IrvingFD_2010-11BudgetDispute

8/3/2019 IrvingFD_2010-11BudgetDispute

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FY 2010-2011

FY 2011-2012

Councilwoman Cannaday asked Chief Molina: What type of programs does this involve and what is the

attendance of children to these programs. Here are some of Chief Molinas responses:

The New Model changes from a past focus on just children, adults, seniors, and business; to nowadding an EMS component to our Fire Safety classes through utilization of the Board of Health that is

now under the Fire Department.

Fact Check: Prior to now, the FD and Board of Health did not combine resources and accomplishments.

Attendance numbers reported in the past were based on programs conducted through the Fire Prevention

and Operation divisions

Using the New Model (which Molina states engages all firefighters, two or three inspectors andhimself), we have raised our [education] targetfrom 18k persons in 2006, to a new targetof 33k

persons and we are building on the past efforts by adding a focus on working with churches, the YMCA

and ethnic diverse groups.

Fact Check: Chief Molina never stated whether more, less or the same number ofchildren are receiving

Fire & Safety Classes. Rank and file firefighters are not aware of any New Model of public education.

There have been no Directives, General Operating Procedure, or training describing a New Model. Fire

Safety & EMS Education activities of the Operations Division are the same as in past years (i.e. fire drills,

show and tells, station tours). Fire Safety Education activities of the Prevention Division historically have

been conducted by two uniform personnel. One of their most important activities consisted of Fire Safety

Education classes for every 3rd

and 6th

grader, every year. Additionally, they conducted many classes for

businesses, special groups, two Citizens Fire Academy classes a year, and many others. The Public

Education section of Fire Prevention was eliminated and the personnel moved to inspections; many of

these past Fire Safety Programs are no longer conducted.

The following information is taken from the IFD Annual Report:

2006-07: 1174 programs conducted with 18,094 attending

2007-08: 1287 programs conducted with 29,645 attending

2008-09: 1001 programs conducted with 25,933 attending 2009-10: 404programs conducted with 38,395 attending

These numbers indicate that a major change in attendance occurred in FY 07-08 (One can deduce that

increased attendance is attributed to the inclusion of Board of Health presentations and/or a new

methodology for counting a contact). During the FY 2008-09, the Public Education division was reduced

from 2 persons to only 1. This is reflected in the reduced number of programs held and persons attend ing.

For FY 2009-10 there is a major changethe Public Education Division no longer exists and the number of

programs conducted is now 1/3 what it was in FY 07-08 yet the number of contacts grew by 13,000.

For many years, all 3rd

graders received a very intense Safety Program. Our Burn House was donated to

the city to for this very program. The Safety Burn house has not been used in a school since May 8th,

2008

at Davis Elementary School where 118 3rdgraders attended. This program is no longer provided.


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FY 2010-2011

FY 2011-2012

Councilman Webb questioned directly whether Chief Molina has enough inspectors to do required

inspections and whether school children were getting as much FD education as in the past.

Molina did not respond yes or no. He instead stated we continue to do education in the schools butwith all fire fighters, not just two special public educators as in the past. (See public education section)

Molina stated we continue to do inspections and that in 2005 we conducted about 9000 inspectionsand at close of 2010 we conducted about 10,998 (indicating an improvement).

Fact Check: These are the Inspection Numbers reported on the IFD Annual Report

2006-07: 9,3092007-08: 10, 8662008-09: 9,9162009-10: 10,998

FYI- these numbers include all Re-inspections. A re-inspection is every subsequent visit to an

occupancy necessary to complete one inspection. The type of occupancy, the size of the building,

presence of fire suppression systems, or some other factor such as the non- compliance of the owner

are factors that increase the difficulty and amount of time necessary to complete the inspection of a

single occupancy. This fact by itself will cause the number of inspections conducted each year to

fluctuate. The numbers reported in the IFD Annual Report is more of an activity report and is not an

indication of the occupancy inspections completed or the probable safety of buildings in Irving.

City of Irving has 16541 occupancies that require inspection. Molina stated that with his New Model, he

identified the occupancies that require annual inspections and those that only need inspection every

other year. Ifalloccupancies were inspected on the every other year plan, it would require over 8000

completedoccupancy inspections each year.

Based on Last Date Inspected, only 45% of Irving occupancies have been inspected within the past two

years. This means that 55% of Irving occupancies have not been inspected within the 2-year New

Model. A special note: 23% (3872) occupancies have not been inspected in over 5 years. Over the pastthree years, Chief Molina has moved public education personnel out of education and into inspections,

and has authorized 40hrs per week of overtime, just to keep pace with past performance; which does

not meet the goals or needs. Two years ago, the Chief was asked by council for a staffing plan and the

Chief requested three more inspectors. Since then, we have eliminated two public educators from Fire

Prevention and we still need more inspectors.

Two years in row, the Fire Department presentation shows a New Measure for Fires Caused by code

violations without defining what this means.


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FY 2010-2011

FY 2011-2012

Chief Molina reports a substantial drop in Average Emergency Response Times

between FY 07-08 and FY 08-09 (no updated information from last years report to this

year). The Chief indicates that the IFD Target is a Five Minute average response (is this set

by him or by Council?). The Chief attributed this improvement to the following:

1) In District Training; 2) Demand Coverage and; 3) Alternative DeploymentFact Check: First, the reported improvement is not due to any change in operations butrather a change in the method of reporting. In 2008, code one responses (no lights or

sirens) were eliminated from the times reported. There is no need to track the code one

calls for purposes of meeting a goal, but showing an improvement in response times when

none exist should not be done without an asterisk and explanation.

Secondly, the accepted national standard for response times is outlined in NFPA 1710. It is

most simply stated as: Cities are to meet the below established time frame: Respond with

4 responders on scene, 90% of the time:

1) Processing Times = Time to receive and make decision on who to send, this time is

not tracked by our system.

2) From time the dispatch is completed till apparatus is out of the Station (aka

turn-out time) = 80 seconds for fire special calls and 60 seconds for EMS calls

3) From out of the Station door to the front door of the emergency = 4 minutes

The IFD dispatch system does not track times in a manner that is easily adapted to

compliance with the National Standard. Assuming an average of 90 seconds for

process and turn-out time, when a 4 minute drive-time is added, it is safe to assume

Irving should adopt a total Response Time goal of 5.5 minutes. This goal should be

met90% of the time with four responders. Since IFD responds with only three

persons, it will be necessary to track the arrival of the second apparatus on scene;until such time Irving has 4-man staffing.

Irving is nowhere close to meeting the National Standard of 90% of the time with 4

responders. A full analysis should be conducted and reported so that Council can make

informed decisions about our response capabilities. The IPFFA has GIS tools through the

IAFF to help cities analyze response abilities. All that is necessary is cooperation.

Response times can only be improved with: additional stations and/or apparatus, 4

man staffing, re-location of current resources, improved routes/roads, driving faster

(not a good idea), and technology to control red lights (already done years ago).


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FY 2010-2011

FY 2011-2012

Chief Molina spoke on Functional Staffing (Bike Medics, Swift Water etc) where the

IFD will staff-up for special events or predictable weather hazards. This type of

staffing is a great idea and follows past practices of most other city departments

(Police, Streets, water etc. but new to us) when confronted with unusually taxing

events.

When Functional Staffing is accomplished via the hiring of additional personnel

utilizing overtime; there is improvement to both the citizens of Irving and safety to

firefighters. .There has been times when on- duty resources have been utilized to

cover special events and/or special hazards. It is at those times where citizens and

firefighters are placed at an increased risk.

Example: Chief Molina talked about how during Heat Advisories, the IFD is now

sending two additional Engines to all One Alarm fires. This is for the safety of

firefighters and is greatly needed. These two Engines bring 6 additional FFs to the

scene. On the down side, two districts are now missing their Fire Response

capabilities.

Every time a Fire or EMS crew is on a call, districts are left vacant. Nearby districts

are then relied on to cover. If a district is surrounded on three sides by other

districts; there is potentially a slight delay in response. With each additional crew

out-of-service (on a call, in training, at a special event etc); the response time is

further delayed and risk to citizens and firefighters grows exponentially. Having 4-

man crews not only increases the safety and efficiency of all crews, but it allows the

department to design responses to fires and other large scale events so that more

companies remain in their districtsable to serve citizens faster and with more

efficiency.

Maximizing Staffing Resources, as used here, is focused on getting the most out of

each firefighter (Irving Firefighters are trained in multiple specialties; tech rescue,

swift water, hazardous materials, extrication, tactical-medics, bike-medics,

paramedics and of course structural firefighting). It is due to all this multi-

functional abilities of the Irving Fire Fighter, which makes it extremely important for

the City of Irving to continue hiring the best candidates possible. It is also the basis

for continuing the education and certification pays while establishing and/or

maintaining a very competitive salary structure.

With all the possible maximization of IFD talents, it still comes down to sending

enough trained people, in a timely manner, to get the job done. This requires morestaffing than what the IFD has currently established as a minimum.


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FY 2010-2011

FY 2011-2012

The Staffing chart used in the FY 2010-11 presentation indicates that for 2006-

2010 that no positions were held open in the Fire Department.

Fact Check: In FY 2009-10, two positions in Fire Prevention were vacated by

retirement. Both have been held open until July 2011 when one of these was filled.

Just after the FY 2010-11 budget presentations, Fire Prevention lost another

employee in November 2010 when Chief Molina terminated an Inspector and thatposition is still held open.

Councilman Webb asked of Chief Molina: does your budget include the re-staffing

of Engine 1 and Truck 8 with 4 personnel (Referencing a July directive changing

minimum staffing on these two Companies). Councilman Webb further asked if

effective October 1, 2011 whether these two companies would be restored to full

4-man staff.

Chief Molina responded yes and then went on to state there has never been areduction in staffing, and that those two companies get priority staffing when

there are enough personnel.

Fact Check: Chief Molina has reduced the Minimum Staffing levels. Prior to July

6th, 2011, the Daily Staffing levels were set at 66 (any less required hiring overtime

per IFD OT General Procedure #15). Since July 6th, the IFD has operated under

orders issued via email by Asst Chief Wilson; the new minimum staffing level is 64.

There have been no Personnel Reductions but there has definitely been Staffing

Reductions. Engine 1 has been reduced to three on 25 shifts and Truck 8 reduced

to only three on 37 shifts; since this practice was implemented.

Battalion Chiefs were informed on Sept 19th, 2011 that this practice will continue

after the new FY. This is a direct contradiction to the answer Chief Molina gave to

Councilman Webbs question about staffing on August 19th

.

IrvingFD_2010-11BudgetDispute

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