Fiscal Year 2004 Proposed Budget

FIRE DEPARTMENT
OPERATIONS AND EMERGENCY SERVICES DIVISION
FIRE/EMS OPERATIONS PROGRAM

PROGRAM MISSION: To reduce or eliminate threats to life, property and the environment through effective emergency and non-emergency response to requests for service.

The program continues the expansion of the Division's training efforts to increase the number of Advanced Life Support providers in order to staff paramedic engine companies, improves the management skills of Fire Department officers, and continues the focus on emergency management and preparing emergency responders for dealing with acts of terrorism. In addition, the program will continue ensuring that all residents of Arlington are protected with a working smoke detector in the home. Components of this effort include increased contact and education of apartment complex managers, smoke detector giveaways and installations, and increased public education. This program continues to offer child safety seat inspections/installations, a program started in FY 1998, due to high public demand for this service. This program will expand the response capacity of the hazardous materials and technical rescue functions in order to provide for self-sustained operations if regional events are not able to provide sufficient mutual aid.

SIGNIFICANT PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS: The Fire/EMS Operations Program budget reflects:

• Personnel expenses increased due to the implementation of a pay pilot to create a more competitive compensation structure and normal step increases which are partially offset by the reduction in overtime due to savings from converting the second peak time medic unit to full time ($75,000).

• Revenue decreased mainly due to Falls Church fire service billing ($90,217).

PERFORMANCE MEASURES:

Objective: To respond to all emergency incidents in the Arlington County geographic service area within five minutes or less 90% of the time.

• EMS incident responses are expected to rise slightly due to the increasing population of older residents, commercial growth in the area and increases in the resident and daytime population, even though the number of transports is decreasing.

• The increase in average training hours for Firefighter/EMTs in the FY 2002 and FY 2003 estimates is the result of increased specialized training as a result of terrorism response preparedness.

• The "Other" types of medical responses include basic life support and other advanced life support responses, (e.g., shock, internal bleeding, dehydration, etc.).

• The decrease in building inspections is the result of the increase in other activities related to operational preparedness. Specifically the influx of new personnel that require additional training and the addition of terrorism preparedness training for all personnel have reduce time available to devote to inspections.

* Estimated

FUTURE BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS:

• Continue implementation of four-person staffing of heavy rescue squads and ladder trucks. These units are currently staffed with three personnel.

• Shift Training/Safety Officers for enhanced compliance with the Virginia and Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations (29 CFR 1910.134).

• Staff support for the Operations Division is necessary to carry out critical management functions. The Division operates without a uniformed staff assistant.

• The implementation of the Fire Department's Technology Initiative will improve data collection and use, leading to better resource utilization and decision making. This initiative will also include field reporting and will utilize global positioning to provide dispatching of the closest appropriate response unit to an incident potentially reducing response times.

• Better management of requests for EMS response. In addition to the effects of an aging population requiring more medical care, inappropriate requests for EMS transport are driving the number of EMS calls. This has an adverse impact on providers as well as the ability to maintain adequate care for legitimate requests. Efforts to better manage these requests at intake (911 call center) can reduce these impacts while directing citizens to the more appropriate resource. Assignment of Fire/EMS Officers to the Emergency Communications Center could deal with this and several other resource deployment issues.

• Measuring EMS response times to the patient's side is an important goal for future data collection and evaluating service delivery. This will require technical capabilities the Department does not currently possess.

• Improvements in the health and safety of Firefighters and Paramedics will require expenditures in the areas of communications and protective equipment as well as the allocation of personnel resources to monitor regulatory compliance as required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

• Managed care organizations may place greater pressure on the EMS system to deliver patients to contract facilities which could increase overall call time and limit EMS unit availability, which could adversely affect response time.

• National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) may increase training and operational requirements for Firefighters and Fire Departments through their various standards setting processes.

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