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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem BOrange County Fire Authority Reserve Firefighter Program Restructuring February 2002 Orange County Fire Authority OCFA Strategic Plan - Emergency Services Consulting Group - 18 Month Process - Reserve Program one of 6 Strategic Goals - Adopted by OCFA Board in July 2001 z Orange County Fire Authority Orange County Fire Authority OCFA Strategic Plan - Goal #6 OCFA Strategic Plan - Goal #6 Maximize the utilization of reserve and auxiliary - Importance of issue emphasized personnel within the jurisdictional boundaries of - BOD identified Project Team membership OCFA, taking into consideration need, efficiency, - Project Team facilitated by President of ESECG effectiveness, and reliability. - Results to OCFA Board in February 2001 Strategic Initiative: Develop a clear and - ESECG hired to complete additional work productive role for reserves /volunteers... Orange County Fire Authority OCFA Strategic Plan - Goal #6 - Importance of issue emphasized - BOD identified Project Team membership - Project Team facilitated by President of ESECG - Results to OCFA Board in February 2001 - ESECG hired to complete additional work a Orange County Fire Authority ESECG Research Process - Review of statistical information - Geographic analysis - Reserve officer interviews - Review by steering committee 6 Orange County Fire Authority OCFA Board of Directors Workshop February 2002 Identify a lasting, safe, and meaningful role for volunteers within the Orange County Fire Authority 6 Orange County Fire Authority Anticipated March Board Actions - Adoption of definition of purpose - Direction on general recommendations - Direction on station specific recommendations Definition Of Purpose The purpose of the reserve program is to supplement other response resources to ensure that adequate resources are available to effectively staff and equip emergency events occurring within the service area. Except for select stations this does not anticipate that reserve resources will contribute to "first -due" response performance but that they will contribute to overall emergency incident effectiveness by providing: - Additional resources on major emergencies (depth) - Station coverage during peak periods (coverage) - Emergency service and support resources (support) a Orange County Fire Authority Reserve Program Service Options - Fully Trained Service Role Evaluated as not effective or sustainable into the future - EMS /Support Role Recommended with enhancements - Discontinue the Reserve Program LO Evaluated as not desirable 9 Orange County Fire Authority Key Factors - Safety - Reliability- - Sustainability - Supportability - Need LO Orange County Fire Authority Rationale for EMS Role - Predominate call type - Legitimate depth need 68% of Reserve responses in 1999 & 2000 were for EMS 71% of Reserve enroutes in 1999 & 2000 were for EMS 78% of Reserve arrivals in 1999 & 2000 were for EMS 92% of Reserve arrivals first in 1999 & 2000 were for EMS - Focused Training Requirements Initial and Ongoing Larger recruiting pool 12 Orange County Fire Authority City of Seal Beach Reserves - Current - Fire /EMS Response statistics for 1999 & 2000 183 Fire/EMS dispatches - 32.8% for fur/67.2 % for EMS 145 Fire/EMS enroutes (79.2 %) - 35% for £¢e/65% for EMS 100 Fire/EMS arrivals (54.6 %) - 34% for fnes/66% for EMS 48 FireXMS arrivals first (26.2 %) - 6.3% for fires/93.8% for EMS 43 Fire/EMS arrival first in area (23.5 %) - 7% for £rres/93% for EMS - For the combined two -year period of 1999 -2000 Station 44 Reserves arrived first on scene in their area 43 times (3 fire calls and 40 EMS calls) 12 Orange County Fire Authority Station 44 Reserve Training Information - OCFA Monthly Requirement - 12 hours (Source: OCFA Reserve Firefighter Handbook) - Station 44 Monthly Average in 2001 - 1.56 hours (Source: OCFA Training Records System) - Truck Company Operations require 105 additional hours beyond that provided in the 14 OCFA Reserve Academy U Orange County Fire Authority Reserve EMS /Support Role - Selection of suitable response vehicle based on the role anticipated. - Selection of appropriate reserve station staffing levels based on local needs. - Selection of appropriate call -out criteria based on local needs. 14 Orange County Fire Authority Auxiliary /Apprentice Role - Separate from Reserve Program. - Potential to augment current staffing levels with fully trained apprentice firefighters. - Individuals would work as additional fire combat resources under the direction of, and 16 alongside full -time firefighters. 15 Orange County Fire Authority Restructured Reserve Program - 5 engines - 19 EMS Squads or Patrols - 3 Air Re- supply Units - 3 Water tenders 365 Active Volunteers 16 Orange County Fire Authority City of Seal Beach Reserves - Current - 1 Engine - 1 Truck Company Only OCFA truck company staffed by reserves - Roster approved for 30 reserves �a Orange County Fire Authority Future Reserves Serving City of Seal Beach - 1 EMS Squad/Patrol - 15 Active volunteers - Trained to higher EMS service level (EMT -D) - Major incident support capabilities �a Orange County Fire Authority Benefits of New Program - Expanded recruitment area - Training hours reduced and more accessible - Provides depth for 70% of our emergencies - Fewer people required to initiate response - Reserve EMS Training/Service increased 19 Orange County Fire Authority Maintains Fire Service & Enhances EMS Service Fire response continues with full -time firefighters Fire coverage maintained - Aggressive Move -up Policy - Automatic Aid Agreements in place - Master Mutual Aid in place - Unit Conversion Level of EMS service increased zo 10 Orange County Fire Authority The OCFA remains dedicated, through a combination of full -time firefighters and properly focused community volunteers, to provide safe, effective, and reliable emergency services to the citizens of Seal Beach 21 11 Contact these people to save Seal Beach's Fire Service level ! Orange County Fire Authority Board of Directors 1) Supervisor Todd Spitzer, Phone (714) 834 -3330, Fax (714) 834 -2786 Email " todd.soitzerAoceov.com" 2) Supervisor Thomas W. Wilson, Phone (714)834 -3550, Fax (714)834 -2670 Email "thomas.wilson(aloceov.com" 3) Rep. Cynthia Pickett, City of Aliso Viejo, 12 Journey, Allan Viejo, CA 92653 Phone (949) 425 -2500 4) Rep. Patsy Marshall, City of Buena Park, 6650 Beach Blvd., Buena Park, CA 90622 -5009 Email Pmarshall r )buenaoarkcom. Phone (714) 562 -3500, Fax (714) 562 -3506 5) Rep. Frank McCoy, City of Cypress, 5275 Orange Ave., Cypress, CA 90630 Phone (714) 229 -6700, Fax (714) 229 -6682 6) Rep. Harold Kaufman, City of Dana Point, 33282 Golden Lantern, Dana Point, CA 92629 Phone (949) 248 -9890, Fax (949) 248 -9920 7) Rep. Chris Mears, City of Irvine, One Civic Center Plaza, Irvine, CA 92623 -9575 Phone (949) 724 -6000, Fax (949) 724 -6000 8) Rep. R. Craig Scott, City of Laguna Hills, 25201 Paseo de Alicia, Suite 150, Laguna Hills, CA 92653, Phone (949) 707- 2600, Fax (949) 707- 2614 9) Rep Joe Brown, City of Laguna Niguel, 27801 La Paz, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677 Phone (949) 3624300, Fax (949) 362 -4340 10) Rep. Dr. Brenda Ross, City of Laguna Woods, 24310 Moulton Parkway, Suite K, Laguna Woods, CA 92653, Phone (949) 452 -0600, Fax (949) 457 -8160 11) Rep. Richard Dixon, City of Lake Forest, 23161 Lake Center Drive, Suite 100, Lake Forest,CA. 92630, Phone (949) 461 -3400, Fax (949) 461 -3511 12) Rep. Ken Blake, City of La Palma, 7822 Walker St., La Palma, Ca. 90623, Phone (714) 690 -3300, Fax (714) 523- 2141 13) Rep. Marilynn Poe, City of Los Alamitos, 3191 Katella Ave., Los Alamitos, Ca 90720 -5600, Phone (562) 431 -3538, Fax (562) 493 -1255 14) Rep. Sherri M. Butterfield, City of Mission Viejo, 25909 Pala, Ste 150 Mission Viejo, CA 92691 Phone (949) 470 -3000, Fax (949) 859 -1386 15) Rep. Chris Lowe, Vice Chair, City of Placentia, 401 East Chapman, Placentia, CA 92870 Phone (714) 993 -8117, Fax (714) 961 -0283 16) Rep. Carol Gamble, City of Rancho Santa Margarita, 30211 Avenida de Ins Bandaras Ste 101, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688, Phone (949) 635 -1800, Fax (949) 635 -1840 17) Rep. Susan Ritschel, Chair, City of San Clemente, 100 Avenida Presidio, San Clemente, CA 92672, Phone (949) 361 -8200, Fax (949) 361 -8283 18) Rep. John S. Gelff, City of San Juan Capistrano, 32400 Pasco Adelanto, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675, Phone (949) 491 -1171 19) Rep. Shawn Boyd, Phone (562) 795 -0118, City of Seal Beach, 211 8th St., Seal Beach, CA 90740 20) Rep. David John Shawver, City of Stanton, 7800 Katella Ave., Stanton, CA 90680 Phone (714) 379 -9222, Fax (714) 890 -1443 22) Rep. Tracy Wills Worley, City of Tustin, 300 Centennial Way, Tustin, CA 92780 Phone (714) 573 -3000, Fax (714) 832 -0825 23) Rep. Bob Dell, City of Villa Park, 17855 Santiago Blvd., Villa Park, CA 92861 Phom (714) 998.1500, Fax (714) 998.1508 24) Rep. Russell Paris, City of Westminster, 8200 Westminster Blvd., Westminster, CA 92683 Phone (714) 898 -3311, Fax (714) 373 -4684 25) Rep. Ken Ryan, City of Yorba Linda, 4845 Casa Loma Ave., P.O. Box 87014, Yorba Linda,CA 92885-8714, Phone (714) 961-7100, Fax (714) 961 -7100 Thanks for your support of the Seal Beach Volunteer Firefighters! Orange County Fire Authority Reserve Program Restructure Report Prepared by: Joe Parrott 25200 SW Parkway Ave. Suite 3 Wilsonville, OR 97070 503 -570 -7778 800- 757 -3724 ` fax: 503 -570 -0522 www esecizxom January 2002 ESECG Emergenry Services Education & Consulting GrouP *Copyright 2001 MD[ Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the expressed written permission of Emergency Services Education and Consulting Group Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 Introduction 4 Criteria 6 Considerations _ - Individual Station Discussion --8 9 Stand Alone Stations - - 9 Fire Station 1 - — 12 Fire Station 3 _ 14 Station 11 - 16 Station 12 19 Station 14 Station 16 21 23 Station 25 Combination Stations 26 Station 2 26 28 Station 7 30 Station 10 Station 13 32 ~ Station 18 34 Station 19 36 Station 21 38 Station 23 40 Station 24 42 Station 26 44 Station 29 46 Station 30 48 Station 32 50 Station 40 52 Station 44 54 * ESECG Emergency Services Education & Consulting Group Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Recommendations Definition of Purpose and Services to be Provided 56 57 First -Due Response 59 Ensuring Sufficient Resources Fully [rained For firefighting and emergency medical services 59 Fully capable to provide incident support functions outside the fire - involved building _60 Considerations when making the "service to be provided" choice 62 Other Issues of Concern 63 Station cover assignments 69 Station 1 63 Specialty units 70 Availability of qualified personnel 63 65 Apparatus types 66 Performance reporting 67 Reserve program support 68 General Recommendations 68 Definition of Purpose Station specific recommendations — Fully trained service role 69 69 Station 1 70 Station 3 70 Station 11 70 Station 12 70 Station 14 70 Station 16 70 Station 25 71 Station 2 71 Station 7 71 Station 10 71 Station 13 71 Station 18 71 Station 19 72 Station 21 72 Station 23 * ESECG Emergency Seroices Education & Consulting Group_ 2 orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 24 72 Station 26 72 Station 29 and Station 30 72 1 Station 32 73 Station 40 73 44 73 1IStation Station specific recommendations — Incident support role 74 f 1111 Station 1 74 Station 2 75 Station 3 75 Station 7 75 Station 10 75 Station It 75 I Station 12 75 Station 13 76 Station 14 76 Station 16 76 Station 18 76 Station 19 76 Station 21 76 Station 23 76 Station 24 77 Station 25 77 Station 26 77 1 Station 29 77 Station 30 77 Station 32 77 Station 40 78 Station 44 78 Additional Option — Consider Implementation of an Auxiliary Firefighter Program-79 Final Consideration — Discontinue the Reserve Program 80 $ESECG Emergency Services Education& Consulting Group �`� 3 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report INTRODUCTION The delivery of fire and emergency services occurs in a constantly changing environment. Community growth, development of new risk through technology, changing social behaviors and the like all impact an emergency service organization. Continually reappraising the manner in which it conducts business is a survival skill necessary for innovative and responsive organizations. The Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) has recognized the need to re- evaluate and re- engineer itself to respond to these changing conditions. Earlier this year the OCFA adopted a Customer Centered Strategic Plan to guide it through the next six years. This plan includes a goal to review the current reserve firefighter program and make changes necessary to ensure it is able to provide reliable, effective and efficient service into the future. The Board of Directors adopted this goal and the following strategic initiative to reach it. "Develop a clear and productive role for reserves/volunteers and obtain the policy level support for needed changes ". This report addresses the first two of seven objectives developed to reach the goal. These objectives are: Objective 6 -A - Identify the criteria and performance measures that shall be utilized to determine the use and function(s) of reserves and /or auxiliary members. Objective 6 -B — Based on the outcome of the review identified in objective 6 -A, determine if reserve companies /stations shall remain status quo, be modified or redefined, or de- commissioned, and implement changes as appropriate. Criteria There are a variety of considerations important to determining if a given reserve company provides value to the community and can be viable as a resource for the long- term. A number of considerations must be taken into account including the degree to which a reserve company is utilized, the ability of the organization to staff a particular unit, and the ability of the organization to fully support it through training and other logistical support. iI$ ESECG Emergency Services Education & Cowulting Croup 4 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report To capture these concerns, the following review criteria were developed. These criteria were structured to provide a quantifiable and qualitative review of each existing reserve company. 1. Is there a clearly identified need for the unit? a. The number of responses in which the unit was actually utilized (need) b. The proximity and availability of adjacent units (alternatives) c. The consequence of using adjacent units (availability) d. The economic viability of alternatives (efficiency) 2. Are personnel readily available to staff the unit? a. The ability to recruit personnel within the area (social factors) b. The ability to retain personnel (historical attrition rates) 3. Can the unit be supported? a. The cost and ability to provide initial and ongoing training (safety and effectiveness) b. The cost of maintenance /replacement/other support (efficiency) c. Expected need for supervisory resources (risk control) 4. What type of unit provides the greatest benefit? a. The nature of risk in the response area (required skill levels) b. The type of responses to which the unit historically has responded (demand) c. The proximity of adjacent units by type (efficiency and effectiveness) What follows is the application of these criteria to each reserve company operated by the OCFA. This was accomplished through analysis of response data, geographic analysis, interviews with key staff, and review of other documents pertinent to the review. A series of recommendations has been developed designed to improve the function of the reserve program. Finally, three options are presented with modifications specific to each station. ESEMEmergency Senices Educafion& Consulting Group 5 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Considerations There are several analyses that deserve description at this point. The earlier Fire and Emergency Services Evaluation (August 2000) identified a significant issue with reserve reliability. In that report it was determined only 53% of incidents to which a reserve unit was dispatched generated a response by reserves. Based on this reports more current analysis, only 47% of incidents to which reserve units were dispatched generated a response. There are a whole host of reasons for this low performance. It is not the purpose of this report to identify and resolve performance issues. That is part of future work. It is the purpose to develop an environment where the reserve program can be successful. The analysis conducted by this report must assume that at some point performance will improve to a much higher reliability rate. Without such improvement the OCFA would be unwise and irresponsible to rely on reserves for emergency response. Value (need and utilization) will be described using both "dispatches" (the number of times a unit was requested to respond), and "arrivals" (the number of times a unit arrived on scene to provide service). The reliability percentage (derived from the number of times a unit went enroute) will not be a significant factor in the analysis conducted in this report. The number of times a unit responded compared to the number of times the unit ~ arrived is useful to determine utilization and will be part of the analysis. Part of the discussion of utilization is the number of times a unit was actually used to help control an event. With available data, this can only be measured by the number of "arrivals ". What can't be measured is the number of times the unit contributed to control of the emergency event. However, using the arrival information does provide some sense of a reserve units "opportunity" to provide value at an emergency. This is very important for two primary reasons: 1. Little value is gained from a unit that initiates response only to be cancelled prior to arrival. Value is derived by effective action to control an event. 2. Personnel must have opportunities to apply skills on actual emergencies in order to gain and maintain proficiency. ESECG&rne>gencv Senica Education & Consulting Group Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Each station will be evaluated for its contribution to the OCFA response objectives. Maps are provided to illustrate the station in question, its effective 'first response" reach, based on Insurance Services Office (ISO) recommendations of a fire station within 1.5 miles of any built -upon property. That same distance is also approximately three minutes of travel time for a responding fire engine. Travel time, plus the time it takes to assemble personnel at the station, don equipment and initiate a response is what makes up response time. The ISO travel distance is used since it is a nationally recognized standard, and since the OCFA has not yet adopted a response time standard of its own. Finally, it must be noted that in a perfect world a full spectrum of information and data is available to evaluate a given condition. Such is not the case for OCFA. There is a limited amount of information available for this analysis. Consequently the recommendations cannot derive totally from quantitative analysis. Sound professional judgment must be, and has been, applied to the recommendations. Mathematical and statistical analysis provides valuable information to decision makers, however ultimately decisions ought to be made based on logic and reason. Emergency Services Education and Consulting Group has made every effort to provide experienced based, analytically supported, recommendations to the OCFA without bias or pre- determination. ESECG recognizes the critical importance of this issue to the OCFA and its customers. �j jc ESECG Emergency Servica Education &CmultingCroup Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report INDIVIDUAL STATION DISCUSSION The OCFA operates a total of 39 response units staffed by reserves. Seven of the OCFA stations are staffed exclusively by reserve personnel, and 15 stations are staffed by a combination of career and reserve personnel. The tables below list the stations with reserve personnel staffing and the response units assigned 4o them. Standalone Stations Station Unit# 1 E1 P1 3 E3 P3 11 Ell P11 12 E12 14 E14 P14 16 E16 W16 P16 25 E25 E225 P25 Combination Stations Station Unit # 2 E202 A2 7 E207 W7 10 E210 W10 P10 13 E213 18 E218 P18 19 E219 21 S21 23 E223 A23 24 E224 26 E226 29 E229 30 E230 A30 32 E232 40 E240 W40 44 E244 T44 There are a number of terms used in the following section to describe activity and performance. These are: Term Workload Utilization Turnover Low Less than 100 dispatches < 60% arrival on scene Less than 25% Reasonable 100 — 500 dispatches Moderate 50% -80% arrival on scene 25%-50% High 500 — 1000 dispatches Greater than 80% arrival on scene Greater than 50% Very High Greater than 1000 dispatches ESECGEmergency Services Education& Consulting Croup Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Stand Alone Stations The OFCA operates 15 response units out of seven fire stations that are staffed exclusively with reserve personnel. The following is a station -by- station analysis. Fire Station 1 Fire Station 1 is located at 180 S. Water St. in the City of Orange. Staffed by 24 reserve firefighters the station operates one Type 1' fire engine (E1) and one patro12 unit (P1). Th. —,, hclnw shows Station 1 in relation to other OCFA stations. The blue shading on streets indicates the area that this station can reach within 1.5 miles of travel. This distance (response zone) represents the Insurance Services Office recommendation for distance from a fire station to built -upon property. It also represents approximately 3 minutes of travel time at an average of 30 mph. ' Fire engines are classified by capability. A type 1 engine is primarily designed for structure firefighting. A type 2 engine has a smaller pump, water tank and is capable of carrying fewer personnel. A Patrol is a unit designed specifically for wildland firefighting. �t ESECG EmemmevS eroiceaEducaion &CansultingGmP — -- 9 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Need Nearly all of Station 1's response zone lies outside of the OCFA service area. Consequently units from this station cannot contribute to achievement of the OCFA response time objective for initial arriving company. They would begin the response with a distance to scene handicap. There does not appear to be much need for Station 1 as a second or greater due unit for initial alarm other than for the unincorporated area served by Station 23. At best it would serve this area on a third due basis following units from Station 8. Thus the function of Engine 1 is more suited to "move -up and cover' assignments. "Move up and cover" is when a unit is moved from it's station to another to fill in for while that station's unit is handling a response. The following table shows the response activity for both Station 1 units during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. Unit EMS Fire Other Total Annual Average E -1 178 122 227 1 527 253.5 P -1 3 8 4 15 7.5 263 annual dispatches for Engine 1 is a good indicator that the unit has reasonable workload to warrant its existence. The patrol, on the other hand had very few responses. The unit is either located at the wrong station to be effectively used, or sufficient numbers of similar units exist elsewhere in the OCFA system. The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 1 to illustrate its value in event control. ESECGEmergency Services Education& Consulfing Group . _ 10 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report :_..:a,.... A. ivifv fnr Fnnlnw 1 — 1999 and 2000 Combined Res onse T e Emer en Medical Dis tched 178 Went Enroute 115 Arrived 122 227 527 29 110 254 16 61 172 Fire Other Total Of the 254 times it went enroute it arrived on scene 172 times, 68% of the time. This is a moderate level of utilization. Personnel Availability The recruitment area around Station 1 contains a large population of likely reserve firefighters. The station currently is staffed with 24 reserves, however 26 have left the service since January 1999. This is a high attrition rate mostly due to reserves being hired into career positions with OCFA and other fire departments. Ability to Support Station 1 is located in the current headquarters complex of the OCFA, facilitating support services to this station. As a standalone facility, this station requires less support than a career station. For example, since the facility is not used to house 24 hour staff, it incurs less wear and tear and a lesser need for supplies and furnishings associated with 24 hour occupancy. ESECGEmefgency Senices Education& Consulting Grroap Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Fire Station 3 Fire Station 3 is located at 16861 le St. in Sunset Beach. Staffed by 13 firefighters this station operates one Type 1 fire engine (E3) and one patrol unit (133). The map below ... ._ --- --- k,, ()CFA Stations. shows: Ned Station 3 provides first -due coverage of a developed portion of the OCFA service area. The closest adjacent OCFA station, Station 44, is well beyond a reasonable first -due response distance. There is a station operated by the Huntington Beach Fire Department very close to this area. The following table shows the response activity for both Station 3 units during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a ESECGEmergency Services Education &co+ Ming Group_ 12 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report 168 annual dispatches for Engine 3 is a good indicator that the unit has sufficient workload to warrant its existence given the size and nature of its service area. The patrol, on the other hand had very few responses. From an activity standpoint, the unit is either located at the wrong station to be effectively used, or sufficient numbers of similar units exist elsewhere in the OCFA system. The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 3 to illustrate its value in event control. Incident Activity for Engine 3 —1999 and 2000 Combined Response Type Dispatched Went Enroute Arrived Emergency Medical 114 35 39 Fire 21 5 5 Other 201 57 46 Total 336 97 90 There is a data error for emergency medical response "enroutes" versus "arrivals ". Of the 97 times it went enroute it arrived on scene 90 times, 93% of the time. This is a high level of utilization. Personnel Availability The recruitment area around Station 3 is not favorable to providing a full compliment of reserves � The currently is staffed with 13 reserves; however, seven have left the service since January 1999. This is also a high attrition rate and is due primarily to reserves being hired into career positions with OCFA and other fire departments. Ability to Support Station 3 is fairly remote from other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel presents some challenge. As a standalone station, though, it does not require a high degree of logistical support. $E SECG Emergency services Education & Consulting Group , Y 13 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 11 Fire Station 11 is located at 259 Emerald Bay in Laguna Beach. Staffed by 12 firefighters this station operates one Type 1 fire engine (E1,) and one patrol unit (P11). The map below shows Station 11 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 11 provides first -due coverage to a very small developed portion of the OCFA service area and an area more rural in nature. The next closest OCFA stations, Stations 52 and 57 are well beyond a reasonable first -due response distance. There is a station operated by Laguna Beach with which the OCFA has an automatic aid agreement to provide support to the Emerald Bay area. Station 11 is strategically located to serve its primary area. The following table shows the response activity for both Station 11 units during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. $ESECG Emergency Services Education& Consulting Group 14 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Unit EMS Fire Other Total Annual Average E -11 72 7 67 1 146 1 73 P -11 59 33 45 1 137 68.5 In this station's case dispatches are fairly evenly divided between the patrol and engine. Total annual dispatches of 141 indicate a reasonable need for this station. Additionally, the distance to adjacent stations is significant meaning this station has operational importance from a response time standpoint. The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 11 and Patrol 11 to illustrate their value in event control. Incident Activity for Engine 11 and Patrol 11 — 1999 and 2000 Combined Response Type D etched an Enroute Arrived Emergency Medical 131 87 93 Fire 40 25 10 Other 112 68 55 Total 283 180 158 Again a data error is noted for emergency medical response "enroutes" versus "arrivals ". Of the 180 times Station 11 units went enroute they arrived on scene 158 times, or 88% of the time. This is a high level of utilization. Personnel Availability The recruitment area around Station 11 is a significant challenge. However this station has developed an innovative solution. The security firm serving this area hires most of its personnel from OCFA reserve firefighters. These security employees are allowed to respond to emergencies during their regular work shift. Thus this station enjoys a readily available response team. The station currently is staffed with 12 reserves, however 7 have left the service since January 1999. This is a high attrition rate due primarily to career hiring with OCFA and other fire departments. Ability to Su000rt Station 11 is fairly remote from other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel presents some challenge. As a standalone station, though, it does not require a high degree of logistical support. $ESECG Emergency Services Education& Consulting Group 15 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 12 Fire Station 12 is located at 8953 S. Walker in Cypress. Staffed by 14 firefighters this station operates one Type 1 fire engine (E12). The map below shows Station 12 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 12 is surrounded by other career and combination stations. The map below shows the affect of removing Station 12 on the 1.5 mile response coverage in this area. Recall, that the blue shaded streets are those that are within 1.5 miles of a fire station. * ESECG EmergencySeroices Educatiox & Coxsultixg Croup 16 Orange County Fire Authority— Reserve Program Restructure Report There is no appreciable loss of coverage. None, when you consider that reserve company turnout times are much longer than career companies because of the home to station travel time required of reserve personnel. Adjacent stations very adequately cover this region. The following table shows the response activity for the Station 12 unit during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. Unit EMS Fire Other Total Annual Avera e E -12 1 616 99 1 426 1141 570.5 Total annual dispatches of 570 indicate a reasonable need for this station. ESECGEmergency Se"ica Educa=& C— UfixgG upu 17 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 12 to illustrate its value in event control. Incident Activity for Engine 12 — 1999 and 2000 Combined Res I T e Dispatched Went Enroute Arrived E cy Medical 616 284 188 Fire 99 57 33 Other 426 182 97 Total 1141 523 318 Of the 523 times Engine 12 went enroute it arrived on scene 318 times, or 61% of the time. This is a moderate level of utilization. Personnel Availability The recruitment area around Station 12 provides a good supply of interested applicants. The station currently is staffed with 14 reserves; however, ten have left the service since January 1999. This, like previously discussed stations, is a high attrition rate driven mostly by career hiring with OCFA and other fire departments. Ability to Support Station 12 is close to other OCFA stations. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not be a challenge. As a standalone station, though, it does not require a high degree of logistical support. $k ESECG Emergency Seroim Education& Consulting Grou_P_ �� 18 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 14 Fire Station 14 is located at 29402 Silverado Canyon Rd in Silverado Canyon. Staffed by only 6 firefighters this station operates one Type 2 fire engine (E14) and one patrol unit (P14). The map below shows Station 14 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 14 provides first -due coverage to a difficult to access portion of the OCFA service area, an area more rural in nature. The next closest stations, Stations 15 (a career station) and 16 (another reserve standalone station) are well beyond a reasonable first -due response distance. Station 14 is strategically located to serve its primary area. The following table shows the response activity for both Station 14 units during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. $ESECG Emergency Servica Educah'ou &Co=lting Group 19 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Unit EMS Fire Other Total Annual 38 35 Fire 50 20 Avera e E -14 1 43 22 1 42 107 53.5 P -14 1 20 1 28 1 21 69 1 34.5 In this station's case dispatches are fairly evenly divided between the patrol and engine. Total annual dispatches of 88 would not in itself indicate a reasonable need for this station. However, the distance to adjacent stations is significant giving this station operational importance from a response time standpoint. The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 14 and Patrol 14 to illustrate their value in event control. Incident Activitv for Engine 14 and Patrol 14 —1999 and 2000 Combined Res mse Type Dispatched Went Enroute Arrived Emer a icy Medical 63 38 35 Fire 50 20 9 Other 63 32 21 Total 176 90 65 Of the 90 times Station 14 units went enroute they arrived on scene 65 times, or 72% of the time. This is a moderate level of utilization. Personnel Availability The recruitment area around Station 14 is reported to have people who could be recruited into the program. The station currently is staffed with six reserves; however, five have left the service since January 1999. This is a high turnover. Ability to Support Station 14 is fairly remote from other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel presents some challenge. As a standalone station, though, it does not require a high degree of logistical support. - ESECGEmergenrySmices Education Cowulting Grout, 20 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 16 Fire Station 16 is located at 28891 Modjeska Canyon Rd in Silverado Canyon. Staffed by 18 firefighters this station operates one Type 2 fire engine (E16), a water tender (W16), and one patrol unit (P16). The map below shows Station 16 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 16 provides first -due coverage to a more rural area of the OCFA service area. The next closest stations, Stations 42 and 15 is well beyond a reasonable first -due response distance. Station 16 is strategically located to serve its primary area. The following table shows the response activity for Station 16 units during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. ESECG ><mergency Seroices Education & Consulting Group 21 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Unit EMS Fire Other Total Annual Average E -16 69 31 61 161 80.5 Other 3 55 10 68 34 R 1 P -16 30 25 18 73 36.5 Total annual dispatches of 151 indicate a reasonable need for this station. Additionally, the distance to adjacent stations is significant meaning this station has operational importance from a response time standpoint. The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 16, Water Tender 16 and Patrol 16 to illustrate their value in event control. Incident Activity for Engine, Water Tender and Patrol 16 — 1999 and 2000 Combined Response Type Dispatched Went Enroute Arrived Emergency Medical 102 81 75 Fire 111 59 34 Other 89 65 29 Total 302 205 138 Of the 205 times Station 16 units went enroute they arrived on scene 138 times, or 67% of the time. This is a moderate level of utilization. Personnel Availability The recruitment area around Station 16 provides a reasonable pool of potential reserves. The station currently is staffed with 18 reserves; however, only three have left the service since January 1999. This is a very low attrition rate attributed to the nature of the community and good station leadership. Ability to Support Station 16 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a standalone station, though, it does not require a high degree of logistical support. IY ESECG Emergency Services Education & Consulting Group _. 22 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report i Station 25 Fire Station 25 is located at 8171 Bolsa Ave in Midway City. Staffed by 14 firefighters this station operates two Type 1 fire engines (E25 and E225), and one patrol unit (P25). The map below shows Station 25 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 25 provides first -due coverage to a suburban area of the OCFA service area. The next closest stations, Stations 64 and 66 are within a reasonable first -due response distance of the area served by Station 25. The following map shows the affect of removing Station 25 from the system. The blue shaded streets are those that are within 1.5 miles of a fire station. ESECG Emergency Service Education& Comsulting Group 42 23 Orange County Fire Authority— Reserve Program Restructure Report As can be seen there is virtually no change in the amount of OCFA service area that is within 1.5 miles of afire station. The following table shows the response activity for Station 25 units during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. Unit EMS Fire Other Total Annual Average E -25 1816 252 871 2939 1469.5 E -225 284 146 323 753 376.5 P -25 30 1 15 46 23 Total annual dispatches of 1,869 are a substantial number for a reserve unit. It's greater than some career stations in the OCFA system. �S�4N Emergency Services Education & Consultbw Group 24 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 25, Engine 225, and Patrol 25 to illustrate their value in event control. Incident Activity for Engines 25, 225 and Patrol 25 —1999 and 2000 Combined Response Type Dispatched Went Enroute Arrived Emergency Medical 2130 1496 1228 Fire 399 240 126 Other 1209 795 420 Total 3738 2531 1774 Of the 2531 times Station 25 units went enroute they arrived on scene 1774 times, or 70% of the time. This is a moderate level of utilization. Personnel Availability The recruitment area around Station 25 provides a good supply of potential applicants. The station currently is staffed with 14 reserves; however, 24 have left the service since January 1999. This is a very high attrition rate due primarily to personnel being hired to career positions with OCFA and other fire departments. Ability to Support Station 25 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a standalone station, though, it does not require a high degree of logistical support. $ E SEC G Emergency Services Edaeotion & Consulting Croup 25 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Combination Stations The OCFA operates 15 stations with both career and reserve personnel. A similar analysis to that conducted for standalone stations follows for combination stations. Station 2 Fire Station 2 is located at 3642 Green Ave in Los Alamitos. 14 reserve firefighters staff one Type 1 fire engine (E202), a hose tender, and one air unit (A2). Career personnel staff a Type 1 engine. The map below shows Station 2 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 2 reserves provide back -up response to a suburban area of the OCFA service area. The next closest stations, Stations 48 and 17 are also located within a reasonable distance to provide additional support to incidents in Station 2's area. Sl ESECG EmergencySeroices Education & Consulting Gmup 26 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report The following table shows the response activity for Station 2 reserve units during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. Unit EMS Fire Other Total Annual Average E -202 142 Fire 102 372 616 308 A -2 12 187 41 240 120 Total annual dispatches of 428 indicate reasonable activity for this station. The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 202, and Air Unit 2 to illustrate their value in event control. Incident Activity for Engine 202 and Air Unit 2 — 1999 and 2000 Combined Response Type Dispatched Went Enroute Arrived Emergency Medical 154 80 58 Fire 289 179 103 Other 413 188 69 Total 856 447 230 Of the 447 times Station 2 units went enroute they arrived on scene 230 times, or 51% of the time. This is a somewhat low level of utilization. Personnel Availability The recruitment area around Station 2 is reported to have a readily available pool of applicants. The station currently is staffed with 14 reserves; however, 15 have left the service since January 1999. This is a high attrition rate due in part to career hiring with OCFA and other fire departments, and some dissatisfaction with the program. Ability to Support Station 2 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a combination station, the reserve component can be efficiently supported along with the career component. $ESECG Emergency Servica Educatiion& Consulting Group 27 Orange County Fire Authority _ Reserve Pr ogram Restructure Report Station 7 Fire Station 7 is located at 31865 Del Obispo in San Juan Capistrano. 14 re areer ee firefighters staff one Type 2 fire engine (E207), and one water tender (W7). C s ry personnel staff Type 1 engine and a medic unit. The map below shows Station 7 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Ned Station 7 reserves provide back -up response to a suburban area of the OCFA service area. Of the next closest stations, only Station 29 is located within a reasonable distance to provide additional support to incidents in Station Ts area. The following table shows the response activity for Station 7 reserve units during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. ESECGE- %en ySeroices Educatron & Comulh' ng Group 28 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Unit EMS Fire Other Total Annual Average E -207 336 157 576 1071 535.5 W -7 51 74 100 225 112.5 Total annual dispatches of 648 indicate reasonable activity for this station. The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 207 and Water Tender 7 to illustrate their value in event control. Incident Activity for Engine 207 and Water Tender 7 —1999 and 2000 Combined Response Type Dispatched Went Enroute Arrived Emergency Medical 389 165 105 Fire 231 113 57 Other 676 235 67 Total 1296 513 229 Of the 513 times Station 7 units went enroute they arrived on scene 229 times, or 45% of the time. This is a low level of utilization. Personnel Availability Recruitment for this station is challenged by the 5- minute home to station rule. With a more relaxed standard additional applicants are reported to be more available. The station c6rrently is staffed with 14 reserves; however, 11 have left the service since January 1999. This is a high attrition rate due mostly to career hiring with OCFA and other fire departments. Ability to Support Station 7 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a combination station, the reserve component can be efficiently supported along with the career component. ESECGFrne>gen ySeru ces EducaHox &Consulting rrmup 29 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 10 Fire Station 10 is located at 18422 E Lemon Ave. in Yorba Linda. 12 reserve firefighters staff one Type 2 fire engine (E210), one water tender (W10), and a patrol unit (1310). Career personnel staff Type 1 engine. The map below shows Station 10 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 10 reserves provide back -up response to a suburban area of the OCFA service area. The next closest stations, Stations 34 and 32 are also located within a reasonable distance to provide additional support to incidents in Station 10's area. The following table shows the response activity for Station 10 reserve units during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. ESEM EmOgrney Smica Education& Consulting Group 30 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Unit EMS Fire Other Total Annual Average E -210 81 112 175 309 502 251 W -10 221 1 50 19 70 35 P -10 9 13 12 34 17 Total annual dispatches of 303 indicate reasonable activity for this station. The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 210, Water Tender 10 and Patrol 10 to illustrate their value in event control. Incident Activity for Engine 210, Water Tender 10 and Patrol 10 1999 and 2000 Combined Response Type Dispatched Went Enroute Arrived Emergency Medical 91 - 71 56 Fire 175 111 54 Other 340 221 62 Total 606 403 172 Of the 403 times Station 10 units went enroute they arrived on scene 172 times, or 43% of the time. This is a low level of utilization. Personnel Availability The recruitment area around Station 10 provides reasonable opportunity to attract applicants. The station currently is staffed with 12 reserves; however, 19 have left the service since January 1999. This is a very high attrition rate. Ability to Support Station 10 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a combination station, the reserve component can be efficiently supported along with the career component. $ESECG Emergency Services Education& Consulting Group 31 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 13 Fire Station 13 is located at 7622 Walker St in La Palma. 13 reserve firefighters staff one Type 1 fire engine (E213). Career personnel staff Type 1 engine. The map below shows Station 13 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 13 reserves provide back -up response to a suburban area of the OCFA service area. The next closest stations, Stations 12 (a reserve standalone station) 63 and 61 are also located within a reasonable distance to provide additional support to incidents in Station 13's area. The following table shows the response activity for the Station 13 reserve unit during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. Unit EMS Fire Other Total Annual Average LE -213 I 136 112 315 1 565 282.5 SlESECG EmIWnty S— ic& Edwadon& Comulting Group �..._... 32 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Total annual dispatches of 282.5 indicate reasonable activity for this station. The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 213 to illustrate its value in event control. Incident Activity for Engine 213 - 1999 and 2000 Combined Res orise Type s etched WentEnroute Arrived Emer enc y Medical 138 29 Fire 112 13 6 Other 315 36 20 Total 565 78 49 Of the 78 times Engine 213 went enroute it arrived on scene 49 times, or 63% of the time. This is a moderate level of utilization. Personnel Availability Recruitment in the area around Station 13 has been a challenge. Some of that may be due to competition for personnel with nearby Station 12. The station currently is staffed with 13 reserves; however, only two have left the service since January 1999. This is a very low attrition rate. Ability to Support Station 13 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a combination station, the reserve component can be efficiently supported along with the career component. $ESECG Emergency Services Education& Consulting Group ......_.. 33 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 18 Fire Station 18 is located at 30942 Trabuco Canyon Rd. 10 reserve firefighters staff one Type 2 fire engine (E218) and a patrol unit (P18). Career personnel staff Type 1 engine. The map below shows Station 18 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 18 reserves provide back -up response to a more rural area of the OCFA service area. The next closest station, Station 45, is located within a reasonable distance to Provide additional support to incidents in Station 18's area. The following table shows the response activity for the Station 18 reserve unit during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to aresponse. Unit EMS Fire Other Total Annual E -218 26 53 1 96 175 Avera e 87.5 P-18 1 12 41 1 14 1 67 33.5 $I ESECG Emergency Semica Education& Consu[ting Group 34 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Total annual dispatches of 121 indicate reasonable activity for this station. The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 218 and Patrol 18 combined to illustrate their value in event control. Incident Activity for Engine 218 and Patrol 18 - 1999 and 2000 Combined Response Type Dispatched Went Enroute Arrived Emergency Medical 38 19 15 Fire 94 37 14 Other 110 49 5 Total 242 105 72 Of the 105 times Station 18 units went enroute they arrived on scene 72 times, or 68% of the time. This is a moderate level of utilization. Personnel Availability The recruitment area around Station 18 is reported to have a ready supply of potential applicants. The station currently is staffed with ten reserves; however, 11 have left the service since January 1999. This is a high attrition rate mostly due to career hiring with OCFA and other fire departments. « Ability to Support Station 18 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a combination station, the reserve component can be efficiently supported along with the career component. ISl ESECG Emergency Serulc esEdwation & Consulting Group 35 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 19 Fire Station 19 is located at 23022 El Toro Rd. in Lake Forest. 18 reserve firefighters staff one Type '1 fire engine (E219). Career personnel staff Type 1 engine. The map below shows Station 19 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 19 reserves provide back -up response to a suburban area of the OCFA service area. The next closest stations, Stations 38, 54 and 22 are also located within a reasonable distance to provide additional support to incidents in Station 19's area. The following table shows the response activity for the Station 19 reserve unit during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. Unit EMS Fire Other Total Annual Avere9e 1 E -219 726 217 1 874 1817 1 908.5 Total annual dispatches of 908.5 indicate high activity for this station. $I ESEM Emergency Servica Education& Consulting Group 36 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 219 combined to illustrate their value in event control. Incident Activity for Engine 219 - 1999 and 2000 Combined Response Type Dis etched Went Enroute Arrived Emergency Medical 726 260 189 Fire 217 76 53 Other 874 226 120 Total 1817 562 362 Of the 562 times Engine 219 went enroute it arrived on scene 362 times, or 64% of the time. This is a moderate level of utilization. Personnel Availability The recruitment area around Station 19 is reported to provide a ready supply of applicants. The station currently is staffed with 18 reserves; however, 11 have left the service since January 1999. This is a high attrition rate attributed to career hiring with OCFA and other fire departments. Ability to Support Station 19 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a combination station, the reserve component can be efficiently supported along with the career component. * ESECG >4mergencyServices Education & Consulting Group 37 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 21 Fire Station 21 is located at 1241 Irvine Blvd in Tustin. S reserve firefighters staff one Squad (S -21). Career personnel staff Type 1 engine and a medic unit. The map below �h�ws Station 21 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 21 reserves provide support response to a suburban area of the OCFA service area. The next closest stations, Stations 37 and 43 are also located within a reasonable distance to provide additional support to incidents in Station 21's area. The following table shows the response activity for the Station 21 reserve unit during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. Total annual dispatches of 451.5 indicate reasonable activity for this station. M ESEM Emergency Sesv ces Education & Consulting Group 38 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Squad 21 to illustrate its value in event control. Incident Activity for Squad 21 -1999 and 2000 Combined Response Type Dis atched Went Enroute Arrived Emergency Medical 303 184 134 Fire 142 103 52 Other 458 262 125 Total 903 549 311 Of the 549 times Squad 21 went enroute it arrived on scene 311 times, or 57% of the time. This is a fairly low level of utilization. Personnel Availability Recruitment of reserves in the area around Station 21 is reported to be difficult. The station currently is staffed with 8 reserves; however, 11 have left the service since January 1999. This is a high attrition rate due primarily to career hiring with OCFA and other fire departments, and to some degree dissatisfaction with the program. Ability to Support Station 21 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a combination station, the reserve component can be efficiently supported along with the career component. $ESEM Emergmey Smica Education & Con lting Gm,up �' 39 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 23 Fire Station 23 is located at 5020 Santiago Canyon Rd in the City of Orange. 20 reserve firefighters staff one Type 2 fire engine (E223) and an air unit (A23). Career personnel staff Type 1 engine. The map below shows Station 23 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 23 reserves provide back -up response to a suburban area of the OCFA service area. The next closest stations, Stations 1 (standalone reserve station) 21, 8 and 43 are also located somewhat distant from Station 23's area to provide prompt back -up coverage. There are three City of Orange fire stations with which the OCFA has automatic aid agreements in a reasonable response distance to Station 23. The following table shows the response activity for Station 23 reserve units during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. WESEMEmergency ServicesEducation &ConsultingGroup 40 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Unit EMS Fire Other Total Annual 236 146 Fire 69 39 Avera e E -223 337 69 193 599 299.5 A -23 no data available' Total annual dispatches of 299.5 indicate reasonable activity for this station. The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 223 to illustrate its value in event control. Incident Activity for Engine 223 - 1999 and 2000 Combined Response Type Dis ate d Went Enroute Arrived Emergency Medical 337 236 146 Fire 69 39 22 Other 193 105 31 Total 599 380 199 Of the 380 times Engine 223 went enroute it arrived on scene 199 times, or 52% of the time. This is a low level of utilization. Personnel Availability The recruitment area around Station 23 is reported to provide a ready supply of potential reserves The station currently is staffed with 20 reserves; however, 12 have left the service since January 1999. This is a fairly high attrition rate due largely to career hiring with OCFA and other fire departments. Ability to Support Station 23 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a combination station, the reserve component can be efficiently supported along with the career component. 3 Air Unit 23 was assigned to this station in 2001, thus no response data is available for the study years 1999 and 2000 * ESECG Emergency Semites Education & Coneulting Gmup Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 24 g in Mission Viejo. 12 reserve Fire Station 24 is located at 25862 Marguerite Pkwy e 1 engine. firefighters staff one Type 1 fire engine (E224). Career personnel staff Typ Tha man below shows Station 24 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 24 reserves provide back -up response to a suburban area of the OCFA service area. The next closest stations, Stations 9 and 58 are also located within a reasonable distance to provide additional support to incidents in Station 24's area. The following table shows the response activity for the Station 24 reserve unit during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to Total annual dispatches of 793.5 indicate high activity for this station. ESECGEmer gmcys micesEducatiox &ConsultingGroup 42 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 224 to illustrate its value in event control. Ineidnnt Activity for Ermine 224 - 1999 and 2000 Combined Res onse Type --Dispatched Went Enroute Arrived Emer a icy Medical 587 234 180 Fire 169 57 28 Other 831 252 120 Total 1587 543 328 Of the 543 times Engine 224 went enroute it arrived on scene 328 times, or 60% of the time. This is a moderate level of utilization. Personnel Availability It was reported that recruitment of reserves in this area is difficult due to the demographic nature of the community. The station currently is staffed with 12 reserves; however, 24 have left the service since January 1999. This is a very high attrition rate due to career hiring with OCFA and other fire departments, transfers to other stations and a degree of dissatisfaction with the program. Ability to Support Station 24 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a combination station, the reserve component can be efficiently supported along with the career component. C ESECG Emergency Servica Education& Comulting Group 43 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 26 Fire Station 26 is located at 4691 Walnut Ave in Irvine. 19 reserve e firghters staff one medic unit. The Type 1 fire engine (E226). Career personnel staff Type 1 engine ._ _,_.....�.,,..,� station 26 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Ned Station 26 reserves provide back -up response to a suburban area of the OCFA service area. The next closest stations, Stations 36 and 20 are also located within a reasonable distance to provide additional support to incidents in Station 26's area. The following table shows the response activity for the Station 26 reserve unit during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to Total annual dispatches of 732.5 indicate high activity for rms sLau.i = V CF CG Emergency S -r ce EdacaNun & Consulting Coup, , ._, 44 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 226 to illustrate its value in event control. Incident Activity for Engine 226 - 1999 and 2000 Combined Response Type Dispatched Went Enroute Arrived Emergency Medical 534 169 93 Fire 168 42 18 Other 763 187 74 Total 1465 398 185 Of the 398 times Engine 226 went enroute it arrived on scene 185 times, or 46% of the time. This is a low level of utilization. Personnel Availability Recruitment in the Station 26 area is reported to be difficult. The station currently is staffed with 19 reserves (10 of which are described as "active "), however 9 have left the service since January 1999. This is a moderate attrition rate primarily to career hiring with OCFA and other fire departments. Ability to Support Station 26 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a combination station, the reserve component can be efficiently supported along with the career component. $ ESECG Emergency Services Education & Consulting Group 45 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Fire Station 29 is located at 26111 Career personnel staff Type 1 engine. below shows Station 29 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 29 reserves provide back -up response to a suburban area of the OCFA service area. The next closest stations, Stations 30 and 50 are also located within a reasonable distance to provide additional support to incidents in Station 26's area. The following table shows the response activity for the Station 29 reserve unit during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. Total annual dispatches of 557 indicate fairly high activity for this station. SESECG Emergency Services Education & Consulting GrouP 46 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 229 to illustrate its value in event control. Incident Activity for Engine 229 - 1999 and 2000 Combined Response Type Dispatched Went Enroute Arrived Emergency Medical 400 132 65 Fire 169 45 24 Other 545 143 54 Total 1114 320 163 Of the 320 times Engine 229 went enroute it arrived on scene 163 times, or 51% of the time. This is a low level of utilization. Personnel Availability The senior reserve officers at this station report that the recruitment area around Station 29 is an easy area from which to draw recruits. The station currently is staffed with 11 reserves; however, 15 have left the service since January 1999. This is a high attrition rate due largely to career hiring with OCFA and other fire departments. Ability to Support Station 29 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a combination station, the reserve component can be efficiently supported along with the career component. $ESECG Emergency Smico Education& Consulting Group 47 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report ation 30 Fire Station 30 is located at 23831 Stonehill Dr. in Dana Point. 12 reserve firefighters staff one Type 1 fire engine (E230) and an air unit (A30). Career personnel staff Type 1 engine. The map below shows Station 30 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 30 reserves provide back -up response to a suburban area of the OCFA service area. The next closest stations, Stations 7, 29 and 49 are also located within a reasonable distance to provide additional support to incidents in Station 30's area. The following table shows the response activity for the Station 30 reserve unit during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. Unit EMS Fire Other Total Annual Average E -230 1 162 110 421 693 346.5 A -30 1 13 158 29 200 100 ISlESECGF.' me rgencyS eroicaEducation &ConsultingGroup 48 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Total annual dispatches of 446.5 indicate reasonable activity for this station. The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 230 and Air Unit 30 to illustrate their value in event control. Incident Activity for Engine 230 and Air Unit 30 - 1999 and 2000 Combined Response Type Dispatched Went Enroute Arrived Emergency Medical 175 63 52 Fire 268 77 45 Other 450 102 42 Total 893 242 139 Of the 242 times Station 30 units went enroute they arrived on scene 328 times, or 57% of the time. This is a fairly low level of utilization. Personnel Availability The recruitment area around Station 30 is reported to have a ready supply of applicants. The station currently is staffed with 12 reserves (six of whom are described as active); however, 13 have left the service since January 1999. This is a high attrition rate largely due to career hiring with OCFA and other fire departments. Ability to Support Station 30 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a combination station, the reserve component can be efficiently supported along with the career component. SlESECGEmergency Services Education& Comulting Group., 49 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 32 Fire Station 32 is located at 20990 Yorba Linda Blvd in Yorba Linda. 11 reserve firefighters staff one Type 2 fire engine (E232). Career personnel staff Type 1 engine and a medic unit. The map below shows Station 32 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 32 reserves provide back -up response to suburban area of the OCFA service area. The next closest stations, Stations 10 and 53 are also located within a reasonable distance to provide additional support to incidents in Station 32's area though additional support is more distant in this case. The following table shows the response activity for the Station 32 reserve unit during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. $ESECG E ;nergencySeroice Education &ComultiugCroup `_ 50 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Unit EMS Fire her Total Annual Average E -232 140 Fire 97 370 607 1 303.5 Total annual dispatches of 303.5 indicate reasonable activity for this station. The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 232 to illustrate its value in event control. Incident Activity for Engine 232 - 1999 and 2000 Combined Response Type Dispatched Went Enroute Arrived Emergency Medical 140 130 119 Fire 97 70 33 Other 370 268 88 Total 607 468 240 Of the 468 times Station 32 units went enroute they arrived on scene 240 times, or 51% of the time. This is a low level of utilization. This station has a better response reliability than most, but still does not provide the level of reliability needed to be depended upon for initial response. - Personnel Availability The recruitment area around Station 32 provides a ready pool of applicants. The station . currently is staffed with 11 reserves; however, 16 have left the service since January 1999. This is a high attrition rate largely due to career hiring with OCFA and other fire departments. Ability to Support Station 32 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a combination station, the reserve component can be efficiently supported along with the career component. ESECGEmergency Services Education & Consulting Group 51 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 40 Fire Station 40 is located at 25082 Vista del Verde in Coto de Caza. 6 reserve firefighters staff one Type 2 fire engine (E240) and a water tender (W40). Career personnel staff Type 1 engine. The map below shows Station 40 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 40 reserves provide back -up response to a suburban area of the OCFA service area. The next closest stations, Stations 18 and 45 are also located within a reasonable distance to provide additional support to incidents in Station 40's area. The following table shows the response activity for Station 40 reserve units during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. Unit EMS Fire Other Total Annual Average E -240 1 29 36 1 85 150 75 W-40 1 2 63 1 13 78 39 SESECG EmergencySmica Education & Consulting Group Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Total annual dispatches of 114 indicate low activity for this station. The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 240 and Water Tender 40 to illustrate their value in event control. Incident Activitv for Engine 240 and Water Tender 40 .1999 and 2000 Combined Response Type Dis a d Went Enroute Arrived Emergency Medical 31 17 14 Fire 99 25 15 Other 98 22 10 Total 228 64 39 Of the 64 times Station 40 units went enroute they arrived on scene 39 times, or 61 % of the time. This is a moderate level of utilization. Personnel Availability The recruitment area around Station 40 is a challenge within the Coto de Caza community, but beyond that there is reported to be a good pool of applicants. The station currently is staffed with seven reserves; however, 13 have left the service since January 1999. This is a high attrition rate largely due to career hiring with OCFA and other fire departments. Ability to Support Station 40 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a combination station, the reserve component can be efficiently supported along with the career component. ESECG EmM.,ySmx. Education& Co=fting Grompr 53 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 44 Fire Station 44 is located at 718 Central Ave in Seal Beach. 20 reserve firefighters staff one Type 1 fire engine (E244) and a ladder truck (T44). Career personnel staff Type 1 engine. The map below shows Station 44 in relation to other nearby OCFA stations. Need Station 44 reserves provide back -up response to a suburban area of the OCFA service area. The next closest stations, Stations 3, 48 and 65 are also located within a reasonable distance to provide additional support to incidents in Station 44's area though additional support is more distant. The following table shows the response activity for the Station 44 reserve unit during 1999 and 2000 combined. The table lists the number of times the unit was dispatched to a response. Unit EMS Fire Other Total Annual Av'ra e E -224 1 90 28 115 233 116.5 T -44 1 33 32 119 184 92 Si ESECG Emergencysmices Education & consulting cs up _ 54 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Total annual dispatches of 208.5 indicate reasonable activity for this station. The next chart shows the number of dispatches versus arrivals on scene for Engine 244 and Truck 44 to illustrate their value in event control. Incident Activity for Engine 244 and Truck 44 -1999 and 2000 Cornbined Res o Ise Type Dis atched Went Enroute Emer enc Medical 123 94 Fire 60 51 Other 234 194 Total 417 339 Arrived 66 34 105 205 Of the 339 times Station 44 units went enroute they arrived on scene 205 times, or 60% of the time. This is a moderate level of utilization. Personnel Availability The recruitment area around Station 44 is reported to provide a ready supply of applicants. The station currently is staffed with 20 reserves; however, nine have left the service since January 1999. This is a moderate attrition rate due largely to career hiring with OCFA and other fire departments. . Ability to Support Station 44 is near other OCFA activity areas. Providing logistical support and training to station personnel should not present a challenge. As a combination station, the reserve component can be efficiently supported along with the career component. $ESECG Emergency Service Education&CoasulrI'Kaoup 55 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report RECOMMENDATIONS What follows are specific recommendations for improvement of the reserve program. The recommendations define the program's central purpose, define changes to operational practices and provide specific recommendations, and options, for each existing reserve company. Definition of Purpose and Services to be Provided Volunteer firefighters (reserves) have been used by the Orange County Fire Authority since its inception many years ago. Though the program has undergone a series of evolutionary changes, its purpose has remained largely unchanged. During the research and interviews involved in developing this report it was apparent that the reserve program has no clear definition of purpose that is widely accepted within the organization. There were two central themes expressed by members of the organization to describe the current purpose of the reserve program: 1. To ensure prompt first -due unit response and arrival to emergencies. 2. To ensure sufficient resources are available to effectively control emergency events (depth of service). These two purposes are uniquely different and independently drive the structure of the reserve program and the manner in which it is used. The attempt to achieve the first purpose also seems to be central to the issue of reliability. In addition, there is a need to identify, very specifically, the kinds of services reserve personnel will provide. It's a reality that reserves can not provide everything that career personnel can. The training demands would simply be too great. A choice must be made about the role reserves should play in the organization that allows them to contribute to the mission of the OCFA and ensures they are fully trained and equipped for that role. ESECGEmergency Service Education& Consulting Group 56 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report OF This report presents two options for how reserves could be utilized in the OCFA emergency response system. They are: 1. Fully capable to deliver fire suppression and basic life support emergency medical care services. 2. Fully capable to provide incident support functions outside the fire- involved building. The implications of these two options are significant in redeveloping this resource. Training programs and delivery systems, apparatus choices, and incident procedures will all need redefinition based on the choice selected. Purpose First -Due Response Though the OCFA has not yet formally adopted a first -due unit response time objective, arrival within five minutes is used as a planning criteria. In order to achieve this objective no more than five minutes can pass between the initial dispatch of units to the emergency until arrival by the first unit. There are two phases associated with this action; turnout (assembling response crews on the vehicle and initiating the response) and travel (movement of the vehicle from its location at the time of dispatch to the location of the emergency). Turnout time is minimized when response personnel are already at the fire station. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 1710 has defined acceptable turnout time as 60 seconds or less for areas served by substantially career departments. This allows up to four minutes of travel time to achieve the five minute response time objective. Reserve units normal turnout time is going to be longer. Personnel responding from home must first drive to the fire station and then assemble on the vehicle and initiate response. Depending on time of day and availability of personnel this can take as much or more time to accomplish than the overall response time objective allows. The likelihood of a reserve company contributing to achievement of the overall first -due response time objective is very low. $ESECS Frnergency Senica Edncatiun & Conaufting Gmup 57 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report The OCFA has tried to address this by calling in the reserves assigned to a particular station anytime the career unit in that station is dispatched to an emergency. This allows reserves to be at the fire station, just like assigned career personnel, before the next emergency occurs. Unfortunately this creates a significant response workload on reserve personnel that, often times, is overwhelming. One of the significant factors driving the loss of volunteer firefighters, nationally, is workload. People only have so much time to give in service to their community. Other demands including work and family, plus the time that must be spent in training, preclude a volunteer firefighter from being able to commit to significant levels of workload. Reasonable response loads range between 100 and 500 responses per year. Most OCFA reserve units are handling workload well in excess of the target. The combination of direct dispatches (when the reserve unit is specifically called to respond to an emergency) and "cover" assignments (when reserve personnel are called to the station to standby when that station's career unit is on a response) is creating individual unit workloads of as much as 2500 -3000 calls per year. To address the issue of workload a number of reserve companies have attempted to divide their staff into sub - groups, each of which would be assigned to shifts and expected to be available for response during that defined time period. Aside from requiring a significant number of reserves per company there is also some legal concern about this practice. In order to retain the status of "volunteer" rather than "employee" a person must be free to choose when to perform the service. Scheduling shifts and requiring a person to be available and respond during that time period threatens their volunteer status. Based on these factors it appears unrealistic to expect that reserves can effectively fulfill the purpose of providing prompt first -due unit response, except for select "standalone" stations". ° Stations in which only a reserve unit exists M ESEW Emergency Services Education & Consulting Group 58 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Ensuring Sufficient Resources OCFA reserves do contribute to the ability of the department to ensure adequate resources are available to effectively manage emergency events. This is most particularly true during those times when response activity has committed a large number of career units. Reserves are called in to refill stations and provide additional resources on the scene of emergencies in progress. Response time is less a factor than reliability. Generally, the workload associated with this purpose on individual reserve units is reasonable and within the targets described earlier. Services to be Provided OCFA reserves have always been used as fully trained firefighters. This is a traditional role retained from the formation of the organization many years ago. Today it continues to be the practice in fire departments across the country. However, in an urban setting, like Orange County, it is appropriate to rethink this role in light of the way the community has changed over time. It must be asked if this traditional role continues to be the best use of this valuable resource. Fully trained for firefighting and emergency medical services The OCFA staffs for emergency response primarily with career firefighters. This is done to reduce response time, ensure sufficient resources are available to manage emergency events and to take care of the daily activities required to operate a modern fire and emergency service organization. Reserves have been used in recent years to augment the career staffs emergency response capability. Training and equipping reserve personnel as fully trained firefighters enables these people to provide most emergency response services. This is useful during times of peak response volume and for major fire emergencies. Though not as fully capable as career response companies, reserves trained to provide firefighting and EMS services expand the resources available to the OCFA. $t ESECG Emergency Semite Education& Consuiting Grout) Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report The level of effort required of the OCFA to maintain reserves as fully trained firefighters is substantial, most notable in the area of initial and ongoing training. This represents a significant challenge to not only the OCFA, but to the individual members of the reserve program because of the time needed to satisfy the various training requirements. If the "full service" role for reserves is to be continued diligence must be paid to this need. The safety of individuals working at emergencies is of paramount importance. In addition, the OCFA's exposure to liability must be minimized. The OCFA incurs a great deal of expense ensuring reserve personnel are provided the necessary equipment and appropriate apparatus to provide full service. Fire engines are very expensive to purchase and maintain. Equipping fire engines, and testing and maintaining that equipment, also carries a considerable ongoing cost. The reward for the effort and expenditure is the provision of additional resources for management of the emergency response needs of the service area. Fully capable to provide incident support functions outside the fire- involved building An alternative to fully trained firefighters, being used more frequently across the country, is the concept of "incident support personnel ". Recognizing that the number of on -scene personnel who actually enter a fire involved building is small compared to the total number who respond to the scene, many departments are training their volunteer (reserve) firefighters as incident support staff rather than interior combat personnel. In this role reserves would perform such functions as: • establishing personnel "rehab':s • providing victim support. • replacing and refilling self contained breathing apparatus cylinders. • setting up lights and power sources. • shuttling equipment. • assisting with returning apparatus to service. • assisting the command officer with incident management. • assist with fire investigations. 5 A place on an emergency scene for firefighters who have been involved in the effort to go to in order to rest, refresh and have their medical vital signs monitored SIESECGEmergency Services Education& Consulting Group Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report benefits of this role as compared to the fully trained firefighter role are several: • Personnel can be trained to perform these functions in a much shorter time placing them in a "response ready' position more quickly. • Maintaining levels of training requires much less time and effort on the part of both the OCFA and the individual reserves. • The cost of apparatus and equipment needed to fulfill this role is less than half that needed to purchase and maintain a fully functional fire engine. • Medical and fitness standards for support reserves are less than for fire combat personnel expanding the potential recruitment pool. • The services, vital to efficient emergency scene operations, can be performed by support reserves freeing more highly trained personnel to conduct operations within their scope of training. • May help to reduce the sense of "competition" that exists between career staff and reserves. Though this service delivery option would reduce the number of firefighting capable resources to the OCFA, the ability to return those that remain to service more quickly will help offset that reduction. This option would substantially reduce the workload on reserve personnel. Structure fires would represent the primary need for a support service reserve response. The OCFA would need to monitor the number of opportunities to respond to ensure that reserves have enough activity to feel good about their contribution to the system. An option within this configuration would be to use the support service reserve company as a basic fife support trained emergency medical responder as a backup to career units. This would provide additional opportunities for reserve response and participation in delivering emergency services as well as provide additional "depth" for this most frequent use of OCFA services. It would, though, increase the requirements for initial and ongoing training. Si ESECG Emergenc ySevicaEducatian&ComultixgGroup _ 61 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Considerations when making the "service to be Provided" choice Management is charged with the responsibility to always act in the best interest of the customer, in this case the communities served by the OCFA. Normally, the key consideration in any decision is efficiency and effectiveness. As management recommends the most appropriate role for reserves it must balance effective performance in the delivery of services with cost and operational efficiency. There are times, though, when other external factors play a significant part in decision making. In the book Recruiting Training and Maintaining Volunteer Firefighters the authors write; "We would be remiss while addressing the need for volunteer firefighters if we did not discuss external factors which might significantly influence the decisions one must make as they relate to fire protection within a community. Community opinions in determining the utilization of paid, volunteer, or a combination of paid and volunteer firefighters are of utmost importance. Politics are a reality within the fire service and must be considered in determining what type of delivery system to utilize. It is the opinion of the authors of this book that a combination paid/volunteer fire department is the most cost effective way to provide fire protection in a small to medium sized community. However, public opinion in your own community will most likely determine the final decision within the jurisdiction. Any major change in utilizing personnel to provide fire protection should be carefully thought out and communicated to all individuals involved. A participative approach to planning, organizing and implementing any major changes in a fire department as they relate to staffing is a MUST.!" As the OCFA considers a change in the utilization of reserve personnel, the attitudes of the individual communities should be considered. There may be areas within the OCFA service area in which the community places very high value on its reserve firefighters. It may be a reasonable political decision to leave select reserve units as fully capable engine companies rather than support service units, even if effectiveness and efficiency improvements can be gained by the change. If such is the case, it must carry the community's commitment to continue its support of the reserve company. Support most particularly through its willingness to participate as reserve firefighters, and if necessary, the financial support to retain the higher level of service. 6 Recruiting Training and Maintaining Volunteer Fireflahters, Third Edition, Jack W. Snook, Jeffrey D. Johnson, Dan C. Olsen; pgs 13 -14 * ESECG EmergenrySeroices Education & Consulting Group 62 PF Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Other Issues of Concern During the research and interviews a number of other issues arose that should be addressed in order to make the reserve program successful. Solutions will be based on which option is selected for the future utilization of reserve resources. Station cover assignments Reserve units are often "moved up" to cover another station whose career unit is committed to an emergency. The risks and service demands within that covered station's area can exceed the training and capability of reserve personnel assigned to cover the station. In addition, reserves may be unfamiliar with the street system within the covered area leading to delayed response. It may be more appropriate to leave the reserve unit in its home area and move career units to cover vacated stations. Career personnel are more likely to be trained on a broader base of risks. Specialty units There are two types of units typically staffed by reserves that may be more appropriately staffed by others. Water tenders and air units are dispatched as needed and typically spend many hours assigned to incidents. For long duration incidents (i.e. greater than one to two hours) it may not be reasonable to use reserves to staff them. The OCFA may wish to explore other options including call -back career staff. Availability of qualified personnel There were a number of opportunities found that would benefit the OCFA by making reserves more quickly and readily available. Each is discussed below. Position specific qualifications Many of the times a reserve unit did not respond when called were a result of not having personnel with pre- requisite qualifications available at the time of the call. Current policy requires that, at a minimum, a qualified officer, a qualified driver and a qualified firefighter must be available in order to initiate response of an engine. As the number of SESECGEmergency SeroiM Educatan& Cowulting Group 63 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report reserves has decreased over the past several years the ability to field the required number of qualified responders has decreased. If the reserve program is to be viable this loss of personnel and talent must be reversed. The OCFA will need to institute recruitment and training of new reserve firefighter, and training for apparatus operators and company officers, and do so in the short term. Recruitment area Given that a redefined purpose for the reserve program makes rapid response less an issue, expanding the recruitment area around each station would be beneficial. Currently a reserve must live within five minutes of a fire station. Expanding this area to up to ten minutes increases the number of potential reserves for the organization. - Recruit training The current reserve entry level training program requires that a recruit attend 14 consecutive weekends of training to be qualified to respond. It is without question that a substantial amount of training is needed for an individual to be safe and effective at an emergency. However, this schedule is burdensome on an individual's personal life. ESECG will be developing a revised recruit training program as a future phase of this project. Developing a schedule of training that is not burdensome will be a key ~ corrsideration. In addition, ESECG will be carefully reviewing the entry level training program to ensure that it meets standards and requirements in the shortest possible delivery time. People with prior training and experience On .occasion people who have prior training and experience in other fire departments apply to be reserves with the OCFA. These may be people with background in other agencies, or people who were formerly reserves with OCFA but have chosen to return. At present everyone in this situation must complete the full reserve training academy, except those who had service with OCFA within the past year. An applicant who already has Firefighter I certification should have the requisite skills needed to be a reserve firefighter. The OCFA should not be expected to accept certification from another agency at face value but could verify that the needed skills are $ESECG Emergency Service Education& Consu/ring Group 64 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report possessed by the individual through a skills evaluation process. If the individual well demonstrates Firefighter I skills then all that remains is training in OCFA procedures, equipment and practices. This would take a much shorter time, placing the recruit in a response capable position much sooner. Apparatus types The reserves staff a variety of response units including Type 1 engines, Type 2 engines, patrols, a squad and others. Type 1 engines are the most capable units, able to carry a good supply of equipment and deliver large volumes of water on fires. Type 2 engines are smaller, carry less equipment and have smaller pumps, though are still of a size to be effective on smaller structure fires. Patrols are designed primarily for wildland firefighting. They carry a small amount of water, are eghipped with a small pump and a modest supply of equipment. The OCFA has a modified patrol, called a Squad, that is also equipped with self contained breathing equipment and an automatic defibrillator. Patrols and squads are not useful for any firefighting other than wildland and trash fires. However they do have utility for non -fire responses. Patrol /Squad Discussed as an option for certain reserve units is a vehicle, Support Squad, designed to provide emergency incident support. Though not designed to deliver water on a fire it does carry a variety of equipment for other critical fire and emergency service tasks. ESECGEmergency Services Education& Consulting Group 65 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report There are two key considerations to the selection of response vehicles for the reserve program. First, vehicles should be capable of meeting the emergency incident needs of the service area served. This is measured by the risks in the area, the nature of responses covered by reserves and the availability and proximity of other response units. In most cases this will be a Type 1 engine. Second, sufficient qualified personnel must be available to operate the unit. In areas with predictably low reserve personnel availability a patrol or squad may be more appropriate since it does not require the same level of staffing and qualification of personnel that Type 1 engines do. Ensuring flexibility will be important. What is most important is being able to deliver effective resources to an emergency when needed. However this must be balanced against the need for predictability so that command personnel have areasonable expectation for the type and quantity of resources that will be available to them to manage an emergency. The apparatus type recommendations in subsequent sections attempt to balance flexibility with predictability. Performance reaortina Much has been made of reserve resource performance over the past years. Certainly the numbers raise concerns that should be addressed. However, looking solely at the numbers available does not present full information upon which to make critical decisions. Wisely, OCFA management recognized this which is largely what drove creation of this report. Response reliability has been the central issue. While it is true that reliability has been a problem, there are a number of factors that play into the reliability statistics that have been generated. Individual station records present a somewhat different picture. For example: If a reserve unit has not initiated a response prior to being cancelled by another unit it is reported as a "no response ", even if sufficient personnel were available. $IESECG Emergency Services Education& Consulting Crroup 66 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report • Many of the times a reserve unit was unable to respond was due to the unavailability of the minimum complement of qualified personnel (1 officer, 1 apparatus operator and 1 firefighter). • When a patrol or tender are needed all are dispatched with the call being given to the first unit to respond. The balance of the request ends up being counted as a "no response ". • Some errors were found in the data. The extent to which this may skew the results is not known. If performance data is to be relied upon to make critical decisions it must be fairly and accurately reported. It is not enough to say that response didn't occur. The reason must be recorded as well. This will require changes in the data collection system to ensure that the reason for a "no response" is accurately reported. In today's computer age this should not be a great challenge. Reserve oroaram support The reserves represent a significant resource to the OCFA. There are numerous program support needs that are currently unmet by the existing management infrastructure. These particularly include delivery of ongoing training, advocacy at the management level and supporting recruitment and retention initiatives. Many organizations that utilize volunteers have personnel assigned specifically to support their needs and efforts. ESECG identified the need for a similar position in its evaluation of the OCFA last year. The concept was frequently mentioned during interviews with senior reserve officers. Ongoing training is an essential program support function. Ongoing training must provided to reserves on their schedule of availability (often evenings and weekends), and is best provided at the respective reserve stations, rather than in a central facility. As this program begins the rebuilding process such a position will have significant value and should be made available in the short term. I$ ESECG Emergency Seroices Education & Comu ixg Group Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report General Recommendations The following recommendations are for overall refinement of the OCFA reserve program. Specific recommendations for each station and reserve company are found in subsequent sections. Definition of Purpose The OCFA should clearly define the purpose of the reserve program. ESECG suggests the following: The purpose of the reserve program is to supplement other response resources to ensure that adequate resources are available to effectively staff and equip emergency events occurring within the service area. Except for select situations this does not anticipate that reserve resources will contribute to "first-due" response performance but that they will contribute to overall emergency incident effectiveness by providing: . additional resources on major emergencies. • coverage of stations during periods of significant career unit utilization. • emergency service and support through the staffing and operation of incident support resources. Adoption of this statement of purpose will help focus the reserve program. Selecting either the support service role, or the fully capable role as the major operating principle completes the definition process. There are several general recommendations with respect to operating practices of the reserve program that would apply regardless of the service role selection. 1. 'Standalone" stations continue to be the "first -due unit for responses within the defined service area of their station. 2. Discontinue the practice of calling in a reserve company to "cover' for the co- located career company each time the career company responds to an emergency. Exceptions can be made if it is known that the career unit will be committed for a long duration (i.e. greater than 1 hour). 3. Discontinue moving reserve units to stations away from their home area unless absolutely necessary. Sl E SECG Emergency Services Education & Consulting Group 68 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report 4. Establish and achieve reserve unit staffing based on type of unit: a. Type 1 and 2 engines — 15 -20 reserves. b. Patrols, squads and support squads —10 -15 reserves. 5. Discontinue using reserves to staff water tenders and air units, except for incidents of short duration. 6. Initiate active recruitment and training of new reserve personnel, and training for apparatus operators and officers. 7. Review the current proximity of residence to station requirement. Consider increasing the time standard to expand the potential pool of applicants. 8. Revise the schedule of delivery for recruit training. 9. Create an expedited process to place applicants with prior training and experience in a response ready position. 10._ Capture additional data to more accurately report reserve program performance. Specifically, capture data that describes the reason for a "no response" by a reserve unit. 11. Establish a dedicated, management level, position to provide advocacy and support for the reserve program. Station specific recommendations — Fully trained service role If the OCFA chooses to retain the current utilization of reserve personnel as fully trained for fire and emergency medical incidents, the following recommendations should be considered. Station 1 Station 1 is difficult to justify given its geographic location. Its use is primarily limited to move up and cover assignments. There are a number of other reserve units in a reasonable proximity, including Stations 21 and 23. Once the new headquarters complex is built, the station will be unavailable since the existing complex will be sold. It is recommended that this reserve company be disbanded. Existing reserves should be re- assigned to the nearest adjacent stations so they may continue their good work in a station that makes a greater contribution to the system. ESEMEnongency s ¢mica Education& Cowulting Group 69 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report 9tion 3 ie to its remoteness from adjacent OCFA stations a continued reserve presence is :ommended. This, even though Huntington Beach has a nearby station. ation 11 change is recommended for this station. It fulfills a need and, given proper support, II continue to provide valuable service. An innovative solution has been developed to off this station giving it good reliability. ation 12 aintaining this station is difficult to justify. Station 13, only one mile north of Station 12 so has a reserve company. Thus both are competing for personnel from the same ,.col of potential applicants. Maintaining the building and equipment has a cost that could be avoided if the reserve forces of Station 12 and Station 13 are combined. Doing so also should improve reliability as well as facilitate ongoing support of the program. It is recommended that Station 12 be closed and its personnel be combined with those at Station 13. Station 14 This is an important station from a coverage standpoint. It should remain in place. Station 16 Station 16 should remain as is. Its location provides important coverage. Station 25 As mentioned, this station has a significant workload, as much if not greater than adjacent career stations. This leads to the question of whether an additional career response company is needed in the area. Intuitively, there does appear to be that need. Even with an additional career company there remains a need for this station, though supporting the cost of a separate facility is difficult to justify. It is recommended that the Station 25 resources be moved to an adjacent career station and that the reserves operate an engine and the patrol. I ESECG Emeromey Servica Education & Consulting Group 70 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 2 is in a good location to provide the kind of depth support the refined purpose of the reserve program describes. As such it should remain in place. Attempting to staff three pieces of equipment does dilute the force to some degree. Removing the hose tender vehicle and focusing the reserves efforts on the engine and air unit should be considered. Station 7 Station 7 is well positioned to serve the south county area. Its proximity to wildland areas is useful. Thus it is recommended that Station 7 remain in place. Station 10 This station provides depth of service for the north county area. However, its attempt to operate three response units is a challenge. Either the water tender, or the patrol should be moved to adjacent Station 32 to increase its utilization. Station 13 Station 13 is well located to provide depth of service to the western county area. As discussed previously this station should become more effective when merged with the resources from Station 12. It is recommended that this reserve company remain in place. Station 18 Station 18 reserves provide an important resource in this area and should remain in operation. Distances between it and other stations are fairly long throughout this region of the county. Thus having the personnel and response capability in place has value. Station 19 Station 19 should remain as is. Modifications in response practices, such as discontinuing automatic response when the career unit is dispatched will reduce workload at this station to a more manageable level. SlESECG Emergency Services Education& Consulting Group 71 Orange County Fire Authority - Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 21 This station is in a strategically good location for a reserve company. However, the challenge will be recruiting and maintaining a reliable response force. There should be an attempt to make this a viable reserve company, but K success is not seen over the next two years it should be considered for closure. There are three other reserve companies in this central region of the county that are also well situated to provide emergency response support in keeping with the newly defined purpose. Station 23 Station 23 is well located to support not only the central county area but north county as well. It should remain in place, as is. Station 24 While this station is in a good location to provide depth support to the east central region of the county, difficulty in recruiting a reliable response force may be an insurmountable challenge. If a committed group of reserves cannot be developed, then this reserve company should be disbanded. Station 26 Station 26 is in a good location. As such, and given the ability to recruit sufficient numbers of active reserves should be continued as is. Station 29 and Station 30 Station 29 and Station 30 are located in close proximity to each other (3 miles travel distance). To a large degree they are competing with each other for reserve personnel. Given the presence of Station Ts reserve company there seem to be little need for both Station 29 and Station 30. One of these reserve companies should be disbanded and current personnel transferred to either Station 7 or the surviving station. No recommendation is offered as to whether Station 29 or Station 30 should remain. Either one would provide good service from its location. OCFA management, with advice from the reserves at these two stations should make the choice that provides the best opportunity for success. MESECG EmergencySmica Education &ComultingGrrrOUP -_ 72 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 32, along with its counterpart Station 10, provide valuable support to the north county area. As was mentioned earlier, Station 32 should receive either the patrol or water tender from Station 10 to better balance workload between the two. It is recommended that Station 32 remain. Station 40 This reserve company has a share of challenges including low call volumes and long turnout times. Recruitment is a challenge. It is recommended that this reserve company be disbanded. There is insufficient call volume to warrant the cost of maintaining a reserve company at this station. Personnel currently assigned could be transferred to either Station 18 or 24. Station 44 Reserves at this station fill a need in providing depth of coverage to the OCFA, particularly in the southern west county area. It has a strong recruitment potential and has seen stability in its ranks. There is a need for a truck company in this area due to the distance to other OCFA truck companies. There may be better ways to staff the existing Truck 44. If the reserves are to continue to staff and operate a ladder truck they must receive formal and comprehensive training on its operation and tactical application. With that caveat, this reserve company should remain as is. I$I ESECG Emergency Smim Education & CansuldngGroup_ . _ , __ 73 OF Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station Sill e cific recommendations —Incident su ort role gram, the following station specific If the OCFA adopts a new role for the reserve pro recommendations should be considered. The chart below describes the changes. This configuration retains the more remote stand -alone stations as fully capable response units and converts most of the remaining engines to support squads. Station 1 Station 1 is difficult to justify given its geographic location. Its use is primarily limited to move up and cover assignments. There are a number of other reserve units in a reasonable proximity, including Stations 21 and the Once the new will begsold. It complex is built, the station will be unavailable since the existing complex is recommended that this reserve company be disbanded. Existing reserves should be re- assigned to the nearest adjacent stations so they may continue their good work in a station that makes a greater contribution to the system- Emergency ESECG Emergency Services Education & Consulting Groupv 74 PF Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 2 Station 2 is in a good location to provide the kind of depth support the refined purpose of the reserve program describes. As such it should remain in place. Under this option, this station should be reconfigured as a support squad. Station 3 Due to its remoteness from adjacent OCFA stations a continued reserve presence is recommended. This, even though Huntington Beach has a nearby station. Because of its remoteness from other OCFA stations it should retain full service capability and its existing apparatus. Station 7 Station 7 is well positioned to serve the south county area. Under this option, this station should be reconfigured as a support squad. Station 10 This station provides depth of service for the north county area. Under this option, this station should be reconfigured as a support squad with a water lender. Station 11 No change is- recommended for this station. It fulfills a need and, given proper support, will continue to provide valuable service. An innovative solution has been developed to staff this station giving it good reliability. Station 12 Maintaining this station is difficult to justify. Station 13, only one mile north of Station 12 also has a reserve company. Thus both are competing for personnel from the same pool of potential applicants. Maintaining the building and equipment has a cost that could be avoided if the reserve forces of Station 12 and Station 13 are combined. Doing so also should improve reliability as well as facilitate ongoing support of the program. It is recommended that Station 12 be closed and its personnel be combined with those at Station 13. ESECG Emergency Services Educahbn & Consulting Group 75 orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 13 Station 13 is well located to provide service to the western county area. As discussed previously this station should become more effective when merged with the resources from Station 12. Under this option, this station should be reconfigured as a support squad. Station 14 This is an important station from a coverage standpoint. It should remain in place. Station 16 Station 16 should remain as is. Its location provides important coverage. Station 18 Station 18 reserves provide an important resource in this area and should remain in operation. Under this option, this station should be reconfigured as a support squad. Station 19 Station 19 is also well positioned to support responses within its region. Under this option, this station should be reconfigured as a support squad. Station 21 This station is in a strategically good location for a reserve company. However, the challenge will be recruiting and maintaining a reliable response force. There should be an attempt to make this a viable reserve company, but if success is not seen over the next two years it should be considered for closure. There are three other reserve companies in this central region of the county that are also well situated to provide emergency response support in keeping with the newly defined purpose. Under this option, this station should be reconfigured as a support squad. Station 23 Station 23 is well located to support not only the central county area but north county as well. Under this option, this station should be reconfigured as a support squad, and add a water tender. ESECGEmergency Services Education & consulting Croup 76 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 24 While this station is in a good location to provide depth support to the east central region of the county, difficulty in recruiting a reliable response force may be an insurmountable challenge. If a committed group of reserves cannot be developed, then this reserve company should be disbanded. Under this option, this station should be reconfigured as a support squad. Station 25 As mentioned, this station has a significant workload, as much if not greater than adjacent career stations. This leads to the question of whether an additional career response company is needed in the area. Intuitively, there does appear to be that need. Even with an additional career company there remains a need for the reserve company, though supporting the cost of a separate facility is difficult to justify. It is recommended that the Station 25 resources be moved to an adjacent career station and that, under this option, this station should be reconfigured as a support squad. Station 26 Station 26 is in a good location. As such, and given the ability to recruit sufficient numbers of active reserves should be continued. Under this option, this station should be reconfigured as a support squad. Station 29 Under this option, this station should be reconfigured as a support squad. The ability to recruit and retain personnel should be monitored closely. (see Station 30 discussion) Station 30 - Under this option, this station should be reconfigured as a support squad. The ability to recruit and retain personnel should be monitored closely. If difficulty continues, consider consolidating Stations 29 and 30 into a single company. Station 32 Under this option, this station should be reconfigured as a support squad. SIESEMEmergency Service; Education & Consulting Group Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Station 40 This reserve company has a share of challenges including low call volumes and long turnout times. Recruitment squad and the ability to recruit and retain personnel monitored reconfigured as a support q closely. Station 44 Reserves at this station fill a need in providing depth of coverage to the OCFA, particularly in the southern west county area. It has a strong recruitment potential and has seen stability in its ranks. Under this option, this station should be reconfigured as a support squad. IESECG E'no'gency Smica Eduwhon &Cox lting Group, 78 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report Additional Option — Consider Implementation of an Auxiliary Firefighter Program A program in common use throughout the greater Los Angeles area is the "auxiliary' or "apprentice" firefighter. These programs provide opportunities for career motivated people to gain valuable training and experience in preparation for obtaining a career firefighter position. Typically, auxiliary firefighter programs bring people who have already been trained to minimum standards into the fire department. Training is available through a variety of sources, most commonly through community college programs. Auxiliary firefighters work shifts in fire stations, respond to emergencies along with the career personnel at that station, and perform incident activities within the scope and level of their training. In addition auxiliary firefighters perform various station duties, - public education programs, and participate in daily training with career personnel. Auxiliary firefighters are typically not used as a replacement for career personnel. For example, if a fire engine is normally staffed with three career firefighters the auxiliary firefighter becomes the fourth person on the company. If a career firefighter is absent on leave, the auxiliary firefighter is not used as the replacement. There are many benefits to the fire department as well as to the individual auxiliary firefighters. The fire department gains the extra help having the additional person on the response company provides. In addition, the department has the opportunity to see the person in an actual work environment prior to making hiring decisions for career positions. A number of departments use the auxiliary firefighter program as a recruitment and hiring path for career positions. The auxiliary firefighter benefits from the opportunity to learn more about being a firefighter. The training and experience gained from the real workplace environment is invaluable. Also, auxiliary firefighters have the opportunity to see the job first hand, helping them determine if being a career firefighter is really the right choice. ISIESECG Emerge ncySenica Education & Consulting Group 79 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report In many programs auxiliary firefighters are paid by the shift, though not at the rate of a career firefighter. In some cases this is in the form of tuition support for continued fire science education, a meal stipend, or an hourly rate (typically at the minimum wage rate). Auxiliary firefighters are allowed to leave shift to attend classes in many programs. The auxiliary firefighter is considered an augmentation of the response company, not a regular part of it The use of auxiliary firefighters can be considered an option to the reserve program, or as an addition to the OCFA staffing program. Final Consideration Discontinue the Reserve Program No discussion of this sort would be complete without evaWating the option of discontinuing the reserve program altogether. Though not a comfortable choice it is one that bears consideration. The OCFA invests substantial time, energy and resources into the reserve program, and will do so to an even greater extent should it be continued in one manner or another. This investment represents an opportunity cost. In other words, the resources contributed to the reserve program could be used for different purposes. The question is which use provides the greatest value to the community. For example, the funds, time, and energy used to support the reserve program could be used for such efforts as improved fire prevention programs, expanded public safety education, additional paramedic assessment units, additional career companies, or some combination of these or even other programs. The cost of the reserve program has been widely debated through the course of this and previous studies. As best can be calculated the cost of the reserve program is approximately $3 million annually. So the question is can this $3 million be spent differently to provide the community with a degree of safety better than they presently receive? �ESECG Emergency Services Education& Consulting Group - 80 Orange County Fire Authority - Reserve Program Restructure Report The answer is not easily determined. Defining the impact of not having 250 or more additional personnel to help manage emergencies during peak periods of activity cannot be accomplished with currently available data. Defining how much more quickly a career unit is returned to service, available to respond to another emergency, because a reserve unit was present on scene is not possible. However these are both real contributions made by the reserve program. If these determinations could be made it would be relatively easy to make choices. For now professional judgment must be used. Senior leadership of the OCFA must make value judgments based on their own knowledge and experience, and provide that advice to the policy makers. There is no question the reserve program makes a contribution to the community's public safety. Whether that contribution matches its cost is a question that cannot be answered at this point. Across the United States, the use of reserves in large fire departments is the exception rather than the rule. The chart below illustrates this. Population Protected All Career Mostly Career Mostly Volunteer All Volunteer Total 1 million or more 90.0% 10.0% 0.0% 0.00/0 100.0% 500,000 to 999,999 81.8 13.6 4.5 0.0 100.0 250,000 to 499,999 78.6. 10.7 10.7 0.0 100.0 100,000 to 249,999 76.7 19.8 1.1 2.3 100.0 50,000 to 99,999 69.7 17.0 8.5 4.8 100.0 25,000 to 49,999 36.0. 28.4 26.5 9.0 100.0 99 15.3 19.8 40.3 24.6 100.0 9 2.1 7.6 34.2 56.1 100.0 9 0.4 1.4 15.4 82.8 100.0 =4,999. 0.4 0.4 4.0 95.3 100.0 ts 5.7 5.4 15.6 73.6 100.0 source: rr vA survey or rrre uepaamenrs ror u.s. mre expenence, iaee ESEMEmergency smtces Education& Consulting Group 81 Orange County Fire Authority — Reserve Program Restructure Report The reasons for the small number include response volume, training demands, difficulty in recruiting and retaining volunteers in a demographically diverse service area, and the expectation of rapid response by citizens. If the OCFA chooses to continue the reserve program it must do so in a way that assures that it is the best use of resources. The modifications suggested, in either of the two previous options, will substantially improve the program's value. If changes aren't made it may well be in the best interest of the community to discontinue the program and use the resources now supporting it differently. ESECGEmergencY Sewices Education & consulting GrouP _ 82 \ \ \� 1! O m a Q23c% 00=93 % \CD \ m / ? / 0 7 = w =gym 2 /ƒ% 8 _ 0 - \ > ° d \ cn y \ \ \ \� SAVE OUR CURRENT FIRE PROTECTION SYSTEM We, the undersigned, request that members of the Seal Beach City Council vote unanimously to oppose the effects of restructuring our city's current fire protection system. Name — (Please [Print) 1- Address CI J+p 1 �/ (J%� C.P0.l �0. cj1 l Y Islarewnel �� a_!�n_�f."Qp , ��3C ?�- a'/1Cff L�JY+16n� OwaeR- of pK„rti to.StNwy 4 Sheri l\ lagmmnl �+( ( Qed.,�tyt'. 5tu0 er Au4wf. S!� s /M lagn�eu.) 6 IZo+v� G o/' Sc�L rs�N (sign mum) 4 i 9v7 Ya (g4nm ) 9 ILI, �'ns A-Lder rso� lakirtnnl �a K SAVE OUR CURRENT FIRE PROTECTION SYSTEM We, the undersigned, request that members of the Seal Beach City Council vote unanimously to oppose the effects of restructuring our city's current fire protection system. Name (Please Print) Address t • I� ,A Sma"l\ /39oa Q�delwoe� 80� M&IIII Mil, ZIN, OR MW .. o g "MA4 lzhel 6 �•* LLb '7 oz.p Sz-b 4 .__.M)MA44 �PSC�� ✓l�Sll Ihun�c �lr �G�g r.•s1��rx.�C�� _. _ AK 9 1 RoL �. ��' 0A/ /3 0 be-i A )Te��2 /ii/� SAVE OUR CURRENT FIRE PROTECTION SYSTEM We, the undersigned, request that members of the Seal Beach City Council vote unanimously to oppose the effects of restructuring our city's current fire protection system. Name (Please Print) Address s 0�-L L McD -wy) 7--r rao Dr i-, M., r . i tL/ s e • "WARP 0 SAVE OUR CURRENT FIRE PROTECTION SYSTEM We, the undersigned, request that members of the Seal Beach City Council vote unanimously to oppose the effects of restructuring our city's current fire protection system. Na (Please Print) Address s 'a r) 10 4- � B, (Sig-- . 2 Marl de�5- -T'Kq<YX- /-,�) 71 �,e��� 5.13 (9lpmmn) 80I Oejar l 3 5>6 W1' i ' r February 27, 2002 CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 25`", 2002 — PRESENTATION — ORANGE COUNTY FIRE AUTHORITY - PUBLIC COMMENTS IN BRIEF * This City can not be computerized, this is not a text book City as was said, this City does not fit into the broad spectrum to wipe out this Fire Department... this is a City locked in by bridges ... a great amount of the land is liquefaction... there would be numerous fires in the event of a large earthquake... if the bridges are wiped out the fire equipment is not going to get to Old Town or Leisure world, even into the City ... the Fire Department is important to this small town * The paid personnel are not at the Station all of the time ... they leave the area for training for hours at a time, leave the area on move -ups for other companies that are at fires, to respond to other major fires, so there is no coverage * The volunteers are being asked to not be volunteer firefighters rather to respond to EMS calls, it is a self - fulfilling prophesy, there will be no volunteers in two or three years, those are not good runs, EMS runs do not make you feel good, within three years the OCFD will say it can not fill the positions then the City will get another engine, that will be another $1 million per year, a three man engine company can respond to EMS calls but they do not put out fires * There is another Station in the County that is going to remain with a paid and a volunteer company with an engine, why then is Seal Beach being singled out * The proposed fire and rescue restructuring will affect all of Seal Beach... response will take longer ... two engines will be coming from out of town ... two engines will be lost from Old Town, one would be the aerial unit, the closest of such units would be from Cypress or Westminster, loss of rescue equipment like the jaws of life, this is a loss of local services that will have to be provided from out of town, there will be increased delay for response time because of the Bixby development and the bridge congestion... there would be limited use of the volunteers as compared to what it is now, yet they are about half of the force and would now serve only medical emergencies * The volunteers are either local business owners, students, college students, or trained and certified firefighters and EMT•s, unlike other volunteer units in Orange County the Seal Beach unit has ten to twenty - five years of experience, and are generally available most of the time, unlike the statistics presented * This is a threat to the health and safety of Seal Beach, the core of the City is geographically isolated by bridges, the City will lose two of four engines that serves the area, yet due to special circumstances and locations Surfside, Silverado Canyon, Modjeska Canyon, Villa Park and possibly another area will be retaining their current level of engines and volunteers, due to the geographic location alone Seal Beach must retain its engines and volunteers that come from the Old Town Station * If the downtown volunteer truck is lost the next closest is by the DMV at Westminster and Hoover, one can not get rid of the volunteers from this town * The changes are based on issues, politics, and statistics that the OCFA is taking in a Countywide mode and trying to apply it to a particular community, a quote being of the consultant with regard to recruiting, training, and maintaining volunteers, politics are a reality within the fire service and must be considered when determining what type of delivery system is utilized, the opinion is that a combination paid /volunteer fire department is the most cost effective way to provide fire protection in a small to medium size community * This is a small, self- contained, small town community with a system in place that has worked, has had a high retention rate, recruiting has always been turning people away even though it has been two years since they have been allowed to recruit to replenish the ranks ... the consultant noted that there may be areas within the OCFA service area where the community places a high value on its reserve firefighters and where it may be a responsible political decision to leave reserve units as fully capable engine companies rather than support service units, that too applies to Seal Beach * With the aggressive move -up and cover policy, as of September W1 the Navy engine is no longer allowed to respond off the Base, that unit would not be available, with regard to the automatic aid agreement with Long Beach that applies primarily to the freeways, there has never been a Long Beach engine response to Old Town * With regard to EMS and EMT training, all volunteers are trained to use the defibrillation units... with regard to additional training it is agreed that the aerial truck is a specialized piece of equipment, as is an engine or an air utility unit, it involves training, the volunteers have trained for the last twenty years on the operation of an aerial truck, that without any training from the OCFA * With regard to the statistics relating to the volunteers to be first on scene, their role is not to be first but to support the full time career firefighters, in the case of a structure fire the regular firefighters go to the scene first, the volunteers are the second due engine to supply water ... the role of their truck company too is to provide ventilation to make the inside air tenable to make a fire attack ... the volunteer unit is first on scene when the paid company is on a call, moved up, or is in training * Under the OCFA plan they will be taking eighteen pieces of fire apparatus not including ancillary support vehicles out of the system * There does not seem to be any difference between Sunset Beach and Seal Beach with regard to leaving a full time volunteer staff and engine... with the proper support and training by the OCFA, being allowed to recruit and bring in new members, there is no reason that can be seen as to why the Seal Beach volunteer unit should not be a viable company for many years to come * They also want to take an engine out of Los Alamitos, Cypress, La Palma, and Midway City ... that too will have an affect ... the move -ups can only be moved so far * The training records are not totally accurate... there has only been a handful of training classes during the last three years * Volunteers contribute to the community in many ways * There are nine fully State certified firefighter I•s from the roster of eighteen, four full -time firefighters, some have been medics * The statistics, the numbers, appear to be the everyday general emergency responses, house fires, brush fires, yet one does need to think about a big emergency, a major catastrophe, with current resources they will respond to the most important locations, high rise structure fires, freeway accidents, if the bridges are lost who will be here, what will be done in an emergency situation, some type of system needs to be kept * The Seal Beach volunteer firefighters have been a major part of the City of Seal Beach community spirit * The volunteers check or start the tools every week ... that so they will all work when needed, the tools are being maintained, and for free * Of concern is when the regular unit is out ... there is no one to respond to a need or the next unit may come from Westminster as the closest * The City gave up its local control to save money, this is the price that will be paid, the decision is no longer with the City * Concerns — what if 9/11 occurred at the Naval Weapons Station, what if there is an earthquake.... need to keep the local services and local control * ** Motion — Keep the volunteer fire department in tact and in place, and direct the Orange County Fire Authority representative to vote likewise, also send a letter to the Orange County Fire Authority indicating the strong feelings of Seal Beach in that regard * If the bridge goes down the City is a very isolated area * ** Response -- the OCFA is not looking to reduce the fire service in the community, they are looking to restructure the reserve component so that the volunteers can play a safe and reliable role in the community emergency delivery system, that is the EMS component, they are not looking to change the fire response that is currently provide, mainly with the full time firefighters, that has been done for several years, the importance of truck company service is understood, however there is not a truck company in every station, in reality, especially with a truck company, it is an issue of safety, they can not provide and sustain the additional level of training required for the volunteers to safely operate that piece of equipment for the small number of calls that they go to, the coverage is being provided from other resources, from other stations, and they will ensure, guarantee and ensure, that there are adequate truck companies in this community February 26, 2002 Ms, Susan Ritschel, Chair Orange County Fire Authority Board of Directors 606 E. Chapman Avenue Orange, CA 92866 Dear Ms. Ritshchel, At their meeting of February 25, 2002, the Seal Beach City Council took action vehemently opposing the proposed changes in the Fire Reserve Program that will directly impact the City of Seal Beach. Eliminating the reserve volunteers in Seal Beach is not an effective course of action. Our volunteers are an extremely dedicated group of individuals of which many have been with the program for more than ten years. Fire Station 44 is in the heart of Seal Beach's Old Town area, a segment of land that is not directly contiguous to other areas. Residential and business properties are very close to each other, with very little setback. There is also a wooden pier structure at the beach that has experienced three major fires over the last ten years. We believe that it is very necessary to retain a backup fire engine at this station. We are also concerned with the recommendation to eliminate engines in our adjacent cities. With a reduction of engines in the surrounding area and the elimination of Station 44 reserve volunteers, mutual and backup responses could leave our old town area vulnerable in a structure fire emergency where seconds do count. Provided with this letter are excerpts from the February 25, 2002 Seal Beach City Council meeting that documents the public comments made in opposition of the elimination of the Fire Reserve Program in our community. In general, the comments include concerns over 1) emergency response during natural catastrophes, 2) adequate coverage with move -up policy, 3) training issues, 4) inaccurate information in study, and 5) reduction of service levels. The Seal Beach City Council strongly urges the Orange County Fire Authority Board of Directors to consider rejecting the recommendation to change the Fire Reserve Program and, specifically, the City requests the Authority retain the existing volunteer program and equipment at Fire Station 44 in Seal Beach. 0 Sincerely, - �Iliam one Mayor cc: Chief Chip Prather, OCFA February 27, 2002 CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 25th, 2002 — PRESENTATION — ORANGE COUNTY FIRE AUTHORITY PUBLIC COMMENTS IN BRIEF * This City can not be computerized, this is not a text book City as was said, this City does not fit into the broad spectrum to wipe out this Fire Department... this is a City locked in by bridges ... a great amount of the land is liquefaction... there would be numerous fires in the event of a large earthquake... if the bridges are wiped out the fire equipment is not going to get to Old Town or Leisure World, even into the City ... the Fire Department is important to this small town * The paid personnel are not at the Station all of the time ... they leave the area for training for hours at a time, leave the area on move -ups for other companies that are at fires, to respond to other major fires, so there is no coverage * The volunteers are being asked to not be volunteer firefighters rather to respond to EMS calls, it is a self - fulfilling prophesy, there will be no volunteers in two or three years, those are not good runs, EMS runs do not make you feel good, within three years the OCFD will say it can not fill the positions then the City will get another engine, that will be another $1 million per year, a three man engine company can respond to EMS calls but they do not put out fires * There is another Station in the County that is going to remain with a paid and a volunteer company with an engine, why then is Seal Beach being singled out * The proposed fire and rescue restructuring will affect all of Seal Beach... response will take longer ... two engines will be coming from out of town ... two engines will be lost from Old Town, one would be the aerial unit, the closest of such units would be from Cypress or Westminster, loss of rescue equipment like the jaws of life, this is a loss of local services that will have to be provided from out of town, there will be increased delay for response time because of the Bixby development and the bridge congestion—there would be limited use of the volunteers as compared to what it is now, yet they are about half of the force and would now serve only medical emergencies * The volunteers are either local business owners, students, college students, or trained and certified firefighters and EMT's, unlike other volunteer units in Orange County the Seal Beach unit has ten to twenty - five years of experience, and are generally available most of the time, unlike the statistics presented * This is a threat to the health and safety of Seal Beach, the core of the City is geographically isolated by bridges, the City will lose two of four engines that serves the area, yet due to special circumstances and locations Surfside, Silverado Canyon, Modjeska Canyon, Villa Park and possibly another area will be retaining their current level of engines and volunteers, due to the geographic location alone Seal Beach must retain its engines and volunteers that come from the Old Town Station * if the downtown volunteer truck is lost the next closest is by the DMV at Westminster and Hoover, one can not get rid of the volunteers from this town * The changes are based on issues, politics, and statistics that the OCFA is taking in a Countywide mode and trying to apply it to a particular community, a quote being of the consultant with regard to recruiting, training, and maintaining volunteers, politics are a reality within the fire service and must be considered when determining what type of delivery system is utilized, the opinion is that a combination paid /volunteer fire department is the most cost effective way to provide fire protection in a small to medium size community * This is a small, self- contained, small town community with a system in place that has worked, has had a high retention rate, recruiting has always been turning people away even though it has been two years since they have been allowed to recruit to replenish the ranks ... the consultant noted that there may be areas within the OCFA service area where the community places a high value on its reserve firefighters and where it may be a responsible political decision to leave reserve units as fully capable engine companies rather than support service units, that too applies to Seal Beach * With the aggressive move -up and cover policy, as of September 11`" the Navy engine is no longer allowed to respond off the Base, that unit would not be available, with regard to the automatic aid agreement with Long Beach that applies primarily to the freeways, there has never been a Long Beach engine response to Old Town * With regard to EMS and EMT training, all volunteers are trained to use the defibrillation units... with regard to additional training it is agreed that the aerial truck is a specialized piece of equipment, as is an engine or an air utility unit, it involves training, the volunteers have trained for the last twenty years on the operation of an aerial truck, that without any training from the OCFA * With regard to the statistics relating to the volunteers to be first on scene, their role is not to be first but to support the full time career firefighters, in the case of a structure fire the regular firefighters go to the scene first, the volunteers are the second due engine to supply water—the role of their truck company too is to provide ventilation to make the inside air tenable to make a fire attack ... the volunteer unit is first on scene when the paid company is on a call, moved up, or is in training * Under the OCFA plan they will be taking eighteen pieces of fire apparatus not including ancillary support vehicles out of the system * There does not seem to be any difference between Sunset Beach and Seal Beach with regard to leaving a full time volunteer staff and engine... with the proper support and training by the OCFA, being allowed to recruit and bring in new members, there is no reason that can be seen as to why the Seal Beach volunteer unit should not be a viable company for many years to come * They also want to take an engine out of Los Alamitos, Cypress, La Palma, and Midway City ... that too will have an affect ... the move -ups can only be moved so far * The training records are not totally accurate... there has only been a handful of training classes during the last three years * volunteers contribute to the community in many ways * There are nine fully State certified firefighter I's from the roster of eighteen, four full -time firefighters, some have been medics * The statistics, the numbers, appear to be the everyday general emergency responses, house fires, brush fires, yet one does need to think about a big emergency, a major catastrophe, with current resources they will respond to the most important locations, high rise structure fires, freeway accidents, if the bridges are lost who will be here, what will be done in an emergency situation, some type of system needs to be kept * The Seal Beach volunteer firefighters have been a major part of the City of Seal Beach community spirit * The volunteers check or start the tools every week ... that so they will all work when needed, the tools are being maintained, and for free . . * Of concern is when the regular unit is out ... there is no one to respond to a need or the next unit may come from Westminster as the closest * The City gave up its local control to save money, this is the price that will be paid, the decision is no longer with the City * Concerns — what if 9/11 occurred at the Naval Weapons Station, what if there is an earthquake.... need to keep the local services and local control * ** Motion — Keep the volunteer fire department in tact and in place, and direct the Orange County Fire Authority representative to vote likewise, also send a letter to the Orange County Fire Authority indicating the strong feelings of Seal Beach in that regard * If the bridge goes down the City is a very isolated area * ** Response -- the OCFA is not looking to reduce the fire service in the community, they are looking to restructure the reserve component so that the volunteers can play a safe and reliable role in the community emergency delivery system, that is the EMS component, they are not looking to change the fire response that is currently provide, mainly with the full time firefighters, that has been done for several years, the importance of truck company service is understood, however there is not a truck company in every station, in reality, especially with a truck company, it is an issue of safety, they can not provide and sustain the additional level of training required for the volunteers to safely operate that piece of equipment for the small number of calls that they go to, the coverage is being provided from other resources, from other stations, and they will ensure, guarantee and ensure, that there are adequate truck companies in this community