City of Palo Alto

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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. Response The City of Palo Alto agrees and disagrees with this finding. The City recognizes that it is costly to equip a fire department and has actively sought to gain a greater understanding of the Palo Alto Fire Department operations, costs and service delivery model. To that end, it has recently commissioned and is in the process of completing three separate studies to review operations within the Fire Department. However, in reviewing the Grand Jury's report, Table 1 on identifies the jurisdictions within Santa Clara County and states that Palo Alto is the highest per capita city/district in the county at $419. The City believes that this assessment is is incorrect because it does not include the population of Stanford/SLAC and revenue generated through ambulance transport, Stanford and SLAC contracts, plan check and other fees. A more representative analysis of cost associated with service delivery can be found in the 2010 LAFCO report that shows that Palo Alto's per capita cost to be $244.

Related Recommendations (3)

R1A

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All cities that manage their own fire department—Gilroy, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale-and the County (for CCFD and SCFD) should benchmark and observe best practices from communities that have demonstrated successful changes in response protocol and consolidation efforts, such as in San Mateo County, CA; West Jordan, UT; or Scottsdale, Arizona. Response The City of Palo Alto agrees with this recommendation and has taken steps to implement the recommended action. This year the City of Palo Alto completed three studies—(1) Fire Services Utilization and Resources,(2) Emergency Medical Services and (3) Office of Emergency Services . City staff are in the process of implementing or proposing to the best practices which have been identified in these reports. Some of the recommendations from these reports, particularly the Utilization and Resources study, require meet and confer with labor. Additionally, staff has visited San Mateo County and West Jordan, Utah to tour facilities and understand their service delivery models. Staff members will also be visiting Scottsdale and Phoenix to observe their operations in the near future. Consolidations have occurred throughout the County, along with auto-aid and mutual-aid agreements which have been in place for decades. Regionalized efforts including shared dispatch service, closest unit response, emergency management, joint training, sharing technology solutions, hazardous materials response and training, homeland security grants and regionalized resources are These consolidation, collaborations, and aid agreements are in place. continually evaluated and refined. The City of Palo Alto recently signed a new, expanded auto-aid agreement with Menlo Park Fire Prevention District. This agreement adds truck company and battalion chief

R1B

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All fifteen towns/cities—Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Saratoga, Sunnyvale—and the County (for CCFD and SCFD) should determine the emergency response service they want to achieve, particularly as to the result, then determine how best to achieve that. Response The City of Palo Alto agrees with this statement and has already taken steps to implement this recommendation. In 2011 the City of Palo Alto completed the previously mentioned Fire Services Utilization and Resources Study. The scope of this project was to provide a third party independent review of the PAFD such that city officials can understand how well the system is working and how the fire department can provide services more efficiently. A major part of this study was to look at station locations and response times and an analysis of Fire and EMS Operations as compared to the Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE) Standard of Cover process as a benchmark. The Fire Study made some excellent recommendations to improve efficiency and effectiveness. The City of Palo Alto and Fire Department command staff are in the process of evaluating the exact level of service that is appropriate for the City and expect to make a more precise determination within the next 12 months (?). To make this determination the City will consider costs, station locations (including closing, merging and building new stations), community input and labor issues.

R1C

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All cities that manage their own fire department—Gilroy, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale—and the County (for CCFD and SCFD) should collaborate with their fire department, union and political leadership to drive fire department change and develop consistent, joint communications messages for the public. Response The City of Palo Alto agrees with this recommendation and has not yet implemented this recommendation. The Palo Alto Fire Department and Local 1319 meet bi-monthly to discuss issues of mutual interest. In addition, the Santa Clara County Fire Chiefs Association meets with the joint labor council to address issues and develop a consistent message. However, as the City and the fire union are currently at impasse in labor negotiations, it is clear that these meetings alone have not resulted in effective collaboration or policy change. The City believes this recommendation has a great potential as each of these groups has a vested interest in providing the best level of service for the community, and will work to implement this recommendation in 2012 after the current cycle of negotiations resolves.

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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. Kesponse The City of Palo Alto agrees with this finding. The City of Palo Alto does have contractually mandated minimum staffing for each piece of apparatus and per shift. Apparatus are staffed with three (3) personnel on engines, trucks and rescues and two (2) paramedics on ambulances. Daily minimum staffing requirements are 29 personnel, excluding the battalion chief, and 31 when the foothills station is open.

Related Recommendations (1)

R2

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All cities that manage their own fire department—Gilroy, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale—and the County (for CCFD and SCFD) and that also have contractual minimum staffing requirements should reopen negotiations with the unions to eliminate this term and any other term that limits a fire chief's ability to "right-size" staffing given the time of day or time of year. Response The City of Palo Alto agrees with this recommendation and has already proposed elimination of staffing minimums. The City of Palo Alto is currently at impasse in labor negotiations with the union. The City has proposed eliminating the minimum staffing requirements and the labor union has not agreed. The City anticipates resolution by 2012

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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. Response The City of Palo Alto agrees and disagrees with this finding. To the extent that medical emergencies occur in which emergency medical needs are not able to be met by paramedics on ambulances due to the need for additional personnel for patient treatment while on scene, patient treatment while en-route to a hospital, victim extrication, patient packaging and loading, changing the response protocols may not be effective for some cases. For example, Table 2 in the Grand Jury report indicates that approximately 4% of calls are for fires, 70% of calls are for emergency medical service, and 26% of calls are for "Other" - a classification that includes rescues, hazardous materials responses, alarm activations, and a number of other types of calls for service. For the "Other" calls involving technical rescues, hazardous materials releases paramedics on ambulances would not possess the skills, or the equipment necessary to address those issues However, the City of Palo Alto recognizes that we can tailor our response to medical emergencies through the use of Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) procedures. This will enable the Fire Department to respond the appropriate resources to a given incident based upon standardized guidelines. This will reduce the need to send a fire engine on all medical emergency calls. The Palo Alto Fire Department will implement EMD this fiscal year.

Related Recommendations (4)

R3A

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All fifteen towns/cities—Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Saratoga, Sunnyvale—and the County (for CCFD and SCFD) should adopt an emergency services department mentality and staff or contract accordingly to meet demand. Response The City of Palo Alto agrees with this recommendation and is working to implement it. The Palo Alto Fire Department has been proactive and introspective in examining our current procedures and efficiency. Consultant studies have provided the City with meaningful data and recommendations to modify our staffing based on demand and best practices. Some current examples of existing strategies to staff according to demand include cross-staffing apparatus, staffing a fire station in the foothills only in the peak fire season, and staffing an ambulance during high demand periods. However, our current Memorandum of Understanding does not allow the Fire Department to reduce staffing levels. As discussed above, the City has proposed eliminating the minimum staffing provision and we are currently at impasse in negotiations over the issue.

R3B

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The County should modify its approach to mandating (through direct contract or through the EMS provider contract) that fire departments serve as first-responder, reserve the use of firefighting vehicles for fire events, and enable the EMS contractor to be first responder. Response The City of Palo Alto agrees with this statement. The Palo Alto Fire Department has exclusive operating rights for 9-1-1 transport services separate from the rest of the county and is in the process of conducting a study that will address options for enhancing the service and may include recommendation for contracting or altering the

R3C

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In consideration of non-fire emergencies, all cities that manage their own fire department—Gilroy, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale—and the County (for CCFD and SCFD) should modify fire department protocols to authorize, incorporate and use less expensive non-firefighter paramedics and non-firefighting equipment. Response The City of Palo Alto agrees with this statement. As stated in previous

R3D

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All cities that manage their own fire department—Gilroy, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale—and the County (for CCFD and SCFD) should consider ways to extend the service life of expensive firefighting vehicles by augmenting with ambulance vehicles—either newly purchased as fire apparatus is replaced or in collaboration with the county EMS provider. Response The City of Palo Alto agrees with this

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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. Response The City of Palo Alto agrees with this finding. The City of Palo Alto is participating in a variety of multi-agency efforts to consolidate services or share services and resources. Technology is now available, or being developed, to drop geographic boundaries and use virtual mapping to assign the closest first responder regardless of agency affiliation. This effort is led in part by the Silicon Valley Regional Interoperability Authority (SVRIA). The City of Palo Alto has existing automatic aid agreements with neighboring agencies that provides the closest available resource to respond to emergencies regardless of the jurisdiction.

Related Recommendations (2)

R4A

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All cities that manage their own fire department—Gilroy, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale—and the County (for CCFD and SCFD) should evaluate and implement cost-saving consolidations, including administration consolidation, boundary drop, department or regional consolidation, purchasing, personnel training and equipment maintenance. Response The City of Palo Alto agrees with this recommendation and has implemented programs in many of these areas. The City of Palo Alto is currently utilizing one Chief to oversee the Police and Fire Departments. The City participates in regional training for recruit academies and fire officer training. The City of Palo Alto is out to bid with the cities of Los Altos and Mountain View for the joint purchase of a new Computer Aided Dispatching system and are actively working to create a virtual consolidation of our dispatch centers to reduce costs. We have recently updated the Automatic Aid Agreement with Menlo Park Fire (San Mateo County) to include Battalion Chief and truck company

R4B

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All cities that manage their own fire department—Gilroy, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale—and the County (for CCFD and SCFD) should consider adopting a vehicle fleet management approach by establishing a county-wide standard for vehicles and equipment, consolidating purchases to take advantage of lowered costs, and consolidating maintenance or revisiting guaranteed maintenance contracts on new vehicle purchases. Response The City of Palo Alto agrees with this recommendation. Examples of implementation include: -The City of Palo Alto and the City of Mountain View jointly purchased, maintain and share a Reserve Fire Truck. -Santa Clara County fire agencies are applying for a regional Assistance to Firefighters Grant for apparatus mobile and portable multi-band radios. -The City of Palo Alto has collaborated with other fire agencies to maximize opportunities and lower costs in the purchase of fire trucks, engines and ambulances. City of Palo Alto (ID # 2052) City Council Staff Report Report Type: Consent Calendar Meeting Date: 9/12/2011 Summary Title: Grand Jury - "Fighting Fire or Fighting Change? Title: Approval of Response to Santa Clara County Grand Jury Report on "Fighting Fire or Fighting Change? Rethinking Fire Department Response Protocol and Consolidation Opportunities" From: City Manager Lead Department: Fire Recommendation Staff recommends that Council approve the attached response to the Santa Clara County Grand Jury report on the fire service in Santa Clara County. Executive Summary The 2010-2011 Santa Clara County Grand Jury Report entitled, "Fighting Fire or Fighting Change? Rethinking Fire Department Response Protocol and Consolidation Opportunities," outlines a number of concerns,

Findings and Recommendations 4 findings