Oakland City Council
December 17, 2024
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Jestin D. Johnson FROM: Damon Covington
City Administrator Fire Chief
SUBJECT: State of CA Office of Traffic Safety
Grant to Oakland Fire Department
DATE: November 21, 2024
City Administrator Approval Date:
RECOMMENDATION
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution Authorizing The City Administrator To: (A) Enter Into An Agreement With The State Of California To Accept Office Of Transportation Safety (OTS) Grant Funds In The Amount Of One Hundred Sixty- Five Thousand Dollars ($165,000); (B) Appropriate And Administer Said Funds ; And (C) Expend OTS Funds In Accordance With The City’s Purchasing Requirements For The Acquisition Of Vehicle Extrication Equipment For The Fire Department.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Modern vehicle construction requires new technology to allow fire department personnel to remove an occupant quickly and safely from a vehicle that has suffered significant damage from an accident. In significant incidents, delays in extracting a patient(s) from a vehicle that has been significantly damaged can result in a fatality. The goal of this grant is to allow the Fire Department to purchase modern vehicle extrication equipment that is environmentally friendly (battery powered), more portable and requires less time to set up for operation in comparison to legacy vehicle extrication equipment in current use.
BACKGROUND / LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
During the calendar year 2022, the Oakland Fire Department responded to several hundred vehicle accidents throughout the city. Many of these responses did not require fire department personnel to deploy power tools to assist with victim(s) removal from one or more vehicles.
However, a smaller portion of these responses required power tools to remove a trapped occupant.
This is the fourth grant that the California Office of Traffic Safety has awarded to the Oakland Fire Department. In December 2023, with the adoption of 8998 C.M,S, the City Council authorized the City Administrator to enter into an agreement with the State Of California to accept an Office Of Transportation Safety (OTS) Grant in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000).
Jestin Johnson (Nov 26, 2024 11:05 PST)
Nov 26, 2024
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: State of CA Office of Traffic Safety Grant to Oakland Fire Department Date: November 21, 2024 Page 2
Oakland City Council
December 17, 2024
Modern vehicles constructed today are comprised of different materials and technology compared to legacy vehicles. Today, we have a large mix of legacy and modern vehicles used by vehicle operators. When a modern vehicle is involved in a major vehicle accident, it will require new technology in the form of vehicle extrication equipment to assist in rapid extrication.
Contemporary vehicle extrication equipment components are both powerful and portable.
Additionally, vehicle extrication equipment manufactured today is environmentally friendly—they operate solely off battery power.
ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
As technology advances, the complexity of quickly and safely removing an occupant from a vehicle by firefighters will intensify.
The aim of this agreement is in alignment with the citywide priority of providing holistic community safety by ensuring that fire department members have access to technology that complements the comprehensive emergency service delivery offerings provided to the community of Oakland.
Staff members in the Fire Administration have provided representatives from the California Office of Traffic Safety with all required documents to satisfy initial paperwork and grant acceptance requirements.
Some Facts About Our Current Tools:
• 25-year-old technology tools were purchased in 2013. • The tools operate with a power unit (a gas-powered hydraulic generator), and two 30-foot hydraulic hoses run a maximum of two tools at a time.
• The Power unit must be on level ground to operate, limiting where it can be used. • Tool set-up time is at least 5 min if the extrication is right next to the Truck • Can only work on one vehicle at a time because tools are "tethered" to the power unit • The power unit is a generator, it is loud, hindering communication on the scene
Facts About the New Tools Funded by this Grant :
• The cache is a cutter, spreader, combi-tool, two rams (same as current tool cache), and accessories
• Tools are battery-powered with hydraulic components, but no power unit or hoses are tethering the tools. They are cordless.
• Set-up of these tools push-button on and go, moments to start using tools • Tools are totally portable and can be carried any distance. Ideal for cars off the side of the road or down a hillside
• All 5 tools can be used simultaneously, which will shorten extrication times. Tools can be used on numerous cars because they don't have a shared power unit.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: State of CA Office of Traffic Safety Grant to Oakland Fire Department Date: November 21, 2024 Page 3
Oakland City Council
December 17, 2024
• Most notable, these tools are much stronger than current tools. The current spreader is 22,000 lbs. force, and the new eDraulic (electronic) spreader is 147,000 lbs. force. This is why we need these tools. The cutters are also rated to cut ultra-high strength steel.
These tools, being portable, battery operated, and significantly stronger, will shorten the time it takes us to extricate victims and get them to the ER faster, which results in lives saved. We have told OTS we estimate we can reduce extrication times by 15 minutes, with these times, which is time saved in the victim's Golden Hour of survival.
The tools come with an "extension cord" in the event of a natural disaster when battery power could become a concern on extended use. The 10 batteries per Truck provide approximately 10 hours of tool use. All maintenance on the equipment is handled by Oakland Fire staff in consultation with the vendor.
The department does have first-generation eDraulic combo-tools (small cutter/spreader) on the trucks, that were purchased in 2013, however they went out of production in 2013 (they were old then) and are no longer supported or serviced by Hurst, so they have become obsolete.
FISCAL IMPACT
Approval of this proposed resolution will accept $165,000 of OTS grant funding and will be allocated to the Fire Department in the following manner:
Fund Grant Fund TBD
Organization Emergency/Suppression Shift A (20411)
Project TBD
This grant does not require a matching fund from the grantee so there will be no additional cost to the General-Purpose Fund.
PUBLIC OUTREACH / INTEREST
Representatives from the Fire Administration, Local 55, and the department’s Vehicle Extrication Working Group collaborated on this initiative.
COORDINATION
The Office of the Fire Chief was consulted in the preparation of this report.
SUSTAINABLE OPPORTUNITIES
Economic: The acceptance of the grant will reduce the need to seek financial resources from the department’s equipment line item on the most recently adopted budget for 2023 – 2025.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: State of CA Office of Traffic Safety Grant to Oakland Fire Department Date: November 21, 2024 Page 4
Oakland City Council
December 17, 2024
Environmental: The acceptance of the grant will satisfy the city’s effort toward moving away from gas-powered equipment used by city employees.
Race and Equity: Specific to bringing an equity lens to transportation safety initiatives, the city's own Department of Transportation now utilizes an "OakDOT Geographic Equity Toolbox" to inform its work and guide our investments to advance DOT’s Racial Equity Goals and Citywide efforts. Recognizing that not everyone has the same needs, this tool is meant to leverage attention and funding to neighborhoods that may have been historically and currently overlooked by city services and planning processes. This tool provides a data-driven context for how disparities play out spatially across Oakland. Priority neighborhoods should receive more in-depth community outreach to consider the specific needs of populations of people with demographic factors determined to have experienced historic and current disparities. Most fatal collisions in Oakland are in Black and brown communities, with a significant number of incidents occurring on or near International Boulevard, Foothill Boulevard, Bancroft Avenue, and MacArthur Boulevard in East Oakland.
In 2020-21, The Oakland Fire Department launched its own Race and Equity Committee, made up of internal and external stakeholders to help devise and implement policies, practices, programs, and organizational behaviors that foster authentic diversity, equity, and inclusion within the organization, while incorporating race and equity considerations into policies and positions that impact the residents of Oakland. As recently as the last few months, the City met with key DOT staff and bike/pedestrian advocates to respond to the increasingly louder calls for change to reduce traffic violence. As noted by local media covering this issue closely, there have been discussions since the early 2000s in Oakland to add bicycle lanes to city roads not just to improve conditions for recreational and commuting bicyclists but to narrow the roadways to slow cars down. Nearly every division of the Oakland Fire Department is engaged in this ongoing discussion and lifesaving transportation reform process. In 2023 and beyond, government leaders in Oakland, in coordination with public safety leaders, are taking their cues from traffic experts and advocates by adopting their language and applying it to their work to advance road safety efforts.
In 2022 alone, the Fire Department responded to 388 calls requesting extrication or related rescue services, over one per day. Oakland Fire is committed to making sure we always have the tools, equipment, and highly trained personnel where we need them when tragic vehicle incidents occur. This grant funding for much needed modernized extrication equipment, and our other work to prevent accidents before they occur, will go a long way to saving the lives of Oaklanders, many of which are already disproportionally impacted by a range of physical and public health disparities.
ACTION REQUESTED OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution Authorizing The City Administrator To: (A) Enter Into An Agreement With The State Of California To Accept Office Of Transportation Safety (OTS) Grant Funds In The Amount Of One Hundred Sixty -Five T housand Dollars ($165,000); (B) Appropriate And Administer Said Funds; And (C) Expend OTS Funds In Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: State of CA Office of Traffic Safety Grant to Oakland Fire Department Date: November 21, 2024 Page 5
Oakland City Council
December 17, 2024
Accordance With The City’s Purchasing Requirements For The Acquisition Of Vehicle Extrication Equipment For The Fire Department.
For questions regarding this report, please contact Deputy Chief Demond Simmons at 510.238.4054.
Respectfully submitted,
______________________________
Damon Covington
Fire Chief
Oakland Fire Department