City of West Allis Fire Department 2020 Annual Report and Standards
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City of West Allis Fire Department 2020 Annual Report and Standards of Coverage TABLE OF CONTENTS OFFICE OF THE FIRE CHIEF ………………………………………………… 5 DIVISION OF OPERATIONS ………………………………………………….. 9 BUREAU OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ………………………... 13 BUREAU OF TRAINING AND SAFETY …………………………….. 17 DIVISION OF COMMUNITY RISK REDUCTION ……………...................... 21 BUREAU OF FIRE PREVENTION AND URBAN AFFAIRS ……………….. 39 BUREAU OF MOBILE INTEGRATED HEALTHCARE ……………………... 45 STANDARDS OF COVERAGE DOCUMENTATION OF AGENCY CHARACTERISTICS …………………... 59 DESCRIPTION OF AGENCY PROGRAMS AND SERVICES …………….. 73 RISK ASSESSMENT …………………………………………………………… 83 CURRENT DEPLOYMENT AND PERFORMANCE ………………………… 87 ESTABLISHING AN EFFECTIVE RESPONSE FORCE …………………… 97 DISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES ……………………………...................... 111 CONCENTRATION OF RESOURCES ………………………………………. 123 RESPONSE RELIABILITY …………………………………………………….. 129 EVALUATION OF CURRENT DEPLOYMENT AND PERFORMANCE ….. 137 MASON J. POOLER CITY of WEST ALLIS FIRE CHIEF FIRE DEPARTMENT Citizens of West Allis, Honorable Board of Police and Fire Commissioners, Honorable Mayor and Common Council Dear Colleagues, We are respectfully submitting the 2020 West Allis Fire Department Annual Report which provides a detailed review of our department’s activities. Our focus through much of 2020 was likely no different than anyone reading this report…COVID-19. The worldwide pandemic became the driving force on nearly all actions that our department took in 2020. COVID affected both halves of the department; the operational side of the department, affecting the types of calls we responded to and how we respond to them as well as the risk reduction side of the house, as the virus disrupted the supply chain of needed EMS equipment and forced new and challenging guidelines and polices to be implemented. Operationally, the fire chiefs of the metro area began to worry early in the pandemic that the workforce of over 800 firefighters across Milwaukee County may become depleted if COVID were to get into one of the firehouses across the region. We needed to form contingency plans on how to continue to provide service with fewer personnel. The area Operations Chiefs quickly drafted and implemented plans to reduce the number of personnel that would respond to low acuity EMS calls and also enacted operating guidelines that would limit the number of personnel that would make patient contact on EMS alarms until they were absolutely needed. It is important to note that these changes were not specific to West Allis but were agreed to by every fire department in the county, as an outbreak in any one municipality would send ripples across the region. Our Shared Services agreement and standing mutual aid agreements were never as important as they had been before. Likewise, agreements amongst fire departments that we would all handle COVID the same way helped assure that any one municipality would not shoulder the load if other fire departments opted to be less strict with COVID protocols. Also, the area fire departments stood up additional resources including four alternative response vehicles, or “ARVs” strategically positioned across the county. These ARVs were tasked with responding to low acuity EMS calls and to determine if there was a need of an ambulance or if the patient could safely be treated by other means. Doing this helped preserve scarce EMS resources and limited potential COVID exposures to EMS crews. On the Risk Reduction and Support Services front, Assistant Chief Jason Schaak was able to put years of National Incident Management training into place as West Allis Fire Department command staff was asked to serve in the role of the Logistics Section Chief for Milwaukee County’s Unified Emergency Operation Center (UEOC) for the first four months of the pandemic. This was a huge undertaking. AC Schaak and Captain Suarez Del Real became responsible for assessing the need of personal protective equipment (PPE) for all government employees in Milwaukee County, including fire, EMS, law enforcement, public works, and election workers. After determining current inventory levels, they established complicated “burn rates” of each item of PPE, based on each discipline of government employee across the county. They would then submit weekly requests for the needed PPE to the state’s Emergency Operations Center in Madison, take ownership of large weekly deliveries, and distribute supplies across the county. It quickly became apparent that there was not enough PPE at a local, state, or national level, so the team established a county-wide donation site at the Wisconsin State Fair Park. Over the course of a few months, tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of PPE were donated by the public. Daily, WAFD crews would collect, sort, and disperse these supplies, not only to governmental agencies, but to doctors’ offices, dentists, funeral homes, and all types of essential businesses that needed to stay open while protecting their employees. I would be remiss if I did not mention the toll that COVID has taken on our membership. To date, we have had dozens of our workforce put into quarantine after showing symptoms or after being in close proximity to an infected person. Additionally, we have had several members come down with the disease and suffer symptoms. With a nationwide shortage of vital protective gear, our department has been forced to recycle surgical masks, which are designed for single-patient use, and reuse them for multiple 24-hour shifts, while treating potentially dozens of COVID positive patients. This risky procedure has been approved by the FDA on an emergency basis, but firefighters and their families have been left wondering how safe the practice is as they put their own health at risk against an invisible virus. With all of this, it’s the emotional toll that may be the hardest challenge. We have asked our crews to interact less with one another and to try to space out during their shift to minimize the spread of the disease. Firefighters are social by nature and to limit the casual firehouse banter and to reduce their ability to engage in physical fitness routines and train together as they are accustomed to is a difficult thing. We have had members confide in us that their spouses now make them sleep in separate beds in case the firefighter brings COVID home from work. In a job as stressful as theirs, losing social outlets at work as well as family affection at home is dangerous. We all need to be more diligent about the warning sign of stress and to encourage our brothers and sisters to seek help when things become overwhelming. As if COVID was not enough of a challenge, 2020 saw a prolonged period of civil unrest across the nation. West Allis was involved in large scale preparations and deployment of personnel and resources not only in our own city but also to assist our neighbors in Milwaukee and Wauwatosa. Additionally, our crews were part of the first in response packages for active shooter incidents at the Miller-Coors brewery in Milwaukee and Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa. Operationally, we have seen expansion of our Shared Services Agreement with the city of Franklin joining West Allis, Milwaukee, Wauwatosa, Greenfield, Oak Creek, St. Francis, and the North Shore Fire Department in agreeing to adopting identical operating guidelines and emergency unit response packages for various calls for service. This allows all our communities to operate as one borderless region, where any fire truck or ambulance from one community can respond to and operate identically to the host community’s resources. 2020 saw an unprecedented reliance on mutual aid. Page 64 on the Standards of Cover (located within this document) highlights mutual aid usage over the past five years. You will note that the amount of mutual aid given by our department to our neighbors has almost doubled since 2016 and likewise, the amount of aid received from our neighbors has more than doubled. Unfortunately, as public budgets continue to get tighter and our city and neighboring communities are forced to make tough decisions, any future cuts to your fire department or your neighbors’ fire departments will further compound the amount of aid given and received each day. While mutual aid can be an effective use of resources throughout the area, each time mutual aid is used, the person who called 911 is waiting longer for help to arrive while those citizens in the immediate area of the aid-giving fire station are now unprotected in the event that they need to call 911. In 2020, that happened about three times a day in West Allis. City leaders will need to decide if that amount of risk is acceptable as we work on the 2022 operating budget. This past year, as personnel retired, we hired eight new firefighters with anticipation of hiring several more in 2021. In addition to the promotions of Assistant Chief Jason Schaak and Deputy Chief Michael Wright, we promoted three new lieutenants and two new captains. The cycle of hiring, promotions, and retirements will continue in 2021 and these fresh faces will continue to bring innovations to our department. Thank you for taking the time to review our 113th West Allis Fire Department Annual Report. Sincerely, Mason Pooler Fire Chief City of West Allis Core Values Service Excellence Exceptional professional service for and by outstanding people; Responsive, efficient, dedicated, and engaged workforce. Continuous Improvement Innovations through creative and strategic management; Sustained improvement through goal-oriented customer-focused results. Open and Transparent Ethical, accessible, and accountable government operations. Renewal Revitalization through collaborations and partnerships with a focus on image, economic development, and growth. Equitable Respectful, responsible, compassionate, and welcoming to all. West Allis Fire Department Mission Statement The mission of the West Allis Fire Department is to safeguard the lives and property of the people we serve, to reduce community risk and incidents of emergencies, and to enhance public safety while working with community partners to improve quality of life.