2010-2011 Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury Report Fighting Fire or Fighting Change?

Conclusions 10

• CL1
  It is extremely costly to equip a fire department for only the occasional fire response; the County and fifteen towns/cities have not been proactive in challenging fire departments to adopt changes that are more cost effective and that better serve their communities. Further, unions are more interested in job preservation than in providing the right mix of capabilities at a reasonable cost, using scare tactics to influence the public and fostering firefighter unwillingness to collaborate with EMS.
• CL2
  Based on SCC’s fluctuating demand for emergency services, contractually based minimum staffing requirements are not warranted and hinder fire chiefs in effectively managing firefighter staffing to meet time of day, day of week, season of year demand. This wastes money and may drive station closure as budgets continue to erode.
• CL3
  Whether the emergency responder is a firefighter-paramedic or an EMS paramedic matters little to the person with the medical emergency; using firefighter-paramedics in firefighting equipment as first responders to all non-police emergencies is unnecessarily costly when less expensive paramedics on ambulances possess the skills needed to address the 96% of calls that are not fire related.
• CL4
  Emergency callers care less about seeing their city/town name on the equipment door than receiving timely assistance when needed, and a wide variety of consolidation opportunities offer cities ways to deliver emergency response services at a reduced cost and without compromising service response times.
• CL5
  Total of structure and other fires. 9. CCFD data includes contracted Los Altos Hills and Saratoga Districts
• CL6
  EMS Agency data from 2009 Exception Reports by EMSA Committee 26 Appendix C: Santa Clara County Emergency Medical Services Agency Response Requirements and Performance Penalties (excerpted from the EMS Agency’s Exemption Review Committee Process Guide – EMS 830, Pgs 14 and 15) . 27 This report was PASSED and ADOPTED with a concurrence of at least 12 grand jurors on this 12th day of May, 2011. Helene I. Popenhaager Foreperson Gerard Roney Foreperson pro tem Kathryn Janoff Secretary 28
• CL7
  Population served (may be more than just city).
• CL8
  Apparatus (including reserves) listed in LAFCO report Appendix C.
• CL9
  CCFD data includes contracted Los Altos Hills Fire District and Saratoga Fire District. 25 Table B3: Consolidated Data from LAFCO Report: Countywide Fire Services Review (December 15, 2010) NOTES (continued): 7. Set by each department
• CL10
  Emergency Medical Calls only. 8. ISO rating may affect insurance rates