The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, who also serve as the fire board, approved a plan Tuesday by Contra Costa Fire Protection District Fire Chief Jeff Carman of how to spend a $9.6 million federal grant.
Under the proposed plan, CONFIRE will add two-additional two-person medical response vehicles while re-opening the Clayton fire station.
The original thought for the grant was to hire 27-additional firefighters which the Chief called the hiring of 27-firefighters a “much needed shot in the arm”, however, the SAFER Grant only payers for entry level firefighters and if not done correctly could be detrimental financially to the District in the long term
While the District will get some entry level firefighters, the idea behind the Chiefs plan is to rebuild the District which he called rebuilding the district just as emotional as tearing one down.
“I don’t envy Chief Louder and what he had to go through a few years ago,” stated Carman. “My goal as fire chief is to provide equal protection from border to border within the District.”
The Chief explained they looked at lots of data when making the recommendations such as consideration response times, seeing the response times with the closures to see what opens first, a variety of statistics. He called it a tough decision
His first priority was adding a squad in at Station 6 located in downtown Concord calling the station very busy as they run over 4100 calls annually and over 11 calls per day.
“We analyzed the type of calls they went on and feel strongly by adding a 2-persons squad will reduce the call volume to 4-5 calls per day for the truck. In addition it will add two additional firefighters to the station so if a fire does break out they can respond as a five-person crew,” Explained Chief Carman.
Priority 2 was to add a full engine company and reopen Fire Station 11 located in Clayton.
“When we look at Clayton, they are running over 800 incidents annually, but a lot of those are significant incidents,” stated Carman. “One thing that makes Clayton a good candidate for an engine versus a two-person squad is its location in the District.”
Chief Carman explained that when you close a station in the central part of the district, you have the ability to respond with the outside stations coming into the center—creating faster response from all locations—but the outside you have engines coming from a further distance away and in some cases across the District.
The final priority is to add a squad at Fire Station 1 located in downtown Walnut Creek. This station is in a high-risk area where even a small fire could be economically devastating. The second squad will be placed in this station to reduce the number of calls that Quint 1 responds to, allowing it to be available more often for major incidents. They currently run 2,300 calls annually—6.5 incidents per day.
Other priorities include a Red Flag Weather Contingency where on days with Red Flag Weather is declared, squads may be upgraded to a 3-person type-III wildland Engine when necessary.
With AB197 (retirement benefit being taken away causing people to retire today to keep benefits) having the potential to create 5-10 more vacancies within the District, there is a potential to need a second academy of graduates to help fill vacancies—estimated this academy could be in late 2014. Fire academies could run as fast as 12-weeks but in most cases they run up to 16-weeks.
The Board of Supervisors approved this plan 4-0 with Supervisor Federal Glover being absent.
In an email to Chief Carman, we asked him if the District was planning on hiring East Contra Costa Fire Protection District firefighters who will be laid off later this year.
Chief Carmans response is as follows:
“First, there are some of east county’s personnel on our list. As you know, we have very strict rules on how we hire, and those rules reside in county HR. But we are trying to see if we could take lateral firefighters from east county that could come into our organization without having to go through a full academy. I have not heard back from HR yet on whether or not there is anything we can do to hire those firefighters separate from our current firefighter candidate list.”
Here is information from the Staff Report:
BACKGROUND:
In 2012, the District applied for a Federal Emergency Management Agency Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant which would prevent further closures of fire stations and allow the District to hire/retain 27 firefighters. The grant was awarded on February 21, 2014, in the amount of $9,571,500 to be used over a two-year performance period.
Although the grant provides funding for 27 firefighters, it is important to remember that the grant does not cover any additional costs such as the differential between firefighter, fire engineer, and fire captain. Because of this, it is cost prohibitive for the District to simply hire the 27 firefighters and place three 3-person engine companies into service.
In determining the best deployment for the District and the customers we serve, a group was commissioned to study the performance data of all of the fire stations to determine:
- If the stations closed during the financial crisis were the proper ones to close.
- How the closures affected response times and effective firefighting force mobilization.
- Where and what resources would provide the biggest impact on service performance.
Based on that review the following deployment is planned:
Priority 1: Add a squad at Fire Station 6 (Concord)
FS6 is an extremely busy fire station, running over 4100 calls annually and over 11 calls per day. It is imperative that we provide some relief to the personnel at that station to reduce fatigue and thus the potential for serious injury. Approximately 70% of the calls at FS6 are EMS, and of those over 50% are priority A, B, and C EMS calls. It is clear that a squad at FS6 would be beneficial. The addition of the squad will drop the call volume for Truck 6 to approximately seven calls per day. Additionally, when a major emergency occurs and both companies are in the station, the additional two personnel can provide much needed assistance to Truck 6. As resources become available to the District, priority consideration will be given to staffing an engine company in this station instead of a squad to add water pumping capability.Priority 2: Add an engine company at Fire Station 11 (Clayton)
FS11 experiences over 800 incidents annually – over 2 per day. Because over 65% of the incidents in this area are EMS, it seems as though a squad might be sufficient to provide coverage for this station. However, several factors must also be considered in this area. First, because the station is on the far eastern edge of the District, it is difficult and time consuming to provide back-up resources into the area. Second, due to its proximity to critical wildland fire and urban interface potential, it is imperative that a resource with firefighting capability be staffed in this station. For these reasons a full engine company will be restored at FS11.Priority 3: Add a squad at Fire Station 1 (Walnut Creek)
FS1 is running 2300 calls annually – approximately 6.5 incidents per day. The station is in a high-risk area where even a small fire could be economically devastating. The second squad will be placed in this station to reduce the number of calls that Quint 1 responds to, allowing it to be available more often for major incidents. The projection is that Squad 1 will respond to approximately 750 incidents annually, reducing Q1’s daily responses significantly. Additionally, SQ1 will add service capacity to nearby stations such as Fire Station 4 and Fire Station15 and add additional personnel to Q1 when major incidents occur.Red Flag Weather Contingency:
As an option, on days where Red Flag Weather has been declared, squads may be upgraded to a 3-person type-III wildland engine when necessary.AB197 Contingency plan:
The District currently has 12 vacancies which it has been filling utilizing overtime staffing. There is an unspecified number of vacancies that can be safely filled utilizing overtime as it is cheaper for the District to do so but has the potential of causing burnout, fatigue, and injury. AB197 has the potential of creating 5-10 more vacancies within the District at both line and management levels. Because it takes an extended period of time to bring new personnel into the organization, these new vacancies will also have to be filled with overtime staffing. Two additional factors that must be considered include the forthcoming fire season and summer vacations. One remedy for the District will be the ability to utilize the SAFER grant personnel to fill some of the vacancies once the first training academy graduates. Doing so will eliminate the ability of the District to add the resources listed above until a second academy graduates. The estimated time frame for the second academy graduation is late 2014.
