HomeMy WebLinkAboutPresentation - Fire Department Master PlanFEBRUARY 27, 2025
Fire Services Master Plan
City of Palm Springs
FINAL REPORT BRIEFING
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•No federal/state laws or regulations mandating fire service
staffing levels, response performance, or outcomes
–If fire services are provided, state and federal safety regulations apply
•The level of fire service provided is a local policy decision
–Fundamental policy choice questions:
•What are desired outcomes to critical emergency events?
•Should equitable response time be provided to similar risk neighborhoods?
–Communities have the level of service they can afford or which they
choose to fund
•The level of service provided may not be the level of service desired
Policy Choices Framework
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•The goal of fire service deployment is to deliver desired
outcomes
•Typical urban/suburban community desired outcomes:
–Prevent death and/or permanent impairment from medical
emergencies where possible
–Confine building fires to the room or compartment of origin
•Delivering desired outcomes depends on adequate staffing,
apparatus type, training, and response time
Outcome Goals Drive Fire Service Deployment
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Response Time Goals – Deliver Best Practice Outcomes
7:30
Minutes
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•Fire service deployment is essentially about the speed and
weight of response
–Speed refers to single neighborhood-based first responders to mitigate
routine-to-moderate emergencies for the outcome desired
–Weight refers to multiple-unit responses (Effective Response Force / First
Alarm) needed to control more serious emergencies for the outcome
desired
•To achieve typical urban/suburban community outcomes:
–First unit should arrive within 7:30–8:30 minutes
–Full ERF should arrive within 11:30–12:30 minutes
–ERF requires 22 firefighters and needs mutual aid
Deployment Strategies
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Risk Assessment
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•Service area: 94.5 sq. mi.
•Population: +/- 46,500
–3,200 businesses – daytime population approx. 65,000
•Population projected to increase slightly by 2035
•2,557 additional residential housing units possible
•North City with 2.6 million sq. ft. of distribution buildings
•39 critical infrastructure facilities
•Multiple tourism, airport, natural, and cultural resources
Values at Risk to be Protected
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Deployment Evaluation
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Service Demand by Year
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Service Demand by Incident Type
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Service Demand by Time of Day
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Simultaneous Incident Activity
1 or more simultaneous incidents: 41.65%
2 or more simultaneous incidents: 11.4%
3 or more simultaneous incidents: 2.29%
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Response Performance to Fire/EMS Calls
Response
Component
Best Practice 90th Percentile
Performance
Performance
Versus Best
Practice and
CitygateGoalReference
Call Processing / Dispatch 1:30 Citygate 2:12 + 0:42 sec
Crew Turnout 2:00 Citygate 2:36 + 0:36 sec
First-Unit Travel 5:00 Citygate 6:04 + 1:04 sec
First-Unit Call to Arrival 8:30 Citygate 8:49 + 0:19 sec
ERF Travel Call to Arrival 11:30 Citygate 15:02 + 3:32 sec
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Key Challenge – Geography
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Fire station siting guidelines:
1.Serve the most people in the shortest travel time possible
2.Provide a 360º service area within desired first-unit travel
time goal
3.Avoid political, natural, or human-built barriers within the
first-unit travel time goal
4.Provide immediate or rapid access to primary response
travel routes in all directions
Challenge 1: Number & Locations of Fire Stations
Relocation to the east
only reduces coverage
by .4 tenths of a mile
Relocation further to
the east reduces
4:00-minute core City
travel time coverage
by 8.2 miles
Relocation further to
the southeast
reduces 4:00-minute
core City travel time
coverage by 4.8 miles
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•Station 1’s location should be maintained
•Calls for service are increasing
•EMS incidents represent 79 percent of demand volume
•There is a 42 percent rate of two (or more) incidents at the
same time
•Decreasing dispatch and crew turnout times to best practices
would save a total of 1:18 minutes, lowering call-to-arrival time
–Overall growth, and more so in the northern area of the City, will
pressure response times upwards
Deployment Findings
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•Add the fourth firefighter position to the sole remaining
three-person Engine
•Remodel and expand Station 3 to add an EMS squad
•Rebuild Station 1 at the current site; enlarge the parcel
•Continue planning for a sixth station in the northeast area
of the City as funding permits
Deployment Recommendations
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First-Due Unit
•To treat pre-hospital medical emergencies and control small fires, the first-due unit
should arrive within 8:30 minutes, 90 percent of the time, from receipt of the 9-1-1
call at the City’s Communications Center to incidents in the City
–This equates to a 1:30-minute call-processing / dispatch time, a 2:00-minute
crew turnout time, and a 5:00-minute travel time
Multiple-Unit Effective Response Force for Serious Emergencies
•To confine building fires near the room or rooms of origin and treat multiple medical
patients at a single incident, a multiple-unit ERF of 22 personnel, including one
Chief Officer, should arrive within 11:30 minutes from the time of call receipt at the
City’s Communications Center at 90 percent or better reliability
–This equates to a 1:30-minute call-processing / dispatch time, a 2:00-minute
crew turnout time, and an 8:00-minute travel time, respectively
Deployment Goal Recommendations
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Headquarters Programs
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•High-performing team to best practices, but at capacity
•Not meeting all fire prevention needs
•Need for centralized logistics and support functions
•Emergency management program is challenged to meet
all training
Headquarters Program Findings
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•Increase administrative support for the risk reduction and
vegetation management inspectors
•Prioritize the expansion of Fire headquarters and Fire
Station 2 as part of the Airport master plan
•Need to site and enhance the Department’s training
location
•Increase the reserve engine fleet by one unit
Headquarters Program Recommendations
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•Review and absorb the content, findings, and
recommendations of this master plan
•Adopt updated response performance measures via City
Council policy
•Staff the last engine crew with a fourth firefighter
•Work to acquire an enlarged parcel of land for the
replacement of Fire Station 1
Next Steps
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•Acquire another reserve fire engine
•Remodel and expand Station 3
•Finalize the location of a sixth fire station
•Complete the facility upgrades and improvement plans
with the architectural firm that was already hired
•Monitor response performance against updated adopted
goals
Next Steps (cont.)
Questions