Southern Marin Fire Protection District Board of Directors Cathryn Hilliard, President, Peter Fleming, Vice President Kurt Chun, Thomas Perazzo, Dan St. John, Stephen Willis, Cristine DeBerry OPERATIONS, TRAINING STAFF REPORT Board Meeting Date: June 24, 2020 Incidents & Operational Highlights: The Southern Marin Fire Protection District and the Mill Valley Fire Departments continued to focus on fire season preparations from late May through June. Since the last board meeting, our community maintains its path towards the new normal during this pandemic. This has necessitated a safe shift in posture back towards the new normal for our fire stations as we pivot in opening portions of our stations to the public. Melding the provisions of social distancing into the team effort that is the fire service is proving to be challenging (but not impossible) as California enters another wildland fire season. The new methods, processes, and activities were exercised early June during the Quail Fire (Solano County). It was clear that additional work is necessary to manage with social distancing large teams of firefighters during deployment. In the midst of spiking COVID- 19 cases throughout the nation and in Marin County, civil unrest (Black Lives Matter) has emerged, causing concern for the spread of disease, as numerous peaceful protests occurred throughout our region Mid-June. Our teams provided significant effort to support law enforcement and community leaders to ensure safe demonstrations and community gatherings in locations such as Marin City, Mill Valley, and the Golden Gate Bridge. During these challenging times, the staff of the Southern Marin Fire and Mill Valley Fire are continuing to be useful to the community. Assisting the community with COVID-19 testing remains every day. Chief Matt Barnes has done a masterful job developing plans and processes that permit our community’s return towards the new normal. Our first responders are shifting towards a proactive posture by way of assistance to Marin Health and Human Services. Under Chief Branes' leadership, our response posture has become far more agile and responsive to the needs of our community. Below we have captured two calls for service to be highlighted in addition to one activity that warrants additional focus. These exceptional outcomes are the culmination of countless hours focused on training and preparation in addition to excellent experience levels and community mindfulness. • Quail Fire: On June 7 at 2 am BC Bouchard lead a strike team of engines to Solano County's Quail Fire. Assignments included suppression, mop-up, and structure protection. Southern Marin Engine 604 Mill Valley Engine 607 • ENG Boss Meier • Captain Vollmer • ENG Schonig • ENG Mondot • FF Paramedic Ramirez • FF Brusati • FF Kunst • FF Scott o Fire started 06/06/2020 o Fire contained 06/10/2020 o Acers: 1,837 o Structures Destroyed: 3 o Structures Threatened: 100 • Cooperating Agencies: Vacaville City FD, Vacaville FPD, Montezuma FPD, Vallejo, Suisun City FD, Suisun FPD, Fairfield FP, Dixon FD, CDCR Vacaville, Cordelia FPD, Madison FPD, Winters FD Strike teams from: Contra Costa County, Marin County, San Francisco County • Community Protests: o On June 5, Chief Pasquale lead a team of firefighters in support of law enforcement's efforts for peaceful demonstrations in Marin City. Actions include: Planning with Marin County Sherriff Planning with Marin County Fire Department Additional staffing considerations • Please note that our teams supported law enforcement with multiple protests in Mill Valley and on the Golden Gate Bridge. Fire Weather Update: • Drought continues to be pervasive throughou t the Northern portion of California. Drought-stressed trees, plants, and other shrubberies significantly add to the available fuel for wildfire. Increasing fuel availability and our public returning to normal activity patterns have added considerably to the number of fires throughout California (see Fire Season Update). • We anticipate that persistent drought conditions will make for a challenging fire season, adding to the already significant challenges facing our communities. Increased emphasis on prevention, education, fuels management, and firefighter preparation represents critical mitigation efforts for this season. Fire Season Update: • As noted above during the drought discussion, fire season is here. Fires are 58% ahead of the previous year. Our region's wildfire activity remains mostly flat; however, we see trends that fires throughout Marin County are increasing. Due to the now rooted drought condition, the predictive modeling/outlook (shard during the May 27 Board Meeting) for June was correct with above-normal activity throughout California’s drought-stricken areas. COVID 19 Response Directives: Southern Marin/Mill Valley Medical Calls By Week 100 90 91 80 78 73 72 70 69 68 67 67 67 64 64 62 60 60 59 58 54 52 52 50 51 51 48 46 45 42 43 43 41 40 39 40 40 40 40 38 37 36 36 35 36 33 30 28 28 29 26 26 27 26 24 24 22 23 22 20 21 18 17 18 16 12 10 0 February 03 February 10February 17 February 21 March 2 - March 9 - March 16 - March 23 - March 30 - April 6 - April 13 - April 20 - April 27 - May 4 - May 12 - May 19 - May 25 - June 1 - June 8 - February February 16February 23 March 1 March 8 March 15 March 22 March 29 April 5 April 12 April 19 April 26 May 3 May 11 May 18 May 24 May 31 June 7 June 14 09 MLV SOM Combined Call Volume Linear (MLV) Linear (SOM) Linear (Combined Call Volume ) • As the progression, understanding, and evolution of COVID 19 continues, we have been flexible in making adjustments relative to the safety of our responders and the community. The Marin County Fire Chiefs, in concert with Marin County Health Officer, continue to adapt to changing conditions as our communities enter the “new normal” of living with COVID 19. The most aggressive steps for reopening the community and commerce occurred only a week ago (mid-June). With this necessary step, it is anticipated that the number of cases will increase throughout Marin; however, it is clear that our ability to test, manage, and trace COVID-19 cases has improved dramatically. Continued COVID-19 activities since the May Board Meeting: • Continued training for responders. • Participating with the Marin County EOC and regional response. • Continued monitoring medical call volumes: See Medical Calls by Week (above). • Continued monitoring of disposable equipment, supplies, and burn rates. • Improved personnel health monitoring systems. • Increased focus on mental health outreach and monitoring. New COVID-19 activities since the May Board Meeting (Chief Barnes): • Train the trainer for COVID-19 testing by staff continues. • Formalization of Marin Countywide testing policy. • Cardiac arrest testing by field staff to facilities rapid COVID exposures. Battalion Chiefs/Division Chief/Deputy Chiefs (BC/DC) Meeting Agenda Items June 10: • Fire Season Prep • Mutual Aid Policy • Wildland Pants Presentation • Captains Test • Covid-19 and FOPAC Updates o Out of County Equipment Lists • Report Back on Captains Meetings • Defensible Space Inspections (feedback and progress) • Hydrant Inspection (feedback and progress) • Q&A • Closed Session (BC/DC Only) Operational Shared Services Update: Under shared services, Mill Valley and Southern Marin Fire have been broadly sharing personnel. It is not uncommon for three and four members to move stations a day to facilitate orientation across jurisdictional lines. This mixing of staff is essential to unify the new organizational cultures, identify new norms, and familiarize each other throughout the region. The exciting result is one cohesive response organization with enhanced service to the community. Line level sharing has been approved to move forward under the criteria listed below: • No financial implications • No liability issues • Mutually agreeable between staff • No safety issues or concerns. • Operations should be COVID sensitive, with 48-hour shifts preferred. Line level sharing enables members from both Mill Valley and Southern Marin Fire to be assigned across agencies. Cross-training and bridge task books have been developed and deployed to ensure consistency across shifts and ranks. This is an exciting enhancement and outcome for shared services. Training Highlights • Wildland Fire Block Training scheduled for late June. • Routine EMS training continues through Zoom. • Officer Preparation classes (12): Chief Matt Barnes has hosed twelve Officer Preparation Classes. These classes represent a significant investment in our emerging and promoted officers. The interactive classes go a long way to enhancing operational skills and readiness. The classes have been widely attended and applauded by staff as this program enhances future succession opportunities. • Ongoing manipulative training • Ongoing policy training • Technical Rescue Training for multiple members: o Trench Rescue o Rescue Systems I and II o Confined Space Committees, Events & Meetings • Operations Chiefs – May 4 o Fire Chiefs – COVID 19 update o Special Operations o Communications Standards Committee o OES – COVID Update • Marin Map Committee o No meetings • MERA Operations Committee: o No meetings • Dispatch Standards Committee: o Representatives are meeting weekly to address pandemic response and our communications center deployment. o Technology Services Utilization – formalize CAD.MDC deployment • Marin County Fire Chief’s Training Officers Committee: o Ongoing meetings Respectfully submitted, Tom Welch Deputy Chief of Operations and Training Southern Marin Fire District Mill Valley Fire Department Submitted on behalf of: Matt Barnes Battalion Chief Kai Pasquale Battalion Chief Scott Barnes Battalion Chief Matt Bouchard Battalion Chief Attachments: 1. 1-month response data Southern Marin Fire 2. 1-month response data Mill Valley Fire .