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1. Operational Responsibilities:
a. Daily management of seven fire stations (soon to be eight) and ten Companies consisting of seven engines (soon to be eight), two trucks, and a Captain Specialist. This covers 52 square miles with an approximate population of 176,000 and over 17,400 incidents per year.
b. Incident Commander (IC) on every multi-company incident in the Fire District. c. Ensure Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and incident safety standards are being adhered to while managing the emergency incident.
2. Administrative Responsibilities:
a. Personnel Management
▪Daily supervision and annual evaluation of ten Captains (soon to be eleven). The industry management standard is a Span of Control of three to seven subordinates with an optimal at five.
▪Assists Captains with discipline and other personnel issues. ▪Participates in the interview, selection, training, and promotion of Firefighters and Engineers.
▪Communicates daily with Deputy Chiefs regarding potential issues with personnel problems that need to be addressed, community interactions, ambulance issues, mutual aid delays, program inefficiencies, response issues, etc.
b. Program Management
▪A-Shift BC: Communications, Response Planning, Technology, Fire and Arson Investigation (Captain Specialist Program).
▪B-Shift BC: Fire Suppression programs, including Apparatus, Safety and Wellness, SCBA, Hose, Wildland, Burn Cadre, Equipment, and Logistics. ▪C-Shift BC: Special Operations programs, including Hazardous Materials, Tactical Response, and Technical Rescue (USAR).
c. Interdepartmental collaboration
d. Administrative responsibilities with increased scope on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Holidays. This includes DoIT, Human Resources, Risk Management, Workers Compensation, Public Information, and Agency Representative responsibilities.
e. Collaboration and communication with Fire Prevention regarding field observations.
f. Daily staffing through Telestaff to confirm appropriate program coverage and disciplines are met across ten different fire apparatus. g. Policy review and updates.
3. Regional Cooperator Responsibilities:
a. Assistance at the Emergency Communications Center (ECC) at CONFIRE. b. Support of the San Bernardino County Operational Area (OA). c. Assist and support regional initiatives developed by the County Training Officers and County Ops Chiefs.
d. Management of the Daily XBO Page used for agency resources available for Mutual Aid Deployments.
Recommendation
Due to current and anticipated growth in service delivery, jurisdiction, population served, and staffing, the Fire District recommends implementing a two Battalion system for improved
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operational and management span of control. Implementing a two Battalion system will result in adding three BCs to the Fire District’s allocated positions and splitting the City into a North and South Battalion at Highland Avenue.
Fire Station 178 (Town Center) is scheduled to open in Spring 2024. This station will result in the addition of three on-duty personnel per shift, as well as the Fire District’s new electric engine, thus putting further pressure on the current one Battalion system. The Fire District anticipates future service enhancements through the addition of one or more on-duty ambulances and/or paramedic squads, each staffed by two additional on-duty personnel per shift. The Fire District also owns land for future Fire Station 179, which would result in the addition of another three on-duty personnel per shift and a new fire engine.
With these changes, the span of control will be too great for three shift BCs to manage in addition to their current operational, administrative, and regional responsibilities. Proactive implementation of a two Battalion system now, before the opening of Fire Station 178 (Town Center) and deployment of ambulances and/or paramedic squads, will better prepare the Fire District for the changes coming in FY 2024-25 and beyond.
Fire stations will be split across the Battalions as follows:
Fire Station Personnel Apparatus & Programs
Station 171
(Amethyst) 3 1 Engine
Station 175
(Banyan) 7 1 Engine, 1 Tiller Truck, Technical Rescue Team Station 176
(East) 3 1 Engine, 1 OES Type 3 Engine
North
Battalion
Station 177
(Hellman) 3 1 Engine
Station 172
(San Bernardino) 3 1 Engine, 1 OES Type 6 Engine
Station 173
(Day Creek) 3 1 Engine, 1 Water Tender, HazMat Team
Station 174
(Jersey) 7 1 Engine, 1 Tiller Truck
South
Battalion
Station 178
(Town Center) 4 1 Engine, Captain Specialist Program
The implementation of a second Battalion will result in the following benefits to the community:
1. Addition of one Shift BC to the daily staffing for a total of two Shift BCs on duty every day.
2. Improved operational and management Span of Control with the North Battalion at a five- to-one ratio and the South Battalion at a six-to-one ratio. This will immediately place them in the range of an optimal span of control.
3. Ability to immediately respond a Command Chief Officer to any mutual or automatic aid request without impacting the Fire District’s needs. Instead of recalling an off-duty Shift BC for the operational management of the Fire District, one of the two on-duty Shift BCs will assume the coverage for the entire City until change of shift.
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4. Ability to assist on a regular basis in the Emergency Communication Center (ECC) while still providing internal Fire District command. This is a vital part of our ambulance RFP and will create a regional approach to unit deployment.
5. Program Management will be more effective and efficient. The three Shift BC’s will split their program duties with the same shift partner in the other Battalion. This division of program oversight is needed due to the size of the Fire District and the needs of the specialty programs.
6. Increased risk management with one of the Shift BC’s serving as a qualified Incident Safety Officer (ISO) on all working incidents (Fires, Rescues, Haz Mat etc.) per NFPA 1521 Standards.
7. Increased mentoring, coaching, and supervision of the personnel at every station. Splitting of the Fire District into two distinct geographic areas will allow the Shift BC to meet with all of his/her crews on a more frequent basis. This increases the level of service by setting leader’s intent and visually ensuring that crew-cohesion, operational readiness, and situational awareness with consistent at the company level throughout the District.
8. Immediate depth at the Chief Officer rank provides that a larger pool of qualified candidates can be selected from when considering promotional opportunities for Deputy Chief and Fire Chief.
9. Sending an Agency Representative to incidents in neighboring jurisdictions that may impact Rancho Cucamonga.
The benefits of implementing a two Battalion system are significant, however this enhanced service has the potential of several adverse impacts. This includes a financial impact to the Fire District’s budget; the potential creation of a more medium sized department “feel” as on-duty shift personnel are split between the two Battalions on a daily basis; and potential lessening of some of the elements that reinforce the bottom-up approach to the culture of the Fire District.
Implementation Timeline
Implementing a two Battalion system will result in the addition of three BCs to the Fire District’s allocation positions. The positions will be filled through internal promotions, resulting in hiring three new firefighters. Staff recommends including these new hires in the upcoming Tower 27 Fire Academy.
Staff have identified the below timeline for implementation of the recommended supervisory and oversight initiatives:
Date Action
October 16, 2023 Fire Academy start date and hiring of three backfill firefighters December 6, 2023 BC test and creation of eligibility list December 9, 2023 Engine 178 placed in-service
January 20, 2024 Implementation of Second Battalion
FISCAL IMPACT:
Due to the uncertain hiring timeline associated with these positions, the full budgetary impacts of the staffing changes will be examined during the preparation of the midyear budget for Fiscal Year 2023-24. Yet, there will be salary savings related to recent vacancies.
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Below are the financial impacts associated with the staffing changes for your decision-making purposes; however, these costs won’t be fully realized during Fiscal Year 2023-24 since these positions are expected to be filled partway through the fiscal year.
The estimated annual cost of the recommended staffing changes are as follows:
Service Delivery
Change Staffing Action Annual
Expense
Net Fiscal
Impact
Second Battalion Fund three (3) Shift BCs $986,000 $986,000 In addition, the estimated equipment costs are as follows:
Equipment Quantity Expense Net Fiscal
Impact
BC Command Vehicle 1 $200,000
Second Battalion
Tablet Command iPad 3 $5,400
$205,400
COUNCIL MISSION / VISION / GOAL(S) ADDRESSED:
This item brings together portions of the Council’s vision and core value by providing a sustainable City and promoting a safe and healthy community for all. This is accomplished by utilizing the revenue within the Fire District’s budget to enhance the level of service provided to the community.
ATTACHMENTS:
None.