Santa Maria Fire
Department
Long -Range
Master Plan
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Purpose and Approach
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• The purpose of a Master Plan is to understand where the department is in relation to:
• The risks the community faces today.
• Anticipate community growth (and therefore risk growth). • Recommend steps to position SMFD to address that growth in advance with appropriate resources and infrastructure.
• In short, a Master Plan keeps the fire department from lagging behind community growth and development.
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Process
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• The Triton Team analyzed the data provided by the
department as well as others to determine the
current levels of response performance.
• From this analysis, the team identified factors
influencing risk and response performance and has
identified opportunities for delivery system
improvement.
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Description of Community Served
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4 • Resident population: Approximately 110,000
• Approximately 23 square miles
• Full-service fire department
• Six fire stations
• 63 career operations staff, and 14 support staff
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Services Provided
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• Traditional structural and wildland fire suppression
• EMS Fire Response at the basic level
• Hazardous materials response
• Low-angle rescue, Swift Water, and vehicle
extrication
• Life-safety programs (inspection, plan reviews)
• Public education and prevention programs
FRSMFD Service Area
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6 FRPopulation Density
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7 FRSMFD Organizational Structure
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Administrative Staff
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Operations Staff FTEs
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10 FRPercentage of Incidents (2013-22)
Incident Type Description Percent of Total
Fires 3%
Overpressure < 1%
Rescue-Medical 58%
Hazardous Condition 3%
Service Call 7%
Good Intent 24%
False Alarm 4%
Disaster < 1%
Special < 1%
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11 Community
Risk
Assessment
FRAssembly Occupancies
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13 FRMulti-Family Occupancies
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14 FRBuildings Three or More Stories in Height
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15 FRBuildings Greater than 50,000 Square Feet
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16 FRFire Flows Greater than 2,500 Gallons
per Minute Occupancies
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17 FREarthquake Risks
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18 FRWildfire Risks
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19 Service
Delivery &
Performance
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Response Workload History (2019-22)
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Monthly Response Workload History (2019-22)
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Daily Response Workload History (2019-22)
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Hourly Response Workload History (2019-22)
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Response Unit Workload History (2019-22)
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25 FR
Call Processing by Incident Type (2019-22)
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Turnout Time by Incident Type (2019-22)
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First Arrival Travel Time (2019-22)
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Concurrent Incident Percentage
Calls Concurrency Percent
Single Incident 61.4%
2 Incidents 29.5%
3 Incidents 7.5%
4 Incidents 1.3%
5 Incidents < 1%
6 or More Incidents < 1%
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29 FRAll Incident Demand Density
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30 FRFire Incident Demand Density
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31 FREMS Incident Demand Density
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32 FRTravelTime
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Support Programs
• Communications & Dispatch
• Life Safety Services & Public Education
• Special Operations
• Emergency Medical Services
• Training & Continuing Medical Education
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34 Conclusions
and
Recommendations
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Key Findings
• The City’s budgeted revenues continue to be strained to keep pace with the inflation-fueled growth in expenditures.
• Data from CAD was missing for call processing and total response time and had limited analysis. The new dispatch center is expected to correct the lack of data.
• SMFD makes good use of NFIRS Plus 1 codes to better define the type of incident.
• The SMFD does not have a defined schedule to inspect all buildings, but is implementing a program to identify all commercial occupancies.
• The SMFD Fire Prevention Bureau has a good working relationship with the development community and has improved greatly over the last few years. 36
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Key Findings continued …
• The City’s General Fund property tax revenue continues to grow at a moderate annual rate.
• The SMFD’s staffing is such that overtime use is excessive, over 30% on an annual basis.
• The City’s cost recovery fees have been updated but not fully implemented.
• At 0.64 firefighters per 1000 population, the operational staffing levels fall outside the national and regional ranges.
• The amount of time needed to assemble an effective response force tripled in 2022.
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Key Findings continued …
• The Standard Operational Guidelines have not been consistently reviewed or evaluated recently.
• There does not appear to be a comprehensive succession plan to ease personnel and leadership changes due to attrition and growth.
• SMFD provides annual medical examinations from a grant ending in 2023 for its operations personnel but will need to find funding in future years.
• Call processing and turnout times are well above SMFDs goals. • The data collected for training is difficult to evaluate without extensive data engineering. However, the training staff is working on processes to improve data collection and reporting.
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Key Findings continued …
• Medical Priority Dispatch has not been implemented to screen calls for medical responses.
• Most EMS responses are in Station 1’s district.
• SMFD does not have a dedicated training facility with drill grounds. • All fire stations have extractors and washers to clean personal protective equipment (turnout gear).
• The developer for Blosser Ranch will provide property for a new Fire Station 2.
• Training Bureau – New Admin B/C, Civilian Safety & Training Coordinators, and Training Captain improved efficiencies AP Triton, LLC
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Short-Term Recommendations Highlights
• Identify all Commercial Properties and Target Hazards • Develop a schedule to inspect all commercial occupancies • Review the adopted fee schedule and implement proposed increases
• Immediately increase staffing levels by one additional paid firefighter per shift (three total personnel)
• Follow through with the planned implementation of criteria-based dispatch
• Consider a Mobile Integrated Healthcare option in the department AP Triton, LLC
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Short-Term Recommendations Highlights
• Implement Peak-hours Quick Response Unit pilot program 180 days • Review Policies and Guidelines Annually
• Evaluate, Create, and Implement a Comprehensive Succession Plan
• Implement an annual medical examination program for all Operational Firefighters
• Develop a Quality Control process to review incident times • Determine if Fire Stations 2 and 6 meet seismic standards • Formally adopt performance goals for Incident Response AP Triton, LLC
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Mid-Term Recommendations Highlights
• Hire additional fire inspectors
• Develop a new development impact fee to be used to fund the capital infrastructure necessary to expand the fire department’s deployment model into newly developed areas of the City • Enhance Fire and Life Safety Programs and develop a
Departmental Community Risk Reduction (CRR) Plan
• Provide an Appropriate Training Facility
• Develop Inspection Program for Fire Hydrants
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Long-Term Recommendation
• Develop plans for a new fire station on the east side as the area develops
• Review EMS operations to determine if Advanced Life Support (ALS) should be provided by SMFD
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Questions
and
Discussion
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