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A-1. Discuss Fire Department Duty Crews0 CITY OF CNANHASSEN 7700 Market Boulevard PO Box 147 Chanhassen, MN 55317 Administration Phone: 952.227.1100 Fax: 952.227.1110 Building Inspections Phone: 952.227.1180 Fax: 952.227.1190 Engineering Phone: 952.227.1160 Fax: 952.227.1170 Finance Phone: 952.227.1140 Fax: 952.227.1110 Park & Recreation Phone: 952.227.1120 Fax: 952.227.1110 Recreation Center 2310 Coulter Boulevard Phone: 952.227.1400 Fax: 952.227.1404 Planning & Natural Resources Phone: 952.227.1130 Fax: 952.227.1110 Public Works 7901 Park Place Phone: 952.227.1300 Fax: 952.227.1310 Senior Center Phone: 952.227.1125 Fax: 952.227.1110 Web Site www.ci.chanhassen.mn.us MEMORANDUM DATE: August 29, 2014 TO: Todd Gerhardt, City Manager FROM: Don Johnson, Fire Chief SUBJ: Duty Crew Update Qi�{(j. Ski �l BACKGROUND The Chanhassen Fire Department currently staffs a duty crew on Friday and Saturday evenings from 6pm to midnight. The current program started in 2002. The intended purpose of a duty crew is to improve overall response times by having a dedicated team assigned to the fire station thereby eliminating the travel time to the station currently experienced by paid on call departments. The duty crew, while working, can handle low level calls and sometimes prevent the need to page out the entire fire department. Duty crews are currently filled using freeware called SignupGenius. Shifts are posted electronically months in advance and allows members to sign up for shifts on a first come, first served basis. Internal guidelines require a trained apparatus operator and a qualified officer sign up for each shift. Currently, if the shift is not filled it is canceled by command staff. Shift cancellations are infrequent to date. In 2014, the fire department also supplanted regular duty crew shifts with "weather standby" crews. These assignments were made at the discretion of command staff during winter weather storms and expected severe weather events to staff a station with a response team. Year to date, 157 hours of weather standby have been assigned. Several intangible benefits are also experienced by regularly staffing a duty crew. Over the past three months crews have assisted with community requests such as; assisting NOAA with Ladder 11, prevention visits for a new homeowner to inspect smoke detectors, and providing a truck visit for a birthday party. Duty crews are also assigned station duties that are mandatory for their shifts. This work would traditionally be done on a training night or on volunteer time if the duty crew was not assigned. With the station staffed, we often experience walk up visitors from the community to tour the stations and talk with the on shift crews. Working duty crew shifts is also a means for a firefighter struggling to make call percentages to receive a 5% credit towards quarterly mandatory call requirements. Firefighter's families will also visit the station during duty crew hours and eat dinner and visit with the crews. This opportunity provides for better teamwork, camaraderie and a family atmosphere. In July 2013, the fire department began using ImageTrend software to track call data, prepare payroll, and report required information to the State of Minnesota. The system allows analysis from a variety of data sets within the reporting of an incident. Some of these tables include; personnel assigned to the call, apparatus response times, address and district information, types of calls, and many other elements. I began reviewing Chanhassen is a Community for Life - Providing for Today and Planning for Tomorrow response data shortly after I started in May and found many elements around response times missing. My experience with ImageTrend started several years ago in Lakeville and I am familiar with the capabilities of the system. The fire department is currently in the infancy stages of using the system. Also, we have been working with the Carver Fire Chiefs and Carver Sheriffs Radio on automation solutions to track and record more data directly from the sheriffs dispatch system. This data will be critical in measuring response times of the fire department. The data sets currently show that Wednesdays are the predominant day that the fire department receives calls. 2014 Calls by Day - Jan - Aug Da Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat # of Calls 50 1 67 1 80 64 55 56 56 2014 Calls by Time Received - Jan - Aug Time of Day I 12am -4am I 4am -8am 8am - 12 pm 12 m -4 m 4 m- 8 m I 8 m -12am # of Calls 41 52 89 78 106 62 Analyzing the calls by time received shows that the majority of the call outs are happening between the hours of 8am - Noon and 4pm - 8pm. In August of 2014 I created a survey for the fire department members to gauge perceptions and input on the current duty crew model. A summary of those responses include; • Approximately 63% of the firefighters are interested in working duty crew (29 of 44) • Saturdays was the favored day to cancel a duty crew shift • Wednesday was the favored day to add a duty crew shift • Firefighters were not in favor of making the shifts mandatory (82 %) RECOMMENDATION In July 2014, the sheriffs office began tracking in- service and arrival times for all apparatus. Prior to that time only the first unit in service and on scene times were recorded and usually a command vehicle. Command vehicles do not meet the time requirements covered by NFPA 1720 for rural and urban areas. With this relatively new procedure, and the potential for automation pending, it will be easier to identify response times and the positive impacts of calls covered by the duty crew. Duty crews provide several positive aspects for the city, community and fire department. The main aspect of a duty crew will decrease overall response times when a duty crew is scheduled. I would recommend continuing budgetary support for the current amount of hours but suggest changing the schedule to potentially cover higher times of need identified above. Firefighters working duty crew are paid the regular wage of $10 per hour. The table below incorporates total annual hours and approximate costs for duty crew coverage. Emergency calls handled by the duty crew are not reflected in these hours as calls are paid separately under payroll guidelines. Duty Crew Hours /Costs Comparing the new data sets in the future will assist Chanhassen in determining acceptable response times by geographical location and time of day. It should also provide better data for continued discussion about duty crew utilization for the City of Chanhassen. Hours Cost 2012 1,650 $16,500 2013 1,586 $15,860 Projected 2014 1,540 $15,400 Additional Storm Standby 157 hours YTD ? Comparing the new data sets in the future will assist Chanhassen in determining acceptable response times by geographical location and time of day. It should also provide better data for continued discussion about duty crew utilization for the City of Chanhassen.