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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10172022 City Council Laydown - Fire Budget • OcA- —71 2612 Seward Fire Department Volunteer Firefighter/EMT Shortage Overview The Seward Fire Department(SFD) was established in 1906 as an all-volunteer organization. SFD is a mostly volunteer-based system staffed with 5 full-time personnel and volunteers who provide traditional fire, rescue,hazardous materials, training and community outreach, fire prevention services, other technical services, and basic emergency medical care. In 2021, SFD responded to 292 requests for services with 13 Fires, 167 Emergency Medical Services, 31 false alarms, 32 service calls and 49 other types of service requests. Over the last few years Seward Fire Department has been steadily losing volunteer members due to retirement/age, lack of housing or jobs, and work commitments. The level and quantity of trained fire or EMS emergency responders is marginal for the city of Seward. Our current response matrix is insufficient to meet our customers' expectations. Various campaign mechanisms such as flyers, newspaper ads, social media postings, word of mouth,banners, and public outreach has for the most part been unsuccessful. We have seen a dramatic decrease in volunteerism after Covid-19 where it seems many people just enjoy their time off, want to "get out" and be active, and unfortunately a loss of community service. We have lost members due to high cost of living, no permanent housing, and taking on jobs that precluded them from volunteering. Ultimately, city council is responsible to the public to provide the level of service that the citizens desire and for which they are willing to pay. Seward City Code 9.15.225 directs the fire chief to "be responsible for maintaining adequate firefighting equipment and manpower on call at all times to combat fire within the city". At this time, this is an impossible task and is not currently being met. In the City of Seward and Bear Creek Fire Service area to include 57.8 of the Sterling Hwy and Mile 62 mile of the Seward Hwy Emergency Medical Services (EMS)is provided by a separate all volunteer organization, Seward Volunteer Ambulance Corp (SVAC). This report will not address the number of volunteers, training, abilities, or any other response characteristics for SVAC. However, it should be noted, SVAC struggles with the same low-volunteerism that is noted nationwide and here in Seward. Emergency Response Staffing It takes an adequate and properly trained staff of emergency responders to put the appropriate emergency apparatus and equipment to its best use in mitigating incidents. Insufficient staffing at an operational scene decreases the effectiveness of the response and increases the risk of injury to all individuals involved including the patients and victims. Current paid staffing at Seward Fire include the Fire Chief, Deputy Fire Chief, Executive Administrative Assistant, Building Official and Building/Fire Inspector. Volunteer staffing includes 7 certified firefighters, 3 recruits, and 5 auxiliary members. Paid staff have work responsibilities beyond the emergency response such as budgeting, station and vehicle maintenance, fleet management,training, equipment compliance, fire and life safety inspections, plan-review, public outreach, and emergency management. However, the workload and additional operational demands exceed available staff time and calls for emergency service during the work day hours detract from the ability to focus on administrative needs. Currently,the Fire Chief and Deputy Chief have to split on call to cover 24-hour 365-day coverage which leaves little to no down time. In addition to the 40+hour regular work schedule, both positions respond to 15-20 incidents per month outside of normally work hours. Many nights it's just the on-call officer that responds to alarms, service calls, and medical calls. Training The Deputy Fire Chief is responsible to serve as the single point of responsibility for conducting all needs assessments relative to training, as well as program design, coordination, delivery, and evaluation. The value in this arrangement is that the training of all personnel is delivered in a consistent manner. This utilization of a single training officer is common among departments across the United States. Consideration should be given to hiring a full-time Training and Recruitment Chief to relieve the time-consuming commitment this role takes to provide additional time for the Deputy Chief to focus on operational tasks and assignments such as maintenance, fleet management, equipment certifications, policy and procedures, and other operational department needs. This position would not only focus on quality fire and EMS training,but serve as a full-time recruitment officer to focus on community outreach and continue the proud legacy of the Seward Volunteer Firefighters. The Training and Recruitment Chief would also provide a 3`l exempt position to provide much needed after hours on call coverage to prevent burn out and share the workload amongst the other two chiefs. The Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Chief are the only two positions in the city that require a 24hr immediate response. Future Deployment and Staffing Models and Recommendations Setting the staffing levels is a determination made at the community level based on risk, capability, and citizen expectations and is guided by national recommendations such as those found in National Fire Protection Association Standard (NFPA) 1720. Per NFPA 1720 based on a low-hazard occupancy, Seward Fire should have a turn out time of 90 seconds for fires and 60 seconds for EMS calls 90%of the time and should have a minimum of 6 personnel for fires. For a working structure fire, a minimum of 15 personnel is required to safely operate a fire scene. Some of these personnel can come from surrounding automatic aids but getting the initial apparatus enroute, and establishing water lines quickly is a struggle with the current matrix. Incidents may escalate beyond the capability of the initial assignment of units and staff, resulting in additional apparatus and personnel required. It may prove difficult or financially impossible to staff for those worst-case incidents. In those instances, a strong automatic aid system is required and in place,however, those departments struggle with volunteerism as experience as well. It is the assessment from the fire department that hiring full-time firefighters is inevitable. The City of Seward cannot afford a 100% full-time fire department. What we are suggesting is a firefighter/EMT be at the ready 24hrs a day to get an apparatus enroute and begin initial fire or EMS operations in a timely manner. To obtain this, the fire department suggests beginning in 2023 with two full-time firefighter/EMTs working 12-hour shifts. This would provide coverage 7 days a week during the daytime when volunteers are at work and paid staff have other obligations. Beginning in 2024 a third firefighter should be hired and then transition into a 24 hour on 48 hours off schedule. This would provide one full-time firefighter/EMT 24hrs/7 days a week. Also in 2024, it is requested to hire a Training& Recruitment Chief to provide an additional on call officer and focus on much needed recruitment of volunteers and quality training. A funding level must be established that matches the fire department's deployment capability to mitigate the risk to a level that meets the community's expectations. This funding level could be a 2%increase to the bed tax dedicated solely to fire department staffing.