Agenda packet — Tulare City Council, September 19, 2023 (part 1 of 3)

City of Tulare Page 1
City of Tulare
City Council
Notice and Agenda
Tulare Public Library & Council Chamber
491 North M Street, Tulare
www.tulare.ca.gov
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
6:00 p.m. – Special Meeting
7:00 p.m. – Regular Meeting
Mission Statement
To promote a quality of life making Tulare the most desirable community in which to live, learn, play, work, worship and prosper.

Attending and Participating in Meetings
Regular Council Meetings are held on the first and third Tuesdays of the month in the Council Chamber located in the Tulare Public Library at 491 North M Street, Tulare, subject to cancellation. Additional meetings of the City Council may be called as needed.

Attend meetings in person or access the meeting live via YouTube. For those that wish to provide public comment while not physically in attendance, call (559) 366-1849 during Public Comments and/or Public Hearing and General Business items. Please note that there will be approximately a 20-second delay in broadcast for viewers. When calling in, mute device used for viewing the meeting.

City of Tulare YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWZiv2o7do1JY0OvGe1_aw/videos Documents related to items on the agenda are accessible on the City’s website at www.tulare.ca.gov and available for viewing at the entrance of the Council Chamber.

Rules for Addressing Council
• Members of the public may address the City Council on matters within the jurisdiction of the City of Tulare.
• If you wish to address Council, please complete one of the yellow speaker cards located at the entrance to the Council Chamber and provide to the Clerk. • Persons wishing to address Council concerning an agendized item will be invited to address the Council during the time that Council is considering that agenda item. Persons wishing to address Council concerning a non-agendized issue will be invited to address Council during the Public Comments portion of the meeting.
• When invited by the mayor to speak, please step up to the podium, state your name and city where you reside, and make your comments. Comments are limited to three minutes per speaker.

Americans with Disabilities Act
Pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, persons with a disability who require a disability-related modification or accommodation in order to participate in a meeting, including auxiliary aids or services, may request such modification from the City Clerk’s Office at (559) 684-4200. Notification 48 hours prior to the meeting will enable the City to make reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility to the meeting.

Agri-Center of the World
Mayor
Terry A. Sayre, District 2
Vice Mayor
Patrick Isherwood, District 5
Councilmembers
Jose Sigala, District 1
Stephen C. Harrell, District 3
Dennis A. Mederos, District 4
City Council Agenda – Special and Regular Meetings September 19, 2023 City of Tulare Page 2
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, pursuant to section 54956 of the California Government Code, that a special meeting of the City Council of the City of Tulare is hereby called.

1. CALL TO ORDER SPECIAL MEETING

2. STUDY SESSION - Comments at a special meeting are limited to items listed on the special meeting agenda. Each speaker will be allowed three minutes per item.

2.1 Fire Department’s Community Risk Assessment & Standards of Cover.

Recommended Action: Receive and Accept Fire Department’s Community Risk Assessment & Standards of Cover conducted by AP Triton. [M. Ott]

3. ADJOURN SPECIAL MEETING
7:00 p.m. - REGULAR MEETING

4. CALL TO ORDER REGULAR MEETING

5. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE AND INVOCATION - Susan Henard, Pastor of River Valley Church, to deliver invocation.

6. PRESENTATIONS

6.1 Proclamation for Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15-October 15, 2023.

7. PUBLIC COMMENTS - This is the time for the public to comment on matters within the jurisdiction of the Tulare City Council that are not on the agenda. The Council asks that comments are kept brief and positive. The Council cannot legally discuss or take official action on request items that are introduced tonight. This is also the time for the public to comment on items listed under the Consent Calendar or to request an item from the Consent Calendar be pulled for discussion purposes. Comments related to Public Hearing or General Business items will be heard at the time those items are discussed. In fairness to all who wish to speak, each speaker will be allowed three minutes with a maximum time of 15 minutes per item unless otherwise extended by Council. Please begin your comments by stating your name and providing your city of residence.

8. COMMUNICATIONS - Communications are to be submitted to the City Manager’s Office 10 days prior to a Council meeting to be considered for this section of the agenda. No action will be taken on matters listed under Communications; however, the Council may direct staff to schedule issues raised during Communications for a future meeting.

9. COUNCIL REPORTS AND ITEMS OF INTEREST

10. CONSENT CALENDAR - All Consent Calendar items are considered routine and will be enacted in one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these matters unless a request is made, in which event the item will be removed from the Consent Calendar to be discussed and voted upon by a separate motion.

10.1 Waive the reading of ordinances and approve reading by title only.

Recommended Action: Approve the reading by title only of all ordinances and that further reading of such ordinances be waived.
6:00 p.m. – SPECIAL MEETING (STUDY SESSION)
City Council Agenda – Special and Regular Meetings September 19, 2023 City of Tulare Page 3

10.2 Special and/or Regular Meeting Minutes of September 5, 2023.

Recommended Action: Approve as submitted. [M. Hermann]

10.3 Second Reading and Adoption of Ordinance 2023-08.

10.4 August 2023 Investments Report.

Recommended Action: Accept the monthly investments report for August 2023. [M.

Gaboardi]

10.5 Fire Department Memoranda of Understanding.

Recommended Action: Approve the enclosed MOUs for Division Chief Group, NonManagement Bargaining Group and Management Bargaining Group. [M. Zamora]

11. PUBLIC HEARINGS - Comments related to Public Hearing items are limited to three minutes per speaker, for a maximum of 30 minutes per item, unless otherwise extended by the Council.

11.1 Proposed 2022 Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report (CAPER).

Recommended Action: Adopt a resolution approving the 2022 Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report (CAPER) as presented; and authorize the City Manager or his designee to submit the CAPER to HUD on behalf of the City of Tulare. [G. Avitia]

12. GENERAL BUSINESS - Comments related to General Business items are limited to three minutes per speaker, for a maximum of 30 minutes per item, unless otherwise extended by the Council.

12.1 PK0033 - Zumwalt Park Renovation Project.

Recommended Action: Award and authorize the City Manager to sign contracts related to the construction of City Project PK0033 to renovate Zumwalt Park; and authorize the City Manager or his designee to approve contract change orders in an amount not to exceed 10% of each contract amount and approve the revised project sheet. [M. Miller]
Task Description Contractor Amount

1. Construction Contractor Caliber Contracting Services, Inc. of Fresno, CA
$11,964,000

2. Construction Management
& Inspection
4Creeks of Visalia, CA $596,570

3. Materials Testing Krazan & Associates of Clovis, CA $29,765

4. Construction Surveying Lane Engineers of Tulare, CA $67,700

5. Labor Compliance Silvera Consulting of Galt, CA $31,780

12.2 FM0046 - Courthouse Renovation and Parking Lot Rehabilitation.

Recommend Action: Award and authorize the City Manager to sign contracts related to the construction of City Project FM0046 – Courthouse Renovation and Parking Lot Rehabilitation; and authorize the City Manager or his designee to approve contract change orders in an amount not to exceed 10% of each contract amount and approve the revised project sheet. [M. Miller]
City Council Agenda – Special and Regular Meetings September 19, 2023 City of Tulare Page 4
Task Description Contractor Amount

1. Construction Contractors Various Construction Contracts $5,803,272.35

3. Materials Testing Krazan & Associates of Clovis, CA $13,990

4. Construction Surveying Guida of Fresno, CA $61,250

5. Labor Compliance Labor Consultants of California of
Hanford, CA
$25,500

12.3 EN0074 - Cross Avenue Street Improvement Project.

Recommend Action: Approve a revised project sheet reflecting increased construction costs and modified funding sources; and adopt a resolution amending the 2023/2024 Fiscal Year Budget allocating $1,100,000 to General Fund CIP from Fund 017 and revising Project EN0074 funding to include $1,100,000 from General Fund CIP. [M. Miller]

13. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS - NONE SUBMITTED

14. STAFF UPDATES

15. ADJOURN REGULAR MEETING
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Tulare City Council is Tuesday, October 3, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber, 491 North M Street, Tulare.

AFFIDAVIT OF POSTING AGENDA
I hereby certify, in conformance with Government Code Sections 54954.2 and 54956, this notice and agenda was posted in the kiosk at the front of City Hall, 411 E. Kern Avenue, as well as on the City of Tulare’s website (www.tulare.ca.gov).

POSTED: Thursday, September 14, 2023
Melissa Hermann, Chief Deputy City Clerk

OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
To: Mayor and City Council Members
From: Marc Mondell, City Manager
Subject: September 19, 2023 Agenda Memo
Date: September 14, 2023
Time Estimates - Time estimates are provided as part of the Council’s effort to manage its time at Council meetings. Listed times are estimates only and are subject to change at any time, including while the meeting is in progress. The Council, by consensus, reserves the right to use more or less time on any item, to change the order of items and/or to continue items to another meeting. Items may be heard before or after the time estimated on the agenda. This may occur to best manage the time at a meeting or to adapt to the participation of the public. 6:00 p.m. - SPECIAL MEETING (STUDY SESSION)

1. CALL TO ORDER SPECIAL MEETING

2. STUDY SESSION - Comments at a special meeting are limited to items listed on the special meeting agenda. Each speaker will be allowed three minutes per item.

2.1 Fire Department’s Community Risk Assessment & Standards of Cover.

Recommended Action: Receive and Accept Fire Department’s Community Risk Assessment & Standards of Cover conducted by AP Triton. [M. Ott] Summary: AP Triton has completed the Fire Department’s Community Risk Assessment & Standards of Cover CRA/SOC. The CRA/SOC helps identify risks within the community of Tulare we currently face, anticipated community growth and therefor risk increase, and recommendations on how the Fire Department needs to address those new risks with advances in appropriate resources and infrastructure.

The CRA/SOC will pave the way for the next phase in Fire Department planning with the goal of completing a Strategic and Master Plan in the near future to help tackle and mitigate those risks going into the future.

Fiscal Impact & Funding Source(s): There is no fiscal impact associated with this action.

Legal Review: N/A
Alternative Action: 1) Approve with changes; 2) Deny; or 3) Table.

3. ADJOURN SPECIAL MEETING
Tulare City Council Page 2
Agenda Memo - September 19, 2023
7:00 p.m. - REGULAR MEETING

4. CALL TO ORDER REGULAR MEETING

5. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE AND INVOCATION - Susan Henard, Pastor of River Valley Church, to deliver invocation.

6. PRESENTATIONS [Time Estimate: 7:05-7:10 p.m.]

6.1 Proclamation for Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15-October 15, 2023.

8. COMMUNICATIONS - Communications are to be submitted to the City Manager’s Office 10 days prior to a Council Meeting to be considered for this section of the agenda. No action will be taken on matters listed under communications; however, the Council may direct staff to schedule issues raised during communications for a future agenda. Public comments will be limited to three minutes per topic unless otherwise extended by Council. [Time Estimate: 7:20- 7:20 p.m.]

9. COUNCIL REPORTS AND ITEMS OF INTEREST [Time Estimate: 7:20-7:25 p.m.]

10.1 Waive the reading of ordinances and approve reading by title only.

Recommended Action: Approve the reading by title only of all ordinances and that further reading of such ordinances be waived.

10.2 Special and/or Regular Meeting Minutes of September 5, 2023.

Recommended Action: Approve as submitted. [M. Hermann]

10.3 Second Reading and Adoption of Ordinance 2023-08.

Recommended Action: Adopt Ordinance 2023-08 amending Title 5 (Business Regulations) of the Tulare Municipal Code to add Chapter 5.62 (Disqualification of Contractors for Public Works Contracts). [M. Miller]
Summary: Currently, the City of Tulare adheres to the provisions of Section 23 (Purchase by Contract or in the Open Market) and Section 46 (Public Works to Be Tulare City Council Page 3
Agenda Memo - September 19, 2023
Done by Contract) of the City Charter, and Public Contract Code with regard to the procurement of contractor services for City capital improvement projects. None of the sources provide for the means of disqualifying contractors on the basis on past performance on City projects. As a result, the City has no option but to award contracts based on the “lowest responsive bidder” basis. On several occasions, this has resulted in City contracts being awarded to contractors who have a demonstrated history of either not being willing or able to comply with approved project plans and specifications. The City has incurred significant costs related to staff time, additional materials testing, and legal representation whilst trying to ensure that such contractors take corrective actions to remedy deficient work. In several instances, the City has opted to apply payment reductions and accept said deficient work. While such measures are in accordance with allowable provisions of state standard specifications, they are not ideal, as the City does not end up with the quality of product desired. The service life of improvements that fail to meet specifications is likely to be shorter than expected, ultimately leading to increased maintenance costs to the City.

The proposed ordinance will add a new Chapter (5.62) to the City Municipal Code to provide mechanisms for the City to disqualify contractors on City public works contracts.

On September 5, 2023, following discussion, Council passed-to-print this ordinance.

Fiscal Impact & Funding Source(s): The proposed ordinance could result in significant savings to the City through the reduction of legal fees associated with resolving contract disputes when dealing with a nonresponsive contractor, and through reducing anticipated maintenance costs associated with non-standard work being performed on City public works projects.

Legal Review: This item was reviewed by legal counsel.

Alternative Action: 1) Approve with changes - Staff would work with the City Attorney to revise the Ordinance to incorporate any changes requested by City Council; 2) Deny - No further action would be taken by staff; or 3) Table - Staff would await further direction from City Council.

10.4 August 2023 Investments Report.

Recommended Action: Accept the monthly investments report for August 2023. [M.

Gaboardi]
Summary: The investments report for August 2023 is submitted for Council review and acceptance.

Fiscal Impact & Funding Source(s): There is no fiscal impact associated with this action.

Legal Review: This item does not require legal review.

Alternative Action: 1) Approve with changes; 2) Deny; or 3) Table.

Tulare City Council Page 4
Agenda Memo - September 19, 2023

10.5 Fire Department Memoranda of Understanding.

Recommended Action: Approve the enclosed MOUs for Division Chief Group, NonManagement Bargaining Group and Management Bargaining Group. [M. Zamora] Summary: The City has been in negotiations with the three groups for the Fire Department. Below is a summary of the major changes in the MOUs:

1. Salary:

Division Chiefs (1 year term) - 4% for FY2023-2024
Management (2 year term) - 9% for FY2023-2024 and 9% for FY2024-2025 Non-management (2 year term) - 10% for FY2023-2024 and 11% for FY2024-2025

2. 2 hours of straight time to members of the Investigations Unit for every day on stand-by when off duty and not called in to investigation an incident.

3. 5% specialty pay for those members who are assigned to the Investigations Unit at the discretion of and approval from the Fire Chief.

4. 5% specialty pay for those members who maintain their paramedic certification at the discretion of and approval from the Fire Chief.

5. A future worker’s compensation carve out program to be discussed at a later date by the parties.

6. Various other operational changes as suggested by the Fire Chief.

Fiscal Impact & Funding Source(s): Estimated fiscal impact for Management and Non-Management is $900,000 this FY. Estimated fiscal impact for Division Chiefs is $77,000 this FY. The source of both is the General Fund.

Legal Review: The City Attorney has reviewed and drafted the enclosed MOUs.

Alternative Action: 1) Approve with changes; 2) Deny; or 3) Table.

11. PUBLIC HEARINGS - Comments related to Public Hearing items are limited to three minutes per speaker, for a maximum of 30 minutes per item, unless otherwise extended by the Council.

11.1 Proposed 2022 Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report (CAPER). [Time Estimate: 7:30-7:45 p.m.]
Recommended Action: Adopt a resolution approving the 2022 Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report (CAPER) as presented; and authorize the City Manager or his designee to submit the CAPER to HUD on behalf of the City of Tulare. [G. Avitia]
Summary: The City’s Community Development Department (CDD), in cooperation with other departments, oversees most federal and state grants addressing community development and social service issues. In order to utilize Community Tulare City Council Page 5
Agenda Memo - September 19, 2023
Development Block Grant (CDBG) and other federal grants on a yearly basis, CDD staff must prepare Annual Action Plans (AAP) and Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Reports (CAPER). An AAP identifies service levels and anticipated budgets on all activities ahead of each program year, while a CAPER describes the City’s progress toward achieving the goals set under a current Consolidated Plan.

Copies of current and previous Annual Action Plans, Consolidated Plan, and CAPERs are available on the CDD webpage at:
https://www.tulare.ca.gov/government/departments/community-economicdevelopment/housing-cdbg-services/reports.

The 2022 CAPER details the outcomes of activities and projects implemented with CDBG and Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security CDBG (CARES Act CDBG) funds between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023. During this period, the City committed a total of $787,263.38 in CDBG funds across six (6) activities with goals aligned to the City’s Consolidated Plan. The City also allocated the remaining $8,718 in CARES Act CDBG funds remaining from the previous program year to a rent, mortgage, and utility relief program for people that experienced a financial hardship related to the coronavirus pandemic. The specific CDBG and CDBG-CV activities implemented during the 2022 Program Year are listed in Tables 1 and 2 below.

Table 1 – 2022 CDBG Activities
Consolidated Plan Goal Activity and Funding
Commitment
Actual Amount
Expended
Improve public
infrastructure and
facilities
• Sycamore & San Joaquin
utility system and sidewalk
improvements - $415,000
• $414,929
Support homeless and
public services
• Street outreach, case
management and housing
navigation with Salt + Light-
$36,700
• Street outreach, case
management and housing
navigation with Kings Tulare
Homeless Alliance - $36,700
• Street outreach, case
management and housing
navigation with Kings View
PATH - $36,700
• $36, 700
• $36,697
• $33,515
Preserve and develop
affordable housing
• Minor home repair and
rehabilitation program with the
Habitat for Humanity of Tulare
/ Kings Counties - $115,763.38
• $87,751
Maintain effective
program administration
and planning
• Personnel and operating costs
incurred by Community and
Economic Development
Department - $146,400
• $110,269
Tulare City Council Page 6
Agenda Memo - September 19, 2023
Total amount of CDBG
funds allocated and
expended
• $787,263 • $719,861
Table 2 – CARES Act CDBG Activities
Federal Requirements Activity and Funding
Commitment
Actual Amount
Expended
Implement activities and
projects that …
Prevent, prepare for, and
respond to the
coronavirus (COVID-19)
pandemic
AND
meet CDBG Program
standards.
*Funds remaining from CDBG-CV
grant Tranche 3
• Mortgage, rent, and utility relief
payments with the United Way
of Tulare County - $8,718
Total number of
activities and amount of
CDBG-CV funds
• $8,718 • $8,063
2022 CONSOLIDATED ANNUAL PERFORMANCE AND EVALUATION REPORT All, but one of the CDBG and CDBG-CV activities satisfied their respective service goals. The City maintained compliance with most of the CDBG Program requirements regarding spending limits and timely performance. Program administration and planning costs remained below the mandated 20 percent threshold at about 13 percent. Additionally, total public service expenditures remained below the 15 percent threshold at about 13 percent. Altogether, in Program Year 2022 the City expended $719,860.12, about 90 percent of all CDBG funds, and $8,063 in CDBG-CV funds.

The draft of the 2022 CAPER describes in greater detail the outcomes, both service level and financial, of CDBG and CDBG-CV activities.

Fiscal Impact & Funding Source(s): Community Development Block Grant Funding for Fiscal Year 2022 (Fund 077)
Legal Review: This item does not require legal review.

Alternative Action: If the draft 2022 CAPER is not adopted at this or a subsequent meeting, the City may risk being out of compliance with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. 1) Approve: Adopt the 2022 Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report (CAPER) in recognition of public comments and as presented on Tuesday, September 19, 2023; and authorize the City Manager or his designee to submit the CAPER to HUD on behalf of the City of Tulare; 2) Deny: Reject the proposed 2022 CAPER and request revision(s) to the report for City staff to present at a future City Council meeting. This will delay submission of a 2022 CAPER Tulare City Council Page 7
Agenda Memo - September 19, 2023
and may place the City out of compliance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; or 3) Table: Reschedule consideration of this item to a future City Council meeting. This will delay submission of a 2022 CAPER and may place the City out of compliance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

12. GENERAL BUSINESS - Comments related to General Business items are limited to three minutes per speaker, for a maximum of 30 minutes per item, unless otherwise extended by the Council.

12.1 PK0033 - Zumwalt Park Renovation Project. [Time Estimate: 7:45-8:15 p.m.] Recommended Action: Award and authorize the City Manager to sign contracts related to the construction of City Project PK0033 to renovate Zumwalt Park; and authorize the City Manager or his designee to approve contract change orders in an amount not to exceed 10% of each contract amount and approve the revised project sheet. [M. Miller]
Task Description Contractor Amount

1. Construction Contractor Caliber Contracting Services, Inc. of Fresno, CA
$11,964,000

2. Construction Management
& Inspection
4Creeks of Visalia, CA $596,570

3. Materials Testing Krazan & Associates of Clovis, CA $29,765

4. Construction Surveying Lane Engineers of Tulare, CA $67,700

5. Labor Compliance Silvera Consulting of Galt, CA $31,780 Summary: This item was originally presented to Council at a regularly scheduled meeting held on September 5, 2023. Following discussion, Council directed that the item be continued until the following regularly scheduled meeting to be held on September 19, 2023 to provide additional time for consideration.

Capital Improvement Project No. PK0033 will renovate Zumwalt Park, activating what is currently a passive park space by creating a regional destination serving the entire community with new recreational and entertainment opportunities. Through the new amenities that will be added, it is anticipated that Zumwalt Park will become a driving force for the redevelopment and revitalization of Downtown Tulare. The work to be performed by this project includes demolition of the existing restroom building, existing hardscape, site furnishings, and select landscaping and trees to make room for the new improvements. These new improvements will include a new amphitheater building and stage with tiered seating, concrete flatwork, lighting and landscaping improvements, a playground, a splash pad, an expanded restroom building, fencing, signage, and on-site utility improvements. Under the recommended full-build out with alternatives, the existing gazebo will be renovated to include new roofing and address electrical deficiencies and ADA accessibility improvements. Additionally, an LED digital marquee sign would be included with the amphitheater improvements. Off-site improvements will consist of new curb, gutter, sidewalk, and striping along the west side of "N" Street, and along the north side of Kern Avenue. This project was included and approved as a part of the City’s 2023-2028 CIP program budget.

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Agenda Memo - September 19, 2023
Various contracts are required for the construction of this project. In addition to the actual construction contract, it will be necessary to supplement City staff with various consultant services from the City’s list of on-call consultants. The following contracts are recommended for award:

1. Construction Contract: Caliber Contracting Service Inc.

On August 10, 2023, two (2) bids were opened for the Request for Bids #23-783, Zumwalt Park Renovation Project. Bid opening results are attached. The project sheet for the Zumwalt Park Renovation in the 2023-2028 CIP Budget adopted by Council on June 20, 2023, included an estimated construction cost of $8,359,169.

Upon finalization of the plans and specifications for the project, the Architect revised the estimated construction cost upwards to $8,898,468. Bids ranged in cost from $11,649,000 - $13,935,000. The bids were evaluated and determined to be responsive to the requirements and instructions contained in the bid documents. While bids received are significantly higher than the Architect’s estimate, this appears to be consistent with current construction costs trends being observed throughout the state and nation. Inflation, labor shortages, and significant supply chain issues in the building industry are driving higher than expected costs.

Caliber Contracting Services Inc. (Caliber) submitted the lowest responsive bid in the amount of $11,649,000 for the project base bid. Additionally, two bid alternates were included; bid alternate #1 to refurbish the existing gazebo for $235,000 and bid alternate #2 for an LED digital marquee sign for $80,000. Caliber’s base bid plus both alternates results in a total bid of $11,964,000. Caliber possesses current and active General Engineering Contractor’s licenses issued by the State of California and has submitted a list of licensed and experienced subcontractors who will be performing portions of the work. Award of the contract for the base bid plus alternates to Caliber would exceed the construction budget in the 2023-2028 CIP by $3,604,831.

Alternatively, should Council decide to award a contract to Caliber based on the base bid alone (i.e., no bid alternates), the construction contract amount would be reduced to $11,649,000, which would exceed the amount budgeted in the 2023- 2028 CIP by $3,289,831.

To further reduce construction costs, Council could award a contract to Caliber Contracting Services Inc. for the base bid and instruct staff to negotiate deductive change orders to reduce the project’s scope of work. Some potential items that could be removed from the project scope, and a preliminary estimate of resulting savings, are as follows:
• Delete splash pad – $998,000
• Delete playground equipment – $236,000
• Delete restroom building – $343,000.

2. Construction Management & Inspection: 4Creeks
Due to the volume of projects citywide, both private and public, the City does not have sufficient in-house staff capacity to perform the necessary construction Tulare City Council Page 9
Agenda Memo - September 19, 2023
inspection required by Zumwalt Park Renovation Project. Inspection for contract compliance is required for public improvements.
4Creeks of Visalia, CA is included on the list of pre-qualified On-Call Construction Management, Resident Engineer and Inspection Consultants and has demonstrated in their proposal that they have the skills, expertise, and resources available to meet the City’s needs and timeframe to complete the work on this project. 4Creeks has reviewed the scope of this project and has proposed to perform construction inspection services on a time and materials basis, not to exceed $586,570, in accordance with the provisions of their on-call contract. This amount is in line with industry standards and with what the City has experienced on projects with similar scopes of work.

3. Material Testing: Krazan & Associates
During constructing of improvements associated with this project, it will be necessary to perform materials testing to ensure compliance with City standards.

Material testing services including laboratory testing are outside the capabilities of the City.

Krazan & Associates of Clovis, CA is included on the list of pre-qualified On-Call Geotechnical and Materials Testing consultants and has demonstrated in their proposal that they have the skills, expertise, and resources available to meet the City’s needs and timeframe to complete the work on this project. Krazan & Associates has reviewed the scope of this project and has proposed to perform the necessary services on a time and materials basis, not to exceed $29,765, in accordance with the provisions of their on-call contract. This amount is in line with industry standards and is well below the amount anticipated for these services.

4. Construction Surveying: Lane Engineers
This project is subject to Prevailing Wage requirements. To ensure proper wages are paid and accounted for in accordance with the ever-changing requirements under state and federal law, it will be necessary to perform labor compliance monitoring of those contractors and consultants subject to these requirements.

Due to the complexities involved, the City simply does not have the resources available to perform this work.

Silvera Consulting of Galt, CA is included on the list of pre-qualified On-Call Labor Compliance Monitoring consultants and has demonstrated in their proposal that they have the skills, expertise, and resources available to meet the City’s needs and timeframe to complete the work on this project. Labor Consultants of California has reviewed the scope of this project and has proposed to perform the necessary services on a time and materials basis, not to exceed $31,780, in accordance with the provisions of their on-call contract. This amount is in line with industry standards and with what the City has experienced on projects with similar scopes of work.

Tulare City Council Page 10
Agenda Memo - September 19, 2023
Fiscal Impact & Funding Source(s): Fund 028 – ARPA Federal Grant - $5,000,000; Fund 390 – Parks DIF Funds - $5,000,000; Fund 601 – General Fund CIP - $5,156,227
Legal Review: Subsequent contract approval to be reviewed by City Attorney.

Alternative Action: 1) Approve with changes - Staff will implement Council’s direction regarding changes to the recommended alternative, such as deletion of bid alternatives or negotiation of deductive change orders following award of a construction contract; 2) Deny - Council could elect to reject all bids received for the project, direct staff to revise the project plans and specifications to reflect a reduced scope, and direct that the revised project be re-bid; or 3) Table - Council decided to postpone the proposed project the City could readvertise at a later date. Depending on the timelines associated with funding.

12.2 FM0046 - Courthouse Renovation and Parking Lot Rehabilitation. [Time Estimate:
8:15-8:55 p.m.]
Recommended Action: Award and authorize the City Manager to sign contracts related to the construction of City Project FM0046 – Courthouse Renovation and Parking Lot Rehabilitation; and authorize the City Manager or his designee to approve contract change orders in an amount not to exceed 10% of each contract amount and approve the revised project sheet. [M. Miller]
Task Description Contractor Amount

1. Construction Contractors Various Construction Contracts $5,803,272.35

3. Materials Testing Krazan & Associates of Clovis, CA $13,990

4. Construction Surveying Guida of Fresno, CA $61,250

5. Labor Compliance Labor Consultants of California of
Hanford, CA
$25,500
Summary: Capital Improvement Project No. FM0046 will renovate the former Tulare County Superior Court building and adjacent parking lot. The City has acquired the courthouse building located immediately next to Tulare City Hall. As a result of the acquisition, the City now owns the entire City Hall block. The project will renovate the former Courthouse to provide additional space for Police Department personnel and operations, with the remainder of the building housing a business incubator function in partnership with the Tulare Chamber of Commerce. The project will also renovate the existing on-site parking lot, including the addition of security fencing and gates. The business incubator function of this project provides new and exciting opportunities for economic growth in the community. By creating space for new startup businesses to grow and develop, it is anticipated that those businesses will gain the experience and resources to eventually venture out of the incubator and establish locations downtown.

It is hoped that this could play a key role in jumpstarting the revitalization of our downtown. This project was included and approved as a part of the City’s 2023-2028 CIP program budget.

Several contracts are required to complete construction of the project. In addition to the actual construction contract, it will be necessary to supplement City staff with Tulare City Council Page 11
Agenda Memo - September 19, 2023
various consultant services from the City’s list of on-call consultants. The following contracts are recommended for award:

1. Construction Contracts
On July 18, 2023, Council awarded a contract to 4Creeks of Visalia, CA in the amount of $387,635 for construction and project management services associated with the Courthouse Renovation and Parking Lot Rehabilitation Project. Of the $387,635 contract amount, $330,000 was allocated to 4CG, a subsidiary of 4Creeks, to create a subcontractor bid package and gather bids for each trade necessary to complete construction of the project in accordance with the approved project plans and specifications. On September 1, 2023, 4CG presented the City with the completed subcontractor bid package that included all facets of work and totaled $5,803,272.35. The subcontractor bid results are attached.

The project sheet for the Courthouse Renovation and Parking Lot Rehabilitation Project that was included in the 2023-2028 CIP Budget adopted by Council on June 20, 2023, included an estimated construction cost of $4,615,293. The subcontractor bids received were evaluated and determined to be responsive to the requirements and instructions contained in the project bid documents. While the $5,803,272.35 total subcontractor bid cost received is significantly higher than the construction estimate used to develop the project sheet in the adopted 2023- 2028 CIP Budget, it does appear to be consistent with current construction cost trends being observed throughout the state and nation. Inflation, labor shortages, and significant supply chain issues in the building industry are driving higher than expected costs.

2. Material Testing: Krazan & Associates
During construction of the improvements associated with this project, it will be necessary to perform materials testing to ensure compliance with applicable City and Building Code standards. Material testing services, including specialized laboratory testing procedures, are outside the in-house capabilities of the City.

Krazan & Associates of Clovis, CA is included on the City’s list of pre-qualified OnCall Geotechnical and Materials Testing consultants and has demonstrated in their proposal that they have the skills, expertise, and resources available to meet the City’s needs and timeframe to complete the work on this project. Krazan & Associates has reviewed the scope of this project and has proposed to perform the necessary services on a time and materials basis, not to exceed $13,990, in accordance with the provisions of their on-call contract. This amount is in line with industry standards and is well below the amount anticipated for these services.

3. Construction Surveying: Guida
During construction of the improvements, it will be necessary to provide construction staking so the Contractor has the necessary locations and elevations to properly construct the improvements. Survey services include field and office surveying and filing corner records with the County of Tulare. As a professional service performed by a licensed surveyor, these services cannot be included in a competitively bid construction contract, and therefore cannot be performed under Tulare City Council Page 12
Agenda Memo - September 19, 2023
the Contractor’s contract. Furthermore, the City does not have the staffing or professional qualifications to perform these services.

Guida of Fresno, CA is included on the City’s list of On-Call Construction Surveying consultants and demonstrated in their proposal that they have the skills, expertise, and resources available to meet the City’s needs and timeframe to complete the work on this project. Guida has reviewed the scope of the Courthouse Renovation and Parking lot Rehabilitation Project and has proposed to perform the necessary services on a time and materials basis, not to exceed $61,250. This amount is in line with industry standards and with what the City has experienced on projects with similar scopes of work.

4. Labor Compliance Monitoring: Labor Consultants of California This project is subject to Prevailing Wage requirements. To ensure proper wages are paid and accounted for in accordance with the ever-changing requirements under state and federal law, it will be necessary to perform labor compliance monitoring of those contractors and consultants subject to these requirements.

Due to the complexities involved, the City simply does not have the resources available to perform this work.

Labor Consultants of California of Hanford, CA is included on City’s list of prequalified On-Call Labor Compliance Monitoring consultants and has demonstrated in their proposal that they have the skills, expertise, and resources available to meet the City’s needs and timeframe to complete the work on this project. Labor Consultants of California has reviewed the scope of this project and has proposed to perform the necessary services on a time and materials basis, not to exceed $25,500, in accordance with the provisions of their on-call contract. This amount is in line with industry standards and with what the City has experienced on projects with similar scopes of work.

The combined total of all construction contracts necessary to complete construction of the Courthouse Renovation and Parking Lot Rehabilitation, including the $330,000 previously awarded construction management contract with 4Creeks of Visalia, CA, is $6,244,086. Taking into account additional costs for City staff time and contract contingencies would result in a total programmed construction cost of $6,888,250.

Fiscal Impact & Funding Source(s): Fund 028 – ARPA Federal Grant - $1,300,000; Fund 601 – General Fund CIP - $4,807,219; Fund 780 – 2018 Lease Revenue Bonds - $781,031
Legal Review: Prior to their execution, contracts shall be subject to the review and approval of the City Attorney.

Alternative Action: 1) Approve with changes - Staff will implement Council’s direction regarding changes to the recommended alternatives or project scope; 2) Deny - Council could elect to reject all bids received for the project, direct staff to revise the project plans and specifications to reflect a reduced scope, and direct that the revised project be re-bid; or 3) Table - The bids received for the Courthouse Renovation and Tulare City Council Page 13
Agenda Memo - September 19, 2023
Parking Lot Rehabilitation project are valid for a period of 30 days following their submittal. Failure to award contracts by September 22, 2023, would result in the need for the City to obtain new bids. Additional costs would likely be incurred by the City’s Construction Management consultant.

12.3 EN0074 - Cross Avenue Street Improvement Project. [Time Estimate: 8:55-9:35 p.m.] Recommended Action: Approve a revised project sheet reflecting increased construction costs and modified funding sources; and adopt a resolution amending the 2023/2024 Fiscal Year Budget allocating $1,100,000 to General Fund CIP from Fund 017 and revising Project EN0074 funding to include $1,100,000 from General Fund CIP. [M. Miller]
Summary: Capital Improvement Project No. EN0074 will construct street improvements on Cross Avenue from its intersection with West Street to a point approximately 1,050 feet to the west. In addition to reconstructing the existing roadway, the project will relocate power poles and install curb, gutter, pave-out, sidewalk, and driveway approaches along the northern street frontages.

This project was included and approved as a part of the City’s 2023-2028 CIP program budget.

The total project cost included in the approved 2023-2028 CIP was $1,039,761. This cost was based upon an estimated construction contract cost that assumed that required improvements would be completed by an adjacent private development project in advance of the City project. Council was advised of the fact that the private development has not made any progress in completing its associated improvements, and directed staff to revise the project to include these improvements so that it could move forward.

Considering the additional scope of work for construction of the project, the estimated construction cost increases to $2,331,734. This is an increase of $1,291,973 above the approved 2023-2028 CIP budget.

The project funding is composed of Measure R Local funds, Gas Tax, and General Fund CIP. To address the increased construction costs, the following revisions are recommended:
• Increase Gas Tax funding from $905,261 to $1,097,234 (i.e., by $191,973). • Add General Fund CIP funding in the amount of $1,100,000.

Fiscal Impact & Funding Source(s): Fund 021 – Measure R Local - $134,500; Fund 022 – Gas Tax - $517,234; Fund 122 – Gas Tax (RMRA) SB1 - $580,000; Fund 601 – General Fund CIP - $1,100,000
Legal Review: Subsequent contract approval to be reviewed by City Attorney.

Alternative Action: 1) Approve with changes - Staff will implement Council’s direction regarding changes to its recommendation. As an alternative to adding $1,100,000 of General Fund CIP to cover additional costs, Council could direct staff to utilize Tulare City Council Page 14
Agenda Memo - September 19, 2023
additional Gas Tax funding instead. There is sufficient balance in these funds to do so without impacting the delivery timeline of any other CIP projects; 2) Deny - Council could direct staff to revise the project plans and specifications to reflect a reduced scope to reduce costs; or 3) Table - There are no significant project deadlines that would be impacted should Council decide to postpone a decision on revising the project budget, though the resulting uncertainty could impact funding decisions on other CIP projects.

13. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS - NONE SUBMITTED [Time Estimate: 9:35-9:35 p.m.]

14. STAFF UPDATES [Time Estimate: 9:35-9:40 p.m.]

15. ADJOURN REGULAR MEETING
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Tulare City Council is Tuesday, October 3, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber, 491 North M Street, Tulare.

Staff Report
Meeting: City Council
Date: September 19, 2023
Department: Fire
Submitted by: Michael Ott, Fire Chief
Agenda Title: Fire Department’s Community Risk Assessment & Standards of Cover

RECOMMENDED ACTION
Receive and accept the Fire Department’s Community Risk Assessment & Standards of Cover conducted by AP Triton.

SUMMARY
AP Triton has completed the Fire Department’s Community Risk Assessment & Standards of Cover CRA/SOC. The CRA/SOC helps identify risks within the community of Tulare we currently face, anticipated community growth and therefor risk increase, and recommendations on how the Fire Department needs to address those new risks with advances in appropriate resources and infrastructure.

FISCAL IMPACT & FUNDING SOURCE(S)
There is no fiscal impact associated with this action.

LEGAL REVIEW
N/A

ALTERNATIVE ACTION

1. Approve with changes

2. Deny

3. Table

ATTACHMENTS

1. Fire Department’s Standards of Cover
Reviewed/Approved:

Item #: 2.1
Study Session

2.1 Study Session Page 1
City of
Tulare

FIRE DEPARTMENT

COMMUNITY RISK

ASSESSMENT
Standards of Cover &
Deployment Analysis
July 2023

2.1 Study Session Page 2 ATTACHMENT 1
Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

1 Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 4 Purpose & Approach .................................................................................................................... 4 SECTION I: COMMUNITY RISK ASSESSMENT ..................................................................................... 5 Tulare County & the City of Tulare ................................................................................................... 6 Tulare County ................................................................................................................................ 6 City of Tulare .................................................................................................................................. 6 All-Hazards Community Risk Assessment ...................................................................................... 7 Population & Demographic Characteristics .............................................................................. 7 Risk Classification ........................................................................................................................... 15 Risk Assessment Methodology ................................................................................................... 15 Fire Response ............................................................................................................................... 19 Emergency Medical Services .................................................................................................... 20 Technical Rescue ........................................................................................................................ 21 Hazardous Materials ................................................................................................................... 22 Wildland Fires ............................................................................................................................... 23 Aircraft Rescue & Firefighting .................................................................................................... 24 Spatial Visualization ........................................................................................................................ 25 Weather ....................................................................................................................................... 25 Environmental Hazards ............................................................................................................... 27 Technological (Human-Caused) Hazards ................................................................................ 29 Land Use ....................................................................................................................................... 30 Physical Assets Protected ........................................................................................................... 31 Critical Infrastructure ................................................................................................................... 38 Hazardous Materials .................................................................................................................... 38 Comparison of Fire Risk in Other Communities ........................................................................... 48 Fire Loss ......................................................................................................................................... 48 SECTION II: STANDARDS OF COVER & DEPLOYMENT ANALYSIS .................................................. 52 Overview of the Tulare Fire Department ...................................................................................... 53 TFD Organizational Structure ..................................................................................................... 53 Services Provided by TFD ............................................................................................................ 56 Other Emergency Resources in Tulare County ........................................................................ 56

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Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

2 Financial Overview ......................................................................................................................... 58 City of Tulare ................................................................................................................................ 58 Tulare Fire Department ............................................................................................................... 61 Financial Projections ................................................................................................................... 64 Staffing & Personnel ........................................................................................................................ 67 Administrative & Support Staffing .............................................................................................. 67 Operations Staffing ..................................................................................................................... 69 Personnel Management ............................................................................................................ 71 Capital Facilities & Equipment ...................................................................................................... 75 Tulare Fire Stations Inventory ...................................................................................................... 77 Tulare Apparatus & Medical Equipment Inventory ................................................................. 82 Service Delivery & Performance ................................................................................................... 87 Service Demand ......................................................................................................................... 89 Resource Distribution ................................................................................................................ 103 Performance Review ................................................................................................................ 112 SECTION III: FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................... 128 Findings & Observations ............................................................................................................... 129 General Findings ....................................................................................................................... 130 Introduction to the Strategies & Recommendations ................................................................. 131 Short-Term Recommendations .................................................................................................... 132 Mid-Term Recommendations ...................................................................................................... 136 Long-Term Recommendations .................................................................................................... 137 SECTION IV: APPENDICES ............................................................................................................. 140 Appendix A: Strategic Partners Stakeholder Interview Results ................................................ 141 Introduction to the Stakeholder Interviews ............................................................................ 141 Appendix B: Risk Classifications .................................................................................................. 153 Appendix C: Table of Figures ...................................................................................................... 158 Appendix D: References .............................................................................................................. 161

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Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

3 Acknowledgments
AP Triton Consulting wishes to extend its sincere appreciation to each of those individuals whose contributions and assistance made this project possible.

Tulare Fire Department
Michael Ott
Fire Chief
Cameron Long
Division Chief
Rodnie Roberts
Division Chief
Dave Rossman
Division Chief
Ryan Leonardo
Fire Marshal
Scott Scheline
President, TPFA
Karie Rodriguez
Senior Administrative Assistant
City of Tulare
Terry A. Sayre
Mayor
Patrick Isherwood
Vice Mayor
Jose Sigala
Councilmember
Stephen C. Harrell
Councilmember
Janice Avila
HR Director
Dennis A. Mederos
Councilmember
Marc Mondell
City Manager
Jason Bowling
Chief Technical Officer
Diego Ibanez
Chief Finance Officer
Our sincere appreciation is extended to each of you…
…and each of the firefighters, officers, and support staff who daily serve the citizens and visitors of the City of Tulare and the surrounding communities they serve.

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Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

4 Introduction
The City of Tulare Fire Department engaged the services of AP Triton to conduct a Fire Department Master Plan.

Purpose & Approach
The purpose of a master plan is to understand where the Fire Department is in relation to the risks the community faces today, anticipate community growth (and therefore risk growth), and recommend steps to position the Department 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, risks, and development, maintaining or enhancing service as the community grows. It is an effective policymaking and budgeting tool as well. Knowing where and how the community will grow into the future and what the fire department will need in terms of policy and budget support to address it well in advance is a critical element of the elected officials’ deliberation.

The Triton Team analyzed the data provided by TFD and 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. This document establishes response time objectives, standards for measuring the effectiveness of department resources, and the deployment of those resources. The document ends with findings and recommendations categorized as short, medium, and long-term.

AP Triton does not expect TFD to implement all recommendations in the short term. Some may wait until economic conditions allow their implementation. However, all the recommendations offered chart a course to improve capability and service.

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Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

5 Section I:

COMMUNITY RISK ASSESSMENT

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Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

6 Tulare County & the City of Tulare
Tulare County
In 1852, Mariposa County was divided, and the southern portion was named Tulare County. The County was later further divided, creating Fresno, Kern, Kings, and Inyo Counties. Tulare County is comprised of an area consisting of 4,863 square miles.

The County consists of public lands that include the Sequoia National Park, various agricultural lands, and portions of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. As of 2020, the population of Tulare County consisted of approximately 473,117 persons.1 City of Tulare
Founded in 1872, the City of Tulare is
situated in the Central San Joaquin Valley
on the western side of Tulare County, and
north of Bakersfield and south of Fresno. It
comprises approximately 21 square miles of
which 0.1 square miles consists of water.2 As
of 2022, the City’s population comprised
approximately 69,482 persons.3
General Demographics of the City
Just over 50% of the population are listed as females, with the median age of all citizens of 28 years. About 9% of the population is under the age of 5 years, while just over 8% is 65 years or older.4
There are 3,440 households in the City of Tulare, with an average household size of 1.34 persons.5 Nearly 40% of households have one or more people aged 60 or over. Just over 70% of the homes in Tulare are single-family structures.6 In Tulare, about 18.5% of the population is
considered in poverty.7 As of June 2022,
unemployment in Tulare was 7.3%.8

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Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

7 All-Hazards Community Risk Assessment
Population & Demographic Characteristics
Population
The population of Tulare has increased based on data from the California Department of Finance (CDF) and the U.S. Census. The following figure is population estimates combining CDF information. It shows the population has increased by more than 16% since 2011 at an average annual rate of 0.5%.

At-Risk Populations
An area’s population has residents at higher risk of fires and other unintentional injuries.

When an incident occurs, it affects service delivery for the department. The TFD response area is considered urban but has other areas considered suburban, ranging from singlefamily homes to multifamily apartments and commercial areas. NFPA has identified groups with an increased risk of injury or death from a fire, as indicated in the following list.9 • Children under five years of age
• Older adults over 65 years of age
• People with disabilities
• Those speaking a language other English
• People in low-income communities
Figure 1: Population Growth
59,798
60,642
61,203
61,778
62,407
63,052
64,043
65,234
66,604
68,058
69,229
69,482
40,000
45,000
50,000
55,000
60,000
65,000
70,000
75,000
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

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Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

8 Data from the 2020 U.S. Census American Community Survey’s 5-year estimates identified several groups in these categories that are more likely to need emergency services, specifically EMS, than other populations.10
Age
A person’s age in a high-risk population directly relates to increased unintentional injuries and death or injury from a fire. These age risks increase service demand, specifically for older adults needing additional medical care. For example, older adults are 2.6 times more likely to die in a fire than the United States' overall population.11 The City of Tulare’s median age is 28. More specifically, of the total population, 9% are under age 5, and 8.2% are over

65. Combined, these high-risk populations make up 17.2% of the population compared to the rest of California at 20.4%. It is considered best practice to target these populations with fire and life safety programs due to the challenges they present. The following figure compares these at-risk populations in Tulare compared to the state.

Figure 2: Percentage of Greatest At-Risk Population
Disabilities
Persons with disabilities can create increased and focused demands for services. It can also provide critically focused educational and outreach efforts regarding community risk reduction measures. According to Census data, the greatest concerns include independent living, mobility issues, and cognitive-related issues. All these health disabilities present daily challenges for citizens and responders trying to provide fire and life safety services. The City of Tulare's disability rate is 11.7% of its population compared to California’s

10.7%. The following figure provides the percentage of the population with a disability.

9.0% 8.2%

6.1%

14.3%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
< 5 years > 65 years
Tulare California

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Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

9 Language Barrier
Providing services to individuals with English as a second language or no English at all can be challenging. Currently, TFD has an approximate Spanish-speaking population of just over 40%. This dynamic affects the ability to provide services. Consideration should be provided to ensure all aspects of services integrate both English and Spanish services.

The following figure provides a population percentage breakdown for languages spoken in Tulare compared to the state.

11.7% 10.7%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
Tulare California
Figure 3: Percentage of Population with Disabilities
54%
40%
4% 2%
56%
28%
5%
10%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
English Only Spanish Other IndoEuropeanAsian and Pacific Islander
Tulare California
Figure 4: Comparison of Languages Spoken

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Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

10 Poverty & Income
Income and the ability to provide the necessary items for oneself and a family are significant factors when accepting and implementing community risk reduction efforts and the correlation to calls for service. The stark difference in the median income for Tulare compared to the rest of the state is $22,648, with the population in Tulare making less. The following figure provides the median income for Tulare compared to the state.

There is a connection between the median income and the poverty level. Because of Tulare’s wages, there is a higher poverty rate. Tulare's poverty rate is 18.5%, almost 6% higher than the state average of 12.6%. Evaluation of what age and demographics this population fall into ensures that adequate and specific measures are put into place regarding all services provided. The following figure provides the percentage of the population in poverty compared to the state.
$56,024
$78,672
$30,000
$40,000
$50,000
$60,000
$70,000
$80,000
$90,000
Tulare California
Figure 5: Median Income Comparison

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Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

11 Other Demographics
Education
The ability for citizens to understand the hazards they are greatest at risk for must align with their educational levels. Degree attainment is not often associated with being involved when considering the at-risk populations but is recognized as having correlations when developing fire and life safety education programs. It should be noted that Tulare's population is mainly identified as having a High School Diploma, with some having some college but not graduating. Individuals in this group make up 55.7% of the population, compared to the state, at 41.5%. The following figure shows Tulare's citizens' highest education compared to the state.

18.5%

12.6%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
20%
Tulare California
Figure 6: Poverty Rates
Figure 7: Education Level of Citizens
32%
24%
9% 10%
20% 21%
8%
35%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
High School
Graduate
Some Collge No
Degree
Associates
Degree
Bachelor's Degree
or Higher
Tulare California

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Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

12 Housing Characteristics
The housing types vary in a community and can provide insight into ownership, the age of the home, and the number of units in the building. In TFD, there are approximately 21,153 housing units, while 747 are vacant in the city. Vacant structures can pose a risk for the fire department and community if the building is not secured to prevent entry. If the building is not maintained, the structural integrity can degrade and present problems during a fire.

Vandalism may create additional problems for the fire department and law enforcement.

Home Ownership
In Tulare and California, more than half of the population own and occupy their own homes, with the others renting. Currently, the representation of owner-occupied compared to renter occupied is similar to the state. The following figure compares owner and renteroccupied homes in Tulare and the state.

Figure 8: Home Occupancy Comparison
Age of Housing
All buildings are built to last a certain period, and as it ages, more problems occur when it is not maintained. Currently, most homes in Tulare were built from 1990 through 2009. These 20 years account for 38% of Tulare's homes, while California only built 22%. There were times before 1990 when Tulare was building homes behind the state average, most often 2–4%.

57.2% 55.3%

42.8% 44.7%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%
Tulare California
Owner Occupied Renter Occupied

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Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

13 Figure 9: Percentage of Homes Built by Decade
Housing Units
In the figure, most housing units in Tulare are one- and two-family residences, which is 17% higher than the state. The only other contrasting statistic is multifamily units of 20 or more.

Tulare is 9% below the state average. It should be noted that TFD’s housing profile risk is one- and two-family residences. 84% 5%
3%
2%
4%
3%
67%
5%
6%
5%
13%
4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
1-2 3–4 5–9 10–19 > 20 Mobile
Tulare California
Figure 10: Housing Units per Building
4%
4%
20%
18%
14%
15%
10%
6%
4%
5%
2%
2%
11%
11%
15%
18%
13%
13%
6%
9%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
2014 or
later
2010–
2013
2000–
2009
1990–
1999
1980–
1989
1970–
1979
1960–
1969
1950–
1959
1940–
1949
1939 or
earlier
Tulare California

2.1 Study Session Page 15
Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

14 The data also indicates that the profile of housing units above single-family is slightly different compared to state data, and do not appear to be a specific threat to the community. Special targeted public education focused on single family residences should be considered.

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Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

15 Risk Classification
Risk Assessment Methodology
Developing a risk score to determine risks in a community is necessary to provide an organization with a method for creating response protocols for an incident. The Three-Axis Heron model establishes a score by reviewing probability, consequence, and impact factors and assigning a score between 2–10 in each category.12 A description of the incident types for each risk is located in Appendix B of this report.

Use of the Three-Axis Heron Formula includes the following equation:

The risk is graphically illustrated through a three-axis model as follows:
• P = Probability (Y-Axis)
• C = Consequences (X-Axis)
• I = Impact (Z-Axis)
Figure 11: Three-Axis Risk Classification Process

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Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

16 An example of a low-risk fire response scoring is based on the probability of that type of incident occurring. Most low-risk incident types are frequent (occurring multiple times a day), but the consequence to the community and impact on the City is low. The probability of a low-risk incident in the city is 10 (high), while the consequence is 2 (low), and impact at 4 (low/moderate). These numbers are placed into the above formula to create a score of 32.1. The score will increase dramatically for a maximum risk, although the probability is low (2), because the consequence to the community is an 8, and the impact on TFD is the highest at 10, which gives a score of 59.4.

These scores are designed to provide information to TFD to determine the level of service required for the community. The probability of an incident may affect response times if multiple events occur simultaneously. Even if the risk is low, it will place an apparatus out of service for the response. The higher the score, the greater the risk in the community.

Although the highest risk score available is 122.5, the probability of this type of event occurring is low. The following information provides additional information on probability, consequence, and impact.

Probability
Probability is the likelihood of an incident occurring in the community over time. This axis reflects the probability of a particular type of incident occurring (contributing to the risk level). It can range from a rare event to one that occurs often. Many factors include the time of day, location, hazards present, the season of the year, building construction and maintenance, demographic factors, and more. The following figure provides the scoring method to determine the probability or likelihood of an incident occurring.

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Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover Tulare Fire Department

17 Figure 12: Probability or Likelihood of Occurrence
Score Category Probability or Likelihood
2 Minor Unlikely: < 0.02% of total call volume; Expected to occur very rarely 4 Low Possible: 0.02%–0.07% of total call volume; Expected to occur rarely 6 Moderate Probable: 0.07%–0.3% of call volume; Expected to occur monthly 8 High Likely: 0.3%–2% of call volume. Expected to occur multiple times weekly 10 Extreme Frequent: > 2% of call volume. Expected to occur one or more times daily Consequence
The consequence of an incident can vary from minor casualties to severe impacts that may destroy historical or major facilities in the community and create a significant loss of employment or life. The following figure provides the scoring method to determine the consequence to the community.

Figure 13: Consequence to the Community
Score Category Consequence to the Community
2 Minor 1–2 people affected (injuries/deaths); < $10,000 loss 4 Low < 5 people affected (injuries/deaths); < $500,000 loss 6 Moderate 5–50 people affected (injuries/deaths); $500,000–$1,000,000 loss 8 High 50–100 people affected (injuries/deaths); $1,000,000–$5,000,000 loss 10 Extreme >100 people affected (injuries/deaths); >$5,000,000 loss Impact
The third factor in determining the risk is the fire department’s impact and the critical tasking needed to control or mitigate an incident. This includes the number of emergency responders and apparatus available, whether available internally or from external agencies. It measures the department’s ability to respond to a given risk or incident while providing service to the remaining parts of the service area. The following figure provides the method to determine the impact on the organizational forces of TFD.

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18 Figure 14: Impact on Operational Forces
Score Category Impact on Operational Forces
2 Minor ≥ 90% Remaining Apparatus/Crews
4 Low ≥ 75% Remaining Apparatus/Crews
6 Moderate ≥ 50% Remaining Apparatus/Crews
8 High ≥ 25% Remaining Apparatus/Crews
10 Extreme < 25% Remaining Apparatus/Crews

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19 Fire Response
TFD is the primary provider of prevention or mitigation of fire-related incidents in its response area. These range from low-risk incidents such as a vehicle fire to a maximum risk for a fire involving a school. Fire risks for a vehicle fire are considered low compared to a maximum risk for a school that houses students. This scoring is applied to four different types of fire incidents in TFD to provide staffing needs to meet critical tasks on the fireground. The data was pulled using several fields provided from forms completed by TFD—ERF and NFIRS data specifically. The methodology provides insight on how the three axis is developed.

The following figures provide the risk score and classifications assigned to each type of fire risk in TFD’s service area.

Figure 15: Fire Response Risk Assessment
Description Low Moderate High Maximum
Risk Score P C I P C I P C I P C I
10 2 4 8 4 10 4 6 10 2 8 10
Score Assigned: 32.1 67.2 53.7 59.4

0 2
4 6
8 10
Minor
Risk
Impact Consequence
Probability
0 2
4 6
8 10
Moderate
Risk
Impact Consequence
Probability
0 2
4 6
8 10
High
Risk
Impact Consequence
Probability
0 2
4 6
8 10
Maximum
Risk
Impact Consequence
Probability

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20 Emergency Medical Services
TFD provides advanced life support emergency medical care within the City limits. Lifestar Ambulance is the primary transport provider. Low-risk incidents range from a medical assist to a maximum-risk incident for an active shooter or the annual World Ag Expo®. The following figures provide the risk score and classifications assigned to each type of EMS risk in TFD’s response area.

Figure 16: EMS Response Risk Assessment
Description Low Moderate High Maximum
Risk Score

P C I P C I P C I P C I
10 2 2 10 2 2 2 6 10 2 8 10
Score Assigned: 20.2 20.2 45.5 59.4

0 2
4 6
8 10
Low
Risk
Impact Consequence
Probability
0 2
4 6
8 10
Moderate
Risk
Impact Consequence
Probability
0 2
4 6
8 10
High
Risk
Impact Consequence
Probability
0 2
4 6
8 10
Maximum
Risk
Impact Consequence
Probability

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21 Technical Rescue
Rescue services can vary from a low-risk incident, such as accessing a locked vehicle with a child inside, to a confined space incident (maximum) that potentially requires many personnel to mitigate the incident. The following figures provide the risk score and classifications assigned to each type of technical rescue risk in Tulare.

Figure 17: Technical Rescue Response Risk Assessment
Description Low Moderate High Maximum
Risk Score

P C I P C I P C I P C I
8 2 2 8 2 4 2 6 10 2 8 10
Score Assigned: 16.3 25.9 45.5 59.4

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22 Hazardous Materials
Hazardous materials responses can vary from low-risk odor investigations to the maximum risk for a fuel tanker fire in higher populations. Most of these incidents can be managed by TFD, but higher risks may need assistance from outside resources. The following figures provide the risk score and classifications assigned to each type of hazardous materials risk in TFD’s response area.

Figure 18: Hazardous Materials Response Risk Assessment Description Low Moderate High Maximum
Risk Score

P C I P C I P C I P C I
8 2 4 8 4 8 2 4 10 2 6 10
Score Assigned: 25.9 55.4 32.1 45.5

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23 Wildland Fires
The types of wildland fire risk vary from small grass fires to large forest fires requiring many internal and external resources. The wildland fire risk only includes low, moderate, and high since a maximum risk would also be a state and federal response. The following figures provide the risk score and classifications assigned to each type of wildland fire risk in TFD’s response area.

Figure 19: Wildland Fires Response Risk Assessment
Description Low Moderate High
Risk Score

P C I P C I P C I
8 2 2 6 4 10 2 8 10
Score Assigned: 16.3 53.7 59.4

0 2
4 6
8 10
Low
Risk
Impact Consequence
Probability
0 2
4 6
8 10
Moderate
Risk
Impact Consequence
Probability
0 2
4 6
8 10
High
Risk
Impact Consequence
Probability

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24 Aircraft Rescue & Firefighting
Aircraft emergencies can range from minor fuel leaks to crashes involving multiple casualties or victims. A large incident requires additional internal and external resources to manage the incident. The following figures provide the risk score and classifications assigned to each aircraft rescue and firefighting fire risk type in TFD’s response area.

Figure 20: Aircraft Rescue & Firefighting Response Risk Assessment Description Low Moderate High Maximum
Risk Score

P C I P C I P C I P C I
2 2 4 2 4 4 2 6 10 2 8 10
Score Assigned: 8.49 13.86 45.5 59.40

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25 Spatial Visualization
Spatial analysis is the ability to view data visually using maps or charts. This visualization provides another tool to analyze an organization's or an outside agency's data to determine community risks.

Weather
Temperature
Weather conditions during any fire or EMS operation affect how TFD responds to an incident and, ultimately, the entire community. High and low temperatures can affect responding personnel while fighting a fire, such as when high conditions occur. Heat exhaustion can impact firefighters during an incident and may require on-scene rehabilitation. The average daily low ranges from 36°F in December to 64°F in July. The average high temperature ranges from a low of 58°F to a high of 100°F during July. The following figures show the average monthly low and high temperatures during 2011–2021.

Figure 21: Average Monthly Lows
37 39
43 48
53 59
64 63
59 50
41 36

30.0 35.0

40.0 45.0

50.0 55.0

60.0 65.0

70.0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

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26 Drought
A drought may impact the community, such as the lack of rainfall to replenish groundwater or aqua filters when wells are used for drinking water. Droughts may last for an extended period and create secondary problems during peak wildfire conditions as the vegetation becomes dry and highly combustible. As of January 2023, the drought condition is moderate in Tulare County, as shown in the following figure. 59 65
71 79
85 95
100 99
93 82
69 58

50.0 60.0

70.0 80.0

90.0 100.0
110.0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Figure 22: Average Monthly Highs
Figure 23: U.S. Drought Monitor—California

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27 Winds
The direction and speed of local winds may significantly impact how TFD responds to an incident such as a wildland fire or hazardous materials event. The prevailing winds are from the north-northwest but can vary throughout the year. The highest average winds occur during April, while the lowest is in January. The following Wind Rose, provided by Iowa State University (ISU), shows the history of wind directions since 1969.

Figure 24: Wind Direction & Speed
Environmental Hazards
Wildland Fires
Wildfire risks do not directly impact the City of Tulare due to its age of housing and because of the vegetative materials. The 2017 Tulare County Multi-Jurisdictional Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP) lists a fire as unlikely. It is worth noting that, directly outside the corporate limits and even in sporadic locations, extensive plantings of trees and fields for harvesting crops are found near these homes but have a buffer separating them because of roadways.13

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28 Earthquakes
While no fault lines are in Tulare, the San Andreas is to the west, the Garlock Fault is to the south, and the Sierra Nevada is to the east. This creates a wedge of faults surrounding the community and creates a unique risk. Annually, minimal impacts are felt as a result of the tremors felt by these faults. The 2017 HMP states that the frequency of an earthquake is occasional, while the damage would be extensive.

Flooding
According to FEMA's website, there are no identified flood areas inside the city, except in the extreme southern portion of the city. Local stormwater runoff flooding may occur during heavy rains, typically from November through February. Recent heavy rains may require a change to FEMAs flood maps and how it impacted the former Tulare Lake, since they have not been updated in the past decade.14 The following figure shows the flood zone in Tulare.

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29 Figure 25: FEMA Flood Zones
Technological (Human-Caused) Hazards
Annually the City of Tulare hosts the World Ag Expo.® This multi-day event brings close to 100,000 people into the community. This significant population spike can strain the services provided by the fire department and other agencies. Events such as this create a need for constant re-evaluation of the emergency action plans, staffing for responders, and special needs targeted at this single event.

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30 Land Use
Land use for a community is designed to classify properties within a geographical area generally under governmental control. The concept of land use regulation provides attractive social and environmental outcomes to assist in managing development efficiently. Zoning areas may vary from one portion of the service area with a mixture of low-, moderate-, and high-risk properties.
• Low Risk: Areas for agricultural purposes, open and vacant spaces, low-density residential, and other low-intensity uses.
• Moderate Risk: Medium-density one and two-family dwellings, minor commercial and office uses, minimal-intensity retail sales, and similarly sized business activities. • High Risk: Higher concentrated business districts, mixed-use areas, high-density residential, industrial, storage facilities, schools, and significant mercantile development.
• Maximum Risk: Hospitals, assisted living facilities, major industrial or commercial occupancy.

Tulare has developed different zoning districts to maintain the City’s identity. Most future growth is expected in the city's extreme northern and southern ends, with some infill development and annexation near existing city infrastructure.

As outlined in the following figure, the city has a variety of projects proposed and underway, including over 1,400 multifamily and single-family residences. These projects include developing low, median, and high-income housing units. Most multifamily projects are yet to be constructed, while single-family projects are in the beginning phases of construction. The following figure represents proposed residential projects both in process and projected to be built.

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31 Figure 26: Approved Housing Projects
Project Units or Lots Development
Type
Harlan Ranch 609 Single-family
California Ranchos 15 Single-family
Wild Oaks 82 Single-family
Cartmill & Mooney 130 Single-family
Oak Creek Phase 4 48 Single-family
Fulton Estates 3 Single-family
Glass Apartments 68 Multifamily
Ventana 136 Multifamily
Oak Creek Phase 5 32 Multifamily
Mission Creek 192 Multifamily
Santa Fe Commons 138 Multifamily
Also notable for Tulare a substantial amount of proposed commercial and industrial development. The existing significant economic drivers, Kraft and Saputo, are proposing an expansion of facilities that would double the existing footprint of each company’s single facility. Kraft’s 80,000-square-foot addition would include cold storage, with some increase in production. Saputo plans a 60,000-square-foot production expansion at one of its four Tulare plants.

A 500,000-square-foot warehouse, with an additional 500,000-square-foot possible expansion, is proposed on the southern end of Tulare and would be serviced by Highway 99 and a rail spur. The occupant has yet to be named. Also unnamed is the occupant of two-100,000-square-foot warehouses on the north end of Tulare. Two hotels and restaurants are proposed to support the existing outlet mall on the northern end of Tulare, just off Highway 99.

Physical Assets Protected
Commercial occupancies or properties are considered target hazards in every community because of the special or unique risks to emergency responders and the occupants during an incident or event. Each of these occupancies should have up-to-date pre-incident surveys completed annually. The surveys allow responders to become familiar with the building, property, and special hazards.

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32 It should be noted that as part of Triton’s evaluation of commercial occupancy data, there was limited data available using the department's records management system.

Structural Risks
The risks created by residential or commercial occupancies for those in a building and emergency responders increase based on the facility type. Single-family homes do not pose the same life safety risk as buildings without sprinklers, multi-story, multifamily residential. Nor are the community and financial impacts of a small single commercial structure the same as a large factory industrial fire.

Ensuring compliance with codes and standards during construction, modifications, and maintaining the building is essential. Thorough periodic inspections and inspections as a result of changes or modifications ensure this level of safety. The following figure shows the locations of target hazards in Tulare.

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33 Figure 27: Target Hazards
Educational & Childcare Facilities
Childcare facilities and public and private schools increase community risks and require substantial assistance during an incident. Because of their higher risk, these occupancies should receive annual fire and life safety inspections to comply with the existing fire codes.

These buildings or facilities should complete monthly fire drills and provide a designated outdoor assembly location to meet during an incident.

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34 Childcare facilities for infants, preschool, or afterschool care for children create specific concerns because of their age. For example, very young children need additional assistance from childcare workers to evacuate a building during an emergency, and an evacuation may require the employees to carry the infants.

Assembly
Gathering large groups of people in a single location or building increases risks in locations such as a place of worship, entertainment venue, or eating establishment. Outdoor special events such as a street fair or other mass gatherings may require a public safety plan. This plan should include emergency vehicle access and egress, fire protection, emergency medical services, public assembly areas, directing of vehicular traffic and attendees, vendor, and food concessions, need for law enforcement, fire or EMS personnel, and weather monitoring.

Hospital & Medical Facilities
These facilities provide medical care in the community to assist the sick or people seeking medical attention. Hospitals are at a higher risk because of the inability of some patients to self-evacuate from the facility. These locations require more fire and life safety requirements than medical clinics to enhance the occupants' protection. Other protection includes a fire alarm to notify the occupants of an emergency or a fire sprinkler system to control or extinguish a fire. In the City of Tulare, Adventist Hospital is a significant risk. The only hospital in the community is three stories in height. A significant incident could impact the community in various ways, including injuries or loss of life.

Congregate Care Occupancies
As people age, declining health or cognition may require them to seek a living facility to assist with daily activities. Depending on their mobility or cognitive conditions, they may need more assistance evacuating the building. Special locking arrangements for areas where patients with dementia or Alzheimer's are living are allowed to prevent them from leaving the facility.

Similar to a hospital, these locations require additional fire protection systems to protect the occupants. Staff should have developed plans for removing the occupants or patients during an emergency to meet fire code requirements and should be confirmed on the annual inspection. Examples of such facilities are Tulare Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and Tulare Silvercrest Residence, which focuses on adults over the age of 62 with housing challenges.

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35 Multifamily Occupancies
Although multifamily housing has fewer fires caused by electrical or heating malfunctions, the risk of cooking fires is twice the rate of other building fires.15 Updated building and fire codes now require these buildings to have a residential fire sprinkler system installed and interconnected smoke alarms in all bedrooms, hallways, and floors. These fire protection systems are designed to provide enough time for the occupants to evacuate the building.

The common areas should receive annual fire and life safety inspections.

Buildings Three or More Stories in Height
Structures that are three or more stories in height typically require an aerial apparatus with an elevated master stream. A ladder truck may be necessary to access these higher buildings' upper floors or roofs since most ground ladders cannot reach these heights. The Insurance Services Office (ISO) reviews the coverage area for a ladder truck for all buildings within 2.5 miles. The next figure provides the locations of buildings within TFD’s response area that are more than three stories in height.

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36 Figure 28: Three-Plus Story Buildings
Large Square Footage Buildings
Although the number of large square footage buildings within TFD’s response area is low, the fire flow may be more significant for smaller buildings because of construction type, distance to exposures, and lack of built-in fire protection systems such as fire sprinklers.

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37 Large buildings, such as warehouses, strip malls, and large "box" stores, need more significant volumes of water for firefighting and require more Firefighters to advance hose lines long distances into the building. An incident at these locations may overwhelm TFD and require outside assistance. The following figure provides the location of buildings greater than 100,000 square feet.

Figure 29: Buildings Greater Than 100,000 Square Feet

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38 Critical Infrastructure
Critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR) explain what is crucial for a community to function in a modern economy. Critical infrastructure is defined as a sector “whose assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof.” There are 16 defined Critical Infrastructure Sectors (CIS):16 • Chemical Sector • Financial Services Sector
• Commercial Facilities Sector • Food & Agriculture Sector • Communications Sector • Government Facilities Sector
• Critical Manufacturing Sector • Information Technology Sector • Dams Sector • Nuclear Reactors, Materials, & Waste Sector • Defense Industrial Base Sector • Transportation Systems Sector • Emergency Services Sector • Water & Wastewater Systems Sector • Energy Sector • Healthcare & Public Health
All these sectors may not be in the TFD service area—each community must determine critical infrastructure locations and develop pre-incident plans for responding personnel.

Other buildings to consider as target hazards could include occupancies with a potential for a significant loss of life, such as places of public assembly, schools and childcare centers, medical and residential care facilities, and multifamily dwellings. Other considerations include buildings with substantial value to the community—economic loss, replacement cost, or historical significance—that, if damaged or destroyed, would have a significant negative impact.

Responses to target hazards may require many TFD resources and automatic aid during an incident.

Hazardous Materials
Events that occur without warning or that are unknown and suddenly appear are considered technological hazards. Examples include industrial accidents or hazardous chemical releases. Each community should create contingency plans for the specific risks in their jurisdiction.

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39 This may include permitting, fire and life safety inspections on a periodic basis, and preincident planning. These activities are designed to reduce risks and provide on-site visits for fire department personnel.

If a building or facility has been identified that stores or produces hazardous materials, it may require special personal protective clothing and equipment to control or mitigate the event. Locations with hazardous materials on-site for any time during the year exceeding the limits established by the Environmental Protection Agency are required to file Tier II reports. These reports are provided to local jurisdictions, local emergency planning committees, and the State’s Emergency Response Commission as required by the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986, also known as SARA Title III. These thresholds require submission:
• 10,000 pounds for hazardous chemicals
• 500 pounds or the threshold planning quantity for extremely hazardous chemicals California requires additional reporting quantities through a five-tier system that authorizes the treatment and storage of hazardous waste.

TFD responds to hazardous materials incidents at an operation or mid-level certification.

Any complex event requiring responders to enter a hazardous area is handled by agencies pre-determined through mutual aid agreements with state response.

Airport
The City of Tulare has a City-owned airfield with an estimated 30,000 annual operations.

There are several commercial operations at the 180-acre Mefford Field Airport facility.

Valley Aircrafts is a fixed-based operator and provides Jet-A and AVGAS self-service fueling operations. The aircraft operating at the airport are private planes and crop dusters that serve the local agricultural community. The airport sees a spike in air traffic in February due to hosting the annual World Ag Expo®. TFD provides fire protection services to the airport.

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40 Highways
An adequate road and street system is necessary for emergency responders to travel to an incident quickly and safely. Controlled-access highways can limit fire response if unable to arrive at the incident. Access to homes and businesses improves when interconnectivity between streets allows more than one approach to the incident location. When an incident occurs on a dead-end street, such as a cul-de-sac, responders may face access issues when vehicles block the road.

TFD has a traffic signal preemption system installed at most intersections in the city, except at some state and federal highways. The current system uses older infrared technology that requires the receiving devices to be facing the direction of the travel path of the responding apparatus. This type of system requires receiving devices installed in each direction. New GPS technology allows the installation of the receiving equipment on the traffic signal control cabinets, unlike the infrared system. When the existing system is replaced, it is recommended that the city implement the new GPS technology.

Rail
Union Pacific Railway's main line has approximately 18 trains a day traveling through Tulare.

All crossings in the city at grade can create a hazard when vehicles attempt to pass through when a train is approaching. According to the Federal Railway Administration’s data, there have been eight fatalities along the main line passing through Tulare, primarily involving pedestrians. The following figure shows the locations of railroad lines throughout the city.

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41 Figure 30: Rail Lines
Energy
The ability to provide energy is a necessary component of a thriving community. The community depends on energy sources: electricity generation and transmission systems, fuel distribution and storage tanks, or natural gas pipelines and regulator stations.

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42 Electricity
Southern California Edison (SCE) provides electrical services. Establishing good working relationships during day-to-day responses such as downed power lines or structure fires is needed for long-term, large-scale planning. These external stakeholders should be involved in response to significant scale responses, tabletop exercises, and overall infostructure continuity of operation planning.

Although not common, SCE may implement Public Safety Power Shutoffs during red flag warnings. These warnings occur when high winds (> 25 mph or gusts above 45 mph), low humidity, or when SCE observes an issue preventing a fire from igniting because of power lines causing a spark, even in locations considered at low risk. These shutoffs usually are temporary SCE alerts customers before shutting off power, but the customer must sign up for text, phone messages, or email notifications.17 The following figure shows the electrical transmission lines in and surrounding Tulare.

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43 Natural Gas
SoCalGas (SCG) provides natural gas in the city through transmission and high-pressure distribution lines that supply service lines for commercial and residential use. Incidents involving natural gas are often caused by contractors who cut or damage lines when excavating during construction. The following figure from SCG shows the natural gas transmission and high-pressure pipeline locations.18
Figure 31: Electrical Transmission Lines

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44 Water
Controlling a fire becomes challenging without an adequate water supply and distribution system consisting of water storage, mains, and a fire hydrant system. A system of welldistributed hydrants and appropriately sized water mains are necessary to provide the required water for fireground use. The City of Tulare maintains its fresh and wastewater system.

Figure 32: Natural Gas Transmission & High-Pressure Lines

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45 Specifically, for its potable water, regular testing and flushing of these systems are vital to ensuring their operations and capabilities. Periodic needed fire flow testing is critical to ensure that the water provider is maintaining or improving the water flow capabilities of the fire department. The potable water system is provided by 23 active wells, a 125,000-gallon water tower, two 2-million-gallon storage tanks, and one 1.5-million-gallon storage tank delivered by over 275 miles of water pipe.

The wastewater system operates from two plants, a domestic and an industrial. The total capacity of both is 18 million gallons per day. On average, the two plants treat just over 11 million gallons daily.

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46 The following figure provides hydrant locations.

Figure 33: Hydrant Locations

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47 Communications
When an incident occurs, essential facilities to receive and transmit alarm information require a communication center to communicate with emergency responders properly.

Other communications are critical to the community, such as cellular phones, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone systems, or transmission lines from the local telephone company. These systems allow the public to notify emergency services of an incident.

Internet services are essential for the public, commercial establishments, and emergency services to conduct daily business. Whether the internet services are through cellular access or an internet service provider, the failure of these systems can directly impact emergency services and the citizens served. The population without internet services is approximately 13%.19
TCCAD serves as consolidated secondary PSAP. A primary PSAP receives 911 calls and transfers them to the secondary PSAP. TCCAD dispatches for seven EMS services across Tulare County and TFD. The dispatch centers utilize emergency fire dispatch and emergency medical dispatch to ensure that adequate units are dispatched to provide the services that align with the department's established protocols. They complete this task using three personnel on each 12-hour shift. This level of dispatching services is considered the current industry standard.

Governmental Facilities
Governmental buildings are typically located close to their customers to manage proper public services. The buildings are considered a part of the critical infrastructure needed to operate services provided by local, state, or Federal government. Without these facilities, governmental services are unable to be provided. These locations may also become a target of an act of terrorism.

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48 Comparison of Fire Risk in Other Communities
Fire Loss
In 2020, fire departments responded to more than 1.4 million incidents in the United States that caused 3,500 civilian fire fatalities and over 15,200 civilian fire injuries. The property damage was estimated at more than $21.9 billion. The NFPA reported that 64% of the fire deaths occurred in one-or two-family dwellings. The report stated that $4.2 billion of property fire losses occurred from wildland-urban interface incidents and $3 billion from a U.S. Navy ship, both of which occurred in California.20 Fire loss rates can fluctuate yearly based on the type of property damaged or destroyed during a year. A significant loss can cause the amount to increase substantially but may drop the following year. Property loss per capita for TFD is lower than the national average, with the highest occurring in 2019. The following figure provides the property loss per capita in the TFD response area for 2018–2020.

Figure 34: Property Loss per Capita (2018–2020)
Year TFD Property Loss
per Capita
U.S. Property Loss
per Capita
2018 $17.72 $78.25
2019 $58.93 $66.52
2020 $8.62 $66.07
The number of fires per 1,000 population in the TFD response area is lower than the national average, as shown in the following figure.

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49 Figure 35: Fire per 1,000 Population
Year TFD Fires per 1,000
Population
U.S. Fires per 1,000
Population
2018 1.3 2.9
2019 1.2 3.0
2020 1.3 2.9
Intentionally Set Fires
Intentionally set fires, or in many cases considered arson, is defined as “any willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, or personal property of another.”21 Figure 36: Intentionally Set Fires
Year Quantity
2018 10
2019 10
2020 6
2021 16
Insurance Services Office
The Insurance Services Office (ISO) is an independent organization that collects and analyzes data from fire departments in communities throughout the United States to determine rates for fire insurance. According to its report, the ISO’s Public Protection Classification program, or PPC, “is a proven and reliable predictor of future fire losses.” Commercial property insurance rates are expected to be lower in areas with lower (better) ISO PPC Class ratings.

The ISO Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) measures four primary elements of a community’s fire protection system: Emergency Communications (max 10 points); Fire Department (max 50 points); Water Supply (max 40 points), and Community Risk Reduction (maximum 5.5 points) for a maximum possible total of 105.5 points. ISO then assigns a grade using a scale of 1 to 10. Class 1 represents the highest degree of fire protection, and Class 10 designates a fire suppression program that does not meet ISO's minimum criteria.

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50 When ISO develops a PPC rating for a community, all community properties receive that classification. However, many communities will receive split classifications to reflect the risk of loss more precisely. The first number in a split classification refers to the classification of properties within 5 road miles of a fire station and within 1,000 feet of a creditable water supply. The second number, with either an X or Y designation, applies to properties within 5 road miles of a fire station but beyond 1,000 feet of a creditable water supply. A Class 10 is assigned to properties beyond 5 road miles.

In early 2022, the TFD received ISO's class 2/2x rating. As noted in the current Public Protection Classification Summary Report, there are several areas for improvement.

Dispatch Circuits only received 2.25 credits out of 3 under Emergency Communications. For the Fire Department, 6.50 for deployment analysis out of 10, company personnel received

8.74 out of 15, and training credit was 7.42 out of 9. Each area should continue to receive attention to increase the credits available to improve the current classification.

The following figure shows the credits earned and available for TFD in the most recent inspection.

Figure 37: ISO Earned & Available Credits
ISO Feature Earned
Credit
Available
Credit
Emergency Communications 8.56 10
Fire Department 38.26 50
Water Supply 33.33 40
Divergence -1.36 0
Community Risk Reduction 4.04 5.5
Totals: 83.83 105.5

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51 The following figure shows all the fire departments in California and the number of ratings for each classification. One hundred sixty-eight departments have a Class 2 rating in the state, including TFD.
44 168
215
170
142
46 10
1 43 29 9
0 50
100
150
200
250
Class 1 Class 2 Class 3 Class 4 Class 5 Class 6 Class 7 Class 8 Class 8B
Class 9 Class
10 Figure 38: California ISO Classifications

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52 Section II:

STANDARDS OF COVER &

DEPLOYMENT ANALYSIS

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53 Overview of the Tulare Fire Department
Situated in the Central San Joaquin Valley along Highway 99, 45 miles south of Fresno and 60 miles north of Bakersfield, the Town of Tulare was founded in 1872 by the Southern Pacific Railroad to serve as its San Joaquin Valley headquarters. The City of Tulare was eventually incorporated in 1888.

The following section describes the various components that comprise the Tulare Fire Department and the various services it provides to the community.

TFD Organizational Structure
Governance & Lines of Authority
The City of Tulare utilizes a Council-Manager form of government and maintains an elected five-member council. The Fire Chief reports directly to the City Manager. The next figure shows the current TFD organizational structure.

As shown in the preceding figure, the Fire Chief oversees three shift Division Chiefs (DC), the Fire Marshal, and a Senior Administrative Assistant. Each shift Deputy Chief manages the operations staff assigned to one of three stations during one of three shifts.

Figure 39: TFD Organization Chart (2022)

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54 Operations personnel are comprised of Captains, Engineers, and Firefighter/Paramedics.

The Fire Marshal manages fire prevention activities and oversees one Fire Inspector and the six individuals comprising the Fire Investigation Team (FIT). FIT members are selected from shift personnel and participate on a rotational basis.

Service Area
The Tulare Fire Department serves an area exceeding 20 square miles with an estimated 2022 population of 69,482 persons.22 The next figure shows the TFD service area.

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55 Figure 40: TFD Service Area

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56 Services Provided by TFD
The Tulare Fire Department is an all-hazards public safety agency providing traditional fire suppression, wildland firefighting, and medical first-response (MFR) at the Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS) levels. Special operations at TFD include confined space rescue, participation in the USAR Rescue Task Force, and First Responder Operations at hazardous materials incidents.

The TFD Fire Marshal conducts fire and life-safety inspections and code enforcement; plan reviews for new commercial, industrial, and multi-occupancy structures. The FIT (comprised of shift personnel) investigates all fires for origin and fire cause. The department provides a variety of public education and prevention activities and risk reduction strategies. In addition, the Tulare Fire Department maintains a weed abatement program.

Emergency Operations
The Tulare Fire Department deploys its personnel and apparatus from three staffed fire stations utilizing four companies. Each fire station houses a three-person engine company equipped to provide advanced life support and staffed with at least one Firefighter/Paramedic. A fourth company cross-staffs a fourth engine and a ladder truck when indicated. Daily emergency operations and shift personnel are supervised by the shift Division Chief.

Other Emergency Resources in Tulare County
Emergency Communications & Dispatch
TFD utilizes the Tulare County Consolidated Ambulance Dispatch (TCCAD) emergency communications. TCCAD provides services to seven EMS agencies and TFD consisting of a population of approximately 473,000 persons. The dispatch center provides medical priority dispatching and pre-arrival instructions to callers.

Emergency Medical Transport
Ground emergency medical transport (GEMT) is provided by several companies in the region. Each provides ALS-level care. These include LifeStar Ambulance in Tulare, American Ambulance in Visalia, Imperial Ambulance in Porterville, and Exeter District Ambulance.

Air Medical Transport
Rotary-wing air medical service is available through Sky Life Air Ambulance with a base in Fresno. Aside from the pilot, the helicopters are staffed with specially trained Flight Nurses and Paramedics capable of employing a number of advanced procedures.

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57 Clinical Facilities
The primary hospitals in Tulare County include Kaweah Health and Tulare Adventist.

Additional facilities are located in Porterville, Fresno, and other regional communities.

Mutual Aid Resources
TFD does not utilize automatic aid. The primary providers of mutual aid to the Tulare Fire Department are the Visalia Fire Department (VFD) and the Tulare County Fire Department (TCFD). The following figure illustrates those stations closest to TFD.

Figure 41: Mutual Aid Fire Stations

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58 Financial Overview
City of Tulare
The City of Tulare utilizes an accounting system typical of most municipal, county, state, and special districts. This system, known as “fund accounting,” allows government agencies to manage their financial transactions according to the type of service being provided or expenditure being made, as well as comply with legal mandates for financial reporting of governmental agencies. It also allows similar services to be combined into one “fund” but accounted for separately through individual departments. An example of this is the City’s “General Fund,” which collects revenues from sources not otherwise designated to a specific program and disburses these funds to departments providing most of the governmental services such as fire, police, human resources, community development, etc. This study will focus on receipts and disbursements from the City of Tulare’s General Fund but will consider the impact of revenues from other funds that are pertinent to fire and EMS services.

The City prepares a one-year operating budget and related other various capital improvement plans based on a July through June fiscal year. Budget preparations for the subsequent year typically begin in January with a review of their current budget objectives and the impact of any modifications in Council priorities. The City Manager reviews budget requests in March and April, with the Finance Department tasked with compiling the requests and financial data into the preliminary presentation document. The City Manager presents the proposed budget to Council in late May. The proposed budget may be modified by Council during their review process or after obtaining public comment. The Council votes to adopt the budget on or before June 30 each year. The adoption of the budget provides the legal authorization for the City departments to expend the revenues received by the City.

Revenues
The City of Tulare General Fund receives revenues from several sources. Sales tax is the most significant single source of revenue for the City’s General Fund and, after falling by

7.75% between FY 2019 and FY 2021, is projected to increase by 13.25% in FY 2022 and another 37% in FY 2023.

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59 The significant increase in FY 2023 was not explained and the projected amount appears to be an anomaly or a one-time increase as the amounts contained in the City’s forecast decrease to an amount that appears to be explained by normal growth expectations applied to the FY 2022 amount. Sales and property taxes are typically in excess of 50% of the General Fund revenues of the City on an annual basis.

Figure 42: City of Tulare Historical General Fund Revenues23 Revenues FY 2019
Actual
FY 2020
Actual
FY 2021
Actual
FY 2022
Projected
FY 2023
Budget
Taxes 37,474,620 37,575,896 42,687,360 41,213,874 47,892,600 Intergovernmental 1,421 99,320 46 — —
Licenses & permits 124,917 11,710 106,918 92,367 120,000 Fines & Forfeitures 13,162 7,638,170 8,884 11,014 10,000 Charges for services 7,720,201 1,118,413 4,163,517 4,616,674 4,468,980 Interest & rentals 2,068,664 997,001 — 262,225 330,000
Grants 461,829 91,190 773,214 438,626 456,500
Assessments 81,979 — 84,729 — —
Other 5,162,287 4,198,760 8,215,911 1,280,042 496,000
Total Recurring Revenues: 53,109,080 51,730,460 56,040,579 47,914,822 53,774,080 Transfers in 4,954,665 10,278,177 8,297,470 617,641 250,850 Non-Recurring Receipts: 4,954,665 10,278,177 8,297,470 617,641 250,850 Total receipts 58,063,745 62,008,637 64,338,049 48,532,463 54,024,930 Tax revenues provide the most significant contribution to the City’s revenues. The following figure identifies the amounts received by major tax category.

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60 Figure 43: City of Tulare Historical Tax Revenues by Major Category Expenses
The General Fund and Measure I of the City provide the financial resources for the general operation of government services. Major departments funded through the General Fund include General Government (including City Council and City Manager), Finance, Human Resources, Technology, Public Safety (including Police and Fire), Community Development, and Community Services (including Parks and Library Services). Historical expenditures had shown steady growth until the pandemic, during which expenditures were reduced to compensate for a reduction in revenues. Annual growth in expenditures was approximately 3% between FY 2018 and budgeted FY 2023.

The General Fund also provides resources for Capital Outlay, Debt Service, and Transfers to other funds.

Maintaining a reasonable amount in a fund balance or reserve allows for a city or agency to be prepared for unforeseen situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic or an economic downturn created by international events. During an unexpected occurrence, a fund or reserve balance allows for a city to continue to provide sustained levels of service to its community without financial hardship. The definition of a reasonable amount is left to the city or agency based on the comfort level of their respective revenue streams. $37,474,630 $37,575,910 $37,411,240
$41,213,874
$47,892,600
-
10,000,000
20,000,000
30,000,000
40,000,000
50,000,000
60,000,000
FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 FY 2023
Property tax revenues Sales Tax & Measure I Utility Uses tax Motor/vehicle Other taxes Total taxes

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61 Figure 44: City of Tulare General Fund Expenditures & Fund Balances24 Expenditures FY 2019
Actual
FY 2020
Actual
FY 2021
Actual
FY 2022
Projected
FY 2023
Budget
General Government 6,284,959 8,017,709 7,221,201 9,538,338 11,122,400 Public Safety 24,680,063 26,711,463 27,856,732 29,218,670 31,442,140 Public Works 2,237,096 2,468,579 2,475,967 8,078,264 6,633,330 Community Develop. 104,530 94,868 98,805 — —
Community Services 5,398,733 5,565,656 5,365,789 1,218,689 1,411,980 Library & Culture 1,383,045 1,455,153 1,510,084 1,602,598 1,670,000 Recurring Expenses: 40,088,426 44,313,428 44,528,578 49,656,559 52,279,850 Capital Outlay 11,856,512 12,777,433 9,029,109 — —
Principal on Debt Service 99,214 384,675 — 103,498 56,490 Interest & Fiscal Charges 29,123 18,111 718 152 —
Other Loss 513,556 — 138,047 83,458 —
Transfers Out 7,930,827 20,881,546 5,142,240 472,000 472,000 Non-Recurring Expenses: 20,429,232 34,061,765 14,310,114 659,108 528,490 Total Expenditures 60,517,658 78,375,193 58,838,692 50,315,667 52,808,340 Surplus (Deficit) (2,453,913) (16,366,556) 5,499,357 (1,783,204) 1,216,590 Beginning Fund Balance 55,814,209 53,360,296 36,993,740 42,493,097 40,709,893 Ending Fund Balance: 53,360,296 36,993,740 42,493,097 40,709,893 41,926,483 Tulare Fire Department
The Tulare City Fire Department (TFD) is an all-hazard and all-risk fire and emergency services provider.25 The department operates from three stations, each with at least one engine staffed with three personnel each on a 24 hours per day, seven days per week basis. TFD also operates a ladder company staffed with two personnel. TFD operates through Fire Administration, Fire Suppression, and Fire Training Divisions. A Fire Prevention Bureau works within the Fire Administration Division. The department is currently authorized at 42 uniformed personnel and one Senior Administrative Assistant. Each of the three shifts is managed by a Division Chief. Response personnel includes 12 Captains, 12 Engineers, and 12 Firefighter/Paramedics. The department is authorized at 42 personnel, including the Fire Chief, Fire Marshal, Fire Inspector, and Administrative Assistant.

Funding for TFD is provided from the General Fund Revenues and the Measure I sales/use tax initiative that was adopted in 2005. Included in the General Fund revenues are various fees for services provided by the fire department, fire permit fees, and other inspection services.

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62 Salaries and benefits are approximately 82% of the annual expenditures of TFD. TFD’s portion of the annual amortization of the CalPERS Unfunded Accrued Liability (UAL) has increased from $400,000 in FY 2019 to a budgeted amount of $812,000 in FY 2023. In reviewing the historical information provided by the City’s staff, it was noted that overtime costs compared to regular salaries were 30% or above in three of the five years.

Approximately one-third of these overtime hours are a result of strike team deployments, with the remaining hours to be required of the current staff. There is currently one unfilled Firefighter/Paramedic position authorized for each shift that is available to provide for fill-in for employees off work for vacation, sick, training, or other paid time off.

Maintenance and Operations costs have increased from $1,320,000 in FY 2019 to $1,840,000 in FY 2023, a 40% increase or an average of 10% annually. These costs increased approximately 13% between FY 2022 and FY 2023 as the budget anticipated the significant increase in costs resulting from the economic conditions affecting the price of commodities such as fuel. The internal administrative fees have grown from $304,000 in FY 2019 to $477,000 in FY 2023, a 56% increase during the period.

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63 The following figure shows the historical operating costs of the TFD and the sources of funding required to meet those costs.

Figure 45: TFD Historical Expenditures & Sources of Funding Expenditures FY 2019
Actual
FY 2020
Actual
FY 2021
Actual
FY 2022
Projected
FY 2023
Budget
Regular Salaries 2,902,036 3,079,574 3,023,196 2,971,003 3,908,970 Seasonal Wages 3,957 15,034 — 67,771 —
Acting Pay 17,537 3,362 3,576 4,403 —
Overtime Pay 1,089,247 679,798 846,077 1,019,495 880,000 Workers’ Compensation 37,257 18,686 100,088 81,733 —
Vacation & Holiday Pay 283,120 253,058 338,093 367,814 — Vacation/Sick Buyback 1,759 10,308 2,118 105,710 10,230 Holiday Pay–Police & Fire 87,401 91,593 95,191 95,993 96,840 Sick Pay 86,711 115,070 144,965 154,625 —
SDI Pay 1,180 37,387 — — —
Strike Team Overtime — 79,524 396,397 240,213 325,000
Outside Labor — 15,609 4,610 12,406 —
Retirement 522,423 577,886 639,298 612,353 633,780
Survivors Benefit 969 993 983 955 1,040
F.I.C.A/Medicare 62,466 60,233 67,778 68,890 73,370
Health Insurance 495,741 578,916 536,499 452,548 515,110 Workers’ Comp Insurance 503,855 532,606 669,358 671,713 707,430 Employee Assistance 2,116 2,171 2,145 2,085 2,280
PARS — 2,264 2,544 2,763 3,430
PERS FLAT 540,250 685,535 789,152 932,716 1,067,420
Total Salaries & Benefits: 6,638,026 6,839,607 7,662,066 7,865,191 8,224,900 Maintenance & Ops 1,317,433 1,503,125 1,440,019 1,619,169 1,836,390 Special Projects — — 33,671 — —
Capital Outlay 32,976 — — 34,258 —
Total Expenditures: 7,988,435 8,342,731 9,135,756 9,518,617 10,061,290 Measure I 1,709,896 1,720,829 1,880,175 1,859,428 2,160,810 General Fund 6,278,539 6,621,902 7,255,580 7,659,189 7,900,480 Total Funding Sources: 7,988,435 8,342,731 9,135,756 9,518,617 10,061,290

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64 Financial Projections
City of Tulare
City staff prepared revenue and expense projections through FY 2026, and these amounts have been extended through FY 2028 using the same growth rates.26 Not unlike other cities and special districts that participate in the CalPERS pension system, the City has accumulated a significant unfunded actuarial liability for pensions for the City’s employees. The payment of this liability will continue to have a significant, but declining, impact on the City’s finances until the liability is extinguished.

Revenues
Property tax revenue is projected to increase 5% annually with the 2% increase allowed by Proposition 13 and a 3% growth factor from new residential construction. Sales and use tax revenue, including Measure I is anticipated to increase at an annual 3.25% rate. Other revenues from Transient Occupancy, Franchise Fees, Motor Vehicle and Other are expected to grow at an annual 3% rate.

Expenses
Salaries and benefit costs are forecast to grow at 3% annually. As previously noted, the Cal PERS pension costs for the unfunded actuarial liability will continue to add pressure to the City’s budget process but the City has implemented a reserve fund to defray the future cost increases. Maintenance and Operations costs are forecast to increase 2% annually.

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65 The following figure is a forecast of the revenues and expenditures of the City’s General Fund through FY 2028.

Figure 46: City of Tulare General Fund Financial Forecast Expenditures FY 2024 FY 2025 FY 2026 FY 2027 FY 2028
Property Tax Revenues 7,662,730 8,045,870 8,448,160 8,870,568 9,314,096 Sales Tax & Measure I 19,314,800 19,997,200 20,647,600 21,318,647 22,011,503 Utility Uses Tax 6,120,600 6,181,800 6,243,600 6,306,036 6,369,096 Hotel/Motel Tax 1,697,400 1,748,300 1,800,700 1,854,721 1,910,363 Franchise Fees 1,273,100 1,311,300 1,350,600 1,391,118 1,432,852 Motor/Vehicle 6,945,700 7,154,100 7,368,700 7,589,761 7,817,454 Total Taxes 43,014,330 44,438,570 45,859,360 47,330,851 48,855,364 Service Charges & Other 7,565,700 7,792,700 8,026,500 8,267,295 8,515,314 Total Revenues: 50,580,030 52,231,270 53,885,860 55,598,146 57,370,678 Salaries & Benefits 33,169,870 34,178,300 35,078,680 36,043,344 37,034,536 Maintenance & Ops 11,289,020 11,522,500 11,761,080 11,996,302 12,236,228 Capital 550,000 550,000 550,000 550,000 550,000
Debt Service 2,200,000 2,200,000 2,200,000 2,200,000 2,200,000 Transfers Out 250,000 250,000 250,000 250,000 250,000
Other 2,656,680 2,677,560 2,699,490 2,724,490 2,749,490 Total Expenditures: 50,115,570 51,378,360 52,539,250 53,764,135 55,020,253 Surplus (Deficit): 464,460 852,910 1,346,610 1,834,011 2,350,424 Tulare Fire Department
As previously identified, approximately 83% of the TFD’s annual expenditures are related to employee compensation and benefits. The most recent Memorandum of Understanding between the City and the Tulare City Professional Firefighters Association expires June 30, 2023. Under this agreement, wage increases were set at 2% annually. The amortization of the CalPERS unfunded Actuarial Liability is forecast at approximately $950,000 annually, representing 13% of the salary and benefits on an annual basis.27

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66 This forecast will utilize the same growth factors identified in the City's revenue and expenditure forecasts. Salary and benefits are forecast to increase by 3% annually, and other operating costs are forecast to increase by 2% annually.

The following figure is a forecast of Tulare Fire Department’s operating costs.

Figure 47: TFD Forecast Expenditures
Expenditures FY 2024 FY 2025 FY 2026 FY 2027 FY 2028
Personnel Services 8,471,647 8,725,796 8,987,570 9,257,197 9,534,913 Maintenance & Operations 1,873,118 1,910,580 1,948,792 1,987,768 2,027,523 Total Expenditures: 10,344,765 10,636,376 10,936,362 11,244,965 11,562,436

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67 Staffing & Personnel
In today’s fire service, departments must consider their employees as their most valuable asset. Managing personnel to achieve maximum efficiency, professionalism, and personal satisfaction is an art as much as a science. Consistency, fairness, safety, and personal and professional growth opportunities are critical values for a healthy management culture. This is especially the case in departments evolving and progressing to meet today’s emergency response challenges.

The size and structure of a fire department’s staffing depend on the department’s specific needs. These needs must directly correlate to the needs and funding capacity of the community, and a structure that works for one department may not necessarily work for another. This section provides an overview of the TFD staffing configuration and management practices.

Fire department staffing is typically divided into two distinct groups: 1) Administration and Support; and 2) Operations. The Administration and Support Group usually provides oversight and support to the operations group. This support provides emergency response personnel with the tools needed to deliver effective services to the community it serves.

The second group, Operations, provides the necessary resources to perform emergency and non-emergency services to the community.

Administrative & Support Staffing
As with every other division within a fire department, administration and support must have the appropriate number of resources to function adequately. Compared to operational personnel, a balance of administration and support personnel is critical to the organization’s success in accomplishing its mission.

Planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and evaluating each of the various programs within a fire department are typical responsibilities of the administration and support personnel. This list is not exhaustive and may include other elements as needed. However, understanding that tasks associated with each of these functions often occur simultaneously is essential. This requires the Fire Chief and administrative support staff to focus on many different areas concurrently.

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68 TFD operates with civilian administrative support staff, responsible for the following critical tasks, including, but not limited to, providing clerical, financial, records management, budgetary, internal payroll (in conjunction with the City’s HR Department), and customer service support. The Senior Administrative Assistant oversees the administrative division and is an analyst for the department as needed. In addition to the tasks above, the Senior Administrative Assistant manages the department’s social media platforms.

The following figure lists the administrative and support staffing for the TFD.

Figure 48: TFD Administrative & Support Staffing
Position Number
Fire Chief 1
Senior Administrative Assistant 1
Fire Marshal 1
Fire Inspector 1
Emergency Management
The Fire Chief serves as the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Director and Emergency Manager for the City of Tulare. The TFD Division Chiefs (3) serve as Section Chiefs in the Operations and Planning sections within the EOC. These respective Section Chief positions can be staffed with different personnel based on the type of incident or event. The City of Tulare’s primary EOC is located within City Hall. The EOC is considered a “warm” EOC, storing needed equipment, including computers, phones, and other electronic devices.

However, the EOC is not staffed 24 hours per day. If activation is required, fire department staff can initiate the center along with specific City staff. The City’s IT department takes subordinate roles in keeping the center operating.

The City of Tulare’s alternate EOC is at TFD Station 61 in the training room. The alternate EOC is considered a “cold” facility (much of the critical equipment would need to be brought into the training center during an activation).

Should an event become more significant or need additional support, Tulare County’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) can provide multi-jurisdictional and interagency coordination to the City of Tulare.

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69 Operations Staffing
TFD’s emergency response staffing level is based on risks associated with the community, the financial ability of the City to fund the department, and the expectations of those residing within the jurisdiction.

TFD uses a three-platoon system (A, B, and C shifts), with each platoon scheduled for 48 hours per shift, achieving a minimum staffing level of 12 personnel. The following figure lists TFD’s emergency response staffing.

Figure 49: TFD Emergency Response Staffing
Position Filled Allocated
Division Chief 3 3
Captain 11 12
Engineer 12 12
Firefighter/Paramedic 8 12
While TFD is authorized to employ 39 emergency personnel to provide fire suppression, rescue, and EMS, they currently employ 34 operations staff.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1710: Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments is frequently cited as an authoritative document addressing fire department staffing. In addition, the Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE) publishes benchmarks for the number of personnel recommended on the emergency scene for various levels of risk.

In comparing the number of firefighters on staff per 1,000 population of the service area, the following figure illustrates the current comparison of the TFD’s staffing compared to the median reflected within the 2020 United States Fire Department Profile published by NFPA.

The current career staffing level for TFD is approximately 0.509 per 1,000 population, which falls below the median of 1.29 per 1,000 population protected.

This rate is based on data reported to the NFPA and does not reflect recommended rates or a defined fire protection standard (NFPA).

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70 At the time of this report, TFD applied for a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant to provide for an additional 12 firefighters to be added to the department. This grant process allows fire departments to apply for funds through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The goal of the SAFER Grant is to enhance the local fire department’s abilities to comply with staffing, response, and operational standards established by NFPA 1710.

TFD also can request mutual-aid resources from neighboring departments to assist during significant incidents. The following figure lists mutual-aid resources available to TFD.

Figure 51: Mutual Aid Resources
Department Engines Ladder
Trucks Other Total Staffing
Visalia Fire Department 1 1 1-Haz-Mat 6
Tulare County FD 2 1 1-WT, 1-Type VI 5

1.29 0.509
0 0.2

0.4 0.6

0.8 1

1.2 1.4

MEDIAN TFD
Figure 50: Firefighters per 1,000 Population (NFPA 2020)

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71 Personnel Management
Effective and efficient management of an organization is crucial for the department’s success. An essential function of the department’s success is managing human resources— providing for its greatest assets. Personnel that deliver emergency services to the residents, businesses, and visitors of a community are a critical component of any fire department.

The department’s mission may be compromised without adequate administrative and support personnel.

Policies, Rules & Regulations, & Guidelines
Department policies and procedures are maintained using Lexipol®, a third-party, statespecific policy developer. TFD conducts policy reviews as needed, with the last review completed in 2022. The policies developed between the department and Lexipol® are geared toward sworn safety department personnel. Non-safety department personnel adhere to policies designed by the City of Tulare’s Human Resources Department.

TFD uses various standard operating guidelines (SOG). Formal guidelines include fireground and engine company operations derived from outside sources. In addition, technical rescue standards are contained within the department’s policies and procedures created by contributing allied agencies for team deployments.

Job Descriptions
The City of Tulare’s Human Resources Department maintains job descriptions for each position. Job descriptions for the TFD are comparable with those found in fire departments of similar size and organization.

Compensation
An Annual Salary Schedule listing full-time employee salary steps for all City of Tulare employees is available electronically on the City of Tulare website, listed under the Human Resources tab.4 The schedule contains the salary range and position steps. Each class within the TFD has five steps available for placement. The schedule was last updated in January 2023. In addition, Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) and employee benefit summaries are listed on the City’s website.

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72 Disciplinary Process
Personnel-related decisions can be made at various department levels, with the Fire Chief being authorized to hire, discharge, and promote. Levels of discipline and associated procedures are listed within the department’s four Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Tulare and Tulare Professional Firefighters Association (Division Chief Officers Group [July 1, 2019–June 30, 2022]); The Tulare City Professional Firefighters Association Management Group (Fire Captains [July 1, 2019–June 30, 2023]); and the Tulare City Professional Firefighters Association Non-Management Group (July 1, 2019–June 30, 2022) CLOCEA. In addition, the City of Tulare Rules and Regulations provides all personnel with an appeal process through the established grievance procedure (Chapter 10, Section 1007).

Personnel-related decisions can, and often do, subject an organization to potentially expensive liability exposure. Risk is presented that can result from a hiring mistake, improperly processed disciplinary process, wrongful termination claims, and more. Access to legal counsel can reduce this liability. The TFD consults with the City’s HR department on personnel-related matters and with the City Attorney as necessary.

Counseling Services
Peer Support Team
Changing the fire service culture is a tremendous task, especially regarding the mental health of our first responders. “Toughing it out” should no longer be considered the usual way to conduct business. Believing you are not at risk for mental health issues or admitting you may have a problem is a sign of weakness that must be addressed at all department levels.

In recognizing the stressors associated with physical, emotional, and mental health concerns, both on and off duty, the TFD developed an internal program in 2020 to assist members experiencing post-traumatic stress injuries/illness. Developing a Peer Support Program requires a comprehensive and organized approach to reducing and controlling stress.

The TFD Peer Support program is based on recommendations set forth within NFPA 1500:

Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program (Chapter 12, Behavioral Health and Wellness Programs).

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73 The TFD Peer Support Team comprises personnel within the department, a licensed clinical social worker, and a local Chaplain. The underlying goals of the program are to reduce the impacts of a traumatic event, accelerate the normal recovery process from traumatic events, normalize the stress response for emergency workers in traumatic events, and provide education in stress management and coping techniques.

The City of Tulare also provides an employee assistance program (EAP) at no cost to the employee experiencing emotional, family, financial, substance abuse, or related problems.

Application, Recruitment, & Retention Process
The TFD has a Questions/Answers tab on the department’s website regarding becoming a Firefighter for the TFD. This tab directs interested persons seeking employment to the City of Tulare’s website for current openings, salary, and benefits information. The hiring process for TFD includes a background check, reference check, and qualifications check, passing a physical abilities test, a knowledge-based written examination, and a structured interview.

A comprehensive medical review is required following a conditional offer to hire.

Performance Reviews, Testing, Measurement, & Promotion Process TFD provides annual performance evaluations for all personnel. However, fitness evaluations are not currently being conducted for sworn personnel on an annual basis.

To ensure job satisfaction requirements have been met, probationary firefighters receive a probation review at the end of 12 months, per the TFD Policy Manual (Chapter 10, Section 1001.4 [2022]).

As per the TFD, promotional assessments are conducted as needed to fill open positions; however, there is no formal language contained within the three Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) between the City of Tulare and Tulare Professional Firefighters Association (Division Chief Officers Group); The Tulare City Professional Firefighters Association Management Group (Fire Captains); and the Tulare City Professional Firefighters Association Non-Management Group. However, the TFD Policy Manual, Chapter 10, Policy 1002 (2022) does mirror similar language as stated within the City of Tulare’s Rules and Regulations (2008).

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74 Health & Safety
At the time of this report, TFD did not have an internal department safety committee.

Establishing a committee utilizing NFPA 1500, Chapter 4 (Section 4.5), is the industry standard for developing and administering a fire department safety program. Establishing a safety committee can significantly increase the safety of Firefighters. Safety committees should be diverse in their representation from across the department to be effective.

Uniformed, non-uniformed, and staff members should make up the committee.

The primary focus of the safety committee should be to 1) help create a safe working environment for all employees, 2) identify safety concerns and considerations for improvement, 3) work collectively to establish safety education programs, and 4) bring labor and management together in a cooperative way to solve problems. Another task within the committee should be to review accidents, injuries, near-miss incidents, and workplace safety suggestions. Finally, the committee should analyze the information presented and report their findings to the Fire Chief.

Members of TFD, including a Division Chief, Fire Marshal, and Fire Captain (DICO), do, however, attend the City of Tulare’s regularly scheduled city-wide safety committee meeting, made up of representatives from each department to discuss accidents, incidents, injuries, and trends affecting City employees.

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75 Capital Facilities & Equipment
Apparatus and other vehicles, trained personnel, firefighting and emergency medical equipment, and fire stations are the essential capital resources necessary for a fire department to carry out its mission. No matter how competent or numerous the firefighters, if appropriate capital equipment is not available for operations personnel, it would be impossible for the Tulare Fire Department to perform its responsibilities effectively. The essential capital assets for emergency operations are facilities, apparatus, and other emergency response vehicles. This section of the report assesses TFD’s fire stations, and frontline apparatus and ambulances.

Fire Station Features
Fire stations play an integral role in the delivery of emergency services for several reasons.

To a large degree, a station’s location will dictate response times to emergencies. A poorly located station can mean the difference between confining a fire to a single room and losing the structure, or survival from sudden cardiac arrest. Fire stations also need to be designed to adequately house equipment and apparatus and meet the needs of the organization and its personnel.

Fire station activities should be closely examined to ensure the structure is adequate in both size and function. Examples of these functions can include the following:
• Kitchen facilities, appliances, and storage
• Residential living space and sleeping quarters for on-duty personnel (all genders) • Bathrooms and showers (all genders)
• Training, classroom, and library areas
• Firefighter fitness area
• The housing and cleaning of apparatus and equipment, including decontamination and disposal of biohazards
• Administrative and management offices, computer stations, and office facilities • Public meeting space
In gathering information from TFD, Triton asked the department to rate the condition of its fire stations using the criteria from the next figure. The results will be seen in the following figures.

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76 Figure 52: Criteria Utilized to Determine Fire Station Condition Excellent
Like new condition. No visible structural defects. The facility is clean and well maintained. Interior layout is conducive to function with no unnecessary impediments to the apparatus bays or offices. No significant defect history. Building design and construction match the building’s purposes. Age is typically less than ten years.

Good
The exterior has a good appearance with minor or no defects. Clean lines, good workflow design, and only minor wear of the building interior.

Roof and apparatus apron are in good working order, absent any significant full-thickness cracks or crumbling of apron surface or visible roof patches or leaks. Building design and construction match the building’s purposes. Age is typically less than 20 years.

Fair
The building appears to be structurally sound with a weathered appearance and minor to moderate non-structural defects. The interior condition shows normal wear and tear but flows effectively to the apparatus bay or offices. Mechanical systems are in working order.

Building design and construction may not match the building’s purposes well. Showing increasing age-related maintenance, but with no critical defects. Age is typically 30 years or more.

Poor
The building appears to be cosmetically weathered and worn with potentially structural defects, although not imminently dangerous or unsafe. Large, multiple full-thickness cracks and crumbling of concrete on the apron may exist. The roof has evidence of leaking and multiple repairs. The interior is poorly maintained or showing signs of advanced deterioration with moderate to significant non-structural defects.

Problematic age-related maintenance and major defects are evident. It may not be well-suited to its intended purpose. Age is typically greater than 40 years.

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77 Tulare Fire Stations Inventory
The following figures list the details of each of TFD’s current fire stations.

Figure 53: TFD Station 61 (Headquarters)
Address/Physical Location: 800 S. Blackstone, Tulare, CA 93274 General Description:

Although well-maintained and remodeled, this 50-
year-old station does not meet the needs of a
modern fire station.

Structure
Date of Original Construction 1972 (remodel 2013)
Seismic Protection Category D
Auxiliary Power Cummins Generator
General Condition Fair
Number of Apparatus Bays Drive-through Bays 3 Back-in Bays 0 ADA Compliant Yes
Total Square Footage 9,260
Facilities Available
Sleeping Quarters 8 Bedrooms 8 Beds 0 Dorm Beds
Maximum Staffing Capability 8
Exercise/Workout Facilities None
Kitchen Facilities Good
Individual Lockers Assigned Fair
Bathroom/Shower Facilities Good
Training/Meeting Rooms Good
Washer/Dryer/Extractor Fair
Safety & Security
Station Sprinklered No
Smoke Detection Yes
Decon & Biological Disposal No
Security System No
Apparatus Exhaust System Fair

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78 Figure 54: TFD Station 62
Address/Physical Location: 138 N. E Street, Tulare, CA 93274 General Description:

This 61-year-old station is not large enough to meet
the needs of a modern fire station. It has been well
maintained and renovated but it is past its useful
life expectancy.

Structure
Date of Original Construction 1961/Remodel 2013
Seismic Protection Category D
Auxiliary Power Cummins Generator
General Condition Fair
Number of Apparatus Bays Drive-through Bays 0 Back-in Bays 2 ADA Compliant Yes
Total Square Footage 3,751
Facilities Available
Sleeping Quarters 4 Bedrooms 4 Beds 0 Dorm Beds
Maximum Staffing Capability 4
Exercise/Workout Facilities No
Kitchen Facilities Good
Individual Lockers Assigned Yes
Bathroom/Shower Facilities Good
Training/Meeting Rooms No
Washer/Dryer/Extractor Fair/No extractor
Safety & Security
Station Sprinklered No
Smoke Detection Yes
Decon & Biological Disposal No
Security System No
Apparatus Exhaust System Fair

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79 Figure 55: TFD Station 63
Address/Physical Location: 2900 N. M Street, Tulare, CA 93274 General Description:

This 19-year-old station has limited space and does
not meet all the needs of a modern fire station. The
station does appear to be well maintained.

Structure
Date of Original Construction October 2003
Seismic Protection No
Auxiliary Power Yes
General Condition Fair
Number of Apparatus Bays Drive-through Bays 2 Back-in Bays 0 ADA Compliant Yes
Total Square Footage 4,287
Facilities Available
Sleeping Quarters 3 Bedrooms 5 Beds 0 Dorm Beds
Maximum Staffing Capability 3
Exercise/Workout Facilities No
Kitchen Facilities Fair
Individual Lockers Assigned Yes
Bathroom/Shower Facilities Fair
Training/Meeting Rooms Fair
Washer/Dryer/Extractor Fair/No extractor
Safety & Security
Station Sprinklered No
Smoke Detection Yes
Decon & Biological Disposal No
Security System No
Apparatus Exhaust System Yes

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80 Summary of the TFD Fire Stations
The following figure is a summary list of some of the primary features of the three Tulare Fire Department fire stations.

Figure 56: Summary of the NVFD Fire Station Features (2022) Station Square
Footage
Apparatus
Bays
Maximum
Staffing
General
Condition
Station
Age
Station 61 9,260 3 8 Fair 50 yearsA
Station 62 3,751 2 4 Fair 61 yearsA
Station 63 4,287 2 3 Fair 19 years
Totals: 17,298 7 15
ARemodeled in 2013.

As shown in the preceding figure, all three of TFD’s fire stations were rated to be in “Fair” conditions. Although Station 61 and Station 62 were remodeled in 2013, the combined average age of the three fire stations using the date of their original construction is just over 43 years.

Overview of the Fire Stations
The fire stations were also evaluated utilizing a checklist based on the National Fire Protection Association's Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety, Health, and Wellness Program. A walkthrough inspection of each facility was completed on December 13, 2022.

Generally, older fire stations do not meet the requirements of modern firefighting. As the firefighting environment has changed, the technology, equipment, and safety systems have changed to meet new demands. Older buildings do not typically have the space or engineering systems to meet that new environment. Modern living also requires much more access to electrical outlets than was expected in older buildings. Fire Stations 61 and 62 are no exception.

For example, older buildings do not meet the requirements due to the need to decontaminate personnel and equipment after many of the responses in the current firefighting context. Every crew member should have access to facilities to decontaminate immediately after a fire event, and showers should allow for gender separation.

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81 In addition, there needs to be enough partitioned space to allow for gear and equipment to be thoroughly washed and designed to control contamination in the living and working space of the station. All the fire department facilities in the city fall behind in this need.

While all structures require routine maintenance, fire stations require even more maintenance due to the continuous occupancy by many adults. Multiple departures and returns of heavy apparatus also affect these structures. All three Tulare stations appeared to have an active maintenance program in place.

The stations were generally clean and uncluttered. The crews AP Triton encountered during the station tours demonstrated ownership of their facilities. Each station was provided with auxiliary power that was reported to be periodically inspected. In addition, all stations were supplied with an exhaust removal system that appeared to be in use and operable.

Fire Station 61
Station 61 was built in 1972 and remodeled in 2013, with administration on one side of the apparatus bays and the quarters on the other side. The exterior was well cared for but there was no emergency phone or instructions if crews were out of quarters in an emergency. This station does have a residential washer and dryer and extractor washer but lacks a decontamination area. There was a SCBA compressor and fill station but no logbook was present.

The tool and working area was clean with no safety issues noted. The station is not sprinklered and has no central alarm, but there were regular smoke and carbon monoxide detectors present. Some excess use of extension cords was noted. The station has separate bedrooms and bathroom shower rooms to support all gender employees. There is no firefighter fitness area. General maintenance and cleanliness were very good, and no other significant issues were identified.

Administration
The administration side of the building appeared to have sufficient space to meet the needs of the department and was well laid out. No issues were identified in the space.

Fire Station 62
Station 62 was built in 1961 and remodeled in 2013. The station is small and does not support the needs of a modern fire station. The exterior was well cared for but there was no emergency phone or instructions if crews were out of quarters in an emergency. The station had a residential washer and dryer but no extractor or decontamination area.

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82 There was no SCBA compressor or filling station present. The work and storage areas were clean and orderly. The station lacks a training class area, fitness area, or public meeting space. The station does have separate bedrooms and bathroom shower rooms to support all gender employees. The station is not sprinklered and has no central alarm, but there were regular smoke and carbon monoxide detectors present. General maintenance and cleanliness were good, and no other significant issues were identified.

Fire Station 63
Station 63 is the newest being built in 2003 but it does not meet many needs of a modern fire station. The exterior was well cared for and there was an emergency phone by the public entrance. The station had a residential washer and dryer but no extractor or decontamination area or room. There was no SCBA compressor or filling station present.

The work and storage areas were clean and orderly. The station lacks a fitness space. The station has separate bedrooms and bathroom shower rooms to support all gender employees. The station is not sprinklered and has no central alarm, but there were regular smoke and carbon monoxide detectors present. General maintenance and cleanliness were good, and no other significant issues were identified.

Tulare Apparatus & Medical Equipment Inventory
Fire apparatus, ambulances, and other emergency response vehicles must be sufficiently reliable to transport firefighters and equipment rapidly and safely to an incident scene. In addition, such vehicles must be properly equipped and function appropriately to ensure that the delivery of emergency services is not compromised.

As a part of this study, Triton requested that the Tulare Fire Department provide a complete inventory of its fleet (suppression apparatus, command and support vehicles, specialty units, etc.). For each vehicle listed, TFD was asked to rate its condition utilizing criteria described in the next figure—the results of which will be shown in the subsequent apparatus inventory figures.

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83 Figure 57: Criteria Used to Determine Apparatus & Vehicle Condition Components Points Assignment Criteria
Age: One point for every year of chronological age, based on the date the unit was originally placed into service.

Miles/Hours: One point for every 10,000 miles or 1,000 hours Service:
1, 3, or 5 points are assigned based on service type
received (e.g., a pumper would be given a 5 since it is classified as severe duty).

Condition:

This category considers body condition, rust, interior
condition, accident history, anticipated repairs, etc. The better the condition, the lower the assignment of points.

Reliability:

Points are assigned as 1, 3, or 5, depending on the
frequency a vehicle is in for repair (e.g., a 5 would be assigned to a vehicle in the shop 2 or more times per
month on average; while a 1 would be assigned if in the shop on average once every 3 months or less.

Point Ranges Condition Rating Condition Description
Under 18 points Condition I Excellent
18–22 points Condition II Good
23–27 points Condition III Fair (consider replacement)
28 points or higher Condition IV Poor (immediate replacement) The next figure lists the inventory of the Tulare Fire Department’s current frontline apparatus and command and staff vehicles.

Figure 58: TFD Frontline Apparatus Inventory (2022)
Unit Type Manufacturer Year Condition Features
Engine 61 Type 1 Pierce 2016 Excellent Pump/Tank
Engine 62 Type 1 Pierce 2018 Excellent Pump/Tank
Engine 63 Type 1 Pierce 2019 Excellent Pump/Tank
Truck 65 Quint E-One 2000 Fair Pump/Tank/Ladder
Partol-61 Type 6 Ford 2003 Fair Pump/Tank
In addition to the inventory listed in the preceding figure, TFD maintains three Type 1 engines in reserve status.

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84 The next figure lists the inventory of command and staff vehicles assigned to Tulare Fire Department personnel.

Figure 59: TFD Frontline Command & Staff Vehicles (2022) Unit Type Manufacturer Year Condition Assigned To
C-60 Command Chevrolet 2017 Good Fire Chief
Div-66 Command Ford 2018 Excellent Division Chief (A shift) Div-67 Command Ford 2022 Excellent Division Chief (B shift) Div-68 Command Ford 2018 Excellent Division Chief (C shift) Prevention 61 Staff Car Chevrolet 2017 Good Fire Marshal Prevention 62 Staff Car Chevrolet 2008 Fair Fire Inspector In addition to the inventory listed in the preceding figures, the Tulare Fire Department maintains a 2004 utility truck and three “pool cars” that included a 2000 Ford Crown Victoria, a 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe, and a 2007 Ford Expedition.

Apparatus Maintenance & Replacement Planning
No piece of mechanical equipment or vehicle can be expected to last indefinitely. As apparatus and vehicles age, repairs tend to become more frequent and more complex.

Parts may become more difficult to obtain and downtime for repair and maintenance increases. Given that fire protection, EMS, and other emergencies prove critical to a community, downtime is one of the most frequently identified reasons for apparatus replacement.

Because of the expense of fire apparatus, most communities develop replacement plans.

To enable such planning, fire departments often turn to the accepted practice of establishing a life-cycle for apparatus that results in an anticipated replacement date for each vehicle.

The reality is that it may be best to establish a life-cycle for planning purposes, such as the development of replacement funding for various types of apparatus yet apply a different method (such as a maintenance and performance review) for determining the actual replacement date, thereby achieving greater cost-effectiveness when possible.

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85 City of Tulare Fleet Maintenance
The City of Tulare’s Fleet Maintenance Division is responsible for the maintenance of the fire department’s apparatus. Currently, the maintenance staff are not qualified as Emergency Vehicle Technicians (EVT) in accordance with NFPA standards, but are working towards obtaining the certification.28
Economic Theory of Apparatus Replacement
A conceptual model utilized by some fire departments is the Economic Theory of Vehicle Replacement. As a vehicle ages, the theory states that the cost of capital diminishes, and its operating costs increase.

The combination of these two costs produces a total cost curve. The model suggests that the optimal time to replace any apparatus is when the operating costs begin to exceed the capital costs. This optimal time may not be a fixed point but rather a range of time.

Shortening the replacement cycle to this window allows an apparatus to be replaced at optimal savings to the fire district. If an organization does not routinely replace equipment promptly, the overall reduction in replacement spending can quickly increase maintenance and repair expenditures. Fire officials, who assume that deferring replacement purchases is a good tactic for balancing the budget, need to understand two possible outcomes that may occur because of that decision:
• Costs are transferred from the capital budget to the operating budget. • Such deferral may increase overall fleet costs.

The next figure is a representation of the Economic Theory of Vehicle Replacement.

Figure 60: Economic Theory of Vehicle Replacement

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86 Regardless of its net effect on current apparatus and vehicle costs, the deferral of replacement purchases unquestionably increases future replacement spending needs. The deferral may also impact operational capabilities, including the safe and efficient use of apparatus.

Future Apparatus Serviceability
An important consideration for fire departments is the cost associated with the future replacement of major equipment. Apparatus service life can readily be predicted based on factors including vehicle type, call volume, age, and maintenance considerations.

NFPA 1901: Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus recommends that fire apparatus 15 years of age or older be placed into reserve status, and that apparatus 25 years or older be replaced. This is a general guideline, and the standard recommends using the following objective criteria in evaluating fire apparatus lifespan:
• Vehicle road mileage.
• Engine operating hours.
• Quality of preventative maintenance program and availability of replacement parts.
• Quality of the driver-training program.
• Whether the fire apparatus was used within its design parameters. • Whether the fire apparatus was manufactured on a custom or commercial chassis. • Quality of workmanship by the original manufacturer.
• Quality of the components used in the manufacturing process.

It is important to note that age is not the only factor in evaluating serviceability and replacement. Vehicle mileage and pump hours on engines must also be considered. A two-year-old engine with 250,000 miles may need replacement sooner than a 10-year-old one with 2,500 miles.

Capital Medical Equipment
The fire department maintains five 2013 and one 2018 Physio-Control Lifepak® 15 Cardiac Monitor/Defibrillators, and four Physio-Control Lifepak® 1000 Automated External Defibrillators (AED) manufactured in 2013. TFD is developing a replacement plan for the five older Lifepak® 15s.

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87 Service Delivery & Performance
This section will give TFD a general understanding of relevant response information. It is developed to assist the department with identifying its recent performance and creating a baseline performance expectation. TFD, City, and political leaders can then use this information to understand how their decisions, policies, and outside pressures affect performance.

Research Information
The information within this section was developed from various sources provided by TFD.

The records were from the RMS systems, both old and new. Detailed information was provided between January 1, 2018, and June 30, 2022. In addition, less comprehensive total incident volumes were provided between July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2022, to identify long-term trends.

Statistics Discussion
Creating mathematical and technological methodologies to evaluate something as complex as an emergency incident response must be used judicially. Unfortunately, there are instances of incorrect evaluations leading to severe consequences. This analysis is designed to quantify and analyze available information. It should be used as a starting place by the agency as it seeks to improve performance.

Statistical Tools
Various statistical analytical tools were employed to create this section. The fundamental tools were categorization, percentile, and regression analysis. This helps paint a picture of historical performance, with some inferences that may help leaders identify positive and negative performance trends.

Use of the 90th Percentile
The time performance measures for this report are primarily done using the 90th percentile measure. While discussing the mathematics behind this measure is outside this report's scope, it is helpful to understand why it is utilized.

The most common reason to use this measure is that the industry has adopted it. If a fire agency wishes to judge its performance against standards or other agencies, it must use the 90th percentile. For example, the NFPA utilizes the 90th percentile measure in most of its standards. In addition, the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) requires reporting performance measures at the 90th percentile.

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88 The statistical reason to use the measure is that it more fully captures performance and will identify trends in performance more quickly. Unfortunately, the time performance data used in this study has a skew, making other statistical measures less sensitive and representative. The following figure is a general example of data skew.

Figure 61: Data Skew29
In a symmetric distribution, the mean (average), median (middle of the data), and mode (the most frequent) are all equal. When the distribution skew, these three measures of the middle shift. Using the average, or mean, in data that was skewed left would underrepresent the bulk of the performance. While the opposite is true when skewed right.

In TFD's case, most of the time-performance data is skewed right. In this case, using the average would over-represent the performance.

Data Discussion
Detailed data was provided from TFD's current incident reporting software (RMS), Image Trend, and its previous system from Zoll. These different database tables were combined utilizing proven data engineering techniques into one analytical data set.

Data Engineering Findings
The primary data set came from the current RMS system. However, it was noted that some of the older system data did not transfer into the new one. This required a blending to get all the data points. Zoll data was used to enhance the information lost during the 2021 conversion to the new RMS. There was a total of 28,237 complete usable records, primarily driven by the RMS, between 2018 and 2022. The incomplete or unusable information resulted in only a 0.7% drop in the data. This drop is minor and a statistically acceptable loss between the two systems.

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89 Unit records were combined between the old and new systems. The error rate was much more significant, with 1,297 unmatched records. However, it was still only a 3.83% data drop, which is also statistically acceptable.

By combining the two data sets, there is a high degree of confidence that there is semicomplete data for 28,062 incidents and partial records for 28,237 incidents. However, a detailed examination of the information indicated a faulty capture of some response time components, leaving minimal analytical records for turnout and travel times. This will be discussed in more detail in those performance sections. This drop was due to missing or mismatched date time stamps in the information.

Data Error Handling
Data collection within the various sets has the potential for significant errors. Although there can be many reasons for incorrect information, these errors are typically a combination of human input and collection errors. There are various methods to manage these errors, including statistical exclusion, real-time exclusion, formula manipulation, and logic testing.

For TFD, the information in the data fields had significant time-stamped error-prone data.

Therefore, several steps were taken to incorporate only useful information. In this case, some data was excluded by formula or logic tests. The time segment math utilized a logic tree to eliminate negative and null sets. The turnout time was limited to a 5-minutes maximum as it was a natural break between the meaningful data and the extremes outside the maximum limit. In addition, the turnout and travel time segments were evaluated against an inversion error. When the turnout time was greater than the capped high and significantly higher than the travel time, these time segments were removed.

These limitations left approximately 20% of the records available for analysis. This creates a problem for the completeness of the study, and steps should be taken to provide improved data collection.

Service Demand
The first dimension of the analysis is the overall system call load. Because this is a simple count of the incidents by type and location, only data missing incident type was excluded after engineering. This leaves 28,044 incidents for evaluation, or 98.6% of the available data.

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90 Volume Analysis
A simple volume analysis can indicate how often the department is called upon to respond to an incident. The first look is at the overall call counts grouped by primary categories as listed in the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). Establishing the incident jurisdiction required a match between the geocoded information and the provided geographic boundaries. The following figure is the total number of responses recorded by the agency for the entire study period and the percentage of the categorized responses.

Figure 62: Total Incident Count (2018–2022)
Incident (NIFRS Group) Number Percentage of
Total Responses
Fire Department Total Responses
Fire (100) 1,993 7.1%
Overpressure (200) 10 < 0.1%
Rescue-Medical (300) 16,157 57.6%
Hazardous condition (400) 669 2.4%
Service (500) 1,950 6.95%
Good Intent (600) 6,232 22.2%
False Alarm (700) 1,037 3.7%
Disaster (800) 0 0.0%
Special (900) 14 < 0.1%
Total Responses: 28,062 100%
Aid Given
Auto and Mutual Aid Received 194 0.7%
Auto and Mutual Aid Given1 5,647 20.1%
1 This includes the 238 incidents within the department’s identified SOI.

The preceding figure shows a significant lack of mutual aid from surrounding jurisdictions.

However, this data is derived from what crews on scene record in the RMS. Without an aggressive quality assurance program, this number has been unreliable. Still, this limited amount of aid coming into TFD may indicate a lack of aid resources available or willingness to assist.

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91 Geographic Analysis
A call density analysis is helpful when reviewing the best location for apparatus placement.

It is also useful when evaluating where the prevention programs may have the most impact. While the incident data was collected from the RMS system, the latitude and longitude information was pushed from the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system. The following figure geographically represents the incident density for the study period.

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92 Figure 63: All Incident Call Concentration (2018–2022)

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93 As indicated in the previous figure, incident density is the most concentrated in the area surrounding Station 62. This area is dominated by single-family homes with some commercial retail space north and east towards the highway. Interestingly, the lowest call frequency happens south of Station 61 in the more industrial portion of the city. However, the incident volume is primarily driven by the city's number of emergency medical system (EMS) incidents.

The following figure is similar to the overall density but shows the EMS incident concentration for the same period.

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94 Figure 64: EMS Incident Density (2018–2022)

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95 This indicates a strong correlation between the EMS incidents and the total call volume.

Many fire agencies find that EMS-type incidents make up well over half of their response duties. EMS incidents comprise 60–70% of the total call volume in most non-transport agencies. TFD is no different, and EMS does take up the largest category of responses. The following figure shows the percentage of EMS incidents versus the other incidents.

Figure 65: Percentage of EMS Incidents
While the EMS volume may give a general idea of where to focus medical prevention efforts, it does not address the more hazardous incident types. The following figure is the incident density for fire incidents within the study period.

57.56%

42.44%
EMS Others

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96 Figure 66: Fire Incident Concentration (2018–2022)

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97 The previous figure indicates that the fire problem is centered in the same area as other incident types. Therefore, the incident density centers around Station 62, following a similar distribution as all incidents, with less volume.

Several addresses can become regular customers. Fire departments may be able to reduce call load throughout the system by addressing the multiple incident locations. The following figure lists the top 10 addresses with several responses in the data during the study period.

Figure 67: Top 10 Response Addresses
Location Location Type Incidents % EMS
897 North M Street Assisted Living 386 82.4%
604 East Merritt Avenue Convalescent Hospital 337 77.4% 680 East Merritt Avenue Rehabilitation Center 258 77.1% 999 North M Street Assisted Living 202 68.8%
1150 South Laspina Street Senior Living 203 60.1%
560 West Pleasant Avenue Mobile Home Park 155 74.8%
351 North West Street Multi-Family Residential 153 62.7% 2459 Oaks Street Mobile Home Park 123 69.9%
235 North H Street Undetermined 91 87.9%
498 South Blackstone Street Multi-Family Residential 112 70.5% Temporal Analysis
The first dimension for analyzing the incident volume is to look for trends year over year. The annual growth rate for 2018 through 2020 was 8%, while the incident rebound in 2021 shows a 22% increase over 2020. However, trend spotting with the current information is difficult due to the unknown impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The following figure shows a steady growth overall in all categories from 2018 through 2021, with the partial year's data in 2022 excluded.

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98 Figure 68: Annual Incident Volume (2018–2021)
Analyzing the incident volume by month, day of the week, and hour is valuable when attempting to schedule events or add staffing. Additionally, months may reveal seasonality for the service needs. At the same time, days and hours may indicate the population movement and activities throughout the days. However, the partial year 2022 needs to be removed from the analysis for a monthly total call volume. Including it will inflate the January through June counts. The following figure analyzes incident percentages by month for 2018 through 2021.

Figure 69: Percent Incidents by Month (2018–2021)
2,028
2,228
2,703
3,271 3,328 3,220
3,426
4,161
0 500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
4,500
2018 2019 2020 2021
Other Rescue-Medical
0%
1%
2%
3%
4%
5%
6%
7%
8%
9%
10%

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99 There is a slight seasonality to the data, although it is not extreme. For example, there is a slight decrease in incident percentages from February through April. February is typically slightly lower due to the number of days in the month. Incidents pick up from May, peaking in August.

Another dimension for evaluation is the percentage of incidents that happen by the day of the week. The following figure is the percentage of incidents that occur by the weekday and includes all the detailed incident data, including 2022.

Figure 70: Percent Incidents by Day of the Week (2018–2022) There is a slight drop in incident volume on Sunday, but generally, there is little to no variation in call volumes by day of the week.

It can be helpful to combine the month and day dimensions to identify potentially significant combinations of the month and weekday. For example, the following figure shows the density of call volume by month and weekday from 2018 through 2021. 13%
15% 15% 14% 14% 15% 14%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

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Figure 71: Month & Weekday Incidents (2018–2022)

Month Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Color Incidents
Jan 331–342
Feb 312–330
Mar 298–311
Apr 288–297
May 278–287
Jun 253–277
Jul 233–252
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
The previous figure does show a fairly significant difference in February through April for the weekend. It is also apparent that Sunday is the least active day during the winter months, which may be helpful for operational event planning. The difference between the least and most busy days is statistically significant, with an over 100-incident difference.

Another analytic dimension is to evaluate call volume throughout the hours of the day. For example, in most systems, fire and EMS incidents are distributed unequally throughout the day. The daytime is typically more active than the evening, night, and early morning. The driving force behind this phenomenon is likely that people are awake and moving. The following figure indicates that TFD closely follows this daytime pattern, with approximately 70% of incidents occurring between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

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Figure 72: Percent Incidents by Hour of Day (2018–2022) It is essential to understand the combination of the hour of the day and the day of the week. By evaluating that density, some hot spot times can be identified. In TFD's case, the evaluation shows a consistent and statistically significant pattern of daytime calls regardless of the day of the week. However, TFD does appear to have a substantial variation from late Saturday into Sunday morning. The following figure indicates incident density by the hour of the day and day of the week for all incidents between January 1, 2018, and June 30, 2022.
0%
1%
2%
3%
4%
5%
6%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Percent of Incidents

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Figure 73: Hour & Weekday Incidents (2018–2022)

Hour Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Color Incidents
0–1 239–251
1–2 217–238
2–3 201–216
3–4 181–200
4–5 150–180
5–6 114–149
6–7 93–113
7–8
8–9
9–10
10–11
11–12
12–13
13–14
14–15
15–16
16–17
17–18
18–19
19–20
20–21
21–22
22–23
23–24

A structure fire is one of the most damaging incident types for which a fire department is responsible. An analysis of the distribution of structure fires by the hour can be helpful to potentially change scheduling or for planning events. TFD's structure fire, by the hour profile for the study period, shows a consistent call volume across all hours except the 6:00 p.m. hour. At 6 p.m., there were almost double the incidents compared to other hours of the day. The following figure shows the total structure fires by the hour and identifies them by response area.

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Figure 74: Structure Fires by Hour of Day (2018–2022)
Resource Distribution
Several key performance metrics help identify the effectiveness of resource distribution. A broad allocation of resources allows for a more rapid first response to any given area.

However, the first unit is only a portion of the deployment question. It is critical to have enough units to respond to incidents' volume, type, and severity. It is also essential to attempt to equalize the unit responses.

Geographic Distribution Analysis
Units and stations should be distributed to allow the best chance of reaching an incident in its earliest stages. There are two primary sources for performance standards that address this geographic distribution. ISO defines distance, while NFPA utilizes time as a criterion.

The ISO uses 5 miles from a fire station as its standard. The following figure shows the 5-mile travel distance from a fire station. The following figure shows the distance from a fire station for the jurisdiction and the sphere of influence.
0 5
10 15
20 25
30 35
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 City SOI & Mutual Aid Areas All Structure Fires

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While most of the city is within the 5-mile radius as defined by ISO, there is a small area to the south that is outside the requirement. In addition, some places do not get a travel distance because there is no defined road. For example, the farm area east and south of Station 63 and the green space in the middle of the city north of Station 62.

Figure 75: ISO 5-Mile Travel Distance

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For full credit in an ISO Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS), any building within the jurisdiction should be within 1.5 miles of an engine company and 2.5 miles of a truck company.30 TFD has an engine at all three stations and a truck at Station 61. However, due to the distance between stations, much of the city is not within 1.5 miles of an engine company. The following figure shows the 1.5-mile travel distance from each station as they house engine companies.

Figure 76: ISO 1.5-Mile Engine Travel Distance

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The ISO judges specialized equipment, such as a truck company, separately from an engine company. While engine companies are typically found at most fire stations, truck companies are only located at specific locations. ISO requires these truck companies to be within 2.5 miles of any building. With only one truck company in the middle at Station 61, much of the of the city’s north and west areas are outside the expected travel distance.

The following figure shows the 2.5-mile travel distance for the truck company.

Figure 77: ISO 2.5-Mile Truck Travel Distance

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Unit Workload Analysis
Unit workload should be balanced to maintain readiness, resiliency, and service availability. While it is prevalent for one unit to be busier than others, no crew should carry a load that is too heavy, which would make them less effective.

Incidents by Unit
TFD had 23 unique units responding to all incidents within the incident records. However, over 98% of all unit responses were accomplished by the frontline engines, a truck, and the Division Chiefs. The remaining units included chief officers, specialty units, aid units, and other response vehicles. The Division Chiefs and engines showed a steady increase in incident volume. At the same time, the truck spiked in 2019 and has steadily decreased annually. Additionally, the information for this analysis does not include the partial year of 2022.

One unique aspect of the analysis of TFD data was the inclusion of the reserve apparatus.

There did not appear to be a way to combine the reserve apparatus with a specific crew.

The responses for all three reserve apparatuses were evenly committed throughout the response area. Reserve 261 responded to many incidents and is included in the analysis.

The other reserves were not used very often, with 41 incident responses for reserve engine 262 and 20 responses for reserve 263. In addition, a detailed trend analysis is complicated because of the pandemic and societal lockdown in 2020. The following figure shows the number of responses for each apparatus from 2018 through 2021.

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Figure 78: Frontline Unit Responses by Year (2018–2022) Each incident requires a unit to remain on the scene to handle the situation. Therefore, a general idea of how long a specific crew will stay on the incident can assist operational planning. TFD has three primary types of units that respond to emergencies. First, trucks and engines have different specific functions. However, their average time on the incidents is similar, except for a fire incident. Finally, the on-duty Division Chiefs have the fewest responses but spend longer on the scene of incidents where they do respond.

More than 230 incidents in the data had commit times over several days or even months.

These excessive response times were excluded from the analysis. The following figure shows the average minutes each apparatus type was committed to a given incident category for the entire study period. 122 1,305
1,895
1,294
1,289
203
133
1,273
1,923
1,306
1,276
270
116
1,301
2,311
1,549
1,399
328
100
1,720
2,726
1,887
1,780
369
-
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
T61 E61 E62 E63 E261
(Reserve)
Division Chiefs
2018 2019 2020 2021

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Figure 79: Average Unit Commit Time by Incident Type in Minutes (2018–2022) One final dimension of unit workload is how much time each unit is committed to incidents throughout the year. The unit hour utilization (UHU) calculation evaluates how much time a crew is committed to an incident throughout a specific time frame. The desire is for the primary unit at a station, typically an engine or quint company, the most flexible response units, to be under 10% UHU. Maintaining 10% UHU should indicate the area has 90% availability from unscheduled events. Stations with multiple engines and quint companies should aggregate to less than 10% UHU for all similar units.

The TFD system is not heavily taxed, and the units appear to be able to respond to their own area with some reliability. One concern for this metric, much like total responses, is the lack of detail on which apparatus is being replaced by the reserve units. For example, if the reserve engine is consistently used by Engine 61, then the UHU for that engine would be increased to nearly 9% yearly. At 10%, UHU leaders need to be examining workload and distribution.

On the other hand, if the reserves are being used evenly across all units, E61 would be closer to 6% UHU, a very reasonable number. The following figure shows the UHU for each staffed apparatus and the Division Chiefs.

21.3 10.8

30.2 24.1

19.4 17.2

49.0 15.4

7.4 18.2

28.6 14.6

44.7 15.5

5.7 18.6

25.8 14.0

13.4 34.3
False Alarm (700)
Good Intent (600)
Service (500)
Hazardous Condition
(400)
Rescue-Medical (300)
Overpressure (200)
Fire (100)
Type I Eng Truck Command

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Figure 80: Unit Hour Utilization Percent by Year
Unit 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Overall
Truck 61 0.6% 0.8% 0.3% 0.4% 2.3% 0.7%
Reserve Engines1 4.5% 4.4% 4.6% 5.1% 2.0% 4.4%
Engine 63 4.2% 4.8% 4.4% 4.9% 4.8% 4.6%
Engine 62 6.2% 6.6% 6.6% 6.6% 6.5% 6.5%
Engine 61 4.2% 4.5% 4.1% 4.5% 7.0% 4.6%
Division Chiefs 1.9% 2.5% 2.3% 2.4% 1.8% 2.2%
1Unknown which apparatus the reserve is replacing.

While the UHU indicates how much unscheduled time a unit is committed, it does not suggest that crews are only busy for this time. Much of the crew's responsibilities are not captured in incident response data. Time spent training, housekeeping and equipment maintenance, public education, and administrative duties are rarely captured for study.

For example, assume a crew is expected to train 2 hours a day and exercise for an hour.

Fire crews may also engage in general clean-up and maintenance for 2 hours a day, meals for 2 hours, and administrative tasks for 1 hour.

Additionally, a crew should be expected to rest at least 8 hours in 24 hours. In this case, the general scheduled tasks can take approximately 67% of a crew's on-duty time.

As previously stated, EMS is a large portion of the response totals. However, for TFD, it is a small percentage of the time response crews are dedicated to an incident. The following shows the percentage of apparatus time committed to EMS incidents versus other incident types.

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Figure 81: Percent of Apparatus Time Committed to EMS and Other Incidents Concurrency Analysis
Incidents that happen simultaneously can impact an agency's ability to respond. In TFD's case, they maintain multiple units at Station 61. The other two stations have only one apparatus each. If those apparatus are engaged too often, their area of responsibility may not have coverage when needed.

The data for concurrency and unit time usage appeared intact and reasonable. However, there were approximately 130 incidents in the information where the overall incident was open for more than 24 hours. These incidents are excluded because they are likely to be large deployments, significant events requiring crews to be called back for ongoing coverage, or data errors. They may also be a single non-frontline apparatus holding the call open, like an investigation or monitoring. Counting these can skew the data and overestimate concurrency.

TFD does not run multiple calls very often, with 83% of the responses a single incident in the system. Five responding units are on duty at any given time, and the maximum number of concurrent incidents was five. However, there were only two occurrences with five responses. The following figure shows the percentage of how often multiple incidents happen at any given time for TFD.

EMS
37%
Others
63%

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Figure 82: Concurrent Incidents (2018–2022)
Incidents Operating 2018–2022
Occurance Percent
Single Incident 83.0%
Two Incidents 15.2%
Three Incidents 1.6%
More Than Three1 0.2%
1 A maximum of five concurrent incidents were documented twice.

Another factor in unit workload is the number of units assigned to a specific incident. The majority of TFD incidents, over 97%, are accomplished by either one or two companies. The following figure shows the percentage of incidents where the specified number of response units were assigned to an incident.

Figure 83: Apparatus per Incident (2018–2022)
Number of Apparatus Per Incident Occurrence
Percentage
Single Apparatus 92.9%
Two Apparatus 4.8%
Three Apparatus 1.8%
More Than Three Apparatus 0.5%
Performance Review
When evaluating a system, having a set of objectives or standards to evaluate performance is helpful. While national and state standards may be recommended, in California, it is up to the authority having jurisdiction to adopt specific goals. In this case, TFD has adopted a few performance standards. However, they have not adopted a complete set of time standards for evaluation.

Therefore, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards will be utilized as a reference where appropriate. This will include the NFPA 1710: Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments.

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Evaluating overall performance requires an understanding of the lifecycle of an incident. It starts with a normal state and should end with a new normal state, but there are many measurable time segments in between. Some elements, such as call processing time and turnout time, can be improved by tactical management techniques such as training and policy. However, other time segment performances, such as travel time, are typically managed by a strategic methodology such as station location.

The following figure identifies each time segment in the incident lifecycle, an example of a key performance indicator (KPI), and the applicable standards or NFPA example.

Figure 84: Incident Time Segments & Standards
Segment Key Performance Metric Standard Used Comments
Normal State Community demographics
N/A
This base state
needs to be
defined.

Prevention
mainly affects
this.

Incident Initiation
Incident Counts
Incident Detection
Notification Action
PSAP Answer Local: 15 sec, 95% Prevention and
Education PSAP Notification
PSAP Interrogation PSAP Transfer & Agency
Answer N/A CAD-to-CAD
Agency Notification agreements
Agency Interrogation
Call Processing
Total
Response
Time
Local: 2 min These segments
should be
evaluated at a
minimum. In
addition, each
part should have
an adopted
performance
standard.

FD Notified
FD Unit Dispatched > Turnout Time Local: 1 min
Turnout, 4 min
Travel (5 min total)
FD Unit Responding > Travel Time
FD 1st Unit Arrives
FD ERF Dispatched
ERF Travel & Total Time NFPA 1710
FD ERF Arrives
FD Units Clear Incident
From dispatch to clear, total
time translates into unit
utilization.

N/A
Used to evaluate
unit workload
and availability.

Normal State
The outcome of the incident response is the gold standard for service delivery analytics. However, this advanced study is outside the scope of this report and requires unusual research and analytic methods.

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The incident data provided did not allow for analysis of all time segments in the previous figure. However, enough information was provided to evaluate call processing, turnout, travel, and total response time. Where a local KPI standard is adopted, it will be used.

Otherwise, NFPA standards will be the metric used.

The following time segment performance standards are evaluated as a percentile. This will allow TFD to compare its performance against other agencies and the standard with a similar statistical technique.

Call Processing Analysis
There are several time measures of a dispatch center. The metrics identified locally are ring time and call processing. Ring time measures when the phone in dispatch begins to ring until someone answers. The local standard requires the ring time to be less than 15 seconds, 95% of the time. Since this is typically captured in a separate data set, analyzing this KPI relies heavily on the reporting dispatch center. In TFD's case, they reported a 15-second performance of 97% or less, meeting the standard adopted.

Call processing should start when the phone is answered until the first unit has been notified that an incident is in progress. However, there is typically a short period, seconds usually, from when the phone is answered, and the incident is started in the computer-aided dispatch system. For this analysis, it is assumed this short period, while not captured, is inconsequential. The NFPA 1710 standard indicates that a high-priority incident should be processed within 60 seconds, 90% of the time.

NFPA further defines specific call types to be processed within 90 seconds, 90% of the time, and 120 seconds, 99% of the time. These special incident types include those requiring emergency medical questioning, hazardous materials incidents, and technical rescue incidents. This additional time is available for persons needing translation, calls from devices used by hard-of-hearing individuals, text messages, and calls requiring location determination. The local standard is 2 minutes, but it was not identified as a maxim or a percentile, so it will be used as a percentile for this analysis.

The data provided was evaluated for integrity and reliability. It was found that the data provided for 2021 and 2022 was more accurate as the actual CAD Incident start time stamp was included in the RMS information. Therefore, to judge performance more accurately, only 2021 and 2022 data will be utilized for call processing.

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The overall call processing time at the 90th percentile was 1 minute, 55 seconds, meeting the local standard. The following figure shows the call processing time at the 90th percentile based on the NFIRS incident grouping for 2021–2022.

Figure 85: Call Processing by Incident Type (2021–2022) While overall, call processing does meet the local standard, some incidents had extended times. However, it should be noted that the overpressure and special incident types were infrequent, and a percentile evaluation is not likely to be highly accurate.

Another dimension of the call processing time is how incident workload affects dispatch center performance. Here it appears the Tulare County Consolidated Ambulance Dispatch (TCCAD) manages the workload well, and the call processing time is relatively consistent by the hour. The following figure is the call processing times of medical incidents and all other incidents by the hour of the day, with the call load added as a reference. 00:00 00:30 01:00 01:30 02:00 02:30 03:00 03:30 04:00
Special (900)
False Alarm (700)
Good Intent (600)
Service (500)
Hazardous Condition (400)
Rescue-Medical (300)
Overpressure (200)
Fire (100)
2022 2021

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Figure 86: Call Processing by Incident Group & Hour (2021–2022) Turnout Time Analysis
Turnout time is the difference between when the unit is notified of an incident and when they start to respond. NFPA 1710 indicates the performance measure for this time segment is 60 seconds for medical incidents and 80 seconds for fire incidents. Locally the fire department has chosen to adopt 60 seconds on all incidents, at the 90th percentile. While the local standard prevails, the incidents are grouped by EMS and all other types to allow evaluation against the NFPA standards.

The data was analyzed for reliability and applicability and found to be severely lacking.

Typically a review of turnout time is thorough as it is one of the most manageable performance components to improve. However, after analysis, it was found that only 18% of the apparatus data contained valid time stamps. These were primarily found in the new RMS data in 2021 and 2022. It appears that the en route time stamp, a crucial component of this analysis, was not captured or checked for accuracy before this time. As a result, 21% of the data had missing data elements, specifically in the en route time stamps. An additional 51% of the data caused a negative time result and was also removed. This left only 28% of the unit information recorded available for evaluation. After removing nonemergent responses and responses out of the city or SOI, this left 18% for analysis.

0.0%

1.0%

2.0%

3.0%

4.0%

5.0%

6.0%
00:00
00:17
00:35
00:52
01:09
01:26
01:44
02:01
02:18
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 EMS - 90th Percentile Performance Others - 90th Percentile Performance EMS - Percent of Incidents Others - Percent of Incidents

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Of the data that could be evaluated, it was found the overall emergent, in area, responses produced a 2-minute, 8-second, 90th percentile response time for all units. This is 1 minute, 8 seconds above the locally adopted standard. The following is the 90th percentile turnout time by apparatus and incident type.

Figure 87: Turnout Time by Unit & Call Type (2021–2022) One of the best approaches to improving turnout time is to publish each apparatus and each shift's performance. The resulting competition between crews usually has a beneficial impact on performance. Typically this analysis is included by AP Triton. However, the data did not allow this comparative analysis in this case. There were no A-shift records after filtering and engineering, 6,012 labeled as "t" shift, and 386 records without information.

One final dimension of the turnout time analysis is the changes in the percentile by the hour of the day. Since TFD staffs its units 24 hours, it is expected that crews can try and sleep at night. However, asleep personnel can impact how fast they can get to the apparatus and begin to respond. The following figure shows the turnout percentile by the hour of the day, with the workload by general incident type added for reference. 02:42 02:52 02:10 02:07 01:53 01:29
02:30
02:11
02:14
02:29
02:07
02:40
00:00
00:30
01:00
01:30
02:00
02:30
03:00
03:30
04:00
Division Chiefs Engine 61 Engine 62 Engine 63 Res Eng 261 Truck 61 EMS Others

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Figure 88: Turnout Time by Hour with Workload (2021–2022) It is interesting to note the inverse pattern of turnout times and workload. This phenomenon is common in agencies with lower call volume at night. This can be explained as a combination of crews resting and fewer incidents to analyze. A limited data set is typically much more susceptible to higher times and more obvious data swings. Additionally, as previously discussed, only 18% of the total data could be analyzed.

Travel Time Analysis
NFPA 1710: Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments lists several travel time requirements for apparatus. The first defined travel time is the first unit, either an engine or a truck that can operate as an engine for 4 minutes.

In addition, the second-due engine should have a travel time of 6 minutes, and the first alarm to arrive within 8 minutes for a moderate-risk structure fire.31 TFD has stated they adopted this standard for performance.

Travel time is the difference between unit notification and the apparatus checks en route.

The following chart shows the theoretical travel times from the two TFD stations based on GIS modeling. The following figure shows the 4- and 8- minute travel times from all of TFD's fire stations.
0%
1%
2%
3%
4%
5%
6%
00:00
00:30
01:00
01:30
02:00
02:30
03:00
03:30
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 90th Percentile Turnout - EMS 90th Percentile Turnout - Others Incident Load - EMS Incident Load - Others

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Figure 89: 4-Minute & 8-Minute Travel Times

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Theoretically, the distribution and concentration are appropriate for the city's core.

Additionally, most city areas can meet the 8-minute effective response force (ERF) goals established by the NFPA. However, much of the city does not meet the 4-minute travel benchmark.

Theoretic models are beneficial when evaluating what can happen. However, considering the actual performance may give a better understanding of what the agency can provide. Unfortunately, due to similar data issues as stated in the turnout time segment, only 13% of the data could be analyzed for travel time. Again, the en route time stamp appears to be the most problematic segment of the data. Several steps were taken to account for the problems encountered.

First, the data was, like turnout time, more reliable for 2021 and 2022, so these 18 months are all that is being evaluated. Second, travel time was limited to the first arriving unit to respond with lights and sirens. Finally, the travel time maximum was limited to 20 minutes.

Twenty minutes was selected as a natural break in the outlier data, and a route check using a public product indicated that the most distant points could be reached in under 20 minutes. Finally, only incidents within the city or SOI were evaluated.

First Due Apparatus
The first due performance for TFD is just over 5 minutes for all incidents within the city. The overall travel time is outside the locally adopted 4-minute at the 90th percentile.

Understanding the agency's capabilities is more manageable when defining smaller geographic areas. This allows a fire department to view where it is having difficulty reaching its performance goals. Unfortunately, a specific data point did not indicate areas to evaluate. The following figure shows the first due travel time for emergent responses by incident type.

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Figure 90: Travel Time by Incident Type (2021–2022)
Time of day can have an enormous impact on travel times. In addition, crew readiness, traffic patterns, and incident volume can impact travel times. Nevertheless, TFD's travel times for all incidents remain relatively consistent throughout the day. The following figure shows the first due travel times by the hour, with the workload shown for reference. 05:08 05:12 04:16 05:04 06:30 04:42 05:02 05:54 05:43 05:07 05:28 04:42 05:02 04:48 06:19 04:06 05:1005:50 00:00
01:00
02:00
03:00
04:00
05:00
06:00
07:00
2021 2022

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Figure 91: Travel Time by Hour (2021–2022)
Effective Response Force
The second dimension of the travel time analysis is how well the effective response force (ERF) needed for a type of incident can be assembled. ERFs change with the complexity and resources required of any given incident and can range from one unit to multiple units with specialty equipment. The most commonly evaluated ERF is the moderate risk structure fire. TFD's ERF for moderate-risk structure fires includes 3 engines, 1 truck, and 1 Chief.

Unfortunately, there were no incidents of valid information where this ERF was achieved to be analyzed, and the theoretical modeling will have to be sufficient. TFD also identified the staffing levels required for a moderate-level structure fire to be 17 firefighters. The following figure is the expected ERF model for various staffing level arrival within 8 minutes. 0 50
100
150
200
250
300
350
0:00:00
0:01:00
0:02:00
0:03:00
0:04:00
0:05:00
0:06:00
0:07:00
0:08:00
0:09:00
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 1st Travel (90th Percentile) Count

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Figure 92: 8-Minute Effective Response Force Levels

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As with the 4- and 8-minute travel models, the number of personnel expected to arrive within 8 minutes varies. There was a maximum of 12 on-duty personnel in the city's heart, to a low of 6 personnel at the extreme edges.

Historical analysis is complicated by the data set. However, by limiting travel data to the rules stated at the beginning of the travel section, a general idea of the responses can be obtained. The following figure is the travel times of the first four frontline apparatuses arriving emergent between 2021 and 2022.

Figure 93: Travel Time for Four Units, 2021–2022
The slight dip in the travel time for a second unit to arrive may appear to be an anomaly.

However, this was primarily due to the limited data and the fact that the second unit response was typically between Stations 61 and 62.

Total Response Time Analysis
The reason each time segment is analyzed is to get an understanding of where performance can be measured and improved. However, the primary performance measurement is the total response time. The person in need sees this as the fire department's performance.

5.25 4.97

5.55 6.85
0 1
2 3
4 5
6 7
8 0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
1234
Travel Time Minutes
Percent of All Incidents
Order Of Unit Arrival
Percent of Incidents 90th Percentile Travel

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Unlike the component tests of call processing, turnout, and travel times, there were only a few empty data points. Additionally, none of the data appeared to be abnormally incorrect, although a few seemed excessive. However, these were removed by limiting the total time to 40 minutes. Forty minutes was selected due to the natural break in the outlier data. In addition, the first arriving unit responding was limited to an emergent mode. With these limits, 52% of the responses could be evaluated, a much more typical percentage of usable data.

TFD's total time 90th percentile for 2018 through 2022 was 8 minutes, 15 seconds. There has been some fluctuation annually that makes spotting a trend difficult. For example, there was a change in data capture in 2021, which changed the overall reliability and times being captured. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic and associated societal changes in 2020 may have had an undetermined impact. The following figure is the annual total response times for 2018 through 2022.

Figure 94: Total Response Time—First Due Emergent (2018–2022) It may seem that the 90th percentile call processing time, plus the 90th percentile turnout time and travel times would equal the 90th percentile total response time. However, this is not usually the case. Each time segment is analyzed independently, including the total response time. The total response time does not add the segments' percentiles due to the variability of the time segments within each incident.
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The next dimension of total time evaluation is to look at each call type. The following figure shows each call type's total response time from 2018 through 2022, with an incident percentage line for reference.

Figure 95: Total Response Time by Incident Type (2018–2022) In the previous figure, neither the Special (900) or Overpressure (200) incident types had enough data points to calculate a reliable 90th percentile.

This report's final historical time performance is to look at total time by the hour. As with most hourly evaluations, TFD is consistent with its responses. There is a slightly faster response time during the day for the reasons discussed in the turnout and travel sections. The following figure shows the total response time by the hour from 2018 through 2022, with the percentage of incidents as a reference. 08:23 06:34 08:22 09:15
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Figure 96: Total Response by Hour (2018–2022)
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Section III:

FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS

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Findings & Observations
Based on the analysis and considering community expectations, recommendations are offered to assist the Department with long-range planning and improve the delivery of fire and emergency services to the community. Triton does not expect that TFD will implement all recommendations in the short term. Some may wait until economic conditions allow their implementation. However, all the recommendations offered chart a course to improved capability and service.

The recommendations are described as goals and should be implemented as funding allows. Each will improve TFD’s ability to provide effective service to the community.

Service Delivery
• Some information was dropped during the legacy data load and conversion to TFD’s current RMS system in 2021. This included critical data points such as the longitude and latitude and en route date-time. This reduces the effectiveness of using the current system for historical performance evaluation until more direct input data is available. • Data collection and capture errors of en route time make evaluating the critical time components of turnout and travel time unreliable.
• Service demand and system analysis for 2020 and 2021 may be driven by the COVID19 pandemic and associated societal measures taken to prevent its spread. The research indicated a significant change in the utilization of emergency services. It is supposed that many people were reluctant to call for medical aid, leave their homes, or travel during the pandemic. As a result, incident volumes for these years may not be what agencies might expect in less restrictive times. For this reason, further evaluation is warranted as non-pandemic data becomes available. • Even with the COVID-19 pandemic interruption, incident volume growth reached an average of 12.5% annually.
• 70% of incident responses happen between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. • The reserve apparatus data does not indicate which company it is replacing. • The call processing time is 1 minute, 55 seconds, 90% of the time or less. • Turnout time that could be evaluated was 2 minutes, 8 seconds, at 90% or less. • The overall travel time that could be evaluated was over 5 minutes. • The overall total response time was 8 minutes, 15 seconds, 90% of the time or less.

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Facilities
• All three fire stations are undersized to meet the needs of modern fire stations. • The lack of decontamination rooms, areas, products, or instructions.

General Findings
New GPS technology allows the installation of the receiving equipment on the traffic signal control cabinets, unlike the infrared system.

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Introduction to the Strategies & Recommendations
Based on the analysis and considering community expectations, recommendations are offered to assist the Department with long-range planning and improve the delivery of fire and emergency services to the community. Triton does not expect that TFD will implement all recommendations in the short term. Some may wait until economic conditions allow their implementation. However, all the recommendations offered chart a course to improved capability and service.

The recommendations are described as goals and should be implemented as funding allows. Each will improve TFD’s ability to provide effective service to the community.

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Short-Term Recommendations
The short-term strategies listed in this report are a compilation of the recommendations aimed at improving the current conditions and levels of protection over the next one to two years.

Recommendation A-1: Establish a station fire and life safety inspection program.

Description: TFD should develop a periodic life safety inspection program for its facilities.

Systems designed to improve the safety and health of employees are essential for the reduction of the number and severity of injuries and health concerns. These systems, such as smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, need ongoing maintenance and evaluation.

Outcomes: Systematically evaluate, repair, and potentially improve the emergency and life safety systems at all facilities.

Estimated Financial Cost Initial costs will include staff time developing, adopting, and completing a custom or currently available inspection system. Ongoing costs will include maintenance requirements such as system repair and replacement of consumable goods.

Recommendation A-2: Develop a formalized pre-incident planning program.

Description: Pre-incident plans provide information to emergency responders such as building construction type, built-in fire protection systems, access, storage of hazardous materials, and other building components that may increase the hazard during a response.

Pre-establishing fire risk and general fire attack methodologies often aid in fire response.

NFPA 1620, Standard for Pre-Incident Planning (2020), addresses each element within a pre-incident plan, including the pre-incident planning process, physical and site considerations, occupant considerations, water supplies, and fire protection systems, special hazards, emergency operations, and pre-incident plan testing and maintenance.

Outcomes: Establishing a formal process for pre-incident planning will provide consistent firefighter methodologies across TFD. It will also ensure that when needed, members will have the needed information to rescue citizens, each other, and conduct fire attack.

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Estimated Financial Cost: Staff time to create a formal policy and ensure new or updated pre-incident plans are available for responding personnel. Firefighter safety savings, as well as possible dollar loss savings. Savings with ISO should be consulted with the rating inspector for potential impact.

Recommendation A-3: Improve data collection and quality improvement processes.

Description: For an organization to understand its performance and needs for service delivery, actionable data collection and analysis are critical. For ongoing evaluation, the data needs a focus on accurate collection through automation, if possible, and a determined quality check by managers and supervisors. Collecting the data through automated means, such as direct CAD to RMS bridges, Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL), and other action-prompted time stampings, will help create a complete data set that relates to itself and can be mathematically evaluated. Additionally, implementing a rigorous quality check and training program for data input will go a long way toward correcting inaccurate information.

Outcomes: Creating a data set for incident analytics that will help management and leadership develop and monitor new program and service needs.

Estimated Financial Cost: Costs will vary depending on the approach adopted. At a minimum, staff time will be required. Additional costs may include training, increased staff levels, compensation, equipment, software, or other fees paid to outside vendors.

Recommendation A-4 Review incident data annually.

Description: Due to potentially distorted data during the COVID-19 pandemic years, trends and predicted demand may be flawed. It is essential to understand the full effect of the pandemic on service delivery, and that will only be possible with continued analysis.

Evaluating demand, service types, and other information annually until the pandemicspecific effects are fully accounted for and understood is critical. Until that effect is fully understood, the analytics created using the pandemic-era data have the potential to be misleading.

Outcomes: Creating an understanding of the pandemic era effect on, and creating appropriate adjustments to, service delivery and performance analytics.

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Recommendation A-5: Identify ways to reduce the impact on fire resources during fire responses.

Description: The ability to provide services for fire protection is critical. Currently, there appears to be a significant impact on remaining units during fire response based on existing response protocols. This can be seen in the CRA during the 3-axis model evaluation of the TFD study.

Outcomes: Ensuring that keeping TFD units in the station or backfilling with automatic aid units creates a safety net for citizens in the event of duplicate calls across the city simultaneously. Automatic Aide agreements are considered industry best practice for this.

TFD should develop policies to ensure response protocols are established in an effort to provide the highest service for citizens.

Estimated Financial Cost: Automatic Aide agreements are considered mutual and very rarely have a financial impact. Slight fuel increase may be noted due to needing to train together to ensure methodologies are consistent. Depending on the communications between departments, there may be a cost to ensure radios will work together.

Recommendation A-6: Develop a physical performance program for all TFD personnel engaged in emergency operations.

Description: All emergency response personnel should be medically evaluated and qualified for duty by a designated physician, meeting medical requirements specified in accordance with NFPA 1582: Standard on Comprehensive Occupational Medical Program for Fire Departments (2022). TFD should review NFPA 1582 with the medical provider to ensure that the firefighters are receiving the recommended screening tests per the schedule in the standard.

In addition, TFD should establish and provide a health and fitness program that meets the requirements of NFPA 1583: Standard on Health-Related Fitness Programs for Fire Department Members (2022) to enable personnel to develop and maintain a level of fitness that allows them to safely perform their assigned functions.

Outcomes: Today’s firefighters are considered tactical athletes and are at an increased risk for job-related illnesses such as cancer, mental health concerns, and cardiovascular events. By establishing a formal physical performance program, TFD can maintain a healthy workforce by providing the most effective health screening available, and potentially reduce costs associated with on-the-job injuries or illness.

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Estimated Financial Cost: Costs for pre-employment and annual comprehensive medical examinations vary depending on the provider and testing protocols. Costs to develop a health and fitness program would be related to staff time to conduct research of available programs and services, and cost to purchase equipment if needed.

Recommendation A-7: Develop a uniformed training policy.

Description: The TFD is missing a significant amount of ISO points in the training category.

Often this is because of a lack of training or a lack of documentation of training.

Outcomes: Creating a formal process for how training hours are documented will ensure that training is occurring across all shifts and stations. This will also ensure that all members are trained to the same level across all subject matters.

Estimated Financial Cost: Staff time is needed to develop policies and processes. Fuel may increase as a result of additional training not currently being done but can be offset with proper planning by station staff. Savings with ISO should be consulted with the rating inspector for potential impact.

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Mid-Term Recommendations
The mid-term strategies are progressive enhancements of the current conditions. Many will likely require three to five years to accomplish.

Recommendation B-1: Establish the number and locations of fire stations needed to serve the community in the future.

Description: Once the desired number and locations of fire stations needed to serve the community in the foreseeable future are identified, the fire department can begin planning for the replacement of the current stations. A replacement plan cannot start without a good location plan for the stations. If any of the current locations do not meet the needs of the city or if the need for a station on the east side is identified a search for available lots can be initiated.

Outcomes: Before significant revenue is spent on updating the existing stations, it should be determined if the location fits into the long-term strategy of covering the city.

Estimated Financial Cost: When the desired number of stations is identified then the needed size of each station can be determined. Without that information, no cost estimates can be accurate.

Recommendation B-2: Work with the city to establish a capital improvement and replacement program.

Description: Fire should work with the city to develop, adopt, and fund a facilities and capital improvement and replacement programs. Each capital system should be identified and put on a repair and replacement schedule. Each building should continue to be evaluated for its ability to meet the agency's needs, and a replacement schedule should be negotiated years in advance.

Outcomes: Systematically evaluate, repair, and potentially improve the facilities required for ongoing operations.

Estimated Financial Cost: Initial costs will include staff time to audit facilities, negotiate with the city, and finalize and adopt a plan. Ongoing costs will consist of maintenance requirements such as system repair and replacement of consumable goods.

Recommendation B-3: When the existing GPS system is replaced, it is recommended that the city implements the new GPS technology.

Description: New GPS technology allows the installation of the receiving equipment on the traffic signal control cabinets, unlike the infrared system.

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Long-Term Recommendations
The short and mid-term strategies discussed will move the organization forward substantially. A longer-term, high-level view of future needs is also important to provide a “big picture” view of how the organization may continue with future initiatives. Primarily, long-term strategies are centered around community growth and related workload and how both impact the future deployment of fire stations and personnel.

Recommendation C-1: Initiate a study to evaluate existing fire stations and training facilities, addressing current and future health & safety, staffing, and apparatus needs.

Description: A study should be initiated to evaluate TFD fire stations and the training center.

Station activities and practices should be examined to ensure that each facility is adequate in size and function. Examples of functions may include:
• Kitchen facilities, appliances, and storage
• Residential living space and sleeping quarters for on-duty personnel (all genders) • Bathrooms and showers (all genders)
• Training, classroom, and library areas
• Firefighter fitness areas
• The housing and cleaning of apparatus and equipment; including decontamination and disposal of biohazards.
• Administrative and management offices, computer stations, and office facilities • Public meeting space
The study should address stations/facilities requiring minor upgrades, stations/facilities requiring significant improvements, and stations/facilities requiring replacement.

Outcomes: Conducting a fire station/facilities study will assist the TFD in developing a plan to address recognized issues and deficiencies within each of the stations and create a mid-to-long-range funding strategy.

Estimated Financial Cost: Costs related to initiating a study include staff time to develop a request for proposal (RFP) and subsequent review of submitted packages. The findings and recommendations of the study will determine additional costs for renovation or replacement. The estimated cost of the study is $50,000.

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Recommendation C-2: Consider planning for the future construction of a fire station in the northeast area of the City of Tulare.

Description: The community is growing in the northeast area of the city. Currently, the city owns property in the area, which appears to be an adequate location for a potential new fire station.

Figure 97: Potential Future Fire Station Location

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Over the next several years, the City of Tulare and Tulare Fire Department should:
• Begin developing a capital improvement plan to fund the future construction of a fire station on or around the area of the city lot shown in the preceding figure. • Monitor future service demand specifically in this area. • Regularly evaluate response performance in this area.

Outcome: With increased call volumes, service to that area of the city should improve. In addition, demand on the other stations would be reduced.

Estimated Financial Cost: Staff time necessary to develop the CIP and monitor service demand and response performance. Not currently feasible to estimate fire station construction costs.

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Section IV:

APPENDICES

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Appendix A: Strategic Partners Stakeholder Interview Results Introduction to the Stakeholder Interviews
Triton interviewed a wide variety of the Tulare Fire Department's internal and external stakeholders. The purpose of these interviews was to gain a better understanding of issues, concerns, and options regarding the emergency service delivery system, opportunities for shared services, and expectations from community members.

It is important to note that the information solicited and provided during this process was in the form of "people inputs" (stakeholders individually responding to our questions), some of which are perceptions reported by stakeholders. All information was accepted at face value without an in-depth investigation of its origination or reliability. The project team reviewed the information for consistency and frequency of comments to identify specific patterns and/or trends. Multiple sources confirmed the observations, and the information provided was significant enough to be included in this report.

Stakeholders were identified within the following groups: Elected Officials, City Management and Department Heads; Business and Community Leaders, Community Members, Community Volunteers, and Strategic Partners*; Chief Officers, Labor Leaders, Rank & File Representatives, and Administrative Staff.
*AP Triton defines Strategic Partners as stakeholders representing local entities/agencies who share a common interest with the City of Tulare Fire Department. These stakeholders included representatives from the Central California Emergency Medical Services Agency (CCEMSA), local ambulance providers, and representatives from the Tulare Unified School District.

Elected Officials, City Management & Department Heads
What strengths contribute to the success of the Tulare Fire Department? • Good equipment; good personnel; very passionate.
• They have done a good job with limited staffing, and they have positive attitudes. • Technical expertise; they conduct a lot of training.
• Good experience level of personnel.
• A good relationship with city staff.
• The biggest strength is their structure, and their ability to organize during emergencies.

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• Dedicated, committed staff.
• Appetite for wanting to learn more.
• Very dedicated staff; generally, having upper-management support. • Lots of community support.
• Strong leadership and good command staff.
• Good morale; positive interaction.
• Very efficient and prompt response.
• Very respectful. Good communicators.
• Eager to help out the community.
• Family-oriented; reflects the humanity of the FD.
• Professionalism.
• Collaboration with other agencies and the expertise of firefighters. • Closeness to the community; great interaction.
• Communicating the organization’s needs.
• Sense of belonging to the community. The pride our personnel bring as members. • They want to do what’s best for the organization and the community. • Sound leadership and direction in the department.
• Department has a lot of good people.
• Continuing the partnership between entities.
• Works well together with city departments; great team dynamics. • Great fire prevention program; very accessible to staff and the community. • ISO rating is a 2.

What do they do well?
• Regained stability with the new chief; more involved in the community. • Recognized regionally for confined space rescue.
• Handle calls for service well with the resources they have. • Good staff, good communication, and good interaction with city staff. • Collaborative effort working with code enforcement.
• Always willing to help out and very accessible.

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• Staying engaged with special projects (city-wide).
• Good people – very committed to the community.
• Meets public expectations and requirements of management. • Robust training program – well equipped.
• Community engagement is very good.
• They provide confidence to the community through training and equipment. • Supportive of neighboring jurisdictions.
• Having a dedicated group of firefighters.
• Outreach to the community.
• They make it a better place to live and work.
• They are well-oiled machines.
• Management is very supportive of its personnel.
• They do well with community outreach.
• Good working relationships with other entities.
• Interact with the community very well.
• Provide good services to local businesses.
• Very emerged in the community.

What are some areas in which you think the Tulare Fire Department could make improvements?
• The relationship between FD and City government could improve. • PD is more integrated; FD seems more siloed.
• Not sure if we need paramedics on fire engines.
• FD can improve in developing policies and procedures. • Need a greater level of trust between rank and file and management. • Training for Emergency Management is lacking.
• Response times could improve based on the current third-party dispatching system. • Change the levels of Union representation.
• The need for more staffing: We need to ensure our firefighters don’t get burned out. • Clearly define the difference between needs and wants relating to equipment. • Improve communication in detailing staffing needs.

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• Need to address the duplication of efforts in response criteria. • Realign representation for Chief Officers.
• See more participation in the whole organization—less “me” and more team. • Address conflicts between personnel (naysayers).
• Increase the public’s perception level through consistent, updated social media.

What opportunities, in your view, are available to improve the service and capabilities of the fire department?
• Increase the level of staffing.
• This study gives us an opportunity to address perceptions. We are able to analyze the facts and data and sort through the data to identify options. • Visibility is good, but they could improve upon their social media content; they need to tell the right story by profiling the organization.
• Ensure the FD has the right equipment for its success. • Improving the City's Global Information System (GIS) and Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems.
• Communicate more with other city department personnel. • Identify current and future funding mechanisms.
• Continue the emphasis on training.
• Develop a quality recruitment process.
• Enhanced presence with City’s youth—providing educational opportunities. • Future developments will help provide economic vitality for Tulare. • The opportunity to take advantage of the growth of the city. • Hard question to answer, not knowing the daily operations of the FD. • Continued focus on patients’ well-being.
• Take conflicts or obstacles head-on.
• Identify the need and justification for additional facilities. • Need to be more competitive in recruitment and retention.

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Please share your thoughts with us regarding staffing utilizing 12-hour shifts and peak-hour units (augmenting current staffing levels).
• We need to staff our shifts with confident people.
• This should be the Chief’s decision.
• Burnout is a high priority for our city. Open to looking at safer grants and other opportunities.
• No thoughts on this matter.
• No opinion.

What do you see as the top three critical issues faced by the Tulare Fire Department today? • Recruiting qualified personnel.
• Growth of the city and ability to keep up with growth. • Increased levels of fatigue.
• Increased financial impacts.
• Funding of staffing, equipment, and facilities.
• Health and wellness of firefighters.
• Ensuring a comprehensive fire prevention program.
• Retention of personnel; ensuring salaries, benefits, and working conditions are enticing to keep firefighters here.
• Morale; negotiations/pay could be a factor moving forward. • Being strategic in regard to the growth of the city and the department. • Increased response times due to the growth of the city and lack of facilities. • Homelessness; going on way too many calls, which could put the rest of the City at risk.
• The need for increased technology.
• High onboarding standards—diversity in recruitment.
• Increased level of mutual aid with neighboring agencies.

If you could change one thing in the Tulare Fire Department, what would it be? • Increase community involvement.
• Chief Officers to establish their own bargaining unit. • I wouldn’t change anything.
• There is nothing I would change.

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• Add a fire explorer post.
• Nothing I can think of.
• Take the time for the fire department to realize they’re part of the whole (city) organization.
• Nothing I would change.
• I don’t think I’m qualified to answer that question.
• I think this department is fine—looking forward to the future. • Make our city more competitive in regard to personnel.

How would you describe the level of services provided by the Tulare Fire Department? • Have not heard any complaints from community or city officials – 7 • I don’t think they’re perfect, but I can’t see any deficiencies – 9.5 • They are very involved with the community – no complaints – 10 • Great department; however, there is room for improvement – 9 • I think, at times, they overproduce strategic improvement is more important – 9.5 • Ten is always a goal—our department is above adequate – 8 • With a community of our size, I have no complaints – 10 • Exceptional service.
• I think they deliver quality services – 8
• Little hiccups happen, but they are good people – 7
• Good, but there’s always room for improvement – 7
• From the services provided, they were very professional - 10 Business and Community Leaders, Community Members, Community Volunteers, and Strategic Partners
Have you had any recent official contact with your fire Department? If so, can you tell us about it?
• The fire department responded to an injured employee at our business. They did a great job.
• Recently the fire department came to our facility to do ladder truck training: a good training opportunity.
• Recently the new Fire Chief spoke at a couple of events. A great partner with the community in serving our members.

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• They are very engaged with Leadership Tulare.
• Had a fire earlier in the month with a building downtown. Great response and very professional.
• Recent contact regarding uniforms and identification badges. Very consistent, and professional engagement; good working relationship.
• Fire Chief presented an award to a school district employee for assisting people off the freeway after a bus crash on a cold morning—a very professional and great community partner.
• Tabletop training exorcises for ammonia release: Although we have a good rapport, concerned the Fire Department lacks proper equipment for hazardous materials. • In September 2022, the fire department conducted a walkthrough of the facility and conducted onsite Hazwopper training.
• On occasion, students require medical attention. Firefighters are always very professional.
• Last week there was an ammonia alarm at our facility: Quality response from the fire department and very professional.

Describe your expectations of the Tulare Fire Department. • To better assist us with incidents that occur at our facility. • Be prepared for major incidents.
• That they work well with the school district to ensure sites are safe for kids. • I expect them to be responsive and provide quality Paramedic care. • Support facility resources in the event of an ammonia release. • Be professional and well-trained.
• Expect to come when called; show up with knowledgeable, qualified, personnel. • Be available to the community for special events; support what the community does.
• Be there when they are needed.
• Arrive in a timely manner and cooperate with members of the community and local businesses.
• A couple of different perspectives: we expect them to take care of public safety, as well as how the department works with the business community. • To be business friendly.

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• Engage with the community and businesses in disaster preparedness training. • To follow policies, procedures, and protocols and deliver a professional “bedside” manner.
• Be familiar with facilities.
• To interact well with the local ambulance provider.
• Conduct joint drills and be responsive to facility needs. • Appropriately equipped resources and staffing.
• Great communication and visibility.
• Provide input on safety plans and providing training.

Which of these expectations are not being met to your satisfaction? • Need to work better with local experts on major incidents (ammonia releases). • The fire department did not attend the last training they were invited to. • I’ve never had an issue with the Fire Department—they are very responsive. • Not really; we have good working relationships.
• All expectations are being met.
• The department has been invited to attend training but has not shown up.

What do you think the Tulare Fire Department is doing particularly well? • They are very professional, assuring, and calming when they show up. • They support the community.
• They’re doing a great job with their ALS program.
• Very involved with programs throughout the City.
• They are very invested in their training.
• They are very engaged with the community.
• The department works hard on training its paramedics: They were the first to provide non-transport medical services in the County.
• Working well with teachers to train on fire safety, instead of just dinging them. • They are able to respond and put out any fires quickly. • Good communication with Fire Marshal’s Office.
• The Tulare fire department’s level of professionalism has raised the bar for other EMS providers throughout the county.

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• Very good response times and always professional.
• Day-to-day incidents are run very well.

Are there services that you think the Tulare Fire Department should be providing that they are not now?
• Add fire to PSL (Protective Services Law) academy
• None that I can think of.
• I don’t know what that would be.
• No, I think they do a good job.
• Personally, I cannot think of anything.
• Provide a hazardous materials team.
• More cross-training, drills with the facility, and understanding of their capabilities during ammonia release.

Are there services the Tulare Fire Department is providing that you think should be discontinued or done differently?
• Time involved with the homeless population.
• Nothing that I can think of.
• Is it fiscally responsible to pay all firefighters as paramedics? • Not that I’m aware of.
• Duplication of resources at emergency medical calls.
• None at this time.
• Not anything that I can think of.
• None that we’re aware of.

When you dial 911 to report an emergency, how long should it take for help to arrive? • 5 minutes.
• 7–12 minutes.
• Within minutes; as quickly as possible when you need help. • 2–5 minutes.
• Usually within 5 to 10 minutes.
• As quickly as possible.
• Between 5 and 10 minutes

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Does that expectation change depending on where in the community you are located? • Yes. The response is probably longer if you live farther out of the area. • No, there shouldn’t be.
• Depends on the location of the firehouse and where they’re coming from. • No, the expectation shouldn’t change based on the geographic area. • No.
• If you live out in a rural area it may take longer.
• No change.

Chief Officers, Labor Leaders, Rank & File Representatives, and Administrative Staff.

What strengths contribute to the success of the Tulare Fire Department? • The members themselves and the adaptability to do more with less. • The mentality the members have is aggressive; always training. • The training is of high quality).
• Good community involvement.
• Good City Manager.
• Solid social media presence.
• Good training programs for internal and external folks. • Employees support each other.
• Strong Advanced Life Support (ALS) provider.
• Provide depth to Mutual Aid Program in the area.

What are some areas in which you believe the Tulare Fire Department could make improvements?
• Increase staffing levels. Currently below minimum staffing (one below minimum staffing on B (FF) and C (Captain).
• Increase staffing level on the truck company (currently have 2-0 staffing on truck). • More staffing for suppression and prevention.
• City growing to the east with no fire station.
• First alarm fire assignment depletes resources; we need to meet NFPA 1710 standards.
• Recruitment concerns.
• Better communication from the top down.

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• It feels like the three Division Chiefs are running three different departments. • We need to prepare for the future; currently we have low morale, low, pay, and low benefits.
• Recruitment and retention issues.
• Firefighters come to Tulare and then leave for more money. • People feel undervalued by the organization in regard to staffing levels. • Increased morale.
• Expedite the process for recruitment/hiring.

What challenges do you see to making the improvements?
• Running into a brick wall with city hall in regard to the timing of recruitment processes.
• Competition with other city departments for revenue, competitive pay packages, and getting people comfortable with change.
• Funding mechanisms.
• Not being able to create a robust recruitment/retention program.

What opportunities, in your view, are available to improve the service and capabilities? • Identify correct fire station placement in order to meet response times. • Increase staffing levels; improve recruitment and morale. • Normal hours versus overtime hours. Several personnel are tasked with various programs.
• Initiate an Administrative Chief position to assist with day-to-day programs • Hosting training classes and charging fees for attendance. • Providing staff with the flexibility to pursue opportunities. • Implementing a special tax to augment funding.

What do you see as the top three critical issues faced by the Tulare Fire Department today? • Lack of staffing
• The disconnect between management and line personnel; • Lack of a standardized, consistent approach (three different shifts; three different departments)
• Inconsistent messaging.

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• Program/project workload.
• Morale of the personnel.
• Staffing levels
• Retention/pay & benefit packages
• Recruitment and retention.
• Improvement to training grounds.

Please share your thoughts with us regarding staffing utilizing 12-hour shifts and peak-hour units (augmenting current staffing levels).
• Was successful in past utilization.
• Bringing this concept back for surge capacity times would be good to look at. • Maybe with EMTs instead of Paramedics.
• Opportunity with a single role.
• From an apparatus response standpoint, it sounds like a good idea. • Open to the idea of taking a load off engine companies and increasing morale. • If it lessens the burden and provides additional staffing, it’s a good idea.

If you could change one thing in the fire department, what would it be? • Increase staffing to meet minimum standards.
• Have mid-management concentrate more on personnel than on “managing” the organization.
• Remove Division Chiefs from the floor bargaining group. • Establishing consistent communication between management and labor. • Increased pay & benefits package.

How would you describe the level of service provided by the Tulare Fire Department? • Above average; I don’t hear anything but good.
• Based on how the city views us and the service we provide – 9 • We do more with less – 8.
• When we’re able to deliver our service, top notch: With our current staffing level – 7. • Pride in delivering Advanced Life Support (ALS).
• We provide great service to community.

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Appendix B: Risk Classifications
The following are the risk classifications determined by incident type.

Fire
Low Risk
These incidents are considered low in risk and are minor in scope and intensity. It requires a single fire apparatus and crew to manage fires involving passenger vehicles, fences, trash or dumpster, downed power lines, residential or commercial alarm investigations, or an odor investigation.

Moderate Risk
These incidents are the first alarm response needed to manage a moderate fire risk incident. These incidents include smoke in a building, small outside building fires, commercial vehicle fire, a single-family residence, lightning strike to a building, automatic fire alarm at a high-risk occupancy, or a hazardous materials pipeline fire.

High Risk
These incidents are a second alarm response needed to manage a high fire risk incident.

These incidents include smoke in a high-life hazard property (school, skilled nursing, etc), single-family residence with injured or trapped victims, multifamily residential building, or a moderate-sized commercial/industrial occupancy.

Maximum Risk
A third alarm response is needed to manage a maximum fire risk incident. These incidents include a hospital, assisted living facility, fire in an apartment building, high-rise building fire, a large commercial or industrial occupancy, hazardous materials railcar or storage occupancy. Incident assignments will include additional command staff, recalling off-duty personnel, mutual aid assistance for other critical tasking needs.

EMS Risks
Low Risk
A single EMS unit can manage a low-risk EMS incident involving an assessment of a single patient with a critical injury or illness, no-life threatening medical call, lift assist, or standby.

Moderate Risk
A two-unit response is required to control or mitigate a moderate risk EMS incident. It involves assessing and treating one or two patients with critical injuries or illnesses or a motor vehicle crash with 1–2 patients.

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High Risk
A multiple-unit response is required to control or mitigate a high risk EMS incident. It involves 3–8 patients with injuries ranging from minor to critical. Patient care will involve triage, BLS, ALS treatment, and a coordinated transport of patients.

Maximum Risk
A multiple unit response is required to control or mitigate a maximum risk EMS incident. It involves more than nine patients with injuries ranging from minor to critical. Patient care will involve triage, BLS, ALS treatment, and a coordinated transport of patients. If this is an active shooter incident, the response may require a casualty collection area unit to treat patients, not in the hot zone.

Technical Rescue
Low Risk
A single fire unit can manage a low-risk technical rescue incident involving rescues that are minor in nature, such as a child locked in a vehicle, elevator entrapment, or minor mechanical entrapment.

Moderate Risk
A two-unit response is required to control or mitigate a moderate technical rescue risk incident. Support is not usually required from a technical rescue team. This type of incident involves a motor vehicle crash that requires patient extrication, removal of a patient entangled in machinery or other equipment, or a person trapped by downed power lines.

High Risk
A multiple-unit response is required to control or mitigate a high risk technical rescue incident. This type of incident may involve full-scale technical rescue operations ranging from structural collapse to swift water rescues. It may involve multiple motor vehicles that require extrication, commercial passenger carriers, or a vehicle impacting a building.

Support is usually needed required from a technical rescue team. This incident may require multiple alarms.

Maximum Risk
A multiple-unit response is required to control or mitigate a maximum risk technical rescue incident. Support is required from a specialized technical rescue team and may have multiple operations locations. This type of incident will involve full-scale technical rescue operations such as victims endangered or trapped by structural collapse, swift water, or earth cave-ins.

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This incident will require multiple alarms and may expand beyond the identified critical tasking. Recall of off-duty personnel or assistance from auto or mutual aid may occur during a disaster or when additional alarms and command staff are needed.

Hazardous Materials
Low Risk
A single fire unit can manage a low-risk hazardous materials incident involving carbon monoxide alarms and other unknown hazmat investigations without symptomatic victims, less than 20 gallons of fuel, natural gas meter incident, downed power lines, equipment or electrical problems, or attempted burning. Automatic alarms that may originate from hazardous materials.

Moderate Risk
A two-unit response is required to control or mitigate a moderate risk hazardous materials incident. Direct support is not usually required from a hazardous materials team. This type of incident involves a carbon monoxide alarm with symptomatic patients, a fuel spill 20–55 gallons, or a gas or petroleum products pipeline break not threatening any exposures.

High Risk
A multiple-unit response with a hazmat team is required to control or mitigate a high-risk hazardous materials incident. Support is needed for a Level 2 hazmat incident that involves establishing operational zones (hot/warm/cold) and assigning multiple support divisions and groups. This response includes a release with 3–8 victims, gas leaks in a structure, hazmat alarm releases with victims, flammable gas or liquid pipeline breaks with exposures, fuel spills greater than 55 gallons, fuel spills in underground drainage or sewer systems, transportation or industrial chemical releases, or radiological incidents. Additional assistance may be required to expand operations past the identified critical tasks.

Maximum Risk
A multiple-unit response is required to control or mitigate a maximum risk hazardous materials incident. Support is required from an on-duty hazmat team and their specialized equipment. This type of incident involves establishing operational zones (hot/warm/cold) and assigning multiple support divisions and groups. Examples include nine or more contaminated or exposed victims, a large storage tank failure, hazmat railcar failure, or a weapon of mass destruction incident. This incident will require multiple alarms and may expand beyond the identified critical tasking. Recall of off-duty personnel or assistance from auto or mutual aid may occur during a disaster or when additional alarms and command staff are needed.

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Wildland Urban Interface
Low Risk
A single fire unit can manage a low-risk wildland firefighting incident involving a fire minor in scope, structures not threatened, and Red Flag conditions do not exist. These include low risk wildland or grass fires include an outside smoke investigation, illegal or controlled burns, or small vegetation fires.

Moderate Risk
Multiple units are needed to manage a moderate risk wildland firefighting incident involving a significant fire in brush, brush pile at a chipping site, grass, or cultivated vegetation. Red Flag conditions do not exist, and structures may or may not be threatened.

High Risk
Multiple units or alarms are needed to manage a high risk wildland firefighting incident. The level is associated with Red Flag warnings with structures that may or may not be threatened. This fire involves a significant wildfire in brush, grasses, cultivated vegetation.

And woodland areas. Additional alarm assignment, command staff, recall of off-duty personnel, and mutual aid assistance may require the operations to extend beyond the identified critical tasks.

Aircraft Rescue & Firefighting
Low Risk
A single ARFF unit has the capability to manage a low-risk ARFF incident. These incidents, which require an Alert 1 response, involve standbys such as a medevac flight, refueling operations for aircraft with non-ambulatory passengers, or small aircraft on the ground with minor operational issues. The standby may be in the station or in the airport operational area.

Moderate Risk
A moderate ARFF risk is considered an enhanced Alert 1 that includes all the airport's frontline apparatus and staffing. These are staged standbys for in-flight with a mechanical or instrument deficiency but does not normally affect the aircraft landing safely. It may include a feathered propeller on a multi-engine aircraft, overheated engine, low oil pressure, or minor ice buildup.

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High Risk
This is an Alert 2 (less than nine people) on an Alert 2A (nine or more people) and is considered a full airport response. This type of emergency involves inflight aircraft with an operational deflect affecting normal flight operations that an aircraft accident could occur. Examples include the loss of an engine, interior smoke or fire in the aircraft, a malfunctioning landing gear, or low hydraulic pressure. Other support agencies will be assigned to the incident, including law enforcement, EMS, and airport operations staff.

Maximum Risk
This is an Alert 3 (less than nine people) on an Alert 3A (nine or more people) and is a full airport response supported by off-site fire suppression apparatus and staffing. This type of emergency involves inflight aircraft that have been involved in an accident on or near the airport. Other support agencies will be assigned to the incident, including law enforcement, emergency management, EMS, and airport operations staff

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Appendix C: Table of Figures
Figure 1: Population Growth ............................................................................................................ 7 Figure 2: Percentage of Greatest At-Risk Population ................................................................... 8 Figure 3: Percentage of Population with Disabilities ..................................................................... 9 Figure 4: Comparison of Languages Spoken ................................................................................ 9 Figure 5: Median Income Comparison ........................................................................................ 10 Figure 6: Poverty Rates ................................................................................................................... 11 Figure 7: Education Level of Citizens ............................................................................................ 11 Figure 8: Home Occupancy Comparison ................................................................................... 12 Figure 9: Percentage of Homes Built by Decade ....................................................................... 13 Figure 10: Housing Units per Building ............................................................................................. 13 Figure 11: Three-Axis Risk Classification Process ........................................................................... 15 Figure 12: Probability or Likelihood of Occurrence ..................................................................... 17 Figure 13: Consequence to the Community ............................................................................... 17 Figure 14: Impact on Operational Forces .................................................................................... 18 Figure 15: Fire Response Risk Assessment ..................................................................................... 19 Figure 16: EMS Response Risk Assessment .................................................................................... 20 Figure 17: Technical Rescue Response Risk Assessment ............................................................. 21 Figure 18: Hazardous Materials Response Risk Assessment ........................................................ 22 Figure 19: Wildland Fires Response Risk Assessment .................................................................... 23 Figure 20: Aircraft Rescue & Firefighting Response Risk Assessment ......................................... 24 Figure 21: Average Monthly Lows ................................................................................................. 25 Figure 22: Average Monthly Highs ................................................................................................ 26 Figure 23: U.S. Drought Monitor—California ................................................................................. 26 Figure 24: Wind Direction & Speed ............................................................................................... 27 Figure 25: FEMA Flood Zones ......................................................................................................... 29 Figure 26: Approved Housing Projects ......................................................................................... 31 Figure 27: Target Hazards ............................................................................................................... 33 Figure 28: Three-Plus Story Buildings .............................................................................................. 36 Figure 29: Buildings Greater Than 100,000 Square Feet .............................................................. 37 Figure 30: Rail Lines ......................................................................................................................... 41 Figure 31: Electrical Transmission Lines .......................................................................................... 43

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Figure 32: Natural Gas Transmission & High-Pressure Lines ......................................................... 44 Figure 33: Hydrant Locations ......................................................................................................... 46 Figure 34: Property Loss per Capita (2018–2020) ......................................................................... 48 Figure 35: Fire per 1,000 Population .............................................................................................. 49 Figure 36: Intentionally Set Fires ..................................................................................................... 49 Figure 37: ISO Earned & Available Credits ................................................................................... 50 Figure 38: California ISO Classifications ........................................................................................ 51 Figure 39: TFD Organization Chart (2022) ..................................................................................... 53 Figure 40: TFD Service Area ........................................................................................................... 55 Figure 41: Mutual Aid Fire Stations ................................................................................................ 57 Figure 42: City of Tulare Historical General Fund Revenues ....................................................... 59 Figure 43: City of Tulare Historical Tax Revenues by Major Category ....................................... 60 Figure 44: City of Tulare General Fund Expenditures & Fund Balances .................................... 61 Figure 45: TFD Historical Expenditures & Sources of Funding ...................................................... 63 Figure 46: City of Tulare General Fund Financial Forecast ......................................................... 65 Figure 47: TFD Forecast Expenditures ............................................................................................ 66 Figure 48: TFD Administrative & Support Staffing ......................................................................... 68 Figure 49: TFD Emergency Response Staffing .............................................................................. 69 Figure 50: Firefighters per 1,000 Population (NFPA 2020) ............................................................ 70 Figure 51: Mutual Aid Resources ................................................................................................... 70 Figure 52: Criteria Utilized to Determine Fire Station Condition ................................................. 76 Figure 53: TFD Station 61 (Headquarters) ..................................................................................... 77 Figure 54: TFD Station 62 ................................................................................................................. 78 Figure 55: TFD Station 63 ................................................................................................................. 79 Figure 56: Summary of the NVFD Fire Station Features (2022) ................................................... 80 Figure 57: Criteria Used to Determine Apparatus & Vehicle Condition ................................... 83 Figure 58: TFD Frontline Apparatus Inventory (2022) ................................................................... 83 Figure 59: TFD Frontline Command & Staff Vehicles (2022) ....................................................... 84 Figure 60: Economic Theory of Vehicle Replacement ............................................................... 85 Figure 61: Data Skew ...................................................................................................................... 88 Figure 62: Total Incident Count (2018–2022) ................................................................................ 90 Figure 63: All Incident Call Concentration (2018–2022) ............................................................. 92 Figure 64: EMS Incident Density (2018–2022) ............................................................................... 94

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Figure 65: Percentage of EMS Incidents ....................................................................................... 95 Figure 66: Fire Incident Concentration (2018–2022) ................................................................... 96 Figure 67: Top 10 Response Addresses ......................................................................................... 97 Figure 68: Annual Incident Volume (2018–2021) ......................................................................... 98 Figure 69: Percent Incidents by Month (2018–2021) ................................................................... 98 Figure 70: Percent Incidents by Day of the Week (2018–2022) ................................................. 99 Figure 71: Month & Weekday Incidents (2018–2022) ................................................................ 100 Figure 72: Percent Incidents by Hour of Day (2018–2022) ........................................................ 101 Figure 73: Hour & Weekday Incidents (2018–2022) ................................................................... 102 Figure 74: Structure Fires by Hour of Day (2018–2022) .............................................................. 103 Figure 75: ISO 5-Mile Travel Distance .......................................................................................... 104 Figure 76: ISO 1.5-Mile Engine Travel Distance .......................................................................... 105 Figure 77: ISO 2.5-Mile Truck Travel Distance ............................................................................. 106 Figure 78: Frontline Unit Responses by Year (2018–2022) .......................................................... 108 Figure 79: Average Unit Commit Time by Incident Type in Minutes (2018–2022) .................. 109 Figure 80: Unit Hour Utilization Percent by Year ......................................................................... 110 Figure 81: Percent of Apparatus Time Committed to EMS and Other Incidents ................... 111 Figure 82: Concurrent Incidents (2018–2022) ............................................................................. 112 Figure 83: Apparatus per Incident (2018–2022) ......................................................................... 112 Figure 84: Incident Time Segments & Standards ....................................................................... 113 Figure 85: Call Processing by Incident Type (2021–2022) ......................................................... 115 Figure 86: Call Processing by Incident Group & Hour (2021–2022) ......................................... 116 Figure 87: Turnout Time by Unit & Call Type (2021–2022) .......................................................... 117 Figure 88: Turnout Time by Hour with Workload (2021–2022) ................................................... 118 Figure 89: 4-Minute & 8-Minute Travel Times .............................................................................. 119 Figure 90: Travel Time by Incident Type (2021–2022) ................................................................ 121 Figure 91: Travel Time by Hour (2021–2022) ................................................................................ 122 Figure 92: 8-Minute Effective Response Force Levels ............................................................... 123 Figure 93: Travel Time for Four Units, 2021–2022 ......................................................................... 124 Figure 94: Total Response Time—First Due Emergent (2018–2022) .......................................... 125 Figure 95: Total Response Time by Incident Type (2018–2022) ................................................ 126 Figure 96: Total Response by Hour (2018–2022) ......................................................................... 127 Figure 97: Potential Future Fire Station Location ....................................................................... 138

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Appendix D: References
1 United States Census Bureau.
2 Ibid.
3 California Department of Finance.
4 United States Census Bureau.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 United States Census Bureau, American Community Survey. 8 Employment Development Department, State of California; July 22, 2022. 9 National Fire Protection Association, 2007; Urban Fire Safety Project, Emmitsburg, MD. 10 U.S. Census Bureau.
11 U.S. Fire Administration website.
12 Quality Improvement for the Fire and Emergency Services. 13 2017 Tulare County Multi-jurisdictional Local Hazard Mitigation Plan. 14 Salon.com, The ghost of Tulare Lake returns, flooding California’s Central Valley. 15 Topical Fire Report Series, Multifamily Residential Building Fires (2013–2015), June 2017. 16 Infrastructure Security, Department of Homeland Security. 17 Cal Edison website.
18 SoCalGas Website.
19 U.S. Census Bureau.
20 Ibid.
21 Crime Data Explorer, Federal Bureau of Investigation. 12 TFD Interview: Ryan Leonardo, October 6, 2022
22 California Department of Finance.

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23 City of Tulare Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports, FY 2019, FY 2020, FY 2021. 24 Ibid.
25 City of Tulare.
26 City of Tulare Budget, FY 2022.
27 CalPERS Actuarial Valuation, Safety Fire First Tier Plan, June 30, 2021. 28 NFPA 1071: Standard for Emergency Vehicle Technician Professional Qualifications. 29 This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC, creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/.
30 www.isomitigation.com/ppc/technical/criteria-for-deployment-analysis-of-companie. 31 National Fire Protection Association. Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career FIRE DEPARTMENTs.2020) [Appendix D].

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City of Tulare Page 1

CITY OF TULARE

CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
Council Chamber
491 North M Street, Tulare
Tuesday, September 5, 2023
7:00 p.m. - Regular Meeting
COUNCIL PRESENT: Mayor Terry A. Sayre
Vice Mayor Patrick Isherwood
Councilmember Jose Sigala
Councilmember Stephen C. Harrell (left at 9 p.m.)
Councilmember Dennis A. Mederos
STAFF PRESENT: City Manager Marc Mondell; City Attorney Mario Zamora; Chief Deputy City Clerk Melissa Hermann; Assistant City Manager Josh McDonnell; Chief Financial Officer Diego
Ibanez; City Engineer Michael Miller; Public Works Director Trisha Whitfield; Community Services Director Jason Glick; Police Chief Fred Ynclan; Fire Chief Michael Ott; Human Resources Director Janice Avila; Community Development
Director Mario Anaya; Executive Director of Economic
Development and Redevelopment Traci Myers; Chief
Technology Officer Jason Bowling; Safety, Compliance &
Facilities Officer Manny Correa; Senior Housing & Grants Specialist Alexis Costales
Proper notice of this meeting was given pursuant to Government Code Section 54954.2.

1. CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Sayre called the regular meeting of the City Council to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber located at 491 North M Street.

2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE AND INVOCATION
Councilmember Harrell led the Pledge of Allegiance, and an invocation was given by Albert Hudson, Senior Pastor of Holy Faith Church of God in Christ.

3. PRESENTATIONS

3.1 Proclamation for Suicide Prevention Month - September 2023.

3.2 Proclamation for Hispanic Heritage Month - September 15-October 15, 2023. It was the consensus of Council for this proclamation to be read and presented at the September 19 meeting.

3.3 Self-Help Enterprise Update. Betsy McGovern-Garcia provided an update on Eden House and other projects specific to Tulare.

3.4 Tulare Municipal Airport Update. Safety, Compliance & Facilities Officer Manny Correa provided on update on various airport activities.

Item #: 10.2
Consent
City Council Meeting Minutes September 5, 2023
City of Tulare Page 2

4. PUBLIC COMMENTS
The following provided public comment: Manny Gomez regarding the need for a crosswalk on Paseo Del Lago east of the school; and Donnette Silva-Carter provided an update on Chamber events.

5. COMMUNICATIONS
City Manager Marc Mondell advised there were no communications.

6. COUNCIL REPORTS AND ITEMS OF INTEREST
Council reported out on recent events and discussed items of interest.

7. CONSENT CALENDAR
Item 7.5 was removed from the Consent Calendar by Council.

It was moved by Councilmember Mederos, seconded by Councilmember Harrell, and unanimously carried to approve the items on the Consent Calendar as presented except for item 7.5.

7.1 Waive the reading of ordinances and approve reading by title only.

Recommended Action: Approve the reading by title only of all ordinances and that further reading of such ordinances be waived.

7.2 Special and/or Regular Meeting Minutes of August 15, 2023.

Recommended Action: Approve as submitted. [M. Hermann]

7.3 Paige Industrial Preliminary Oversize Agreement.

Recommended Action: Authorize the City Manager to execute a preliminary oversize construction reimbursement agreement with CA Industrial Tulare, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company for construction costs associated with the Paige Industrial Warehouse development that are eligible for reimbursement in accordance with Chapter 8.64 of the Municipal Code, subject only to minor conforming and clarifying changes acceptable to the City Attorney and City Manager. [M. Miller]

7.4 EN0094 NV5 Contract Amendment.

Recommended Action: Approve and authorize the City Manager to sign a contract amendment in the amount of $56,008.96 with NV5, Inc. for additional construction inspection services related to City Project EN0094 – Sycamore/San Joaquin Improvements, a street and utility improvement project between O Street and Blackstone Street, and between Tulare Avenue and San Joaquin Avenue; and authorize the City Manager or designee to approve contract change orders in an amount not to exceed 10% of the revised contract amount. [M. Miller]

7.6 Little Caesars Deferred Improvement Agreement.

Recommended Action: Approve a short-term deferred improvement agreement with Gussan Shedid to defer the construction of a City standard trash enclosure associated with the Little Caesars development. [M. Miller] City Council Meeting Minutes September 5, 2023
City of Tulare Page 3

7.7 Gomez Property Acquisition for Cross Avenue CIP.

Recommended Action: Authorize the City Manager to complete and execute, after the close of escrow, the documents necessary to purchase property located as a portion of APN 168-340-003 in the amount of $15,000 for public right-of-way required by Project EN0074, subject only to minor conforming and clarifying changes acceptable to the City Attorney and City Manager. [M. Miller]

7.8 Agreement for Auditor Services with Price, Paige & Company.

Recommended Action: Approve a 1-year agreement with Price, Paige & Company for administration and completion of the Fiscal Year 2022-2023 audit, Single Audit, and Transportation Development Act audit. [D. Ibañez]

7.9 Resolution of Support for SALC Planning Grant.

Recommended Action: Adopt a resolution authorizing application for and receipt of Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation (SALC) Planning Grant Funds and authorize the City Manager to execute the City of Tulare SALC Planning Grants Program Application, the SALC Planning Grant documents, and any amendments thereto, on behalf of the City of Tulare as required by the California Department of Conservation for receipt of the SALC Planning Grant. [M. Anaya]

PULLED CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS

7.5 PK0012 Elk Bayou Soccer Complex Parking Lot Project.

Recommended Action: Approve updated CIP Project PK0012, an improvement project to the three existing dirt soccer field parking lot areas at the Elk Bayou Soccer Complex; and approve the revised budget to $70,000.00. [J. Glick] Council Action: Councilmember Mederos pulled this item for clarification. It was moved by Councilmember Mederos, seconded by Councilmember Harrell, and unanimously carried to approve the item as presented.

8. GENERAL BUSINESS

8.1 Adoption of ERF-2-R Grant Allocations.

Recommended Action: Adopt a resolution approving the allocation of Encampment Resolution Funding Program Round 2 Rolling Disbursement (ERF2-R) grant funds in the total amount of $4,785,086 to street outreach, services coordination, systems support, rapid rehousing, interim sheltering, operating subsidies, and administrative activities in accordance with the City’s ERF-2-R application and allocations outlined in the resolution; and authorize the City Manager or his/her designee to execute service agreements, any amendments thereto, and any and all other documents or instruments necessary or required by the California Interagency Council on Homelessness for participation in the ERF Program.

Presented By: Senior Housing & Grants Specialist Alexis Costales Public Comment: None
Council Action: Vice Mayor Isherwood recused himself due to a business conflict of interest and left the dais. It was moved by Councilmember Mederos and seconded by Mayor Sayre to approve the item as presented. Mayor Sayre called for a roll call vote.

City Council Meeting Minutes September 5, 2023
City of Tulare Page 4
AYES: Councilmember Mederos, Mayor Sayre, Councilmember Sigala
NOES: None
RECUSAL: Vice Mayor Isherwood
ABSENT: Councilmember Harrell
MOTION PASSED 3-0

8.2 First Reading of Ordinance to Amend Title 5 (Business Regulations) of the Tulare Municipal Code.

Recommended Action: Pass-to-print an ordinance amending Title 5 (Business Regulations) of the Tulare Municipal Code to add Chapter 5.62 (Disqualification of Contractors for Public Works Contracts).

Presented By: City Engineer Michael Miller
Public Comment: None
Council Action: It was moved by Councilmember Mederos and seconded by Mayor Sayre to approve the item as presented. Mayor Sayre called for a roll call vote.

AYES: Councilmember Mederos, Mayor Sayre, Councilmember Sigala, Vice Mayor Isherwood
NOES: None
ABSENT: Councilmember Harrell
MOTION PASSED 4-0

8.3 PK0033 Zumwalt Park Renovation Project. This item was taken out of order and discussed prior to General Business items 8.1 and 8.2.

Recommended Action: Award and authorize the City Manager to sign contracts related to the construction of City Project PK0033 to renovate Zumwalt Park; authorize the City Manager or his designee to approve contract change orders in an amount not to exceed 10% of each contract amount; and approve the revised project sheet.

Task Description Contractor Amount

1. Construction Contractor Caliber Contracting Services, Inc. of Fresno, CA
$11,964,000

2. Construction
Management &
Inspection
4Creeks of Visalia, CA $596,570

3. Materials Testing Krazan & Associates of Clovis,
CA
$29,765

4. Construction Surveying Lane Engineers of Tulare, CA $67,700

5. Labor Compliance Silvera Consulting of Galt, CA $31,780 Presented By: City Engineer Michael Miller and City Manager Marc Mondell Public Comment: The following provided comments in support of the project:

Janet Lebaron, Adrian Herrera, Marina Rojas, John Harman, Michael Wells, Michael Limas, Don Lebaron, Donnette Silva-Carter, Josue De Lima, and Susan Henard. The following provided comments in opposition to the project: Jason Bender.

City Council Meeting Minutes September 5, 2023
City of Tulare Page 5
Council Action: It was the consensus of Council to table the item for further discussion at a future meeting.

9. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

9.1 Analyze and Review Street Parking Ordinance.

Recommended Action: It was the consensus of Council to have staff add this item to a future agenda at the convenience of staff.

10. STAFF UPDATES
Staff provided updates on department activities.

11. RECESS TO CLOSED SESSION TO DISCUSS THE FOLLOWING ITEMS

11.1 Conference with Labor Negotiators (Govt. Code § 54957.6) Agency Designated Representatives: Mario Zamora, Marc Mondell, Josh McDonnell, Janice Avila, Michael Ott
Employee Organization: Tulare City Professional Fire Fighters Association Non-Management; Tulare City Professional Fire Fighters Association Management; and Tulare City Professional Fire Fighters Association Division Chief Officer Group
Council recessed to closed session at 10:38 p.m.

12. RECONVENE FROM CLOSED SESSION
Council reconvened from closed session at 10:57 p.m.

13. CLOSED SESSION REPORT
Council advised there was no reportable action.

14. ADJOURNMENT
The regular meeting was adjourned at 10:57 p.m.

Approved by Council: September 19, 2023

TERRY A. SAYRE, MAYOR
ATTEST:

MARC MONDELL, CITY CLERK
__________________________________
By Melissa Hermann, Chief Deputy City Clerk
Staff Report
Meeting: City Council
Date: September 19, 2023
Department: Engineering Services - Engineering
Submitted by: Michael Miller, City Engineer
Agenda Title: Second Reading and Adoption of Ordinance 2023-08

RECOMMENDED ACTION
Adopt Ordinance 2023-08 amending Title 5 (Business Regulations) of the Tulare Municipal Code to add Chapter 5.62 (Disqualification of Contractors for Public Works Contracts).

SUMMARY
Currently, the City of Tulare adheres to the provisions of Section 23 (Purchase by Contract or in the Open Market) and Section 46 (Public Works to Be Done by Contract) of the City Charter, and Public Contract Code with regard to the procurement of contractor services for City capital improvement projects. None of the sources provide for the means of disqualifying contractors on the basis on past performance on City projects. As a result, the City has no option but to award contracts based on the “lowest responsive bidder” basis. On several occasions, this has resulted in City contracts being awarded to contractors who have a demonstrated history of either not being willing or able to comply with approved project plans and specifications. The City has incurred significant costs related to staff time, additional materials testing, and legal representation whilst trying to ensure that such contractors take corrective actions to remedy deficient work. In several instances, the City has opted to apply payment reductions and accept said deficient work. While such measures are in accordance with allowable provisions of state standard specifications, they are not ideal, as the City does not end up with the quality of product desired. The service life of improvements that fail to meet specifications is likely to be shorter than expected, ultimately leading to increased maintenance costs to the City.

The proposed ordinance will add a new Chapter (5.62) to the City Municipal Code to provide mechanisms for the City to disqualify contractors on City public works contracts.

On September 5, 2023, following discussion, Council passed-to-print this ordinance.

FISCAL IMPACT & FUNDING SOURCE(S)
The proposed ordinance could result in significant savings to the City through the reduction of legal fees associated with resolving contract disputes when dealing with a nonresponsive contractor, and through reducing anticipated maintenance costs associated with non-standard work being performed on City public works projects.

LEGAL REVIEW
This item was reviewed by legal counsel.

ALTERNATIVE ACTION

1. Approve with changes – Staff would work with the City Attorney to revise the Ordinance to incorporate any changes requested by City Council.

2. Deny – No further action would be taken by staff.

3. Table – Staff would await further direction from City Council.

Item #: 10.3
Consent

10.3 Consent Page 1

ATTACHMENTS

1. Ordinance 2023-08
Reviewed/Approved:

10.3 Consent Page 2
ORDINANCE 2023-08

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TULARE ADDING CHAPTER 5.62 (DISQUALIFICATION OF CONTRACTORS FOR PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS) TO TITLE 5 OF THE TULARE MUNICIPAL CODE

THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TULARE, CALIFORNIA, DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. CODE AMENDMENT. Chapter 5.62 of Title 5 of the Tulare Municipal Code is hereby added to read as follows:

CHAPTER 5.62

DISQUALIFICATION OF CONTRACTORS FOR PUBLIC WORKS CONTRACTS Sections:

5.62.010 Application.

5.62.020 Definitions.

5.62.030 Disqualification: effect.

5.62.040 Notice.

5.62.050 Grounds for disqualification.

5.62.060 Existence of grounds

5.62.070 Scope of disqualification.

5.62.080 Period of disqualification.

5.62.090 Disqualification procedures.

5.62.100 Appeal to City Manager.

5.62.110 Review of decision.

5.62.120 Requirement to submit information.

5.62.130 Doing Business with a disqualified person.

5.62.140 Existing contracts.

5.62.150 List of disqualified persons.

5.62.010 Application.

This chapter shall apply to all contracts awarded by or entered into by the City, including, without limitation, purchases, contracts or leases for supplies, materials or equipment; contracts for professional and nonprofessional services; contracts for public works or construction projects; and contracts with insurance or surety companies issuing insurance policies or bonds for city public works or construction projects, citysponsored events or privately-sponsored events at city facilities. The provisions of this chapter are intended to determine in advance of submittal of bids or proposals on city contracts whether a person has the necessary qualifications, fitness, capacity, integrity and trustworthiness to perform city contracts. Nothing in this chapter shall limit the city’s ability to determine prior to or at the time of contract award whether a bid or proposal is responsive to the city’s solicitation for bids or proposals and whether the person

10.3 Consent Page 3 ATTACHMENT 1
ORDINANCE 2023-08

Page 2 ends

Tulare City CouncilSeptember 19, 2023

Tulare City Council
September 19, 2023