The latest East Contra Costa Fire Protection District Board packet offers insights into their ongoing hiring process which has netted 353 qualified applicants while response times jumped from 7:10 minutes in June to 7:49 in October.
Bethel Island’s response jumped out at me as their average response time is over 12:00 minutes–this should come down some now that the Knightsen station has been re-opened. Still, given the situation dealt to our firefighters, they have done a hell of a job considering three stations were covering 250-sq. miles.
PREVIOUS ACTION
At the June 25, 2012 Board of Directors meeting, the board approved by Resolution 2012–10 the Preliminary Operating Budget for fiscal year 2012/2013. The preliminary operating budget reduced staffing levels from 48 personnel to 27 personnel and closed three fire stations.
On August 29, 2012, the Board approved by resolution to accept the 2011/12 SAFER Grant. The grant period started November 18, 2012 and will end November 17, 2014.
SUBJECT BACKGROUND
The staff report is to give you a summary of the activities throughout the District for the months of October and November;
On November 18, 2012 at 8 AM the District reopened Fire Station 94 in Knightsen as part of the SAFER Grant. The crew of three consists of a Fire Captain, Engineer, and Firefighter. This changes our service model from three stations to four stations.
Rehiring and recruitment:
The District has rehired eight of our fifteen firefighters that were laid off. Of the seven other firefighters that did not return to the District, six were placed in other fire districts.
After contacting our laid-off employees, the district started recruitment off the California displaced firefighters list, where the district mailed out 134 flyers to the candidates who were on that list. We received a total of 10 applications and those applicants were interviewed on October 19. Three of the ten candidates were sent for background checks. The background checks were completed on November 19, final interview was set for November 26. The district has made a conditional job offer to one of the three candidates pending his medical exam. The other two candidates have pulled their names from the hiring process due to the agency that they have been laid off from rehiring them.
The third process the district is been working on is open recruitment which closed on November 21. The district received 353 qualified applicants that will be taking written exams starting December 6 through December 15. The district will receive the ranking from the written test by December 21. We have tentatively scheduled interviews for the top 25 on January 3-4, 2013. After the interviews, we will send the top nine candidates through a background check and anticipate having those background checks completed by February 1. After background checks, conditional job offers and medical exams will be completed.
We anticipate starting the nine new hires in the beginning of March and getting them through their basic training which will consist of approximately 6 weeks.
The reopening of the downtown Brentwood station 54 then would happen in the month of April.
The district also needs to conduct promotional testing for two fire Engineers as part of reopening the downtown Brentwood station.
Calls for service:
In reviewing the calls for service for the month of October, there were a total of 505 calls with an average response time of 7:49 minutes. Comparing this to the month of June, the District ran 546 calls with an average response time of 7.10 minutes. The response times for the first six months of the year averaged for the District was 6:24 minutes for 3162 calls.
Looking at the response times for closed stations;
- Station 54-downtown Brentwood, had 116 calls in the month of October with an average response time of 8:20 minutes. In July there were a total of 112 calls with an average response time of 6.56 minutes. For the six the first six months of the year there were 675 calls with an average response time of 5.23 minutes.
- Station 94- Knightsen, had 11 calls in the month of October with an average response time of 9:17 minutes. In July there were a total of 18 calls with an average response time of 11.15 minutes. For the first six months of the year there were 71 calls with an average response time of 8.05 minutes.
- Station 95-Bethel Island had 25 calls in the month of October with an average response time of 12:59 minutes. In the month of July there were 26 calls with an average response time of 10.32 minutes. For the first six months of the year there were 574 calls with an average response time of 7.01 minutes.
Auto aid:
In the month of October the district received auto aid from Contra Costa County Fire 33 times with them sending 47 units. The District sent auto aid to Contra Costa County Fire 10 times providing them with 13 units. During the month of July, Contra Costa County Fire came into the District 49 times with 64 units and we responded into Contra Costa County Fire 16 times with 18 units. The first six months of the year, the District has received auto aid from Contra Costa County Fire 155 times with 201 units. The District has responded to Contra Costa County Fire 100 times with a total of 117 units.
The staff report was written prior to the month of November ending. A verbal report on November’s response times and auto aid will be given at the meeting.
Full Board Packet: Board Packet December 3 2012
The packet also includes:
- Tentative 2013 Meeting Schedule
- Selection of President & Vice President for 2013
6 comments
Burke, look closer, the District is not being honest with their response times. They are not comparing it to the previous month, They are comparing it do June. If they want to continue to compare to June, that is fine, but at least compare it to the previous month as well because it keeps them honest.
@Jill, what does it matter, response times are up no matter how you slice it!!!!!! It shows exactly what has occured which is what the District warned would happen if stations closed.
Christ can you find anything else to complain about?????? Why are they comparing to June? Because that was the last moth that all the stations were opened. Just trying to show the impact of the closed stations.
These people are hysterical. They cannot process fact(s). Burk, you could give them a sack of gold and they would complain about the weight first and the sack second!
They simply don’t “get it” and are happy to demonstrate it to everyone.
Millie? Jeff B? You two are up next. We are waiting…..
Maybe I am wrong here but 6-weeks doesn’t seem very long for training. what gives and how are they able to work aorund that when compared to other districts who have better training programs?
I don’t know a lot about the fire dept training but I bet that is just the basics and then they are assigned to a station. still in training but its hands on/on the job training for several more weeks or months. Vince can you explain the procedure better.
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