Long Beach Fire Department
Current Staffing Levels … More Than Fighting Fires
1 Talking Points…
2 • Current Staffing Levels
• Ambulance Patient Offloading
Delays (APOD) and Staffing
• Opportunities and Solutions
Department Overview…
3 Cause and Effect…
4 • Increased level of service
• Shorter response times
• Mutual Aid deployments
• Fewer employee injuries
(physical and mental)
• Decreased forced hiring
• Better employee retention
Optimal
Cause and Effect…
5 Current
37% Increase since 2008
• Decreased level of service
• Longer response times
• No Mutual Aid deployments
• Increased employee injuries
(physical and mental)
• Increased forced hiring
• Increased employee resignations
Current Staffing…
6 Fire Captains down 7% (Injuries)
Engineers down 17% (Injuries)
Firefighters down 25% (Injuries + Vacancies)
Paramedics down 19% (Injuries + Vacancies)
Full Time AOs down 53% (Vacancies)
Part Time AOs down 61% (Vacancies)
Current Staffing…
7 Sworn Personnel
Ambulance Operators
17 Anticipating 45
*LOA = leave of absence
*
57 (Over 71% of the 80 that were hired)
Current Staffing…Firefighters
8 Firefighters down 25% (Injuries + Vacancies)
• 20+ Firefighters currently in Paramedic School
• Standard schedule is ten 24-hour shifts per month
• Firefighters are projected at five extra 24-hour shifts this month • Projected to work a total of 15 24-hour shifts in a month
Current Staffing…Paramedics
9 Paramedics down 19% (Injuries + Vacancies)
• Standard schedule is ten 24-hour shifts per month
• Currently projected at four extra 24-hour shifts
• Projected to work a total of 14 24-hour shifts a month
Current Staffing…Ambulance Operators
10 Budgeted Staffing
• 3 x 24hr BLS units plus 2 x 12hr BLS units
Unbudgeted Staffing
• 1 additional 24hr BLS unit
• 1 x 12hr BLS unit switched to 24hr
• Added due to call volume, APODs,
and impact on ALS units
Full Time AOs down 53% (Leave of absence + Vacancies)
Part Time AOs down 61% (Leave of absence + Vacancies)
Current Situation
• 3 x 24hr BLS units plus 1 x 12hr BLS unit or
• 3 x 24hr BLS units
• BLS2, BLS14, & BLS16 daily call volume
has increased by 17-18%
• On Average, AOs are getting force hired 7 times a month Ambulance Patient Offloading Delays (APOD)
In the last six month,
• Total Number of Transports: 13,238
• Transports waiting more than 45 minutes
• 2,114 total (16% of all transports)
• 6380 hours and 52 minutes were spent
“holding the wall”
11 FY2023: On track for Approximately $540,000+ labor cost while waiting at the hospital California State EMSA monitors the APOT (time) interval between arrival of an ambulance patient at an emergency medical department (ED) and the time the patient is transferred to the ED’s gurney State Assembly Bill 40 (AB 40) would establish a 20-minute standard 90% of the time for APOT
Opportunities and Solutions
12 Ambulance Operators
• Onboarding 45 Ambulance Operators
• 2 from the current Civil Service list
• 43 Non Career
• Large pool of employees to work BLS shifts and reduce the amount of overtime shifts
• Shorter academy
• Exploring various incentives
• Place additional BLS units into service as staffing is available • Exploring alternative work schedules
• Including cross-filling other EMT classifications
• In partnership with Civil Service, a recruitment will be released in May 2023
Opportunities and Solutions
13 Firefighters
• Planning for a large than normal Fire Recruit
Academy in August 2023
• Attempt to hire locally through our Pathway
Programs
• Currently restructuring the Fire Recruit
Academy curriculum
Opportunities and Solutions
14 Paramedics
• 20+ Firefighters currently participating in a
multi-month Paramedic education program
• Paramedic staffing committee
• Researching alternative response models
• Out of rank opportunities
Thank you!
Jeff Hardin
Deputy Chief
Operations Bureau
15