City of Oroville - Fire Department' Standards of Coverage

CITY OF OROVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT STANDARD OF COVERAGE STUDY

      FIRE CHIEF DAVID W. PITTMAN
      OROVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT
      2055 LINCOLN STREET
      OROVILLE CALIFORNIA 95966
      PHONE 530-538-2480
      FAX 530-538-2477

Staff Summary Report

Fire Department Staffing and Response Effectiveness Study

Synopsis:
      Recent discussions with the City Council have called for analysis of what Oroville's fire protection capabilities are and what performance criteria should be applied to the community and future developing areas. Fire Department staff has completed an updated "Standards of Coverage Evaluation" of Oroville's fire and emergency medical services. This report documents existing performance capacities City wide and proposes alternatives for the east and west end of the City. Further, staff is proposing fire and medical service performance goals that can be considered as a guide to future growth.

Background:
      This study of Fire Department performance reviewed areas of fire station locations, what the staffing on those fire companies is capable of, historical measures of emergency workloads in the City, computer mapping and recording tools to analyze the impact of the fire station locations. The Oroville City Fire Emergency Incident Statistics of calendar years 1997 and 2002 were the basis of the findings.

      Given an objective to control a fire or mitigate a medical emergency before it has reached its maximum intensity requires a distribution of resources, and cost-effective concentration of resources for optimum effectiveness for the greatest of risks. For example, a high-risk area could require a timely concentration of several fire companies. More resources are required for the possible rescue of persons trapped within a high-risk building, when it has a higher occupant load than for a low risk building with a low occupant load. More resources are required to control fires in large heavily loaded structures than are needed for small buildings with limited contents. Emergency medical incidents can require a quick response of resources. Therefore, creating certain level of service goals frequently consist of the decisions made regarding the distribution and concentration of resources (fire companies) in relating to the potential demand placed upon them by level of risk.

      However, through the elected officials, it is the community's values and economics that dictate each community's standards of cover. Each community in essence buys the level of "fire life insurance" that is prudently needed and can afford. The fire profession does supply numerous standards for consideration and updated review guidance. But no national fire or insurance industry "standard" should be imposed upon a community if it has rigorously analyzed its own needs and made informed "purchase" decisions based on that analysis. A copy of the National Fire Protection Standard #1710 section addressing the deployment of fire suppression operations is as follows:

      National Fire Protection Standard #1710 titled the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments, 2001 Edition.

      5.2.3.1.1 the fire department�s fire suppression resources shall be deployed to provide for the arrival of an engine company within a 4-minute response time and/or the initial full alarm assignment within an 8-minute response time to 90 percent of the incidents as established in Chapter 4.

      5.2.3.1.2 Personnel assigned to the initial arriving company�s shall have the capability to implement a rapid intervention crew (IRIC).

      5.2.3.2.1 The fire department shall have the capability to deploy an initial full alarm assignment within an 8-minute response time to 90 percent of the incidents as established in Chapter 4.

      To make valid purchase decisions of the Fire Department capability, the analysis Oroville Fire Department must evaluate the variation in the fire threat factor and the fire ground task factor. The dynamics of fire growth interrelate with various configurations of fire station location, built-in fire protection and staffing patterns. The fire suppression tasks that are required at a typical fire scene vary a great deal depending upon risk level. What the fire companies must do simultaneously and quickly if they are to save lives and limit property damage, is to arrive at the same time, with adequate resources to do the job. Matching the arrival of resources with a specific point of fire growth is one of the greatest challenges to fire managers.

Flashover:
      The answer for controlling the variation in the fire dynamics lies in finding a common reference point, something that is common to all fires regardless of the Oroville Fire Department risk-level of the structure, the material or the time the fire has burned. Such a reference point exists. Regardless of the speed of growth or length of burn time, all fires go through the same stages of growth. And, one particular stage emerges as a very significant one because it marks a critical change in conditions. It is called flashover. This is the customary point at or before which, communities desire fire companies to arrive. When flashover occurs, everything in the room breaks into open flame at once. The instantaneous eruption into flame generates a tremendous amount of heat, smoke and pressure with enough force to push beyond the room of origin through doors and windows. The combustion process then speeds up because it has an even greater amount of heat to move to unburned objects.

      Measuring the time to flashover is a function of time and temperature. Fire growth occurs exponentially, that is fire doubles itself every second of free burn that is allowed. We can plot this on what is known as the time and temperature curve:

Flashover is a critical stage of fire growth for two reasons
      First, no living thing in the room of origin will survive, so the chance of saving lives drops dramatically.

      Second, flashover creates a quantum jump in the rate of combustion, and a significantly greater amount of water is needed to reduce the burning material below its ignition temperature. A fire that has reached flashover means it is too late to save anyone in the room of origin, and a lot more staffing is required to handle the larger hose streams needed to extinguish the fire. A post-flashover fire burns hotter and moves faster, compounding the search and rescue problems in the remainder of the structure at the same time that more firefighters are needed for fire attack. Flashover can occur from four to ten minutes after free burning starts.

The Significance of Flashover

     Pre-Flashover
           Limited to one room
           Requires smaller attack lines
           Search & rescue is easier
           Initial assignment can handle

     Post-Flashover
           May spread beyond one room
           Requires larger, more attack lines
           Compounds search & rescue
           Requires additional companies

Emergency Medical Services Goal Point:
      Similar to fire flashover, EMS uses a critical point in time around which to deploy resources. This point in time is that of brain death after a person's heart stops. When breathing and/or circulation stops, the brain starts to die within four to six minutes without oxygen. Brain damage is usually irreversible after ten minutes. Most EMS systems strive to get citizen CPR started immediately, the first responders are the Fire Department units which are on-scene within four to six minutes and paramedic ambulances on-scene within 10 minutes.

Total Reflex Time Measures:
      If emergency system designers plan effective response around the benchmark times of flashover and brain death, the measure of time needs to be defined and understood. In an emergency there are many benchmarks such as ignition point, heart cessation, calling 911, dispatch reception and transmission, travel time and set-up times. All these times taken together are "total reflex time". We must plan a system that places effective resources on-scene prior to or at our benchmark goals, taking into account all the tasks necessary.

      While planners try to shorten each of the benchmark steps, some are impossible to control or to reduce further. Given adopted benchmark times for intervention, the usual measure of time that we use to site emergency facilities is travel time. Most time measures discussed in this report will be travel time as it relates to station site location.

Risk Assessment:
      The next step in emergency resource planning is to match resources to the identified risk. The goal is to analyze the City's risk potential and match it to resources during the travel time and staffing analysis steps.

Staff has broken fire risk in Oroville into five categories:

      Maximum Hazard = Big retail stores (Wal-Mart) and large warehouses

      High Hazard = Old buildings downtown, especially unreinforced masonry

      Moderate = Typical single family dwelling fires, small fires in apartments

      Low = Isolated single family dwellings, outbuildings and automobiles

      Special = High-tech industry, railroad and freeway shipping emergencies

      Risk planning takes into account fire potential, life hazards and economic impact to the community. For example a tilt-up concrete, fire sprinkled retail store like Wal-Mart is unlikely to suffer a serious fire, but if it did, the jobs and tax base loss would be devastating to the community. In the old downtown area, historical buildings or those that do not meet modern seismic standards, pose severe firefighting problems that can quickly consume on-duty staffing.

Increased Risk = Increased Concentration
      As the attached tables on building inventory data show today, Oroville has from recent census 5,419 housing units, 840 commercial buildings, and 20 industrial buildings. In analyzing risk in the rest of the city, staff identified five areas that contain maximum and high hazard buildings. These areas contain 69% of Oroville's inventory of commercial and industrial buildings. These areas must be considered later when looking at station areas for not only first-due fire company coverage, but also the department's ability to get three units minimum to these areas in a timely manner.

Effective Response Force:
      An Effective Response Force is defined as the minimum amount of staffing and equipment that must reach a specific emergency zone location within a maximum prescribed travel or driving time. An effective response force should be able to handle fires that are reported shortly after they start and are within the maximum prescribed travel time for the full assignment of fire companies according to the risk level of the structure. In any staffing and response study, the staffing, equipment and travel times that accompany each of the risk categories should be based upon that premise.

      Considering that the fire department cannot hold fire risk to zero, this study's objective should be to find a balance between distribution, concentration and reliability that will keep fire risk at a reasonable level, and at the same time yield the maximum savings of life and property at the least cost.

      Thus, the next step in the planning process is to understand what crews are capable of and to deploy them in time to become an effective response force to mitigate the emergency. For firefighting the standard convention is to measure the "fire flow" (gallons per minute from firefighting streams calculated from building fire loads) potential of a building and from that calculate the number of hose lines, apparatus and personnel necessary to mitigate a major fire in that building.

      Oroville staff, using risk assessment, existing staffing, apparatus capacities and Oroville Automatic Assistance Agreement, have concluded the following table represents what the time and performance expectations are in this community.

Typical Structure Fire - Single Family Dwelling

     First Due Engine Company
           1. Assume temporary command of initial operations

           2. Primary search for victims, Initial fire attack

           3. Stretch 200' of 1-3/4" preconnect line to point of access

           4. Operate the pump to supply water and hook up a 5" hose hydrant
           supply line

     Second Due Engine Company
           1. If necessary, lay in a hydrant supply line to the first engine company

           2.Assist first engine company with their Task #2, fire attack and
           primary search

           3.Stretch a 2nd 200' preconnect line for safety functions and exposures

     Third Due Engine or Truck Company
           1. Assist second engine company with safety/back-up task

           2. Assist with primary search and fire attack

           3. Using appropriate tools, provide vertical or positive pressure
           ventilation

     Fourth Due - Engine Company
           1. If necessary, stretch additional line

           2. Assist with search and rescue or vertical or positive ventilation

           3. Secure utilities

      This level of resources can set up the equipment and simultaneously handle the tasks of fire attack, search & rescue, ventilation, backup lines, pump operation, water supply and command, all within a few minutes at a moderate risk fire. If fewer firefighters and equipment are available, Or if they have longer travel distances to cover then, the department will not be successful with the mission of saving life and property.

Distribution:
      Staff recommends that Oroville plan its fire station locations such that a five-minute travel time gets the first-due fire apparatus at scene prior to or at flashover, and before brain death becomes irreversible in EMS emergencies. The historical station locations in Oroville meet this goal in the core of the City.

      In years past, the Insurance Services Office (ISO) directed how cities located stations through its Fire Protection Grading Schedule. The ISO, after grading a city's fire defenses, establishes a grade from class one to class ten for fire insurance rating purposes. Class 1 is the best, 10 is the worst. Oroville was last graded in 1994 and is a class three (3) city. In the grading schedule, ISO likes to see fire stations located within 1.5 travel miles of all developed areas of a city.

      In practice with modem fire equipment, most communities find the 1.5-mile travel measure too excessive and expensive to maintain. Oroville staff utilized the 2000 census base map and measured actual response areas based on various mean miles per hour speeds that fire apparatus would use on all road segments in the city. The model slows apparatus on congested streets with many cross streets and speeds up the apparatus on wider streets with fewer cross streets. The model takes into account delays at intersections, corners and other obstacles. Staff further checked the model with known response times to selected areas of each station district.

Concentration:
      What is the measure of how many fire companies we can deliver within time and are they enough to mitigate the emergency within adopted benchmark guidelines? For Oroville, staff recommends that the second and third due company have a maximum travel time of eight minutes and the fourth due company be at the scene within ten minutes travel time.

      Map #1 shows the City area receiving the five minute level of service with first arriving engine company and by the other three (3) companies within ten minutes from the existing closest three (3) stations and road network. As shown with the South County Fire and Rescue Management Agreement, this is the only way we can meet this goal given our financial resources and current funding amounts.

      It is obvious from the Five Minutes Response map the benefit of the South County Fire and Rescue Management Agreement. Further the map indicates the five-minute response time level of service standard is deficient to fire reporting districts to the west and east of Oroville City.

      The question of the workload between the agencies is presented in Table # 13. The guidance of the interagency agreement delivers the highest level of service available. What operation has been lacking was the comprehensive reporting to indicate what the workloads of both single engine response and multi-company responses were. The table demonstrates the workload in the highest frequency of events for the last six (6) calendar years. A chart is also provided that displays the Oroville Fire Department yearly total of incidents between years 1976 and 2002. The incident quantity has increased at a steady rate.

Performance Indicators (History):
      Before we consider options to existing service, it is necessary to look at response workloads on the current companies. As the attached Tables #1 & #2 for years 1997 and 2002 show, the Fire Department responded to a total average of 2,711 calls for service. Of those, an average for years 1997 and 2002 were 2,130 incidents for medical and fire emergencies.

      The key finding in reviewing the incident data contained is that Station 1 is handling 75% of all incidents. It is responsible for the entire City area except for north of the river in Thermalito as the first due company. Fire Station 63 handles 19% of the total incidents, Fire Station 3 did handle 7%, and Fire Station 64 handles 2%. Station 1 is out-of-service on incidents frequently and would be much more if not for coverage by other fire stations. This definitely could impact the availability of Station 1 to serve the upper east and west area of the City.

      Further analysis of the area covered by Station 1 as shown in Table #3, Table #8, and Table #9 indicate that the Canyon Highlands, Pine Oaks and Glen Drive area, which is the upper east end of the City, is responsible for 17% of the entire City�s workload or 22% of the entire workload of Station 1 and is beyond the established response time level of service standard in some of this area. The West end Airport, Industrial unit and Golf course area represents 2% of all incidents and is also outside the five-minute response time level of service standard.

      A review of California 1994 status showed cities of 10,000 to 24,999 populations suffered, on average, 176 fires per year. Averaging years 1997 and 2002 Oroville was above the State average with 356 fires. If fires are measured on a quantity per 1,000-population basis, using the National Fire Protection Association (N.F.P.A.) Standard of 79 per 1,000 populations for West Coast Cities, then Oroville should see 948 fires per year, which would be well above the State average.

      When analyzing calls-for-service and risk potential, we also have to remember that Oroville consists of a surrounding area population of 60,000 in addition to its resident population. Additionally, Oroville has a significant exposure to wild land fires, which increased the fire incident activity numbers and has the potential to cause high dollar losses to "Urban Wild land Interface/Intermix" structures and property. It is estimated that 35,000 plus vehicles per day use Olive Highway and Oro-Dam Blvd. Special attractions like Lake Oroville, Feather River, Feather Fiesta Days, downtown Oroville shops, outdoor sporting, and art and musical events all draw people to visit the City of Oroville.

Response Reliability (Queuing)
      There are other important findings in reviewing emergency incidents data. The City needs to measure how often incidents occur and when one or more fire units are already busy. Four significant findings show the Department's effectiveness is being compromised by simultaneous calls-for-service.

22% of all Departments calls-for-service occur within 20 minutes of each other. In other words, 22% of the time two units or 100% of the companies from Station 1 are working simultaneous calls. Triple or quadruple calls also are occurring with increasing frequency.

      Station 1 in 1997 and 2002 "missed" and averaged 20% of its calls-for-service to other units. This happens for several reasons multiple or simultaneous calls, major emergency incidents or out of position due to training or projects.

      69% of the simultaneous calls occur within the first due area of Station 1. The responses from Station 1 are handled between the engine and the truck company.

      During 1997 and 2002 the Fire Department estimates it would have been unable to respond with immediate units to incidents due to simultaneous or major incident calls 75 times per month or 2-3 times each day on average.

      All of the above factors affect the ability to maintain a concentration of resources available for emergency response and service delivery to the community. Since the 1997 data the off-duty response of personnel had not been monitored. Past experience had demonstrated an ability to staff an additional Engine Company with off-duty paid and volunteer personnel within 20 minutes of notification. Staff has recently placed procedures to develop information on this subject. Preliminary indications show a diminished level of response of off duty personnel. This factor increases the need of the South County Fire Rescue Management Agreement for adequate station coverage with the increasing multiple calls for service.

West End and Airport Area Analysis:
      This area today contains the Airport Business Park, one golf course, our airport, one residential subdivision, and a few area homes. This area contains 16% of the City's industrial and 1% of the City's commercial buildings, but with room for more. Spectra Physics, Sierra Pacific Packaging, Applied Technology Building with the others, employ as many as 425 people. Table Mountain Golf Course hosts thousands of rounds of golf per year, with summer being the busiest season.

      At the airport, the City leases about 40 hangers and has a growing aviation population. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has no fire protection requirements for on-site fire fighting for an airport of this size. We do have an unstaffed small fire fighting unit housed at the Fix Base Operator building which is picked up by one of the responding fire companies.

      Applied to the aircraft fire or rescue. Station 1, or if not available, a unit possibly further away is called for any emergency. In 1997 and 2002 we responded to an average of 41 medical emergencies, 10 fires, and 21 public assists. We also have in the past provided resources for other aircraft emergencies. These occur when a pilot has trouble and requests ahead for fire equipment too stand-by. Examples of emergency stand-by would be for a landing with an unsecured or collapsed landing gear.

      With the use of the Oroville Airport as a temporary Helicopter Base for fire fighting operations we have had numerous stand-by assignments when the large helicopter inventory has risen to 20 or more operating from Oroville. The large helicopters and support fueling equipment present risks beyond the capacity of our current inventory of aircraft fire apparatus increasing the need for improved service.

      In summary this area does contribute to the City's jobs and tax base. However, while there exists some risk, historically the demand for emergency service is low. The industrial and commercial buildings are newer and most have fire sprinklers. As shown in Table #8, averaging years 1997 and 2002 this entire area generated 71 calls for service or 2% of the City total. Most of these calls were medical and public assist responses. It is important to note that this area exceeds, the five-minute response time level of service standard of the Oroville General Plan.

North of the River/Thermalito Area Analysis:
      This area, generally described as Thermalito and Rancho Golden, contains 17% of the residential occupancies and 10% of the commercial occupancies of the City. This area contains the Butte County Jail, Juvenile Hall, Superior Court House, County Corporation Yard, Administrative Headquarter offices, County Mental Health, Data Processing building, and the Old County Hospital that houses the Probation Department. In addition, the majority of commercial buildings in this area are large residential apartment complexes and four-plexes multi-family living units. New construction has recently occurred for the Butte Employment Services Center with 170,000 square feet of commercial space. The buildings are all sprinklered facilities but do have a high-risk employee and occupant quantity.

      Station 63 (Nelson Ave.) is called for any emergency or requests for service as the first due company into this area. In 1997 and 2002, we responded to and averaged 335 medical emergencies, 62 fires, and 87 public assists. In summary, this area contains a large life hazard due to the multi-family occupancies, government and institutional buildings. As shown in Table #6, Table #7 and Table #8, in report years 1997 and 2002. This area generated 595 calls for service or 19% of the City total. Most of these calls were medical emergencies or 20% of the City total medical aids. This fire report district had the third highest responses for structure fires. Areas within Thermalito exceed the five-minute response time level of service standard if Station 1 had to or must respond due to Station 63 being unavailable. Currently, there are several new residential projects planned and other locations zoned for multi-family residential which will increase the call volume and potentially exceed the response time level of service standards. For the most part, all the commercial buildings are equipped with built-in fire sprinkler systems. Due to their size and contents, a relatively moderate fire can consume all on-duty resources very rapidly. In large facilities, although fire sprinklers control fires generally, the Fire Department still must extinguish the fire and prepare the building for re-use.

East End Area Analysis:
      This area, generally described as Canyon Highlands, Acacia, Pine Oaks and Glen Drive contains 41% of the residential occupancies and 5% of the commercial occupancies of the City. This area encompasses the entire Eastern and Southeastern portion of the City, which extends all the way to Lemon Hill Drive, east to Glen Drive and south to Glen Circle Drive. The area around is prime for future annexation and has plenty of open space for residential development when infrastructure improvements are in place.

      There are no fire stations west of Canyon Drive or east of Station 1. Station 1 handles the vast majority of requests for service with Station 64 picking up calls as the closest station for the Racquet Club, Glen Drive, Oro-Dam Blvd., and Glen Circle Drive responses. Averaging years 1997 and 2002 we responded to 169 medical emergencies, 28 fires, and 130 public assists. In summary, this area is primarily residential and contains higher assessed property values than any other area in the City.

      The risk potential is medical emergencies and fires, with a significant exposure to wildland fires due to the urban wildland interface problem in almost all this area of the City. The threat of high property loss and the exposure to possible injury or life loss during a wild fire of major magnitude creates an above-average risk. As shown in Table #4, Table #8 and Table #9, in 2002 this area generated 551 calls for service or 30% of the City total. Medical emergencies accounted for most of the calls or 18% of the City total. Certain areas within the Eastern area exceed the five-minute response time standard due to distance and topography (hills).

      To address a part of the high-risk wildland urban interface problem areas a contract exists between the State of California and City of Oroville for the First Response delivery of wildland resources to the City of Oroville wildland high fire risk areas. This first response is indexed by the weather and fuel conditions at the time of dispatch to the type and quantity of resources needed for the risk. These resources include firefighting aircraft, dozers, hand crews, additional engines and incident management personnel.

Southside Area:
      Commonly referred to municipal areas south of Wyandotte Avenue and East of Lincoln Boulevard are currently under the fire protection of the special service district called El Medio Fire Protection District. Quoting from the 2002 Grand Jury report, �The District�s five(5) square miles extends north to Wyandotte Road, south to Ophir Road, east to Lower Wyandotte Road and west to the railroad tracks and Lincoln Boulevard. A significant portion of the District is economically depressed and has a high percentage of rental properties. The District serves 5,464 residents, 1,899 homes and 2,114 parcel lots.� The area is a mixture of dense residential pockets and open undeveloped land that lacks the typical services of incorporation or City jurisdiction. An estimated 50-60 burned out residences exists throughout the district indicates the increasing needs for public safety code enforcement services. Another risk to the City is the abandoned olive orchard with 1000 acres that contains extensive dead fuels and difficult access. The alignment of 20 miles per hour south wind, high temperature and thick dead fuels could produce a wild land fire capable of dispersing extensive fire brands into the City.

      An annual weed abatement program could minimize this conflagration risk. The City Fire Department did assist the district as a member of the SCFRMA but in November 2001 the district separated from the interagency agreement and now Oroville Fire Department and Butte County Fire provide fire protection resources under incident specific requests for mutual aid. The current staffing has dropped to one (1) person Engine Company with plans to add seasonal staff in summer months. The first response level of service is one (1) engine company. Previously the level of service with SCFRMA was a first response of three (3) engines and one (1) truck company. In 2002, El Medio responded to 971 calls, Sixty percent (660) of the calls were for medical emergencies. The remaining 311 calls were for fires, traffic collisions and other miscellaneous requests.

Policy Discussion:
      A review of the Department's status shows two key facts; we can barely get a unit into the Upper Eastern area of the City in five minutes travel time. The same response time problem applies to the west end of the City, but due to the low emergency response activity and growth, it�s not been considered a significant issue. Recent new development with single-family residences is increasing the need for additional service. The second fact is that Fire Station 1 is extremely busy. Actual travel time east of the intersection of Oro-Dam Blvd. and Valley View averaged six minutes.

      These two facts, when taken separately, do not suggest a significant failure of the City�s fire emergency services system. However, when combined, they clearly show the east end area of the City has substantial calls for service and is increasingly underserved. There is a risk potential in the East end area of the City with the large residential population and the urban wildland interface problem. The actual demand for service is wide-ranged, but primarily medical emergencies, which is the first priority of the Fire Department.

      Staff is concerned that Station 1 and the entire fire station system is approaching the overwork point. Station 1 is being overworked and frequently works away from the eastern area. Stacking 22% of the Department's total calls indicate that frequently, two or more units are busy, which is the City's capacity. Critical task analysis shows that for the average single-family dwelling fire we need a minimum of four fire companies. Serious fires can and do use all area fire companies. In 1997, Station I missed 25% of its calls for service to other stations or units.

      The South County Fire and Rescue Management Agreement has, and with further agreement renewals in the future, help Oroville with its fire and emergency medical services system. Station 63, through the South County Fire and Rescue Management Agreement, does cover the north side of town and beyond the five-minute travel area that would exist if Station 1 had to cover. Palermo Station 72 and Richvale Station 71 come further into the City on major fires when needed. Station 64 on Canyon Drive can, and does, help the City in the extreme East end area. Map #1 shows the City coverage for first response 5-minute level of service with Station 63 under the South County Fire and Rescue Management Agreement.

      However, the City cannot rely on these resources always being available. Station 63, Station 64, Station 72 and Station 71 have a primary responsibility to protect County assets and Station 3 district is its primary responsibility. While each station's actual call volume is not excessive, they can be out at times on long responses, working incidents and training.

      Staff, in the following recommendation, will ask Council to consider options to improve Oroville's emergency services system. It must be remembered though that an increased "purchase" of capacity is not mandatory. Fire and emergency service protection is like life insurance the City must purchase the quantity that it can afford. There is no regulation for minimum level of service. While five-minute travel times are highly desirable, it may not be possible to provide them to all areas of the City.

      Oroville Fire Department has not increased daily staffing since citywide personnel reductions of 1982. The last big increase in daily fire staffing was when East area Fire Station 2 was added in about 1978. Staffing the 2 stations was accomplished with 23 positions. The Fire Station 2 closure and reduction of 7 suppression firefighter positions has reduced the total fire department to 16 suppression firefighters. The reduced level of personnel have been expected to maintain the level of service in 1982 workload to the current workload which is 3 times more in emergency incidents. (Total calls chart pg.20) By comparison, in 1995 the International City Management Association found that cities with population 10,000 to 24,999 have on staff 25 suppression firefighters and 3 firefighters assigned per engine per Fire Company. Oroville currently staffs at a minimum 2 firefighters per Engine Company and occasionally can staff one of the two companies with 3 firefighters.

Recommendation:
      1.The City Council has adopted the Fire Department Standards of Cover Guidelines to the safety element of the General Plan to guide future growth issues and staff recommends the maintenance of this standard. The goal statements are:

      "Fire Department travel times should place a first-due unit at scene within five minutes travel time, for 90% of fire and medical incidents."

      "Fire Department units shall be located and staffed such that an effective response force of four units with eight personnel minimum shall be available to all areas of the City within a maximum of ten minutes travel time, for 90% of all structure fires."

      (Currently the South County Fire and Rescue Management Agreement accomplish this.)

      2.The City Council should strongly consider adding a 3rd fire company as soon as possible to address the workload, improve the quadrant's unit availability, and to help in reducing response times to the upper east areas.

      3.The City Council should consider giving direction to staff to develop possible options to adding a 3rd fire company and ways to fund the additional capacity within the city.

      4.The City Council should maintain the South County Fire Rescue Management Agreement (SCFRMA) and all elements necessary for its operation, with or without the addition of a 3rd fire engine company..