Imperial County Fire Department

The Airport Station’s overhead apparatus stall doors will not close. Concerns for safety were expressed.

The air conditioning unit is not adequate.

Basic essentials such as toilet paper, laundry detergent and soap are consistently in short supply or not available. (This finding was reported for most of the Department as a whole) • Station 2.

The sleeping quarters on the second floor do not have windows. Windows serve as a second escape route in an emergency.

There is a locked room on the 2nd floor with unknown contents and no access as nobody has keys to it.

There are no smoke or heat detectors.

There are no portable hand held fire extinguishers hung in the station.

The upstairs A/C unit is too small to cool the sleeping and kitchen areas during the summer. • Station

The hot water heater is not strapped to the wall.

The work required to bring the station up to acceptable standards is placed on the firefighters. The heavy labor the firefighters do may delay or extend their response time to emergencies. RECOMMENDATONS • The Department should consider hiring additional firefighters to meet NFPA standards and provide needed fire and emergency services to the public. Consideration should be given to hiring experienced firefighters, given the relatively large number of inexperienced firefighters in the department. • The personnel reorganization plan should be explained to all Department members to avoid any misunderstandings. • The filling of vacant positions within the Department should be uniform and consistent. Hiring, reorganizing, and promotion practices should be consistently followed to avoid the appearance of favoritism or catering to selected employees. • A succession plan should be in place to smoothly and effectively replace vacancies. The Director of Human Resources and Risk Management should be informed and aware of personnel reorganizations or changes early in the process. • A Chief Officer should be designated to be a facilities safety officer to ensure that the safety issues and basic necessities of the Department’s living quarters are met. • The Department’s upper staff should be more responsive to the needs and concerns of its lower ranking staff. This is likely to build up the morale of the Department and confidence in its leaders. • Coverage for outlying and remote areas of the county should be studied and plans made to shorten response times. • The County Fire Department should prioritize and address the various deficiencies identified by the Civil Grand Jury Investigative Committee at each of the fire stations. RESPONSE The Imperial County Civil Grand Jury respectfully requests that it be notified by the Imperial County Fire Department and the Director of Human Resources and Risk Management of actions taken in response to these recommendations.