Thursday, October 20, 2022
Fire Department Sworn Staffing Levels
Annual Report
Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee
October 20, 2022
Item (d)3
Presented by:
Robert Sapien, Jr., Fire Chief
Fire Department
Fire Department Sworn Staffing Levels Annual Report
Background
2 • “All Hazard” Response
• 208 Square Miles
• City Population: 976,482
• 103,145 Emergency
Responses in FY 2021-2022
• Local "In County" Auto-Aid and
Mutual Aid
• California OES Master Mutual
Aid Participation
• 720 Authorized Sworn
Positions in FY 2022-2023
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Fire Department Sworn Staffing Levels Annual Report
Daily Staffing (Typical) = 190
3 *Formerly identified as Squad
Resource
(Staffing) Number Personnel
Battalion (1) 5 5
Fire Engine (4) 33 132
Fire Truck (4) 9 36
Rescue Medic (2) 3 6
ARFF (6) 1 6
US&R (4) 1 4
Med 30 (1) 1 1
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Fire Department Sworn Staffing Levels Annual Report
Authorized Sworn Staffing
4 Sworn Position (Rank)
Authorized
Positions
FY 2022-2023: 720
Fire Chief 1
Assistant Fire Chief 1
Deputy Fire Chief 4
Battalion Chief 21
Fire Captain 175
Arson Investigator 4
Fire Prevention Inspector 13
Fire Engineer 234
Firefighter 267
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Fire Department Sworn Staffing Levels Annual Report
Sworn Vacancy Rates
5 • Vacancy rates over last
five years have ranged
from 2.7% to 8.5%
• “Hire ahead”/overstrength
strategies have not been
employed
• 570 (190 per shift) staffed
field positions
• 30 sworn assigned to
administrative duties
• 6 sworn senior
management positions
706
710
711
707
719
664
690
689
681
677
300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750
2017-2018
2018-2019
2019-2020
2020-2021
2021-2022
Authorized Positions vs. Filled Positions
Actual Staffing Authorized Positions
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Fire Department Sworn Staffing Levels Annual Report
Sworn Separations and Hiring
6 • Sworn separations
averaged 32.8 over five
year period.
• Sworn hiring averaged
33.4 over five year period
• Typically, 25-30
Firefighter Recruits Per
Academy
• Firefighter Recruit
Academy is 18 to 20
Weeks
31 27
25 30
50 24
50 22
24 47
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
2017-2018
2018-2019
2019-2020
2020-2021
2021-2022
Sworn Employee Separtations vs. Sworn Hires
Total Hires Total Separations
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Fire Department Sworn Staffing Levels Annual Report
Absences, Vacancies, and Backfill Trends
7 Thursday, October 20, 2022
424,254 399,410 393,492
445,788
544,432
321,438 297,714 316,660
370,972
408,912
102,816 101,696 76,832 74,816
135,520
0 100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
FY 17 -18 FY 18 -19 FY 19 -20 FY 20 -21 FY 21 -22
COMBINED
Backfill Hours Absence Hours Vacancy Hours
104,977 100,903 100,545
126,358
149,091
96,241 93,511 92,145
106,086
121,651
8,736 7,392
8,400
20,272
27,440
0 20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
140,000
160,000
FY 17-18 FY 18-19 FY 19 -20 FY 20-21 FY 21-22
FIRE CAPTAIN
Backfill Hours Absence Hours Vacancy Hours
170,725
144,223 157,032
175,593
231,565
131,749 129,887 130,824
146,249
170,077
38,976
14,336 26,208 29,344
61,488
0 50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
FY 17-18 FY 18-19 FY 19-20 FY 20-21 FY 21-22
FIRE ENGINEER
Backfill Hours Absence Hours Vacancy Hours
148,552 154,284
135,914 143,837
163,777
93,448
74,316
93,690
118,637 117,185
55,104
79,968 42,224
25,200
46,592
0 20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
140,000
160,000
180,000
FY 17-18 FY 18-19 FY 19-20 FY 20-21 FY 21 -22
FIREFIGHTER
Backfill Hours Absence Hours Vacancy Hours
Fire Department Sworn Staffing Levels Annual Report
Resource Deployment
8 Fire Agency Population
Served
Sworn
Personnel
Staffing to
Population
San José 976,482** 720 .73 per 1000
Santa Clara County 225,000 251 1.11 per 1000
Sunnyvale DPS* 156,234 81 .52 per 1000
City of Santa Clara 130,127 137 1.05 per 1000
Mountain View 83,864 70 .83 per 1000
Milpitas 80,839 72 .87 per 1000
Palo Alto 67,473 91 1.3 per 1000
Gilroy 59,269 42 .70 per 1000
*Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety provides integrated Fire Protection and Law Enforcement Services.
**Does not include Zone 1 Contract Area
Santa Clara County Fire
Agencies Staffing to
Population
• Agencies Listed total
802,806 in population
and 744 total sworn
personnel (.93 staffing
to population)
• Agencies staffed by
CalFire excluded
(Morgan Hill, South
Santa Clara County
FPD, CalFire Unit)
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Fire Department Sworn Staffing Levels Annual Report
Santa Clara County Fire Agencies Company Staffing
9 Fire Agency
Engine
Company
Staffing
Truck Company
Staffing
Daily Total
Staffing
San José 4 4 186
Santa Clara County 3 4 66
Sunnyvale DPS 2 2 26
City of Santa Clara 3 4 36
Mountain View 3 3 21
Milpitas 3 4 21
Palo Alto 3 3 24
Gilroy 3 3 9
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Fire Department Sworn Staffing Levels Annual Report
U.S. Cities Staffing Levels
10 City (Engine Staffing) Estimated Population Sworn Personnel Staffing to Population New York, New York (5/4) 8,467,513 15,252 1.80
Los Angeles, California (4) 3,849,297 3,510 0.91
Chicago, Illinois (5) 2,696,555 4,766 1.77
Houston, Texas (4) 2,288,250 3,648 1.59
Phoenix, Arizona (3) 1,624,569 1,671 1.03
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (4) 1,576,251 2,960 1.88
San Antonio, Texas (4) 1,451,853 1,781 1.23
San Diego, California (4) 1,381,611 996 0.72
Dallas, Texas (4) 1,288,457 2,305 1.79
San Jose, California (4) 976,482 720 0.73
Austin, Texas (4) 964,177 1,266 1.31
Jacksonville, Florida (4) 954,614 1,690 1.77
Fort Worth, Texas (4) 935,508 963 1.03
Columbus, Ohio (4) 906,528 1,582 1.75
Indianapolis, Indiana (4) 882,039 1,249 1.42
Charlotte, North Carolina (5/4) 879,709 1,104 1.25
San Francisco, California (4) 815,201 1,395 1.71
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Fire Department Sworn Staffing Levels Annual Report
Span of Control
11 Thursday, October 21, 2021
Span of Control: “An effective span of control shall be determined by the ability of each supervisory position to monitor the activities of assigned subordinates and to communicate effectively with them.” Usually three to seven.
Battalion 1 Battalion 2 Battalion 5 Battalion 10 Battalion 13 Company Officers
Supervised 8 9 8 8 10
Fire Department Sworn Staffing Levels Annual Report
Arson Unit Staffing
12 Arson Unit Staffing
• 4 authorized Arson Investigator
positions
• Arson Investigators assigned to
24-hour shift schedules
• Supervising Arson Captain on 40-
hour administrative schedule
• 4
th Arson Investigator added in FY
2022-2023 Operating Budget to
address short term vacancies
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Fire Department Sworn Staffing Levels Annual Report
Paramedic Recruitment
13 • Evaluating increasing number of
“Support Paramedics”
• Pursuing accelerated hiring of
licensed paramedics including
Lateral FF/PM recruitment
• Revisiting paramedic training for
existing employees
• Exploring recruitment and
development opportunities
• Seeking to leverage partnerships
with local agencies, educational
institutions to provide paramedic
training
Thursday, October 20, 2022
14 Questions?
Robert Sapien, Jr., Fire Chief
Fire Department
Fire Department Sworn Staffing Levels
Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee
October 20, 2022
Item (d) 3
Thursday, October 20, 2022