Week 2 Seminar Chapter Evaluation and Risk Management Planning of Public Fire Protection 1

Objectives The Background Issues Concerning Fire Protection The Importance of Planning and Evaluation Process for Public Fire Protection 2

Objectives Public Fire Classifications and Planning Fire Defenses The Risk Management Process The Summary Steps to Developing A Risk Management Plan 3

Background Issues in Fire Protection Escalating costs –Fire stations –Numbers of personnel on duty –Technical and operational issues Individual versus national standards Noncompliance Fire chief responsibilities Citizens right to know Demands for municipal funds 4

Development of a Communities Long Range Plan What will the community look like in the future –Past development –Demographic changes –Economic development –Roadways –Annexations –building projects 5

Development of a Communities Long Range Plan- Fire protection Strength and weaknesses of existing fire protection system Codes and standards Fire prevention efforts Training and support Public safety education programs Emergency response capability 6

Development of a Communities Long Range Plan- projected Needs Projecting the capacity and capabilities of the fire protection system Strategic and tactical planning Assessing the existing system versus projected times –Efficiency –Cost effectiveness –Economies of scale –Sound business practices 7

Steps in Planning Two aspects of any plan –The plan itself –The process by which the plan is developed For a plan to evolve successfully, planners must decide the end results they wish to achieve –Goals –Evaluation –Details 8

Strategic Planning Careful consideration of important factors within community –Assetts –Liabilites –challenges –Resources Fire protection and other public safety services 9

Evaluation In addition to assessing the capabilities of fire protection, planners must evaluate several factors –Known combustibles –Life hazards –Fire frequency –Climate –Demographics –Specific role of fire protection in providing fire protection to the community 10

Evaluation The evaluation of local fire suppression capability is a necessary effort for two primary reasons. First, most communities have little understanding of either the level of local protection available, or the level necessary for reasonable community well-being. 11

Evaluation Second, the time availability of volunteers is quite limited, and the cost of full-time career personnel typically is significant. The actual number of available crew members—while exceedingly important— may not be realized by nonfire officials and citizens. 12

Evaluation Two concepts are useful in local suppression considerations. First is the “capability” of the fire department to respond within a short time with sufficient trained personnel and equipment to rescue any trapped occupants and confine the fire to the room or building of origin on initial attack 13

Evaluation The second concept is that of “capacity,” which is the ability of the fire department to respond adequately to multiple-alarm incidents (“sustained attacks”) and/or simultaneous calls of any type, including emergency medical responses 14

Evaluation A common rule of thumb is that a community using on-duty crews at fire stations should be able to have an initial attack team composed of an entire first- alarm response on the scene within approximately 10 min of receipt of the alarm. This equates to about 8 min of running time. 15

Evaluation Another rule of thumb is that, for a totally volunteer, nonstaffed station, the average time from when a call is received to the moment a crewed vehicle leaves the station can be about 6 min. In those situations, then, the “call to on-scene time” for a 6-min run is about 12 min for one or more vehicles 16

Operating Personnel Safety Concerns Staffing fire apparatus at a level below minimum requirements can result in less effective and less safe fire-fighting performance 17

Operating Personnel Safety Concerns Personnel requirements are not merely a matter of numerical strength, but are also based on the establishment of a well- trained and coordinated team necessary to utilize complicated and specialized equipment under the stress of emergency conditions 18

Operating Personnel Safety Concerns Fire department response requirements are now based on the water flow in gpm (L/min) that may have to be applied. A rule of thumb is to provide one company for each 250 gpm ( L/min) that may be needed in an interior attack, plus personnel for rescue and other operations that need to be performed simultaneously with the advancing of hose lines. 19

Operating Personnel Safety Concerns Time is another critical factor in the evaluation of public fire protection. It is generally considered that the first-arriving piece of apparatus should be at the emergency scene in 5 min of the sounding of the alarm. 20

Fire Prevention Without careful and systematic long-term record keeping concerning the incidence of fires, fire losses, and related tragedies, the effect of prevention programs cannot be documented. 21

Fire Prevention Prevention activities may be categorized in several ways, but it is usually helpful to group them as follows: 1. Activities that relate to construction, such as building codes, the approval of building and facility plans, and occupancy certification and recertification for new occupants. 22

Fire Prevention 2. Activities that relate to the enforcement of codes and regulations, such as inspections of certain occupancies, the licensure of certain hazardous facilities, the design of new regulations and codes, and legislation to adopt existing model codes. 23

Fire Prevention 3. Activities that relate to the reduction of arson, such as fire investigation, the collection of information, public education, and data related to setting fires. 4. Activities that relate to the collection of data helpful in improving fire protection, such as standardized fire reporting, case histories, and fire research. 24

Fire Prevention 5. Activities that relate to public education and training, including fire prevention safeguards, evacuation and personal safety steps, plant protection training for in dustrial and other work groups. 25

Fire Protection Classifications Goal is find a generally accepted method for the evaluation of services provided to a community National Fire Protection Association Insurance Services Office (ISO) Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) Grading Schedule For Municipal Fire Protection 26

Insurance Services Office (ISO) With improved ratings, fire insurance companies that subscribe to the ISO rating system may lower commercial fire insurance premiums and may lower residential rates in certain instances. 27

Insurance Services Office (ISO) At least one insurance company is using a somewhat broader approach to determine premium costs, by reviewing total insurance costs for all hazards across zip code or other defined areas. 28

Insurance Services Office (ISO) The Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) produces 10 different Public Protection Classifications, with Class 1 receiving the most rate recognition and Class 10 receiving no recognition. 29

Goal Setting Concepts Adequate level of fire protection Reasonable community costs Acceptable risk These matters determine what functions and emphasis should be assigned to the fire department and private sectors 30

Planning for Fire Defense Whenever a community deciders on its fire defenses, it must scrutinize the past and present and make predictions or forecasts for the future. Reviewing the past is called data analysis and depends on good record keeping. 31

Planning for Fire Defense Evaluation, which is looking at the present, requires the ability to examine a situation objectively. Feedback loop, provides a continuing assessment of how well the plan is contributing to successful completion of goals and objectives, and feeding revised data back into the plan so continuing redesign occurs. 32

Planning for Fire Defense To be adequate, the fire protection system must respond to local conditions, and especially to changing conditions. Planning is the key: Without local-level planning, the fire protection system is apt to be ill-suited to local needs and unadaptable to the changing needs of the community. 33

Planning for Fire Defense Reasonable Community Costs. Fire, both as threat and reality, has its costs, including deaths, injuries, property losses, hospital bills, and lost tax revenues, plus the costs of maintaining fire departments, paying fire insurance premiums, and providing built-in fire protection. 34

Planning for Fire Defense Acceptable Risk. A certain level of fire loss must be accepted as tolerable simply because of limited resources of a community. Conditions that endanger the safety of citizens and fire fighters beyond the acceptable risk must be identified as targets for mitigation. 35

Master Planning The fire protection master plan should not only seek to provide the maximum cost- benefit ratio for fire protection expenditures, but it should also establish a framework for measuring the effectiveness of these expenditures. 36

Master Planning Master planning is a participative process which should result in the establishment of a fire prevention and control system which are goal-oriented, long-term, comprehensive, provides known cost/loss performance, and adapts continually to the changing needs of your community. 37

Master Planning Master planning has three phases: preplanning, planning, and implementation. The preplanning phase gets necessary commitments, committees, estimates and schedules, and go ahead approvals. 38

Master Planning The planning phase gathers and analyzes data, sets goals and objectives, determines an acceptable level of fire protection service, identifies alternatives, and constructs the plan. The implementation phase never ends, because the plan is ongoing and always being revised and updated. 39

Master Planning Competing agencies for available funds Fire protection master plan within overall plan and time frame Developing and presenting master fire protection plan’ –Phase I –Phase II –Phase III –Phase IV 40

Risk Management Plan Ch.5 Effective risk management can save your life while ineffective risk management can cost your life NFPA 1500 requirements –Application of risk management –Risk and risk management –Responding agencies –Different types of risk management –Risk management for emergency incidents 41

Risk Management Plan Many people believe that risk management is an administrative exercise. It is not. Rather, it is a decision-making process that each and every one of us uses continually in our everyday lives. It provides a systematic method for making choices 42

Risk Management Plan Since risk management as a discipline has been used successfully for years by other organizations, it seemed the appropriate vehicle for fire departments as well. 43

Risk Management Plan The section that addresses risk management for emergency operations is found in Chapter 6 of NFPA In a nutshell, the requirements of NFPA 1500: Stress the practicality of applying effective risks management techniques Define risk and the risk management process 44

Risk Management Plan Highlight the risk management differences between an organization that responds to emergencies and one that doesn’t. Outline the different types of risk management that an emergency services organization can utilize. Address risk management for emergency incidents, including the components of the risk management toolbox. 45

The Risk Management Process The effective management of risk is a process, not a static event or a document that resides in a binder. As such, it has various components and definitions associated with it. The process is composed of a series of logical steps, similar to a decision tree, that lead us to a course of action. 46

Steps To Developing A Risk Management Plan Step 1 –Overview and written report Step 2 –Understand risk management process Step 3 –Pre emergency risk management and plan Step 4 –Conclusions and recommendations 47

Summary Public fire protection is developments through a variety of planning and evaluation methods Considering and utilizing planning processes is critical to the future of fire protection Public fire classifications should be considered throughout the planning process Risk management for the department and community allows for a valuable planning tool 48