpm 1 Reserve 575,000 2015
Appendix 2—Fire Department Apparatus and Vehicles (December 2014) page 119 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
Fire Unit Build-up Current Projected Radio Equipment ICS Replacement Number Number Chassis Make Make In-Service Year Capacity Type Status Cost Replacement
Training 7181 Spartan Hi-Tech 1996 1000gpm 1 Reserve 575,000 2016
Frontline/ E345 7172 International Westmark 2007 500gpm 3 400,000 2026 wildland Frontline/ E346 7171 International Westmark 2007 500gpm 3 400,000 2026 wildland Frontline/ E371 7190 International Westmark 2006 500gpm 3 400,000 2026 wildland Frontline/ E372 7186 International Westmark 2007 500gpm 3 400,000 2026 wildland Frontline/ E373 7185 International Westmark 2007 500gpm 3 400,000 2026 wildland Frontline/ E374 7191 International Westmark 2009 500gpm 3 400,000 2026 wildland Frontline/ E375 7112 International Westmark 2002 500gpm 3 400,000 2022 wildland Frontline/ E376 7109 International Westmark 2002 500gpm 3 400,000 2022 wildland
Reserve 7108 International Pierce 1995 500gpm 3 Reserve 400,000 2028
Reserve 7119 International Pierce 1995 500gpm 3 Reserve 400,000 2028
Water Tenders
WT45 7195 Kenworth Pierce 2008 1000gpm 1 Frontline 350,000 2027
WT71 7157 Kenworth Pierce 2006 1000gpm 1 Frontline 350,000 2025
Trucks
TR74 7193 Pierce Pierce 2008 N/A 1 Frontline 2027
Appendix 2—Fire Department Apparatus and Vehicles (December 2014) page 120 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
Fire Unit Build-up Current Projected Radio Equipment ICS Replacement Number Number Chassis Make Make In-Service Year Capacity Type Status Cost Replacement
TR/Reserve 7166 Pierce Pierce 2006 N/A 1 Reserve 2026
Rescue
R74 7184 Pierce Pierce 2008 N/A 2 Frontline 2027
RT74 7163 E-350 Ford 2006 N/A N/A Frontline
Medic Units
M45 7132 Ford Braun 2013 N/A N/A Frontline
M46 7198 Ford Braun 2008 N/A N/A Frontline
M71 7189 Ford Braun 2013 N/A N/A Frontline
M72 7133 Ford Braun 2013 N/A N/A Frontline
M74 7131 Ford Braun 2014 N/A N/A Frontline
M76 7197 Ford Braun 2014 N/A N/A Frontline
M276 7158 Ford Braun 2010 N/A N/A Reserve
M245 7199 Ford Braun 2011 N/A N/A Reserve
Reserve 7134 Ford Braun 2010 N/A N/A Reserve
Reserve 7164 Ford Braun 2011 N/A N/A Reserve
Cert Medic 7130 Ford Braun 2000 N/A N/A Frontline
Support Units
BC10 7194 2500 Suburban Chevrolet 2007 N/A N/A Frontline
Command 7145 2500 Suburban Chevrolet 2002 N/A N/A Reserve
Out of Command 7121 2500 Suburban Chevrolet 2011 N/A N/A Service
Appendix 2—Fire Department Apparatus and Vehicles (December 2014) page 121 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
Fire Unit Build-up Current Projected Radio Equipment ICS Replacement Number Number Chassis Make Make In-Service Year Capacity Type Status Cost Replacement
Boat 7137 Freightliner Medtec 2000 N/A N/A Frontline Tender72 Utility 72 7179 3500 PU Chevrolet 2000 N/A N/A Frontline
Hose 7120 F-550 Ford 2001 N/A N/A Frontline Wagon75 Training
7140 7128 Expedition Ford 2004 N/A N/A Frontline
7141 7122 F-350 Ford 2005 N/A N/A Frontline
7191 7159 F-250 Ford 2004 N/A N/A Frontline
Strike Utility 7146 F-250 Ford 2003 N/A N/A Team Utility 7113 3500 Flatbed Chevrolet 1979 N/A N/A Reserve
Training 7138 Crown Victoria Ford 2006 N/A N/A Pool
Training 7161 Crown Victoria Ford 2005 N/A N/A Pool
Training 7178 Durango Dodge 2000 N/A N/A Pool
Training 7141 2500 Suburban Chevrolet 1997 N/A N/A Pool
7144 7144 Truck Tractor International 1980 N/A N/A Frontline
ATV2100 7177 Bobcat Bobcat N/A N/A Frontline
ATV2100 7177 Bobcat Bobcat N/A N/A Frontline
EMS
7150 7165 Excursion Ford 2005 N/A N/A Frontline
7151 7139 Expedition Ford 1999 N/A N/A Frontline
Appendix 2—Fire Department Apparatus and Vehicles (December 2014) page 122 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
Fire Unit Build-up Current Projected Radio Equipment ICS Replacement Number Number Chassis Make Make In-Service Year Capacity Type Status Cost Replacement
Fleet
Fleet 23 F-550 Ford 2007 N/A N/A Frontline
Fleet 42 3500 PU Chevrolet 1997 N/A N/A Frontline
Logistics
Logistics 7162 2500 Van Chevrolet 2003 N/A N/A Reserve
Logistics 7143 2500 Van Chevrolet 2012 N/A N/A Frontline
Logistics 7170 E350 Box Ford 2006 N/A N/A Frontline
Administration
7101 7174 Expedition Ford 2006 N/A N/A Frontline
7102 7129 Expedition Ford 2005 N/A N/A Frontline
7113 7173 Crown Victoria Ford 2006 N/A N/A Frontline
7120 7136 Expedition Ford 2007 N/A N/A Frontline
7121 7152 Escape Ford 2006 N/A N/A Frontline 50,000
7123 7176 Escape Ford 2007 N/A N/A Frontline 50,000
7124 7147 Escape Ford 2003 N/A N/A Frontline 50,000
7125 7175 Escape Ford 2006 N/A N/A Frontline 50,000
Pool 7135 Cavalier Chevrolet 2001 N/A N/A Pool 50,000
IS 7177 Durango Dodge 2000 N/A N/A Reserve 50,000
Pool 7180 Durango Dodge 2002 N/A N/A Pool
Reserve 7161 Crown Victoria Ford 2005 N/A N/A Reserve 50,000
Public Ed 7127 Astro Van Chevrolet 2001 N/A N/A Frontline
Appendix 2—Fire Department Apparatus and Vehicles (December 2014) page 123 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
Fire Unit Build-up Current Projected Radio Equipment ICS Replacement Number Number Chassis Make Make In-Service Year Capacity Type Status Cost Replacement
Trailers
Training 7140 Wesco Wesco 1995 N/A N/A Training Tower Boat 72 7150 Achilles Achilles 1996 N/A N/A Frontline
Decon 72 7153 Van Carson Trailers 2003 N/A N/A Frontline
MCI 7155 Van Starlite Cargo N/A N/A Frontline
Generator 7156 N/A N/A Frontline
Generator No Number Training
Soot Camp 7169 Van Haulmark N/A N/A Frontline
Toilet No Number No Info No Info N/A N/A Frontline
Air 75 7149 Van Bauer 2000 N/A N/A Frontline
Stanley Foam 75 7148 N/A Emergency 1999 N/A N/A Frontline Products Public Ed 7143 Van Wells Cargo 1997 N/A N/A Frontline
Rescue 7154 Van Haulmark N/A N/A Frontline Trailer Flood Boats 7183 Van N/A N/A Frontline
Flood Boats 7199 Van N/A N/A Frontline
White Box from Wilton Van Pace 2006 N/A N/A Reserve
Semi No Number Van 1979 N/A N/A Training
Semi No Number Van 1979 N/A N/A Training
CERT No Number Van Mirage 2007 N/A N/A Galt PD
CERT No Number Van Charmac 2011 N/A N/A Galt PD
Appendix 2—Fire Department Apparatus and Vehicles (December 2014) page 124 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
Fire Unit Build-up Current Projected Radio Equipment ICS Replacement Number Number Chassis Make Make In-Service Year Capacity Type Status Cost Replacement
CERT No Number Van Charmac 2011 N/A N/A Station 71
OES
UIF 1- OES 267 7160 HME Weststates 2000 1250 Frontline 3 Type Future Frontline III
Appendix 2—Fire Department Apparatus and Vehicles (December 2014) page 125 This page was intentionally left blank Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
APPENDIX 3—FIRE DEPARTMENT FACILITIES
Station # Address GPS Age Equipment ID 38.252504 44* 315 5th St, Galt, CA Built 1945 Reserve apparatus 121.304085 38.253223 45 229 5th St, Galt, CA Built 1997 E45, M45, WT45, E345, & M245 121.303893 38.279839 46 1050 Walnut Ave, Galt, CA Built 1996 E46, M36, & E346 121.289278 38.409156 71 8760 Elk Grove Blvd, Elk Grove, CA Built 1975/2002 BC10, E71, M71, E371, WT71, OES267, & BC37 121.378563 38.393091 72 10035 Atkins Dr, Elk Grove, CA Built 2006 E72, M72, E372, Boat 72, & U72 121.437382 38.424590 73 9607 Bond Rd, Elk Grove, CA Built 2005 E73, E373, E3273, & U73 121.338861 38.418884 74 6501 Laguna Park Dr, Elk Grove, CA Built 1988/2005 E74, T74, M74, E374, & R74 121.428393 38.415727 75 2300 Maritime Dr, Elk Grove, CA Built 1999 E75, E375, Foam 75, Hose 75, & Air 75 121.481790 38.438734 76 8545 Sheldon Rd, Elk Grove, CA Built 2000 E76, M76, E276, M276, T76 121.387676 38.390703 77*** 7820 Poppy Ridge Rd, Elk Grove, CA N/A N/A 121.396992 38.371745 78a** 10573 E. Stockton Blvd, Elk Grove, CA Built 2010 Disaster Trailer, CERT 121.356273 78b*** N/A N/A 38.401849 79*** 9992 Bradshaw Rd, Elk Grove, CA N/A N/A 121.334857 * Station 44 is a former Galt fire station. This facility is not staffed and only houses reserve and antique apparatus. ** Station 78 is officially the Fire Department headquarters, training grounds, and fleet maintenance division. Adjacent to the administrative offices, there is a fully-equipped fire station that is not normally staffed. This station is typically used during high fire danger and major emergencies/disasters. *** Stations 77, 78b, and 79 are unimproved parcels of land that have been procured for the purpose of building a fire station.
Appendix 3—Fire Department Facilities page 127 This page was intentionally left blank Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
APPENDIX 4—EMS MANDATES
California Health and Safety Code Numerous statutes on firefighter training, safety, and emergency medical care standards Delegation for the oversight and planning of EMS to the counties California Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) and California Office of the State Fire Marshal
Regulatory agency requirements implementing the Health and Safety Code laws Paramedic licensure EMT certification “Enforcement” issues (problem case review and licensure actions) California Paramedic Scope of Practice Local Optional Scope of Practice approval Trial studies approval Continuing education providers Data systems for tracking of care and trends Paramedic Accreditation (local licensure/approval to practice) Local Optional Scope of Practice oversight Trial studies oversight Quality Improvement and Assurance Programs approval and oversight Disciplinary policy and case review ALS Program review Medical Director oversight Equipment, supplies, and medications policies Controlled drugs policies ALS inventory policies
Appendix 4—EMS Mandates page 129 Cosumnes CSD Fire Department—Standards of Cover and Headquarters Services Assessment Volume 2—Technical Report
Ambulance licensure Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Use, management, and accounting for controlled medications Medical direction from the Department and County’s Medical Directors Conforming to State requirements Consistent with clinical care best practices Personnel management Labor agreements relating to performance management/evaluation Personnel rules of the Department and County Civil Service Federal and State labor laws Safety Occupational Health and Safety Administration (Cal/OSHA) requirements Fire apparatus safety requirements; California Department of Motor Vehicles requirements Personal protective clothing for hazardous operations Best practices and standards-making agencies National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) National Emergency Number Association (NENA)
Appendix 4—EMS Mandates page 130