Ron Graner RFG Fire Rescue Consulting

Efficiency Effectiveness & Safety Planning for Local Government

FIRE RESCUE & EMS SERVICE PLANNING REPORT OVER VIEW

PRESENTED 6/8/2011

FOR THE TOWN OF PHILIPSTOWN, NEW YORK

This study was funded by a Local Government Efficiency Grant

awarded by the New York State Department of State:

Contract No. T-098832

• I was raised in Philipstown and graduated from Haldane in 1960.

• I was a member of the Nelsonville fire Department when I was in High school. It was the leaders of Nelsonville & Garrison FD who taught me the real value of serving the public with respect

• I am very proud to say I have life long friends that I have been friends with since Kindergarten

• My friends will readily tell you that I have always been a person who will tell you the bold truth

• My career has been based upon my ability to tell the truth even when others seek something else

For the record • My report is NOT part of the Political agenda of the

Town Supervisor and/or the Mayor of Cold Spring or any other person

• I have never met or spoken with the Town Supervisor.

• I met the Mayor once in passing after the public meeting in January.

• The work product for my report is solely my work.

• I did not utilize any associates for this project

• There is NO political agenda in my study

• I read in the Philipstown.info that I was angry and I am sorry if my report sounded angry

• I assure you that I was not angry

• However I was extremely disappointed by the lack of agency participation in this study and that showed in my writing

– I remember the past leaders in the fire services of Philipstown who cared so deeply about their communities and who worked so hard assuring that the public was always kept aware of the services provided and the needs of the fire services

• All of the taxpayers in New York State paid for this study in the NYSDOS funding grant

• It is still inconceivable to me that in 2011 when taxpayers are crying for relief that the leaders of any tax supported public service would not seize every opportunity to demonstrate their value to their taxpayers.

Egocentric Leadership I have read the angst about my choice of the term Egocentric.

I used the term as referring to the Group Organizational Behavior and not to individuals.

It is clear to me that each organization sees themselves in competition with the other agencies rather than part of a greater community Emergency Response Team.

• My use of the term Egocentric was to make the agency leaders see the bigger picture outside of their own agencies

• It is my strong desire that the single station group “egocentric” views of fire ems services can be redirected to a broader community view that will create a stronger, more effective, more efficient and safer fire rescue EMS service delivery system

• I have nothing but the highest level of respect for the dedication and devotion to duty that the active Volunteers in Philipstown exhibit as they risk their lives and health for this community

Town Project Goals

• To assure the Community Efficient, Effective and Safe delivery of their fire rescue and Emergency Medical Services

• To undertake a Management and Operations Study of fire rescue & EMS services.

• To assure the ongoing strength of the Volunteer Services in Philipstown

I was directed by the Town to examine current fire Rescue and EMS services to determine if they were

Efficient

Effective

&

Safe for the community

&

Safe for the Volunteers who risk of their lives to serve this community

I was directed by the town to evaluate if the

OVER $2,000,000 In tax dollars that the citizens of Philipstown are paying was providing the level of fire rescue and EMS services that the community expects

I was directed to recommend how tax funds could be utilized more effectively & efficiently while still assuring

Safety for the community and

Safety for YOUR Dedicated Volunteers

I was directed by town leaders to provide my expertise in fire rescue and EMS to:

Examine current conditions

Analyze those findings

Provide Strategic & Specific Recommendations in the areas of

Operations, Management & Administrative structure.

The goal of the project was always to provide the greater community with options for the best solutions to achieve improvements in

Efficiency

Effectiveness

&

Safety

The report is my OBJECTIVE view and analysis of my findings

It is My Professional View of current conditions

These are My Recommendations for improvements

They are based upon what I have learned in over 50 years in the fire rescue &

Emergency services

After doing my research

• I am Very Concerned about the safety of the dedicated volunteers who serve Philipstown

• I am Very Concerned about safety of the people being served in Philipstown

• And YES, I am concerned about what I see as leadership failures under the current administrative structures

The driving force in this study and any further action is, and should remain the question:

“What is in the public’s best interest?”

The Study Process

• To assure that this study provided a comprehensive overview of service delivery, we solicited information directly from the fire rescue and EMS agencies in Philipstown.

–We provided simple forms in Excel that are designed to be easy to complete to reduce time demands on the agencies

• We conducted onsite meetings, observations and attempted station reviews

It was disappointing that the agencies generally failed to use this study as an opportunity to communicate with the

taxpayers who support these services

• There is a cadre of extremely dedicated Volunteers in Philipstown who are willing to risk their lives and health to serve this community

• In general there is excellent firefighting apparatus and equipment

• There appears to be extremely serious issues of Staffing, Training, Operations & Planning.

• Administration & Costs must be addressed through an open line of community wide communications

The lack of agency participation CLEARLY provided some of the insight needed for agency and service

evaluation

• We explored a wide scope of issues to ascertain the current operational status and capabilities of the fire rescue and EMS services in Philipstown.

• The process provided a good overview of

Organization Leadership

Infrastructure Strengths; Weaknesses; Opportunities; Threats

Public Perceptions &

Volunteer Perceptions

There have been reports that the agencies “did not have time” to provide the information we sought for this study. It is important that the community understand exactly what information we asked the agencies to provide:

Agency Contact information Each agency was asked to provide a

single contact person for the study

The agencies identified their contacts for this study

• The contact names are a matter of public record

• It is important to note that each Contact is an Operational leader

• As Operational leaders each contact had access to the primary information needed for this study

• While each of the designated contacts was an Operational Leader it is important to note that when conducting NONE emergency agency business each Operational Leader takes his direction for Administrative Issues from the elected administrative leadership of his agency

The Town & I each made immediate and repeated follow-up contact with the agency contacts

VIA Email, US MAIL & Phone

We asked each agency to define its Governance structure

We attempted to conduct an in depth study of Volunteer staffing without asking names of

respondents to maintain their confidentiality

• There is nothing more important in examination of fire rescue & EMS services than to understand who is Ready, Willing and Able to respond to emergencies in the community by time of day and day of week and what their skill levels are

When agency members did not want to provide information

we provided a consolidated Agency Volunteer staffing survey

Facilities and Equipment

• We asked each agency to provide information

about their stations

• What we were seeking was on simple check lists designed to provide us a clear

overview of facilities & equipment

• It is our process to validate that information on our site visit

We asked for basic Apparatus Information

We asked to see each agencies Risk Hazard Planning to gain an understanding of their plans for emergencies

We asked for information about the Records Management systems in each agency

We asked for Information about Assets & Liabilities and Budgets

We asked about current Company Training

The Town requested information from Putnam County Bureau of Emergency Services

We investigated the agencies current Incident Management status

• NIMS / ICS training is required by County, State and Federal regulations – Failure to manage every incident properly can and does

result in injuries and deaths

• We attempted many ways to identify current NIMS / ICS training and use by the agencies in Philipstown as is required by County, State and Federal regulations

• NIMS / ICS Training Department Wide: • NIMS / ICS Training for Command Staff: • NIMS / ICS Training with other responding Fire

Rescue and EMS agencies: • NIMS / ICS Training with Police agencies: • NIMS / ICS Training with local businesses,

schools and industry: • We tried to determine if NIMS / ICS procedures and

principles are actually initiated at all emergency incidents by each agency:

We asked about ICS NIMS training and use

• The agencies did not provide any ICS information for this study

–It was reported in SWOT meetings that ICS was a problem issue

–County BES reported that the agencies in Philipstown had not provided that office with NIMS / ICS training or practices information

NIMS ICS in New York State

• The courts in NYS have ruled that fire departments and leaders in those departments can be held liable for deaths & injuries if they fail to properly use ICS at incidents – Manlius ruling

–I spoke about the importance of ICS at every local meeting

NFPA & Other Codes • In the report we refer to NFPA codes and other

codes as general references. • We clearly state that we have not included the

codes of standards of the State, OSHA or the NFPA for operations and safety because these volumes are extensive and more highly detailed than what is required for this initial planning study.

• We do Recommend that as strategic and specific planning for fire rescue and EMS services is undertaken that those doing such planning should be mindful of current laws and codes to assure that their work products are compliant with NFPA, OSHA and NY State codes and laws as they apply to each situation.

• NFPA codes and other codes are nationally recognized MINIMUM standards

• Codes are often adopted by local jurisdictions as local regulations or laws

• Some jurisdictions think that they do not have to comply with codes if they have not adopted them

• Not adopting codes and standards may work well for agencies until firefighters are injured or killed doing their jobs.

However, When firefighters die or are injured the lawyers for the victims can and do sue the agency, the government and those in charge of the incident They sue because they can often prove that the agency failed to meet nationally recognized standards Lawyers generally win their claims

•

Minimum Code standards

• NFPA Code 1710 is the MINIMUM for predominately Career Fire Departments

• NFPA Code 1720 is the MINIMUM for Volunteer Fire Departments – There are some differences between them

• There are also many other NFPA OSHA and federal codes and standards that apply to fire rescue and EMS operations and those who serve

All Codes are MINIMUM Standards

I STRONGLY believe that NOBODY who actually performs duties that can cost them their life can afford to be trained or to operate at only

MINIMUM levels

Leaders and the community owe their responders more than the

MINIMUM

• No fire department should ever set a goal to just meet the Minimum Standards that apply to their type of organization – The agencies have not provided any information

showing that they are in compliance with even the appropriate minimum codes that apply to them.

– It is vital that they do so

• I know & deeply respect many

• Extremely Dedicated Professional Volunteer Firefighters.

• They risk their lives daily for their communities.

• I will never propose anything that would be a minimum or that would knowingly put dedicated Volunteers or any other emergency responders at an unnecessary risk

Benchmarks and Baselines

• Benchmarks are recognized performance standards – In the Fire Rescue and EMS service there are well

established Benchmarks for each type of service demand that an agency may be required to respond to

• Baselines are the actual performance results for each type of emergency response that an agency has responded to measured over a period of time

Response time objectives

• The response time objectives in this report reflect Commission on Fire Accreditation International benchmarks.

– There are many Volunteer fire rescue departments who use these benchmarks to measure their performance • The agencies did not provide any data that demonstrated the

Baselines that their agencies accomplished in their operations

• Therefore I was unable to compare local baselines with established benchmarks

• I can assure the community and each agency that the Flashover times on the next slide do not change based upon the administrative structure of the responding agency.

• I can assure the community and the agencies that the rate of survival times for heart attack victims do not change based upon the administrative structure of the responding agency

We reviewed the Tax funds that are provided to each agency

We inquired about current Planning efforts

We requested Information from Putnam County 9-1-1 Dispatch center

• Our objective was to examine the total time that it takes for help to arrive from when a citizen first calls for help until an effective response force arrives on scene.

• That total time includes examination of call processing time at 9-1-1

We invited leaders of the agencies to present information about their services to the public at the meetings

GIS Geographic Information Systems

• We requested that the County GIS department create the travel distance data and maps for this process showing:

– Locations of all fire and emergency medical station in the town and in all towns adjacent to Philipstown

– Response distance information: shown in road travel miles, from the point of each station to two and one half miles, (2 ½ miles) from each station.

– Response distance information: shown in road travel miles, from the point of each station to five miles, (5 miles) from each station.

– areas within the town ship beyond the 5 mile travel distance calculated for the above map from any fire station

The county GIS office did not have the ability to provide this information

The importance of understanding travel distance from fire stations

• Every household insurance rate is based upon the ISO rating of the responding agency and community

• The distance from the responding station to each property is part of the factor that determines the insurance rate for home owners

• The distance and reliability of water supply effects insurance rates

• Properties located over 5 miles from the responding agency may be classified as in an “unprotected” area with much higher insurance rates.

Repeated requests for agency input

• To assure that every agency would be able to provide detailed input for this report the town extended the deadlines for agency input several times over a period of 3 months

• Local elected officials and I made numerous requests for information

Highlights of My findings

I present the following as just a brief overview of why this study, and

How the community acts on its recommendations,

is so Vitally important to the safety and the economy of Philipstown

Volunteers

• My investigation of fire rescue and EMS services in the Town of Philipstown revealed that this community has extremely hard working and dedicated volunteers who are willing and able to serve as volunteer firefighters, officers and to provide emergency medical services.

• The number of active volunteers is shrinking

• It is vital to the future safety of the community for all residents to recognize the value of those who serve as volunteers and to recruit and retain more volunteers.

Philipstown Economy & Risks

• The primary economic generator for the town is tourism.

• The town is known worldwide for its scenic views of the majestic Hudson River, the beautiful views of the Hudson Valley and the US Military Academy at West Point and the mountains in the North Highlands.

• The historic Village of Cold Spring is the center of the economy for the tourism industry.

• People from all over the world arrive daily by car, train and boat to explore the charms of this 18th and 19th century village which has changed little in the past century.

• Large areas of the township are rural and wild land spaces that require protection from fires due to the wildland interface of residents who have chosen to live in these rural areas.

• The protection of the historic buildings in the villages and hamlets and the life safety of all residents are the primary concerns for fire rescue services.

• Loss of the historic structures in the villages and anywhere in town will adversely impact Tourism Economy

Hazards

• There are numerous local hazard issues that present significant challenges that demand fire rescue & EMS Incident Command coordination, resource management and proper staffing.

– The township has a transportation network of state highways where heavy volumes of trucks carry all of the hazardous materials used in our society.

– Passenger vehicles share those and local roadways used by residents and tourists alike who are often distracted by the beauty of the region while driving.

• The township is served by an extremely high volume passenger rail service.

• Philipstown is located within 20 miles of the Indian Point nuclear power plant, one of the nations oldest nuclear plants.

• There are serious issues with water supply – fire flow

• Each of these hazards present potential emergency service demands on local fire rescue and EMS providers

• Each provides Incident Command issues for the agencies and leaders of the community.

Other Observed Issues & Red Flags

• We heard questions & concerns in the community about the use and management of their tax payer funds

• We heard concerns about fiscal reporting – Doing a financial audit was outside the scope of this study.

However, we did recommend that a Forensic Audit be conducted

• There was a repeated expression of feelings by active volunteers that many “new comers” do not understand that these services are provided for the community by their neighbors who voluntarily risk injury and death to serve their community. – There were several reports of “outsiders”, IE

“newcomers”, and women not feeling welcome or “comfortable” in some of the fire stations.

–The lack of community knowledge and understanding about their fire rescue & EMS services highlights an agency failure to continuously educate & involve the public in the services being provided and the needs of those services

• There is a real need for the emergency services to develop deeper involvement and support of the public across the community.

Administration

• The administration of the delivery of fire rescue & EMS services to the small population of Philipstown is fragmented into six different agencies. – In this multi layer structure each agency must

individually address all of the same issues

• There is clear evidence of too few people doing too many things.

Leadership

• In my attempts to conduct this investigation I discovered what I see as serious systemic negative issues in leadership – The leaders of the agencies needed to, but failed to,

understand the importance of this study to their organizations, to their volunteers and to the public

• The leaders of each of the agencies must develop fully open communications with the people they serve

• Leaders must communicate with, educate and lead their own volunteers.

• Leaders must be willing to step out front and lead.

• Leaders cannot be driven by internal politics within their agencies

• Leaders must never fear going against vocal negative views of some members because it might jeopardize their being reelected to offices held

I believe that the current leaders are Honorable people and that through Mediation & Counseling

• Leaders in each agency will develop an broader view of “their” local fire rescue and EMS services

• Leaders will develop a long term plan to work and plan in harmony with neighboring stations.

• There will be ongoing inter-agency training

• There will be joint practical incident management training among the multiple agencies that must work together in harmony for the successful mitigation of any major incident.

• Leaders will assure the safety of their volunteer firefighters

• Leaders will assure that training will assure that at an emergency incident the system and the plan actually works

• There will be team work & harmony with other responders

• There will be open and good communications

By Working TOGETHER

• Agency leaders will develop a broader view of operations, staffing, recruitment, retention, apparatus maintenance and purchasing and the many other facets of successful modern management

• Leaders will view Effective & Efficient performance as Joint Community Issues.

• Leaders WILL create the positive atmosphere that assures safety for the volunteers who serve Philipstown.

• The general public MUST be kept informed about the services being provided for their tax dollars by department leaders.

• Members of the public have a right to review public fiscal information.

–Leaders MUST assure ongoing communications between the taxpayers, members of the general public and the fire rescue and EMS services.

Recommendations

• The Report contains 56 Strategic and 40 Specific Recommendations – The recommendations are listed in tables at the front by

page reference and not in order of importance

• Each recommendation is a reflection of the analysis of findings in each section of the report and each is reported in that section.

• The Strategic recommendations cover those specific areas that I feel must be addressed to improve Efficiency, Effectiveness and Safety

Key Strategic Recommendations Areas

• Personnel

• Safety & Training

• Incident Management

• Communications & Technology

• Organizational issues

• Relationships

• Finances

• Community Resources & Involvement

• Addressing the reports findings

Recommendation Priority Issues

• Personnel – Staff availability

– Public recognition of the value of volunteers

– Unit Staffing

– Recruitment and Retention

• Safety & Training – Officer Qualifications

– Operational Tactics

• Incident Management • Use of Incident Management at every incident

• Interagency training and use of ICS

• Relationships

– Mediation to help regain trust between the agencies and the public and those elected to serve the public

– Develop skills needed to avoid negative public displays

– Develop common goals between stations

• Finances

– The town and Village should conduct detailed Forensic Audits of each agency

• Community Resources & Involvement

– Utilize the broad base of knowledge skills and abilities of business and world leaders who make Philipstown their home

• Communications & Technology

– Radio / cell phone coverage

– Notification capability

– IAMRESPONDING© staff availability tracking

– Records management

Negatives of current Governance Structure

• Duplicated administrative demands • Community & Taxpayer questions about fiscal

management • Duplicated training demands • Duplicated Volunteer recruitment and retention issues • Duplicated resources, • Increasing demands for funding of essential services; • Insufficient number of volunteers • Difficulty recruiting and retaining volunteer staff • Increasing service demands & requirements, including

hazardous materials, technical rescue, emergency medical services, terrorism, natural disaster preparedness.

Consolidation

New York State “How to” Consolidate Fire Protection in Fire Districts, document was included on the CD provided to the town as a guide for action

• “Consolidation, through shared services or combining jurisdictions, can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of departments by allowing for the better use of resources and providing greater flexibility and capability.

• Consolidation may also result in cost savings due to the efficient use of resources and the reduction of duplicative efforts through reorganization.”

• Fire departments should consider consolidation when any of the following factors are present:

– Fire protection services exist immediately adjacent to one another, each with a complete, and many times, duplicated set of resources….

– Increasing demands at all levels of government for funding of essential services;

– Insufficient staff or difficulty recruiting and retaining volunteer staff;

– Increasing service requirements

Some advantages of fire service consolidation include: (…

= edited)

• Improving response time;

• Maximizing purchasing power;

• Improve Availability of … volunteers;

• Centralizing management & reducing administrative costs;

• Centralizing … communications and support systems;

• Standardizing procedures for operation & training;

• Reducing Home Owner insurance premiums based on improvements in the insurance rating;

• Improving fleet management, …

• Savings to taxpayers.

Joint Fire District

• Increase efficiency and effectiveness

• Allows for the better use of resources

• Provides greater flexibility and capability.

• Cost savings due to the efficient use of resources

• Cost savings from reduction of duplicative efforts

• Improved training and preplanning

• Coordinated recruitment and retention programs

• Improved staffing

• Benefits of cost savings based upon size

• Reduced administrative costs

• Broader Tax base

• Better cost management

• Savings through better planning

• Reduced time demands

• Improved planning for staffing, & apparatus

• Improved facility utilization

• Improved community support

• Improved Community oversight and involvement

• I strongly support the concept of neighborhood fire stations.

• I want local authorities to maintain the character of each of the stations within each community wherever fiscally and operationally possible.

• I strongly believe that each fire rescue and EMS station should viewed as a community based asset with identification to the community each serves

• These objectives can be accomplished with a

• Joint Fire District as the Administrative & Management Structure

• I know there are some who may disagree with my recommendations

• From this point forward it becomes the job of the elected officials in the Town and the Villages and the Citizens in Philipstown to decide how YOU want to address the findings & recommendations in the report

• New York State laws define the process for consolidation & creation of a Joint fire District

• By law that process can and should be driven by the public. – I stand by my recommendations and offer my services to

implement them

• By following the recommendations in this report I assure the community that the Town of Philipstown will be able to properly address the question:

“What is in the Public’s

Best Interest?”

I assume everyone here has read the report so lets open this meeting to

your

? ? ?