HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-21-2016 Item 01 Citygate Report on Southern City Development Impacts on Fire Emergency Response Services
Meeting Date: 6/21/2016
FROM: Garret Olson, Fire Chief
SUBJECT: CITYGATE REPORT ON SOUTHERN CITY DEVELOPMENT IMPACTS ON
FIRE EMERGENCY RESPONSE SERVICES
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Approve the updated Fire Master Plan; and
2. Provide City staff direction to incorporate into the revised Airport Area Specific Plan
(AASP) financial solutions to any funding gaps that may exist by the provision of
essential City services in the southern City prior to the General Fund’s capacity to fully
support those services; and
3. Direct Staff to return with amendments to the Safety Element to align with the Fire
Master Plan goals; and
4. Determine that the Fire Master Plan is covered by the general rule and exempt under
CEQA Section 15061 (b) 3 that CEQA applies only to projects which have the potential
for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty
that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the
environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA.
DISCUSSION
Background
On March 31, 2015, the City Council authorized staff to contract with Citygate Associates, LLC
(“Citygate”) for an analysis of fire-based emergency response services. This topic is particularly
timely with the recent adoption of a revised Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) and the
return of vibrant development activity throughout the City. Citygate and the City reported back
to the City Council in open session on October 20, 2015, with findings that a portion of the
southern area of the City is currently underserved by the General Plan Safety Element response
time objective of four minutes for fire and medical emergency response coverage for 95% of all
emergencies. Additionally, analysis showed that the development projects in the southern region
of the City are also outside of a four-minute response region for existing Fire Department
resources. The City Council directed staff and Citygate to:
1. Revise the four-minute emergency response time policy and define total travel time for
time sensitive emergency calls for service.
2. Consider the construction and staffing of a fifth fire station in the southern area of the
City in order to enhance the probability of achieving established response time standards.
3. Explore options for incrementally addressing emergency response coverage gaps, such as
initially addressing the medical response gap with a differently staffed and configured
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crew, and building toward full fire, rescue and medical services as the region develops
and additional funding is realized.
4. Consider land based financing models for the Master Plan, such as a Community
Facilities District, to finance any funding gap so that new development pays its fair share
for building and operating a fifth fire station.
Citygate has completed the analysis of fire-based emergency response services as well as a
preliminary estimate of the costs associated with adding a fifth staffed fire station. The San Luis
Obispo City Fire Department Fire Service Master Plan Update (“Master Plan Update”) is
included as Attachment A.
Major Topics
Three major topics from the update of the Master Plan were evaluated:
1. Measuring Fire Department emergency response time;
2. Providing Fire Department emergency response services to the developing southern City; and
3. Funding gaps that may exist by the provision of Fire Department emergency response services
in the southern City prior to the timing of additional General Fund revenue to fully support those
services.
Issue Detail: Measuring Fire Department Emergency Response Time
The General Plan Safety Element establishes performance goals for measuring Fire Department
response time. As currently written, the definition for response time measurement is vague and
references a standard not widely used today. The current goal states, the “Fire Department has
set a response-time objective of four minutes” with a recommendation to “meet this standard 95
percent of the time.” The Safety Element does not define the starting point for time
measurement. Interpretations of this starting point may include 9-1-1 pick-up by a
communications dispatcher or initial fire crew notification for response. Additionally, the Safety
Element did not differentiate between calls for service requiring the use of lights and siren versus
those calls for service which are less critical and do not require the use of lights and siren. If the
Master Plan is adopted, staff will return with future amendments to the Safety Element.
The Master Plan Update recommends the City adopts an updated emer gency response time
measurement as recommended based on Citygate’s analysis which is also consistent with the
best practice recommendations from the National Fire Protection Association (“NFPA”). The
NFPA is an international non-profit organization that researches and publishes standards for the
professional fire service. NFPA Standard 1710 entitled “Organization and Deployment of Fire
Suppression Operations by Career Fire Departments, 2016 ed.” provides response time
objectives relevant to the City. Citygate, staff and NFPA 1710 all recommend that we adopt an
objective of four minutes or less travel time for the first arriving engine company to 90% of all
fire and medical emergency incidents in the community which require lights and siren response.
The Master Plan Update also recommends the City adopt emergency response time
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measurements standards for multi-unit and special operations responses, such as responses to
fires, hazardous materials emergencies, and emergencies requiring technical rescue.
Total Response Times measurement is the sum of three primary components: Call Processing
Time, Turnout Time, and Travel Time. Call Processing Time is the amount of time between the
Dispatch Center answering a 9-1-1 call and subsequently dispatching the appropriate first
response fire unit. During Call Processing Time, emergency dispatchers question the 9-1-1
caller to identify information critical to the nature and location of the emergency. The next
component is Turnout Time which is the amount of time between dispatching the appropriate
first response unit and movement of the fire unit or apparatus. During Turnout Time, emergency
response personnel move to their apparatus, don the appropriate personal protective equipment,
and prepare the apparatus to be driven. Finally, Travel Time is that portion of Total Response
Time when the emergency response unit drives to the incident. For purposes of measuring Total
Response Time, only those incidents deemed time-critical are included. These are the instances
when the fire unit uses lights and siren to decrease Travel Time. The Master Plan Update further
recommends that the City focus energy on reducing Call Processing Time and Turnout Time,
both of which are higher than recommended standards. For time-critical single unit responses
Call Processing Time should account for one minute of less of the Total Response Time; Turnout
Time should account for two minutes of less of the Total Response Time; and Travel Time
should account for four minutes of less of the Total Response Time.
Issue Detail: Providing Fire Department emergency response services to the developing
southern City
The Master Plan Update researched the feasibility of relocating existing Fire Department
resources to provide the minimum amount of coverage necessary to meet emergency response
time goals. No such resource relocation solution – even when factoring in future transportation
enhancements in the Land Use and Circulation Element – was geographically possible given the
size, topography, and configuration of the City. The Master Plan Update concludes that a fifth
fire station is necessary to maintain the minimum level of emergency response desired by the
City.
The Master Plan Update does take into account modern building codes and fire protection
systems, including commercial and residential fire sprinkler systems. With these building
enhancements in mind, the Master Plan Update recommends a phased approach to providing Fire
Department emergency response services from the proposed fifth fire station. Since fire
protection systems do nothing for patients suffering a stroke or heart attack, the Master Plan
Update recommends implementation of an advanced life support, two-person Fire Department
response unit when 50% of the residential units in the southern City region are occupied.
Advanced life support refers to services provided by licensed paramedics. This service level
would be capable of responding to the majority of emergency medical incidents to the southern
City within the response time goal, thus decreasing the occurrence when existing Fire
Department resources are pulled from their response zones to meet the service needs in the
southern City. If this interim two-person response configuration is engaged, the Master Plan
Update recommends the City can defer implementation of an all-hazards three-person Fire
Department apparatus until the southern City is at 90% buildout, at which point the region would
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need the capability of a full Fire crew and apparatus.
Issue Detail: Funding gaps that may exist by the provision of Fire Department emergency
response services in the southern City prior to the General Fund’s capacity to fully support
those services
The General Plan forecasts the availability of sufficient revenue at the time of full City buildo ut
to support the provision of essential City services. However, since the Master Plan Update
recommends incrementally providing Fire Department emergency response services prior to full
buildout, a gap in General Fund capacity exists. The current timing and scope of revisions to the
Airport Area Specific Plan (AASP) provides an opportunity to incorporate the financial analysis
initiated by the Master Plan Report into the more holistic and comprehensive AASP. Given that
the minimum threshold for providing additional Fire Department emergency response services to
support southern area development is not triggered until 50% of the residential units in this area
are occupied, incorporating the assessment of Fire Department services into the revision of the
AASP does not unreasonably delay the critical nature of this assessment. Moreover this
comprehensive analysis will allow the city to assess services in addition to fire in determining
how to address interim financing of all city services. This will ultimately create certainty and
clarity for the council, community and property owners.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The proposed master plan consists of operational policies and objectives to guide future
operations of the Fire Department. These policies and objectives are exempt under the
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Section 15061 (b) 3 or the general rule that
CEQA applies only to projects which have the potential for causing a significant effect on the
environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in
question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA.
CONCURRENCES
The Community Development and Finance and IT Departments concur with the
recommendations in this report.
FISCAL IMPACT
If there is a recommendation by Council to provide additional Fire Department emergency
response resources prior to full buildout of the southern City, hence prior to the General Fund’s
capacity to fully fund that service, a full analysis for the fiscal impact will be included in the
update to the Airport Area Specific Plan. The financial forecasting included in the Master Plan
Update would then be one of many factors informing the revision of the AASP, which will return
to Council.
ALTERNATIVES
1. The City could delay adoption of the Fire Master Plan and related actions. This is not
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recommended because the revisions provide a policy and strategy basis to move forward
and provide clarity to the community about the approach to provide fire services in the
City, with particular emphasis in the southern part of the City.
2.The Council could make amendments to the Fire Master Plan. Should Council desire to
allocate additional Fire Department resources prior to the time additional General Fund
revenues can fully support the costs for these services. If this alternative is selected, it is
probable that increased calls for service to regions outside the Fire Department’s four-
minute response time capability, such as the developing southern City, would not only
result in greater response times to these regions, but would likely have a “domino effect”
resulting in longer response times to the existing City. This is particularly true when more
than one emergency occurs at the same time in the City.
3.The City could adjust performance measures for Fire Department emergency response.
This is not a recommended alternative since the Master Plan Update is based on national
best practice recommendations as well as the science regarding the connection between
emergency response times and positive outcomes for fires and serious medical
emergencies.
Attachments:
a - Vol 1 - SLO SOC-MP Update Report - Final (06-08-16)
b - Vol 2 - SLO SOC-MP Update Map Atlas - Final (06-08-16)
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Fire Service Master
Plan Update for the
2250 East Bidwell St., Ste #100 Folsom, CA 95630
(916)458-5100 Fax: (916) 983-2090
Management Consultants Folsom (Sacramento), CA
City of
San Luis Obispo
Fire Department
Volume 1 of 2 –Report
June 8, 2016
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Table of Contents page i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section Page
VOLUME 1 of 2 – Fire Service Master Plan Update Report (this volume)
Section 1—Executive Summary....................................................................................................1
1.1 Policy Choices Framework ............................................................................... 1
1.2 Citygate’s Overall Opinions on the State of the City’s Fire Services ............... 1
1.3 Field Operations Deployment (Fire Stations) ................................................... 2
1.4 Overall Deployment Evaluation ....................................................................... 3
1.5 Specific Findings and Recommendations ......................................................... 4
1.6 Next Steps ......................................................................................................... 8
Section 2—Study Methods Introduction .....................................................................................9
2.1 Standards of Coverage Study Processes ........................................................... 9
Section 3—San Luis Obispo Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment .................13
3.1 Why Does the City’s Fire Department Exist and How Does it Deliver the
Existing Fire Crew Deployment Services? ..................................................... 13
3.2 Community Risk Assessment ......................................................................... 16
3.3 Existing City Deployment............................................................................... 22
Section 4—Staffing and Geo-Mapping Analysis .......................................................................25
4.1 Critical Task Time Measures—What Must be Done Over What Time Frame
to Achieve the Stated Outcome Expectation? ................................................. 25
4.2 Distribution and Concentration Studies—How the Location of First-Due and
First Alarm Resources Affects the Outcome .................................................. 30
Section 5—Statistical Analysis ....................................................................................................35
5.1 Historical Effectiveness and Reliability of Response—What Statistics Say
About Existing System Performance .............................................................. 35
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Table of Contents page ii
5.2 Service Demand .............................................................................................. 35
5.3 Response Time Analysis ................................................................................. 37
5.4 Simultaneous Incident Activity....................................................................... 42
Section 6—Fiscal and Timing Impacts for a Possible Fifth Fire Station ................................45
6.1 Fire Department Component Costs ................................................................. 45
6.2 Fire Station Operational Timing ..................................................................... 45
Section 7—Overall Evaluation and Recommendation .............................................................47
7.1 Overall Evaluation .......................................................................................... 47
Table of Tables
Table 1—Total Response Time to 90% of Incidents (Minutes/Seconds) ....................................... 3
Table 2—Standards of Response Coverage Process Elements ..................................................... 10
Table 3—Fire Department Deployment Simplified ..................................................................... 10
Table 4—Probability and Consequence Matrix ............................................................................ 19
Table 5—Daily Minimum Staffing per Unit for the City – 2015 ................................................. 22
Table 6—First Alarm Structure Fire Tasks – 14 Fire First Responders ....................................... 26
Table 7—High Performance Cardiac Arrest Management: Six to Seven Firefighters, One
Battalion Chief, and an Ambulance Crew .................................................................................... 28
Table 8—Call to Arrival (Total) Response Time to 90% of Incidents (Minutes/Seconds).......... 38
Table 9—Call Processing Time Performance to 90% of Incidents (Minutes/Seconds) ............... 39
Table 10—Turnout Time Performance to 90% of Incidents (Minutes/Seconds) ......................... 39
Table 11—Travel Time Performance to 90% of Incidents (Minutes/Seconds) ........................... 40
Table 12—Travel Time for Effective Response Force Across Three Years (Time and Count) .. 42
Table 13—Simultaneous Incident Activity – 2012-2014 ............................................................. 42
Table 14—New Fire Station Costs ............................................................................................... 45
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Table of Contents page iii
Table of Figures
Figure 1—Risk Types ................................................................................................................... 17
Figure 2—Proposed Development Projects in the City in 2015 ................................................... 18
Figure 3—Fire Progression Timeline ........................................................................................... 20
Figure 4—Number of Incidents by Year ...................................................................................... 36
Figure 5—Number of Incidents by Hour of Day by Year ............................................................ 36
Figure 6—Simultaneous Incidents by Year .................................................................................. 43
Figure 7—Number of Station Area Simultaneous Incidents ........................................................ 44
VOLUME 2 of 2 – Map Atlas (separately bound)
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 1—Executive Summary page 1
SECTION 1—EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City of San Luis Obispo (City) retained Citygate Associates, LLC to perform a Fire Services
Master Plan update on fire station deployment coverage. An area of particular focus is
determining the need, location, and financing for a fifth fire station in the southern City. Our
update study includes reviewing the adequacy of the existing deployment system from the
current fire station locations and identifying any resultant service gaps. This report is presented
in two volumes, including this technical summary report (Volume 1) and a geographic map atlas
(Volume 2) that displays fire unit Travel Time coverage.
1.1 POLICY CHOICES FRAMEWORK
There are no mandatory federal or state regulations directing the level of fir e service response
times and outcomes. The body of regulations on the fire service provides that if fire services are
provided, they must be done so with the safety of the firefighters and citizens in mind.
Historically, the City has made significant investments in its fire services, and as a result, has
good fire and emergency medical services (EMS) response coverage in the most populated
sections of the City.
1.2 CITYGATE’S OVERALL OPINIONS ON THE STATE OF THE CITY’S FIRE SERVICES
In brief, Citygate finds that the challenge of providing fire services in the City is similar to that
found in many communities: providing an adequate level of fire services within the context of
limited fiscal resources, competing needs, growing and aging populations, plus uncertainty
surrounding the exact timing of future development. Citygate must state up front that we found
the Fire Department to be a quality fire services agency; it is in no way run down or
dysfunctional. The recommendations in this study should be considered as a continuous quality
improvement tune-up that can be considered in the year-to-year budget process.
The City is currently meeting its needs through its own fire response resources and partnerships
with its neighbors in the regional mutual aid system. The deployment system largely meets the
City’s current demands, but will need adjustment for growth in the southern City and possible
annexation areas, if the City Council desires to achieve its fire unit response time objectives in
all areas within the City limits. Throughout this report, Citygate makes observations, key
findings, and, where appropriate, specific action item recommendations. Overall, there are 12
key findings and 4 specific action item recommendations.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 1—Executive Summary page 2
1.3 FIELD OPERATIONS DEPLOYMENT (FIRE STATIONS)
Fire department deployment, simply stated, is about the speed and weight of the attack. Speed
calls for first-due, all-risk intervention units (engines, ladder trucks, and/or ambulances)
strategically located across a coverage area. These units are tasked with controlling moderate
emergencies and preventing the incident from escalating to second alarm or greater, which
unnecessarily depletes Department resources as multiple requests for service occur. Weight is
about multiple-unit response for serious emergencies, such as a room and contents structure fire,
a multiple-patient incident, a vehicle accident with extrication required, or a heavy rescue
incident. In these situations, a sufficient quantity of firefighters must be assembled within a
reasonable time frame to safely control the emergency, thereby keeping it from escalating to
greater alarms.
Citygate’s analysis of prior response statistics and use of geographic mapping tools reveals that
the City has adequate fire station coverage for the existing most populated areas. The maps
provided in Volume 2 and the corresponding text explanation beginning in Section 4.2 of this
report describes in detail the City’s current deployment system performance.
For effective outcomes on serious medical emergencies, and to keep serious, but still-emerging,
fires small, Citygate’s best practices-based recommendation is for the first-due fire unit to arrive
within seven minutes of police dispatch alerting the fire unit, 90% of the time. This is referred to
as Total Response Time, which includes the subcomponents of Call Processing Time, Turnout
Time, and Travel Time.
Call Processing Time is the amount of time between the dispatch center answering a 9-1-1 call
and dispatching the appropriate first response fire unit. During Call Processing Time, emergency
dispatchers interrogate the 9-1-1 caller to identify information critical to the nature and location
of the emergency. Call Processing Time should account for one minute or less of the Total
Response Time. Turnout Time is the amount of time between dispatching the appropriate first
response unit and movement of the fire unit. During Turnout Time, emergency response
personnel move to their apparatus, don the appropriate personal protective equipment, and
prepare the apparatus to be driven. Turnout Time should account for two minutes of less of the
Total Response Time. During Travel Time, the emergency response unit drives to the incident,
and for purposes of measuring Total Response Time for this study, only those incidents deemed
time-critical are included. These are the instances when the fire unit uses lights and siren to
decrease Travel Time. Travel Time should account for four minutes of less of the Total Response
Time.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 1—Executive Summary page 3
In the City, the current fire station system provides the following unit coverage, across a variety
of population density/risk areas for emergency medical and fire incident types:
Table 1—Total Response Time to 90% of Incidents (Minutes/Seconds)
Measure 2014 FY 07/08
9-1-1 Answer to 1st Unit Arrival 09:58 09:00
1.4 OVERALL DEPLOYMENT EVALUATION
Given the rolling hills upon which the City is built, and the non-grid type street network design
in most of the City, the Fire Department has always found it challenging to meet the City’s
Travel Time objective. Now, due to changes and planned increases in population and incident
quantity growth, the Department’s response times are slightly slower than five years ago. The
result of the response time measures and geographic coverage models in this update study sh ow
there is no way the current four-fire-station system can provide even the current response times
to the southern growth areas within the adopted response objective.
This study also evaluated this hypothetical question: IF all four fire stations could be moved at
once to all new locations, could the southern City growth and annexation area be adequately
served by the four fire stations? The result: no. The City road design and topography is not laid
out efficiently and is just too large to meet the City’s adopted response time objective.
For the foreseeable future, the City will need both a first-due fire unit and Effective Response
Force (First Alarm) coverage in all parts of the City, consistent with current best practices, if the
risk of fire is to be limited to only part of the inside of an affected building. The first-due fire unit
is the closest appropriate unit based on the nature of the emergency. An Effective Response
Force is the total unit response needed at the scene of a serious fire sufficient to stop the fire. The
term “Effective Response Force” will be further defined later in this report. While residential fire
sprinklers are now included in the national model fire codes, it will be decades before the
existing housing stock will be upgraded or replaced, even if these codes were to be adopted for
all new construction. While building fire sprinklers are a clear advancement in building safety,
this technology does not mitigate emergency medical incidents, which account for approximately
75% of the City’s calls for service for its fire department.
To provide equitable response times to all similar risk neighborhoods and to provide the depth of
response to address multiple, simultaneous incidents or incidents requiring multiple response
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 1—Executive Summary page 4
units, the City will need a fifth fire station where growth and annexation expands the City’s
service area.
The first deployment step for the City in the near term is to adopt clarified performance measures
from which to establish service expectations and, on an annual basis, monitor Fire Department
performance as part of its annual budgeting process. A southern City fifth fire station can be built
with impact fees and staffed when there is enough increased revenue to do so from aggregate
new development, General Fund sources, and potentially land-based financing mechanisms such
as a community facilities district.
The timing of opening a fifth fire station will be more dependent on both impact fees and
ongoing revenue growth as the expansion areas will likely not develop at a rate that would allow
funding sufficient for staffing a station in the near term.
1.5 SPECIFIC FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Finding #1: The City has not adopted a complete and best practices-based deployment
measure or set of specialty response measures for all-risk emergency responses
that includes the beginning time measure from the point of police dispatch
receiving the 9-1-1 phone call, nor a goal statement tied to risks and outcome
expectations. The deployment measure should have a second measurement
statement to define multiple-unit response coverage for serious emergencies.
Making these deployment goal changes will meet the best practice
recommendations of the Commission on Fire Accreditation International.
Finding #2: Using the current four fire station locations, and considering the future
transportation enhancements included in the Land Use and Circulation Element,
the southern expansion area is not within four minutes travel of an existing fire
station.
Finding #3: The southern expansion area is not within eight minutes Travel Time of a best
practices Effective Response Force assignment of three engines, one City ladder
truck (quint), and one battalion chief.
Finding #4: The most beneficial improvement in fire services the City could make would be to
add a fire station in the southern City area equipped with one fire engine and a
three-person crew.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 1—Executive Summary page 5
Finding #5: The City’s time-of-day, day-of-week, and month-of-year calls for service
demands are very consistent. This means the City needs to operate a fairly
consistent 24/7/365 response system.
Finding #6: The Department’s Total Response Time is significantly longer than a Citygate
and best practices-based recommendation of 7:00 minutes/seconds. This is due to
a combination of slow Call Processing and Turnout Times combined with long
Travel Times from only four fire stations.
Finding #7: The Department’s Total Response Time has decayed 58 seconds since the
previous master plan study data review from Fiscal Year 07/08. Most of this
slower performance is due to more incidents with longer Travel Times offset by a
slight improvement in Call Processing Time.
Finding #8: The City’s Call Processing Time has only slightly improved since the previous
master plan where it was noted the City was not close to a best practices goal of
60-105 seconds.
Finding #9: The City’s Turnout Times are consistently over two minutes from station to
station, and have eroded since the prior master plan for a Citygate
recommendation of two minutes.
Finding #10: The first-due unit Travel Times in the City are longer than a best practice and City
goal of four minutes, which is reflective of the non -grid street design, the large
size of some station areas, and simultaneous calls for service requiring farther
away units to respond at times. Due to incident demand increase and traffic
congestion, Travel Times have also eroded across the board since the previous
master plan.
Finding #11: The City’s response Travel Time for four units to serious fires, known as the
Effective Response Force (ERF or First Alarm), during the last three years ranges
from 7:42 to 15:26, which in three of the four fire station districts, does not meet
an eight-minute Travel Time goal.
Finding #12: The rate of more than two simultaneous incidents is low, but many of these
occurrences are in the Station 1 and 3 areas. If these two units are committed to
incidents, then the entire southern half of the City relies on Station 4, which
cannot cover the existing City in a timely manner due to its southwest location,
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 1—Executive Summary page 6
nor can it provide the City’s Total Response Time goal to the southern expansion
and annexation areas.
Recommendation #1: Given the modest number of additional dwelling units and residents
and the likely slow rate of development occupancy over several years,
Citygate believes the fiscal burden of the added staffing should be
phased in over the later stages of development. This should start with
a two-firefighter emergency medical response unit at the point 50% of
the residential units are occupied in Fire Station 5’s primary service
area, and the full three-person firefighting and EMS engine crew in
place at the point 90% of the residential and commercial development
is occupied. Citygate recommends beginning design and construction
of the fifth fire station three years prior to staffing.
Recommendation #2: Adopt Updated, More Detailed Fire Service Deployment Measure
Policies: The City should incorporate performance measures into its
financial plan to direct fire crew planning and to monitor the
operation of the Department. The measures of time should be
designed to save patients where medically possible and to keep small
but serious fires from becoming greater alarm fires. With this is mind,
Citygate recommends the following measures:
2.1 Distribution of Fire Stations: To treat medical patients and control
small fires, the first-due fire unit should have a Total Response Time
of seven minutes or less, 90% of the time. This equates to a one-
minute Call Processing Time by the dispatch center, a two-minute fire
crew Turnout Time, and a four-minute Travel Time.
2.2 Multiple-Unit Effective Response Force for Serious Emergencies: To
confine fires near the room of origin, to stop wildland fires to under
three acres when noticed promptly, and to treat up to five medical
patients at once, a multiple-unit response of a minimum of three
engines, one quint ladder truck, and one battalion chief (totaling 14
personnel) are dispatched to these serious emergencies. This Effective
Response Force should have a Total Response Time of 11 minutes or
less, 90% of the time. This equates to one-minute Call Processing
Time, two minutes Turnout Time, and eight minutes Travel Time.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 1—Executive Summary page 7
2.3 Hazardous Materials Response: Provide hazardous materials response
to emergency incidents designed to protect the community from the
hazards associated with uncontrolled release of hazardous and toxic
materials. The fundamental mission of the City response is to
minimize or halt the release of a hazardous substance so it has
minimal impact on the community. It can achieve this with a Travel
Time in urban to suburban areas for the first company capable of
investigating a hazardous materials release at the operations level
within four minutes Travel Time or less, 90% of the time. After size-
up and scene evaluation is completed, a determination will be made
whether to request additional resources from the City’s multi-agency
hazardous materials response partnership.
2.4 Technical Rescue: Respond to technical rescue emergencies as
efficiently and effectively as possible with enough trained personnel
to facilitate a successful rescue. Achieve a Travel Time for the first
company in urban to suburban areas for size-up of the rescue within
four minutes Travel Time or less, 90% of the time. Assemble
additional resources for technical rescue capable of initiating a rescue
within a Total Response Time of 11 minutes, 90% of the time. Safely
complete rescue/extrication to ensure delivery of patient to a
definitive care facility.
2.5 Emergency Medical Services: The City should continue with its goal
of providing first responder paramedic services to all neighborhoods
with a Total Response Time of seven minutes or less, 90% of the
time. This equates to a one-minute Call Processing Time by the
dispatch center, a two-minute fire crew Turnout Time, and a four-
minute Travel Time.
Recommendation #3: The Police and Fire Department have to make meaningful
improvements to Call Processing Time and Turnout Time.
Recommendation #4: Implement revenue-generating option(s) sufficient to cover initial and
ongoing funding gaps to add a fire station in the southern City area
equipped with one fire engine and a three-person crew.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 1—Executive Summary page 8
1.6 NEXT STEPS
The purpose of this assessment is to compare the City’s current performance against the local
risks to be protected, as well as nationally recognized best practices. This analysis of
performance forms the base from which to make recommendations for changes, if any, in fire
station locations, equipment types, and staffing.
As one step, the City should adopt updated and best practices -based response time goals for the
City and provide accountability for the City personnel to meet those standards. The goals
identified in Recommendation #2 meet national best practices. Measurement and planning as the
City continues to evolve will be necessary for the City to meet these goals. Citygate recommends
that the City’s next steps be to work through the issues identified in this study including:
Adopt the policy recommendations of this fire services study related to City
performance measures for the deployment of firefighting and emergency medical
resources.
If the City desires to move ahead with a fifth fire station, provide direction to staff
on the financing, fire station trigger point and construction programming steps
needed over time.
Staff and the City Council will have to determine the financing options for a fifth
fire station in light of all competing City General Fund needs to serve the southern
expansion area over the period of time the development and possible annexation
is expected to occur.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 2—Study Methods Introduction page 9
SECTION 2—STUDY METHODS INTRODUCTION
Citygate’s scope of work and corresponding Work Plan was developed consistent with
Citygate’s Project Team members’ experience in fire administration. Citygate utilizes various
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) publications as best practice guidelines, along with
the self-assessment criteria of the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI).
Throughout this report Citygate will cite findings and make recommendations, if appropriate,
that relate to each finding. There is a sequential numbering of all of the findings and
recommendations throughout Sections 3 through 7 of this report. To provide a comprehensive
summary, a complete listing of all these same findings and recommendations, in order, is found
in the Executive Summary.
2.1 STANDARDS OF COVERAGE STUDY PROCESSES
The core methodology used by Citygate for the assessment of fire services deployment is the
“Standards of Cover” (SOC) 5th edition, which is a systems-based approach to fire department
deployment, as published by the CFAI.
The Standards of Response Coverage method evaluates deployment as part of the self-
assessment process of a fire agency. This approach uses risk and community expectations on
outcomes to help elected officials make informed decisions on fire and emergency medical
services deployment levels. Citygate has adopted this methodology as a comprehensive tool to
evaluate fire station locations. Depending on the needs of the study, the depth of the components
may vary.
In the United States, there are no federal or state government requirements for a minimum level
of fire services. It is a local choice issue for each community to consider and fund as it deems
necessary. The accreditation SOC systems approach to deployment, rather than a one-size-fits-all
prescriptive formula, allows for local determination. In this comprehensive approach, each
agency can match local needs (risks and expectations) with the costs of various levels of service.
In an informed public policy debate, a governing board “purchases” the fire and emergency
medical service levels the community needs and can afford.
While working with multiple components to conduct a deployment analysis is admittedly more
work, it yields a much better result than using only a singular component. For instance, if only
Travel Time is considered, and frequency of multiple calls is not considered, the analysis could
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 2—Study Methods Introduction page 10
miss over-worked companies. If a risk assessment for deployment is not considered, and
deployment is based only on Travel Time, a community could under-deploy to incidents.
The Standards of Response Coverage process consists of the following eight parts:
Table 2—Standards of Response Coverage Process Elements
Element Meaning
1. Existing Deployment Policies Reviewing the deployment goals the agency has in
place today.
2. Community Outcome Expectations Reviewing the expectations of the community for
response to emergencies.
3. Community Risk Assessment Reviewing the assets at risk in the community.
4. Critical Task Study
Reviewing the tasks that must be performed and the
personnel required to deliver the stated outcome
expectation for the Effective Response Force.
5. Distribution Study Reviewing the spacing of first-due resources
(typically engines) to control routine emergencies.
6. Concentration Study
Reviewing the spacing of fire stations so that building
fires can receive sufficient resources in a timely
manner (First Alarm assignment or the Effective
Response Force).
7. Reliability and Historical Response
Effectiveness Studies
Using prior response statistics to determine the
percent of compliance the existing system delivers.
8. Overall Evaluation Proposing Standard of Cover statements by risk type
as necessary.
The speed and weight of attack deployment design paradigm is reiterated in the following table:
Table 3—Fire Department Deployment Simplified
Meaning Purpose
Speed of Attack Travel time of first-due, all-risk
intervention units strategically located
across a department.
Controlling moderate emergencies
without the incident escalating to
second alarm or greater size.
Weight of Attack Number of firefighters and appropriate
apparatus in a multiple-unit response
for serious emergencies.
Assembling enough firefighters within
a reasonable time frame to safely
control the emergency.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 2—Study Methods Introduction page 11
Thus, small fires and medical emergencies require a single - or two-unit response (engine and
ambulance unit) with a quick response time. Larger incidents require more crews. In either case,
if the crews arrive too late or the total personnel sent to the emergency are too few for the
emergency type, they are drawn into a losing and more dangerous battle. The science of fire crew
deployment is to spread crews out across a community for quick response to keep emergencies
small with positive outcomes, without spreading the crews so far apart that they cannot amass
together quickly enough to be effective in major emergencies.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 3—San Luis Obispo Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 13
SECTION 3—SAN LUIS OBISPO DEPLOYMENT GOALS/MEASURES
AND RISK ASSESSMENT
3.1 WHY DOES THE CITY’S FIRE DEPARTMENT EXIST AND HOW DOES IT DELIVER THE
EXISTING FIRE CREW DEPLOYMENT SERVICES?
3.1.1 Existing Response Time Policies or Goals—Why Does the Fire Department
Exist?
The City Council over the decades has adopted formal
response time policies by type of risks. According to
Program 9.3 A in the General Plan Safety Element, the
“Fire Department has set a response-time objective of four
minutes” with a recommendation to “meet this standard 95
percent of the time.” When this goal was drafted, the
starting point for time measurement was not defined.
Potential interpretations for the starting point may include 9-1-1 pick-up by a communications
dispatcher or initial fire crew notification for response. The Safety Element also did not
differentiate between calls for service requiring the use of lights and siren versus those calls for
service not requiring as rapid a response to positively impact outcomes.
Department staff and Citygate presume the intent of this response time objective was for a four -
minute Travel Time measurement. Travel Time is measured from the time a Fire Department
emergency response apparatus begins driving to the emergency scene until the apparatus arrives
at the dispatched address. The rationale for a four-minute Travel Time goal is based on a national
standard set by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The NFPA is an international
non-profit organization that researches and publishes standards for the professional fire service.
NFPA Standard 1710 entitled “Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations by
Career Fire Departments” provides response time objectives. It includes the objective of four
minutes or less Travel Time for the first arriving engine company for 90% of all fire and medical
emergency incidents in the community which require lights and siren response (henceforth
referred to as a “Code Three” response).
The City also has not identified response goals for technical rescue and hazardous material
responses; in addition to firefighting and EMS, response time goals for these incident types are
required to meet the Standards of Response Coverage model for the CFAI. In this Standards of
Response Coverage study, Citygate will recommend revised response time goals to include all
SOC ELEMENT 1 OF 8*
EXISTING DEPLOYMENT
POLICIES
*Note: This is an overview of Element 1.
The detail is provided on page 22.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 3—San Luis Obispo Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 14
risks including fire, EMS, hazardous materials, and technical rescue responses. The goals will be
consistent with the CFAI systems approach to response.
3.1.2 Existing Outcome Expectations
The Standards of Response Cover process begins by
reviewing existing emergency services outcome
expectations. This can be restated as follows: for what
purpose does the response system exist? Has the
governing body adopted any response performance
measures? If so, the time measures used need to be understood and good data collected.
Current best practice nationally is to measure percent completion of a goal (e.g., 90% of
responses) instead of an average measure. Mathematically this is called a “fractile” measure.1
This is because the measure of average only identifies the central or middle point of response
time performance for all calls for service in the data set. Using an average makes it impossible to
know how many incidents had response times that were way over the average or just over. For
example, if a department had an average response time of five minutes for 5,000 calls for
service, it cannot be determined how many calls past the average point of five minutes were
answered in the sixth minute or way out at 10 minutes. This is a significant issue if hundreds or
thousands of calls are answered far beyond the average point. Fractile measures will identify per
minute the number of incidents that are reached up to 100%.
More importantly within the Standards of Response Coverage process, positive outcomes are the
goal, and from that crew size and response time can be calculated to allow efficient fire station
spacing (distribution and concentrations). Emergency medical incidents have situations with the
most severe time constraints. In a heart attack that stops the heart, a trauma that causes severe
blood loss, or in a respiratory emergency, according to the American Heart Association the brain
can only survive four to six minutes without oxygen before irreversible brain damage begins .
Not only heart attacks, but also other events can cause oxygen deprivation to the brain. Heart
attacks make up a small percentage; drowning, choking, trauma constrictions, or other similar
events have the same effect. In a building fire, a small incipien t fire can grow to involve the
entire room in an eight- to ten-minute timeframe. If fire service response is to achieve positive
outcomes in severe emergency medical situations and incipient fire situations, all responding
1 A fractile is that point below which a stated fraction of the values lie. The fraction is often given in percent; the
term percentile may then be used.
SOC ELEMENT 2 OF 8
COMMUNITY OUTCOME
EXPECTATIONS
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 3—San Luis Obispo Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 15
crews must arrive, size-up the situation, and deploy effective measures before brain death occurs
or the fire leaves the room of origin.
Thus, from the time of 9-1-1 receiving the call, an effective deployment system is beginning to
manage the problem within a seven-minute Total Response Time. This is right at the point that
brain death is becoming irreversible and the fire has grown to the point to leave the room of
origin and become very serious. Thus, the City needs a first-due response goal that is within the
range to give the situation hope for a positive outcome. It is important to note the fire or medical
emergency continues to deteriorate from the time of inception, not the time the fire engine
actually starts to drive the response route. Ideally, the emergency is noticed immediatel y and the
9-1-1 system is activated promptly. This step of awareness—calling 9-1-1 and giving the
dispatcher accurate information—takes, in the best of circumstances, one minute. This is referred
to as Call Processing Time. Then crew notification, preparation for response, and Travel Time
take additional minutes. The time between crew notification and crew response is referred to as
Turnout Time, and the time between crew response and arrival at the scene is referred to as
Travel Time. Once arrived, the crew must walk to the patient or emergency, size-up the situation,
and deploy its skills and tools. Even in easy-to-access situations, this step can take two or more
minutes. This time frame may be increased considerably due to long driveways, apartment
buildings with limited access, multi-storied apartments or office complexes, or shopping center
buildings such as those found in parts of the City.
Unfortunately, there are times that the emergency has become too severe, even before the 9-1-1
notification and/or fire department response, for the responding crew to reverse; however, when
an appropriate response time policy is combined with a well -designed system, then only issues
like bad weather, poor traffic conditions, or multiple emergencies will slow the response system
down. Consequently, a properly designed system will give citizens the hope of a positive
outcome for their tax dollar expenditure.
For this report, Total Response Time is the sum of the Call Processing Time, Turnout Time, and
Travel Time. This is consistent with the recommendations of the CFAI.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 3—San Luis Obispo Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 16
Finding #1: The City has not adopted a complete and best practices-based
deployment measure or set of specialty response measures for all-
risk emergency responses that includes the beginning time measure
from the point of police dispatch receiving the 9-1-1 phone call,
nor a goal statement tied to risks and outcome expectations. The
deployment measure should have a second measurement statement
to define multiple-unit response coverage for serious emergencies.
Making these deployment goal changes will meet the best practice
recommendations of the Commission on Fire Accreditation
International.
3.2 COMMUNITY RISK ASSESSMENT
The third element of the SOC process is the development
of a community risk assessment or analysis. The objective
of a community risk assessment is to:
1. Identify specific hazards with potential to
adversely impact the community or
jurisdiction
2. Quantify the probability of occurrence of each identified hazard
3. Quantify the probable severity of resultant impacts from a hazard occurrence.
Hazard is broadly defined as a situation or condition that can cause or contribute to harm.
Hazard examples include fire, medical emergency, vehicle collis ion, earthquake, flood, etc. Risk
is broadly defined as the probability of hazard occurrence in combination with the likely severity
of resultant impacts.
3.2.1 Risk Factors
Elements to be considered in a community risk assessment include factors that inf luence service
demand, response capability, probability of hazard occurrence, and severity of impacts or hazard
consequences relative to life, property, the environment, and community resilience.
In conducting a community risk assessment, Citygate examines prior risk studies, community
demographics including current and projected population, land use, future development
potential, employment, building occupancy data and prior service demand data.
SOC ELEMENT 3 OF 8
COMMUNITY RISK
ASSESSMENT
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 3—San Luis Obispo Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 17
The Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) identifies two risk categories: fire
risk and non-fire risk.2 Identification and quantification of the various fire and non -fire risks are
important factors in evaluating how fire department resources are or can be deployed to mitigate
those risks.
Figure 1 identifies the fire and non-fire risks evaluated in a typical SOC study.
Figure 1—Risk Types
3.2.2 Prior Risk Studies
The first San Luis Obispo Fire Master Plan in early 2009 used this methodology to review risks
in the City. This update study compared those findings to the current City and the planned
growth. Largely due to the impacts of the great recession, during those years the re was not a
2 Commission on Fire Accreditation International, Standards of Cover (5th Edition)
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 3—San Luis Obispo Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 18
significant change in the risks to be protected in San Luis Obispo. Thus, the only category of risk
that we will specifically review in this study is building fire risk in the context of the City’s
growth and development.
3.2.3 Growth and Development
Given the post-recession recovery, San Luis Obispo is now dealing with multiple applications for
residential and commercial growth. Some of these are in existing neighborhoods and others are
in the southern City and County areas adjacent to the City being studied for annexation. The
City-provided Figure 2 on the following page shows the locations of the 45 projects that were
under various stages of development application during 2015:
Figure 2—Proposed Development Projects in the City in 2015
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 3—San Luis Obispo Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 19
Depending on final approvals, these projects represent adding several hundred thousand square
feet of commercial uses and several hundred dwelling units. Fifteen of these projects are in the
southern City and possible annexation areas. Avila Ranch alone could add 700 dwelling units.
There is no question that the City’s fire services will have more population, buildings , and job
locations to protect in the southern City areas.
3.2.4 Building Fire Risk
One of the common risks in any community is a building fire. A fire services risk assessment
reviews the probability and consequences of fire risks. Probability is the likelihood of a fire
occurring in a particular occupancy type, and consequences are the probable adverse impacts that
the fire will have on people, property, and the community.
Table 4 illustrates the building occupancy risk categories based on p robability of occurrence and
likely severity of consequences.
Table 4—Probability and Consequence Matrix
Low Consequence High Consequence
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Maximum Risk
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(Low Probability)
(Low Consequence)
High/Special Risk
(Low Probability)
(High Consequence)
Resource deployment (distribution/concentration), staffing, and response time are three critical
factors for a favorable outcome for building fire risk. Figure 3 illustrates the progression of a
building fire, and shows that a response time3 of 7:00 minutes or less is necessary to stop a
building fire before it reaches flashover, which is the point at which the entire room erupts into
3 Time interval from time of receipt of 9-1-1 call to initiation of suppression actions
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 3—San Luis Obispo Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 20
fire after all of the combustible objects in that room reach their ignition temperature.
Survivability of a person in a room after flashover is extremely unlikely.
Figure 3—Fire Progression Timeline
Source: http://www.firesprinklerassoc.org
San Luis Obispo’s response capacity for building fire risk consists of a minimum daily on -duty
response force of 14 personnel (13 firefighters plus 1 battalion chief for incident command),
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 3—San Luis Obispo Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 21
staffing apparatus from four fire stations. In addition, the Department is also a signatory to the
County Mutual Aid Agreement.
3.2.5 Risk Assessment Summary
Overall risk in San Luis Obispo is typical of other medium-sized urban communities in the
central coast region. Measured in terms of probability of future natural and human -caused hazard
occurrence and response capabilities necessary to effectively mitigate the potential impacts of
prospective hazard occurrences, overall risk within the City ranges from low for medical and
low/medium density residential building fire incidents to high for high-density residential
building fire incidents. These risk determinations reflects a generally low to moderate probability
of future major incident occurrence.
Other impact-reducing factors include a generally low building vacancy rate within residential
and commercial occupancies, mild weather and topography, and low probability of an act of
terrorism. Factors increasing impact severity include population density in some areas, traffic,
flooding potential in some areas, and quantity of hazardous materials used, stored, and
transported through the City.
The City also offers strong programs for community self-help preparedness such as classes and
outreach programs that focus on being prepared for emergencies. While these are essential to
train residents and business employees how to be initially self -reliant, the City’s personnel also
have to be trained, equipped, and able to respond to any of the hazards identified in this review.
Citygate’s evaluation of the various risks likely to adversely impact San Luis Obispo yields the
following conclusions:
1. The City has a very diverse suburban population density
2. The City has a mix of residential, commercial, office, and industrial buildings
typical of a middle-sized California city
3. The City has a vast transportation network including highways and other primary
vehicle transportation routes, railways, and a nearby County municipal airport
4. The predominant risk category for the City is moderate.
Based on these factors, the City has staffed and designed its response system to field an
“Effective Response Force” of multiple units to reported serious fires in buildings and wildland
areas, and operates paramedics for emergency medical responses. If additional resources are
required, the Regional Mutual Aid Program will assist.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 3—San Luis Obispo Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 22
The City’s multi-unit force (First Alarm) is designed to stop the escalation o f the emergency and
keep it from spreading to greater alarms.
3.3 EXISTING CITY DEPLOYMENT
3.3.1 Existing Deployment Situation—What the City Has in Place Currently
Given this study’s interperation that the City Council
response time policy centers on a four-minute Travel
Time, this study will benchmark the City against the
response time recommendations of NFPA 1710 for career
fire service deployment. These are:
Four minutes Travel Time for the first-due unit to all types of emergencies
Eight minutes Travel Time for multiple units needed at serious emergencies (First
Alarm).
The City’s current daily staffing plan is:
Table 5—Daily Minimum Staffing per Unit for the City – 2015
Per Unit
Minimum
per Unit Staff
Extended
Minimum
3 Engines 3 Firefighters/day 9
1 Quint* Company 4 Firefighters/day 4
Subtotal firefighters: 13
1 Battalion Chief 1 Per day for command 1
Total: 14
* A quint is an aerial ladder truck that also carries hose and water.
This daily staffing is adequate for the immediate response fire risk needs presented in the most of
the built-up urban areas of the City. However, for this staffing statement to be accurate for a
building fire, the assumption is that the closest crews are available and not already operating on
another emergency medical call or fire, which can and does happen. For example, if one engine
is committed to an emergency medical services call, then an adjacent engine company or truck
company must respond, sometimes from another fire department via mutual aid.
SOC ELEMENT 1 OF 8*
EXISTING DEPLOYMENT
POLICIES
*Note: Continued from page 13.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 3—San Luis Obispo Deployment Goals/Measures and Risk Assessment page 23
The City is an “all-risk” fire department providing the people it protects with services that
include structure fire, technical rescue, and first-responder hazardous materials response as well
as other services.
Given these risks, the City uses a tiered approach of dispatching different types of apparatus to
each incident category. The City also can staff with the 13 on-duty personnel a variety of special
apparatus such as rescue squad and wildland fire apparatus.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 4—Staffing and Geo-Mapping Analysis page 25
SECTION 4—STAFFING AND GEO-MAPPING ANALYSIS
4.1 CRITICAL TASK TIME MEASURES—WHAT MUST BE DONE OVER WHAT TIME FRAME TO
ACHIEVE THE STATED OUTCOME EXPECTATION?
Standards of Response Coverage (SOC) studies use task
time information to determine the firefighters needed
within a timeframe to accomplish the desired fire control
objective on moderate residential fires and modest
emergency medical rescues.
San Luis Obispo’s Effective Response Force to structure fires in built-up, suburban areas
includes three engines, one ladder truck (quint), and one battalion chief for a minimum force
total of 14 personnel. The following table shows what the on-duty force of 14 can accomplish.
The larger the force (weight of attack), the faster the tasks are completed.
Scenario: The following is a simulated one-story residential structure fire with no rescue
situation. Responding companies received dispatch information as typical for a witnessed fire.
Upon arrival they were told approximately 1,000 square feet of the home was involved in fire.
SOC ELEMENT 4 OF 8
CRITICAL TASK TIME
STUDY
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 4—Staffing and Geo-Mapping Analysis page 26
Table 6—First Alarm Structure Fire Tasks – 14 Fire First Responders
Company Level Tasks
1st Due Engine
1. Lay in a hydrant supply line.
2. Stretch the 150-foot, 1¾-inch hose line to the point of access for search and rescue.
3. Operate the pump to supply water and attach hydrant supply line.
4. Assume command of initial operations.
2nd Due Engine
1. Establish the Initial Rapid Intervention Crew, stretch 2nd 1¾-inch hose line.
2. If necessary, lay in a hydrant supply line.
3rd Due Engine
1. Establish EMS treatment of victims if needed.
2. Assist with rescue, fire attack, or water supply as needed.
1st Due Ladder
1. Perform positive pressure and/or vertical ventilation.
2. Secure utilities.
3. Raise ladders, open concealed spaces, and force entry as needed.
4. Provide salvage and overhaul.
1st Due Incident Commander
1. Establish exterior command and safety.
2. Assign Safety Officer.
The above duties, grouped together, form an Effective Response Force or First Alarm
assignment. The above distinct tasks must be performed simultaneously and effectively to
achieve the desired outcome; arriving on-scene does not stop the escalation of the emergency.
While firefighters accomplish the above tasks, the incident progression clock keeps running.
Fire spread in a structure can double in size during its free -burn period before firefighting is
started. Many studies have shown that a small fire can spread to engulf an entire room in less
than four to five minutes after free burning has started. Once the room is completely superheated
and involved in fire (known as flashover), the fire will spread quickly throughout the structure
and into the attic and walls. For this reason, it is imperative that fire attack and search commence
before the flashover point occurs if the outcome goal is to keep the fire damage in or near the
room of origin. In addition, flashover presents a serious danger to both firefighters and any
occupants of the building.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 4—Staffing and Geo-Mapping Analysis page 27
4.1.1 Emergency Medical Services Critical Tasks
The City’s Fire Department responds to nearly 3,800 emergency medical services (EMS) calls
per year. These calls include car accidents, childbirths, strokes, heart attacks, difficulty br eathing,
and many other medical emergencies. The wide variety and circumstances of EMS calls makes it
difficult and impractical to chart the critical tasks for each call type.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends a minimum of two emergency medic al
technicians and two certified paramedics to adequately operate an emergency cardiac scene. A
2010 EMS study conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
clearly demonstrates a crew of four first responders , including two paramedics, on-scene is the
most expedient and efficient means of delivering advanced emergency medical care.
Recently, the County of San Luis Obispo implemented a High Performance Cardio -Pulmonary
Resuscitation (CPR) program. Based on the latest CPR research and patient survival outcomes,
this new program resulted in increasing the number of responders San Luis Obispo City Fire
dispatches to incidents with a high probability that CPR will be needed. In previous years, these
emergencies were managed by the closest fire crew and an ambulance crew. Under this new
program, two fire crews, the battalion chief, and an ambulance crew are dispatched.
The Department routinely responds to other EMS calls that require treatment for more than one
patient. These calls include vehicle accidents, chemical exposures, construction or industrial
accidents, and any other event that occurs with several people in close proximity. Patient
conditions can range from minor cuts and bruises to life-threatening injuries.
Dispatchers are responsible for screening calls to establish the correct initial response. The first
fire department officer on-scene amends the response once conditions have been assessed.
Standard operating procedures are used to request adequate personnel and resources.
For comparison purposes, the following critical task table reviews the tasks needed on a typical
cardiac arrest.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 4—Staffing and Geo-Mapping Analysis page 28
Table 7—High Performance Cardiac Arrest Management: Six to Seven Firefighters, One
Battalion Chief, and an Ambulance Crew
Task Type of Treatment Administered
Personnel
Required
High performance chest
compressions
Advanced high-performance compression of chest to
circulate blood 2-3
Basic airway control
Oxygen therapy
Establish and maintain open airway, assist ventilations
Apply oxygen
1
Advanced airway control Manual techniques, intubation, or cricothyroidotomy 1
Interpret heart monitor
Defibrillate
Identify type and treat dysrhythmia
Electrical defibrillation of dysrhythmia 1
Establish I.V.
Administer medications
Peripheral or central intravenous access
Administer appropriate pharmacological agents 1
Medical charting
Hospital communication
Record vitals, treatments administered, gather records
Receive treatment orders from physician 2
Primary contact with
family
Discuss end-of-life options, assist with contacting
family, provide transitional grief support 1
Total Personnel required per patient 9-10
4.1.2 Critical Task Analysis and Effective Response Force Size
What does a deployment study derive from a company task analysis? The total task needs (as
displayed in Table 6 and Table 7) to stop the escalation of an emergency must be compared to
outcomes. We know from nationally-published fire service “time vs. temperature” tables that
after about four to five minutes of free burning, a room fire will grow to the point of flashover.
At this point, the entire room is engulfed, the structure becomes threatened , and human survival
near or in the fire room becomes impossible. Additionally, we know that brain death begins to
occur within four to six minutes of the heart having stopped. Thus, the Effective Response Force
must arrive in time to stop these catastrophic events from becoming worse.
The on-scene tasks discussed show that the residents of the City are able to expect positive
outcomes, and have a good chance of survival, in a serious fire or medical emergency. This is
because the City’s first responding units are typically available in a Travel Time of 5:40
minutes/seconds or less. The City is staffed per day with enough firefighters to deliver one
Effective Response Forces of 14 firefighters to a building fire, even without assistance from
other agencies.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 4—Staffing and Geo-Mapping Analysis page 29
Mitigating an emergency event is a team effort once the units have arrived. This refers back to
the “weight” of response analogy; if too few personnel arrive too slowly, then the emergency
will worsen instead of improve. The outcome times, of course, will be longer, with less desirable
results, if the arriving force is later or smaller.
The quantity of staffing and the arrival time frame can be critical in a serious fire. Fires in older
and/or multi-story buildings could well require the initial firefighters needing to rescue trapped
or immobile occupants. If a lightly-staffed force arrives, it cannot simultaneously conduct rescue
and firefighting operations.
Fires and complex medical incidents require that the other units arrive in time to complete an
effective intervention. Time is one factor that comes from proper station placement. Good
performance also comes from adequate staffing and training. In the critical tasks identified
previously, the City’s Fire Department can perform well in terms of time. If fire stations are
spaced too far apart, then when one unit has to cover another unit’s a rea, or multiple units are
needed, these units can be too far away and the emergency will worsen.
Previous critical task studies conducted by Citygate, the Standard of Response Cover documents
reviewed from accredited fire departments, and NFPA 1710 recommendations all arrive at the
need for 14+ firefighters arriving within 11 minutes (from the time of call) at a room and
contents structure fire to be able to simultaneously and effectively perform the tasks of rescue,
fire attack, and ventilation. Given that the City sends all of its own personnel (three engines, one
ladder truck, and one battalion chief) to an incident involving a working First Alarm building
fire, it is clear that the City and its leaders understand that firefighting crews arriving closely
together are needed to deliver a positive outcome that protects lives and property by stopping the
escalation of the emergency as found by the arriving force.
A question one might ask is , “If fewer firefighters arrive, what from the list of tasks mentioned
would not be done?” Most likely, the search team would be delayed, as would ventilation. The
attack lines would only consist of two firefighters, which does not allow for rapid movement
above the first-floor deployment. Rescue is conducted with only two-person teams; thus, when
rescue is essential, other tasks are not completed in a simultaneous, timely manner. It must
always be remembered: effective deployment is about the speed (Travel Time) and the weight
(firefighters) of the attack.
Fourteen initial City firefighters could handle a moderate-risk house fire; however, even a
department-based Effective Response Force of 14 will be seriously slowed if the fire is above the
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 4—Staffing and Geo-Mapping Analysis page 30
first floor, in a low-rise apartment building, or commercial/industrial building. This is where the
capability to add alarms to the standard response becomes important.
Given the fact that San Luis Obispo’s First Alarm (Effective Response Force) delivers 14
personnel to a moderate risk building fire, it reflects the City’s goal to confine serious building
fires to or near the room of origin, and to prevent the spread of fire to adjoining buildings. This is
a typical desired outcome in built-out areas and requires more firefighters more quickly than the
typical rural outcome of keeping the fire contained to the building, not room, of origin.
The City’s current physical response to building fires is, in effect, the City’s de-facto deployment
measure to built-up urban/suburban areas. Thus, this becomes the baseline policy for the
deployment of firefighters.
4.2 DISTRIBUTION AND CONCENTRATION STUDIES—HOW THE LOCATION OF FIRST-DUE
AND FIRST ALARM RESOURCES AFFECTS THE OUTCOME
The City is served today by four fire stations. It is
appropriate to understand what the existing stations do
and do not cover, if there are any coverage gaps needing
one or more stations, and what, if anything, to do about
them.
In brief, there are two geographic perspectives to fire
station deployment:
Distribution – the spacing of first-due fire units to stop routine emergencies.
Concentration – the clustering of fire stations close enough together so that
building fires can receive sufficient resources from multiple fire stations quickly.
As indicated, this is known as the Effective Response Force, or, more
commonly, the “First Alarm Assignment”—the collection of a sufficient number
of firefighters on scene delivered within the concentration time goal to stop the
escalation of the problem.
To analyze first-due fire unit Travel Time coverage, City of San Luis Obispo geographic
information services (GIS) staff used a geographic mapping tool that can measure theoretical
Travel Time over the street network. For this time calculation, staff, with coaching from
Citygate, used the base map and street travel speeds calibrated to actual fire company Travel
Times from previous responses to simulate real-world coverage. Using these tools, staff and
SOC ELEMENT 5 OF 8
DISTRIBUTION STUDY
SOC ELEMENT 6 OF 8
CONCENTRATION STUDY
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 4—Staffing and Geo-Mapping Analysis page 31
Citygate ran several deployment tests and measured their impact on various parts of the City.
The Travel Time measure used was four minutes over the road network, which is consistent with
the “benchmark” recommendation in NFPA 1710 and desirable outcomes in critical
emergencies. When up to a total of three minutes is added for dispatch Call Processing and crew
Turnout Times, then the maps effectively show the area covered within seven minutes of the
police dispatch center receiving the 9-1-1 requests for the first-due unit, and 11 minutes (eight
minutes travel) for a First Alarm assignment.
Map #1 – General Geography and Station Locations
This view shows the existing City fire station locations with the City boundaries. This is a
reference map for the other map displays that follow.
Map #2 – First-Due Unit Distribution: 4-Minute Engine Travel
This map shows, using green street segments, the distribution of City stations per a best practice
recommended response goal of four minutes Travel Time. Therefore, green indicates the
locations an engine could reach within this time, assuming it is in-station and encounters no
unusual traffic delays. In addition, the computer mapping tool uses actual fire company speed
limits per roadway type. Thus, the green projection is realistic for fire trucks with normal traffic
present.
The purpose of computer response mapping is to determine and balance station locations. This
geo-mapping design is then checked in the study against actual dispatch time data, which reflects
the real world. There also should be some overlap between station areas so that a second-due unit
can have a chance of an adequate response time when it covers a call in another fire company’s
first-due area.
Additionally, this map model uses the future major arterial streets planned in the City’s traffic
circulation plan.
Finding #2: Using the current four fire station locations, and considering the
future transportation enhancements included in the Land Use and
Circulation Element, the southern expansion area is not within four
minutes travel of an existing fire station.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 4—Staffing and Geo-Mapping Analysis page 32
Map #3 – First Alarm (Concentration) Coverage at 8-Minute Travel
This map exhibit shows the concentration or massing of fire crews for serious fire or rescue
calls. Building fires, in particular, require 14+ firefighters (per NFPA 1710) arriving within a
reasonable time frame to work together and effectively to stop the escalation of an emergency.
Otherwise, if too few firefighters arrive, or arrive too late in the fire’s progress, the result is a
greater alarm fire, which is more dangerous to the public and the firefighters.
This measure ensures that a minimum of 14 personnel (three firefighters per engine and four on
the quint, plus battalion chief) can arrive on-scene to work simultaneously and effectively to
stop the spread of a serious building fire.
The light green color shows the areas receiving four units, which would be three fire engines, the
ladder truck (quint), and the battalion chief. This force can cover along Tank Farm Road (the
street running east-west just north of the airport), but not very far south of it where much of the
development is planned to occur.
Finding #3: The southern expansion area is not within eight minutes Travel
Time of a best practices Effective Response Force assignment of
three engines, one City ladder truck (quint), and one battalion
chief.
Map #4 – The Quint Ladder Truck and One Battalion Chief at 8-Minute Travel
This map displays the coverage for one battalion chief and the quint ladder truck at an eight-
minute Travel Time. The area to and just past Tank Farm Road can be covered by these two
specialty units from their location at Station 1.
Map #5 – All Incident Location Densities
This map examines, by mathematical density, where clusters of serious emergency incident
activity occurred. These incidents require a response with red lights and siren, commonly called
Code 3. In this set, the yellow to red density color plots the highest concentration of all incidents.
This perspective is important because the deployment system needs an overlap of units to ensure
the delivery of multiple units when needed for serious incidents, or to handle simultaneous calls
for service.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 4—Staffing and Geo-Mapping Analysis page 33
As can be seen, both Fire Station areas 3 and 4 are active with incident demand and there is not
yet significant demand in the southern growth areas. If either Station 3 or 4 were committed to an
emergency, a covering unit from Station 1 or worse, Station 2, would have very long response to
the area south of Tank Farm road.
Map #6 – Southern City Fifth Fire Station Location
City GIS and Fire Department staff, along with Citygate, then conducted four test location
scenarios for a fifth fire station in the southern City. The test parcels used were considered
feasible for fire station development. Two sites were on the western end of Tank Farm Road and
two were on the easterly end. Given land environmental constraints and the lack of ability to plan
a road from the center of Tank Farm Road northerly up into the existing City areas, the sites on
either end had to be considered.
GIS tools allowed the team to accurately measure the road miles each station site would cover at
four minutes of travel. The siting goal was to both cover the southern expansion areas, but also to
cover the most road miles not already covered at a four-minute Travel Time from an existing fire
station.
Map 6 shows the best fit result in that a fifth fire station located at the east end of Tank Farm
Road near the area of Santa Fe Road to provide the most improved south City coverage to
existing underserved neighborhoods as well as new ones.
Finding #4: The most beneficial improvement in fire services the City could
make would be to add a fire station in the southern City area
equipped with one fire engine and a three-person crew.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 35
SECTION 5—STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
5.1 HISTORICAL EFFECTIVENESS AND RELIABILITY OF RESPONSE—WHAT STATISTICS SAY
ABOUT EXISTING SYSTEM PERFORMANCE
The maps described in Section 4 show the GIS-projected
response times given perfect conditions with no
competing calls, no traffic congestion, and units all in
place. Examination of the actual response time data
provides a picture of how response times are in the “real”
world of simultaneous calls, rush hour traffic conditions,
units out of position, and delayed Travel Time for events such as periods of severe weather.
5.1.1 Data Set Identification
The San Luis Obispo Fire Department furnished computer-aided-dispatch (CAD) data for three
years. There were 17,613 incidents and 18,716 apparatus records for the study time period of
1/1/2012 – 12/31/2014. Some incidents require more than one apparatus, so it is normal to have
more apparatus movements than incidents.
Where possible, Citygate compares the data for these three calendar years to the data used in the
2009 Fire Master Plan (Fiscal Year 2007-08 data).
5.2 SERVICE DEMAND
In 2014, the Fire Department responded to 6,278 incidents, or about 17.2 incidents per day. The
graph below illustrates the number of incidents per year for the three years of this study. The
number of incidents per year is growing steadily.
SOC ELEMENT 7 OF 8
RELIABILITY & HISTORICAL
RESPONSE EFFECTIVENESS
STUDIES
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 36
Figure 4—Number of Incidents by Year
5.2.1 Breakdown of Incident Demand Over Time
The chart below shows a breakdown of incidents by hour of the day by year. Notice minimum
activity in the early morning hours is about 25% of peak level activity in the early afternoon.
Also, we see that year-to-year incident activity is growing mainly during business hours.
Figure 5—Number of Incidents by Hour of Day by Year
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 37
Citygate also reviewed the calls for service by day of week and month of year, and found little
variation.
Finding #5: The City’s time-of-day, day-of-week, and month-of-year calls for
service demands are very consistent. This means the City needs to
operate a fairly consistent 24/7/365 response system.
5.3 RESPONSE TIME ANALYSIS
Once the types of incidents are quantified, incident analysis shifts to the time required to r espond
to those incidents. Fractile breakdowns track the percentage (and count the number) of incidents
meeting defined criteria, such as the first apparatus to reach the scene within progressive time
segments.
5.3.1 City-Wide Total Response Time Performance
A resident or visitor of a city measures the speed of fire department response from the time
assistance is requested until the assistance arrives. In some communities, this measurement may
be referred to as “Call to 1st Apparatus Arrival” or “Call to Arrival”. For this report, this time
interval is defined as “Total Response Time.” Police and sheriff’s departments, under state law,
act as a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP ) for 9-1-1 calls. All 9-1-1 calls for fire service in
the City are routed to the City’s Police Communications Center.
Based on national recommendations, Citygate’s response time test goal is for the 90% Call to
Arrival to be seven minutes (or 420 seconds). This is made up of three component parts:
Call Processing Time: 1 minute (receive call, determine need, alert crew)
Turnout Time: 2 minutes (notify, don required protective gear, get moving)
Travel Time: 4 minutes (travel to location street front)
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 38
The following is the breakdown of 9-1-1 Call to First Apparatus Arrival for the City overall for
all incidents types and then by apparatus:
Table 8—Call to Arrival (Total) Response Time to 90% of Incidents (Minutes/Seconds)
Station 2012 2013 2014 FY 07/08
Citywide 10:21 10:21 9:58 9:00
Truck 1 11:46 11:46 11:23 9:15
Engine 2 10:47 11:02 10:42 9:00
Engine 3 9:40 9:43 9:13 8:00
Engine 4 11:22 11:12 10:48 9:30
Finding #6: The Department’s Total Response Time is significantly longer than
a Citygate and best practices -based recommendation of 7:00
minutes/seconds. This is due to a combination of slow Call
Processing and Turnout Times combined with long Travel Times
from only four fire stations.
Finding #7: The Department’s Total Response Time has decayed 58 seconds
since the previous master plan study data review from Fiscal Year
07/08. Most of this slower performance is due to more incidents
with longer Travel Times offset by a slight improvement in Call
Processing Time.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 39
5.3.2 Call Processing Time
This measure is the time it takes to answer 9-1-1, ascertain the nature of the emergency, enter the
call into the dispatch computer, and dispatch the recommended apparatus.
Table 9—Call Processing Time Performance to 90% of Incidents (Minutes/Seconds)
Dispatch 2012 2013 2014 FY 07/08
All Incident Types 2:28 2:25 2:20 2:30
Medical 2:17 2:12 2:07
Alarm Fire 2:42 2:42 2:33
Collision Injury 2:14 2:03 2:18
Public Assist 2:17 2:28 2:15
Finding #8: The City’s Call Processing Time has only slightly improved since
the previous master plan where it was noted the City was not close
to a best practices goal of 60-105 seconds.
5.3.3 Turnout Time
This measure is the time it takes for all crews to hear the dispatch message, don safety clothing,
and begin moving the assigned apparatus.
Table 10—Turnout Time Performance to 90% of Incidents (Minutes/Seconds)
Station 2012 2013 2014 FY 07/08
Citywide 2:59 2:59 2:46 2:30
Truck 1 3:18 3:31 3:07
Engine 2 2:53 2:44 2:23
Engine 3 2:35 2:42 2:22
Engine 4 3:06 3:04 3:04
While the NFPA recommends 60-80 seconds for Turnout Time, it has long been recognized as a
standard rarely met in practical experience. Crews must not just hear the dispatch message; they
must also don the OSHA-mandated personal protective clothing for the type of emergency.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 40
Citygate has long recommended that, due to this and the floor plan design of some stations,
agencies can reasonably make a two-minute crew Turnout Time to 90% of the emergency
incidents.
Finding #9: The City’s Turnout Times are consistently over two minutes from
station to station, and have eroded since the prior master plan for a
Citygate recommendation of two minutes.
5.3.4 Travel Time
Travel Time is defined as the time element between when the dispatch center is notified either
verbally or electronically that the unit is en route to the call, and when it arrives at the address or
location street front, not the patient’s side. The Citywide Travel Time measures for 2012 through
2014 to all Fire Department responses are shown hereafter.
Table 11—Travel Time Performance to 90% of Incidents (Minutes/Seconds)
Station 2012 2013 2014 FY 07/08
Citywide 5:55 5:59 5:51 5:15
Truck 1 6:11 6:29 6:02 5:15
Engine 2 6:26 6:50 6:49 5:15
Engine 3 5:47 5:55 5:41 4:45
Engine 4 6:53 6:43 6:40 5:45
NFPA Standard 1710 recommends a four-minute Travel Time goal in urban and suburban areas.
As seen in Table 11, none of the Travel Times meet this goal. There are several reasons for
slower Travel Time, not all of which can be cost-effectively improved. Traffic congestion
variation, non-grid road network areas, open spaces, dry washes, and highways that limit through
streets all affect Travel Time. Having said this, all of the City’s stations have Travel Times less
than or just over six minutes. A five- to six-minute Travel Time is hard to achieve, even for
metropolitan fire departments on a grid street network with adequately spaced stations.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 41
Finding #10: The first-due unit Travel Times in the City are longer than a best
practice and City goal of four minutes, which is reflective of the
non-grid street design, the large size of some station areas, and
simultaneous calls for service requiring farther away units to
respond at times. Due to incident demand increase and traffic
congestion, Travel Times have also eroded across the board since
the previous master plan.
5.3.5 First Alarm (Effective Response Force) Performance to Building Fires
The Department’s response plan is for three engines, one ladder truck, and one battalion chief to
respond to building fires and other serious incidents.
This response force is designed to provide enough units when some fires are very serious at the
time of the 9-1-1 call. However, in a given year, there are few building fires in every station area
where the entire force of four units all are needed and arrive at the incident location. Therefore,
the response time sample size is very small in the following table, even when totaled across three
years.
The best representation for the First Alarm or Effective Response Force units is Travel Time
across the City’s street network, which is displayed in the table below for the years 2012-2014.
The NFPA 1710 recommendation is for all units to arrive within an eight-minute Travel Time.
The numbers in parentheses next to the arrival time of the units is the total number of
occurrences per year per station area. The reader is cautioned that some of these sample sizes are
very small and can readily change year to year depending on the exact locations of serious fires
and the various units’ availability.
Station 3 has the longest fourth-due Travel Times and for it to be the fourth-due unit it has to
cross to Station 3 and 4’s area. In Station 1’s area, Engine 3 is typically the second- or third-due
unit.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 42
Table 12—Travel Time for Effective Response Force Across Three Years (Time and Count)
Unit 1st Arrival 2nd Arrival 3rd Arrival 4th Arrival
Truck 1 06:11 (3,317) 09:12 (237) 10:50 (41) 09:46 (11)
Engine 2 06:57 (3,675) 09:57 (92) 10:39 (32) 08:48 (14)
Engine 3 05:50 (3,567) 08:59 (106) 09:32 (33) 15:26 (12)
Engine 4 06:53 (2,950) 09:45 (78) 08:19 (29) 07:42 (13)
Finding #11: The City’s response Travel Time for four units to serious fires,
known as the Effective Response Force (ERF or First Alarm),
during the last three years ranges from 7:42 to 15:26, which in
three of the four fire station districts, does not meet an eight-
minute Travel Time goal.
5.4 SIMULTANEOUS INCIDENT ACTIVITY
Simultaneous incidents occur when other incidents are underway. In San Luis Obispo, over the
three-year reporting period, 19.70% of incidents occurred while one or more other incidents were
underway. The following is the percentage of simultaneous incidents broken down by number of
simultaneous incidents:
Table 13—Simultaneous Incident Activity – 2012-2014
Number of Simultaneous Incidents Percentage
More than 1 incident at the same time in
the City 19.70
More than 2 incidents at the same time
in the City 3.60
More than 3 incidents at the same time
in the City 0.55
In a department with four fire stations, and mutual aid partners, simultaneous incidents in
different station areas have very little operational consequence. However, when simultaneous
incidents occur within a single station area, there can be significant delays in response times.
Currently, the Department is seldom stressed to handle three incidents at once, but as the
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 43
following figure shows, the rate of simultaneous incidents is on the increase, following the
upward trend for EMS incidents:
Figure 6—Simultaneous Incidents by Year
The following graph illustrates the number of simultaneous incidents by station area across three
years. Station 3 has the greatest number of in -station area simultaneous incidents, followed
closely by Station 1. Other stations are far less likely to experience simultaneous incidents within
their station area.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 5—Statistical Analysis page 44
Figure 7—Number of Station Area Simultaneous Incidents
Finding #12: The rate of more than two simultaneous incidents is low, but many
of these occurrences are in the Station 1 and 3 areas. If these two
units are committed to incidents, then the entire southern half of
the City relies on Station 4, which cannot cover the existing City in
a timely manner due to its southwest location, nor can it provide
the City’s Total Response Time goal to the southern expansion and
annexation areas.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 6—Fiscal and Timing Impacts for a Possible Fifth Fire Station page 45
SECTION 6—FISCAL AND TIMING IMPACTS FOR A POSSIBLE FIFTH
FIRE STATION
This section provides an order of magnitude cost for the addition of a fifth fire station. As the
other City General Fund departments conclude their services and cost analysis , the City will be
able to determine how best to have the new southern neighborhoods contribute to the added costs
of City services while maintaining service levels Citywide.
6.1 FIRE DEPARTMENT COMPONENT COSTS
The following costs, estimated in current dollars , provide a scale of what is needed for a fifth fire
station:
Table 14—New Fire Station Costs
Cost Element Cost
Fire station with site development costs, equipment and
furnishings. No raw land cost. Market escalation at 4% per
year to 2017 construction.
$5,322,037
Hiring expenses, one time $44,500
Fire engine with equipment $675,000
Station annual operating expense, services, and supplies $94,500
Station personnel @ 3/shift/day $1,304,299
Station personnel @ 2/shift/day $953,553
Annual operating with 3/day $1,398,799
6.2 FIRE STATION OPERATIONAL TIMING
The question every growing city faces is, “When must the additional public safety services be
added to protect the additional residents?” As with fire service response times, there are no
federal or state regulations on this issue. The local decision is a blend of local risk acceptance
balanced by the pace that new revenues accumulate to pay for the increased services.
Also, depending on development cycles, the addition of new buildings can vary widely due to
market demand. For this reason, most communities use the actual count of new, occupied
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 6—Fiscal and Timing Impacts for a Possible Fifth Fire Station page 46
buildings as the trigger point, not just time in months, or milestones like a subdivision map
becoming approved for occupancy or model homes being opened.
In our experience, many of our clients find the added risks and increasing revenues to be
balanced when the new fire station area is 50% developed. At that point, communities require the
station to be opened. Depending on pace of development and revenue growth, some communities
will start with a two-person unit for EMS responses and then increase to a three-person full fire
engine when the area is 75-100% developed. Development impact fees and/or a development
agreement typically are used to have the developer(s) pay for the fire station and fire apparatus
capital costs.
However, the ongoing cost burden is equally important to be able to afford. In Table 14 above,
there is a $350,746 annual difference between a two- and three-person crew. Depending on the
rate of revenue increase, it may be necessary to delay the full crew cost until the Station 5 area is
almost built out.
Recommendation #1: Given the modest number of additional dwelling units
and residents and the likely slow rate of development
occupancy over several years, Citygate believes the
fiscal burden of the added staffing should be phased in
over the later stages of development. This should start
with a two-firefighter emergency medical response unit
at the point 50% of the residential units are occupied in
Fire Station 5’s primary service area, and the full three-
person firefighting and EMS engine crew in place at the
point 90% of the residential and commercial
development is occupied. Citygate recommends
beginning design and construction of the fifth fire
station three years prior to staffing.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 7—Overall Evaluation and Recommendation page 47
SECTION 7—OVERALL EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATION
7.1 OVERALL EVALUATION
The San Luis Obispo Fire Department serves a very
diverse land use pattern that, in some locations, is
geographically challenged with open spaces, hills, a
freeway, and drainages, all of which limit the
Department’s ability to achieve quick Travel Times from the current four fire stations.
For the foreseeable future, the City will need both a first-due firefighting unit and Effective
Response Force (First Alarm) coverage in all parts of the City, consistent with current best
practices, if the risk of fire is to be limited to only part of the inside of an affected building .
While residential fire sprinklers are now included in the national model fire codes, it will be
decades before the existing housing stock will be upgraded or replaced, even if these codes were
to be adopted for all new construction.
While the volume and response times to EMS incidents consume much of the City’s attention,
Citygate reminds readers that the word “fire” is in the agency’s name and that all communities
need a “stand-by and readily available” firefighting force for when fires break out. The Fire
Department does not provide ambulance care and, even if it did, would still require resources in
addition to EMS hourly demand for an effective response to emerging serious fires.
To provide equitable response times to all similar risk neighborhoods and to provide the depth of
response to address multiple, simultaneous incidents or incidents requiring multiple response
units, the City will need a fifth fire station where growth and annexation expands the City’s
service area.
For its current risks and substantially developed areas, the City has the correct quantity of fire
engines (pumpers) and a quint ladder truck.
Citygate’s deployment recommendations are listed below. The first deployment step for the City
in the near term is to adopt performance measures from which to set forth service expectations
and, on an annual budget basis, monitor Fire Department performance as part of its annual
budgeting process.
SOC ELEMENT 8 OF 8
OVERALL EVALUATION
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Volume 2—Technical Report
Section 7—Overall Evaluation and Recommendation page 48
7.1.1 Deployment Recommendation
Based on the technical analysis and findings contained in this Standards of Response Coverage
study, Citygate offers the following overall deployment recommendations:
Recommendation #2: Adopt Updated, More Detailed Fire Service
Deployment Measure Policies: The City should
incorporate performance measures into its financial plan
to direct fire crew planning and to monitor the operation
of the Department. The measures of time should be
designed to save patients where medically possible and
to keep small but serious fires from becoming greater
alarm fires. With this is mind, Citygate recommends the
following measures:
2.1 Distribution of Fire Stations: To treat medical patients
and control small fires, the first-due fire unit should
have a Total Response Time of seven minutes or less,
90% of the time. This equates to a one-minute Call
Processing Time by the dispatch center, a two-minute
fire crew Turnout Time, and a four-minute Travel Time.
2.2 Multiple-Unit Effective Response Force for Serious
Emergencies: To confine fires near the room of origin,
to stop wildland fires to under three acres when noticed
promptly, and to treat up to five medical patients at
once, a multiple-unit response of a minimum of three
engines, one quint ladder truck, and one battalion chief
(totaling 14 personnel) are dispatched to these serious
emergencies. This Effective Response Force should
have a Total Response Time of 11 minutes or less, 90%
of the time. This equates to one-minute Call Processing
Time, two minutes Turnout Time, and eight minutes
Travel Time.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Section 7—Overall Evaluation and Recommendation page 49
2.3 Hazardous Materials Response: Provide hazardous
materials response to emergency incidents designed to
protect the community from the hazards associated with
uncontrolled release of hazardous and toxic materials.
The fundamental mission of the City response is to
minimize or halt the release of a hazardous substance so
it has minimal impact on the community. It can achieve
this with a Travel Time in urban to suburban areas for
the first company capable of investigating a hazardous
materials release at the operations level within four
minutes Travel Time or less, 90% of the time. After
size-up and scene evaluation is completed, a
determination will be made whether to request
additional resources from the City’s multi-agency
hazardous materials response partnership.
2.4 Technical Rescue: Respond to technical rescue
emergencies as efficiently and effectively as possible
with enough trained personnel to facilitate a successful
rescue. Achieve a Travel Time for the first company in
urban to suburban areas for size-up of the rescue within
four minutes Travel Time or less, 90% of the time.
Assemble additional resources for technical rescue
capable of initiating a rescue within a Total Response
Time of 11 minutes, 90% of the time. Safely complete
rescue/extrication to ensure delivery of patient to a
definitive care facility.
2.5 Emergency Medical Services: The City should continue
with its goal of providing first responder paramedic
services to all neighborhoods with a Total Response
Time of seven minutes or less, 90% of the time. This
equates to a one-minute Call Processing Time by the
dispatch center, a two-minute fire crew Turnout Time,
and a four-minute Travel Time.
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San Luis Obispo Fire Department—Fire Service Master Plan Update
Volume 2—Technical Report
Section 7—Overall Evaluation and Recommendation page 50
Recommendation #3: The Police and Fire Department have to make
meaningful improvements to Call Processing Time and
Turnout Time.
Recommendation #4: Implement revenue-generating option(s) sufficient to
cover initial and ongoing funding gaps to add a fire
station in the southern City area equipped with on e fire
engine and a three-person crew.
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Fire Service Master
Plan Update for the
2250 East Bidwell St., Ste #100 Folsom, CA 95630
(916)458-5100 Fax: (916) 983-2090
Management Consultants Folsom (Sacramento), CA
City of
San Luis Obispo
Fire Department
Volume 2 of 2 –Map Atlas
June 8, 2016
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Local Streets
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City Limits ³
Map #1
General geogr aphy with fire station locationsand city boundary
0 1 20.5 Miles
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San Luis Obispo City Fire Department Map #3
0 1.5 30.75 Miles ³
8-minute Travel First AlarmQuint Ladder 1 BC, 3 Engines
^_Station 1
!(Station 2
!(Station 3
!(Station 4
!C CF Mutual Aid Stations
8 minute Response Time
Number of Stations to Arrive
1
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San Luis Obispo City Fire Department Map #4
0 1.5 30.75 Miles ³
8-minute Travel Quint Ladder and BC only
^_Station 1
!(Station 2
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8minTravelTimeAll
!C CF Mutual Aid Stations
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³
Map #5
2014 Code 3 calls Density Map
Packet Pg. 75
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Map #6
4-minute travel coverage from proposed station #5
Total road miles = 161Total road miles covered by existing stations 4 minute travel time = 148 (92%)Total road miles proposed station #5 would cover, 4 minute travel time = 13 (8%)Note: All calculated within City Limit boundaries 0 1 20.5 Miles
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