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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 08182015 - FPD D.4RECOMMENDATION(S): ACCEPT a report from the Fire Chief providing a status summary for ongoing Fire District activities and initiatives. FISCAL IMPACT: No fiscal impact. BACKGROUND: At the request of the Contra Costa County Fire Board of Directors, the Fire Chief is providing a report on the status and progress of the various District initiatives. APPROVE OTHER RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE Action of Board On: 08/18/2015 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER Clerks Notes: VOTE OF SUPERVISORS AYE:John Gioia, Director Candace Andersen, Director Mary N. Piepho, Director Karen Mitchoff, Director ABSENT:Federal D. Glover, Director Contact: Jeff Carman, 925-941-3500 I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown. ATTESTED: August 18, 2015 David Twa, County Administrator and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors By: June McHuen, Deputy cc: D.4 To:Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Board of Directors From:Jeff Carman, Chief, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Date:August 18, 2015 Contra Costa County Subject:Fire Chief's Report ATTACHMENTS Fire Chief's Report - August 2015 2010 Geary Road, Pleasant Hill, C A 94523-4619 ● (925) 941-3300 ● www.cccfpd.org Contra Costa County Fire Protection District August 18, 2015 TO: Board of Directors FROM: Jeff Carman, Fire Chief RE: Fire Chief’s Report ____________________________________________________________________________ July was an extremely busy month for the Fire District. During the month we responded to over 4,100 incidents. Of that 344 were fires, including 80 structure fires (many multiple alarm fires), 105 wildland fires, and 159 other fires including rubbish, vehi cle, and outside fires. The District was awarded the Countywide emergency ambulance transport contract last month. The District is the contractor with the County, and AMR will be the subcontractor. Negotiations with the EMS agency have yet to begin, but we anticipate that occurring in September. Once that is complete, the District will then negotiate the final contract with AMR and both contracts will go back to the Board of Supervisors for their approval. The transport contract will be effective January 2016. Some key points of the contract are that both agencies’ dispatch centers will be co-located in the District’s Communications Center, the District will be eligible for federal funding, and the District will have better control of the transport resources, allowing us to send the most appropriate resource to incidents. The District is in the final stages of contracting with Fire Stats, LLC for the reporting of performance data. The business founder, Paul Rottenberg, is a nationally recognized expert in the reporting of fire data and along with the on -line tools his company provides, we will also have his direct consultation expertise available to us. The District has been in discussions with both Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection District and East Contra Costa Fire Protection District to determine what, if anything, ConFire can do to help their situation. The Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection District board directed Chief Hanley to discontinue negotiations with other agencies at this time. I continue to represent ConFire at the East County Emergency Task Force that was put together last month. Chief Henderson and I continue to discuss ways that East Contra Costa Fire can reduce its dependency on ConFire resources due to a significant increase in responses to their district. I am confident we can work to reduce the number of calls. It is not a good position for either agency to be in, but it is the situation we are faced with. Board of Directors August 18, 2015 Page 2 The District continues to work with the City of San Pablo to minimize the cost of the new squad living quarters at Fire Station 70. A meeting of all parties including officials from the District, the City, the architects, and County building officials was productive and another meeting is scheduled this month. Building plans have been submitted to the City for their review. I would like to recognize the efforts of our fire investigation unit. This specialized unit is staffed with three investigators and a supervisor who carry a very heavy workload. I have been impressed by the passion these personnel have, not only for investigating fires and prosecuting arsonists, but also with educating others on the trends they encounter in the course of their duties. A recent example is the training workshop they developed to educate other agencies on grow houses and hash oil labs. In the last few months, our investigators have been working night and day to identify and arrest an individual that we believe to be responsible for a significant number of wildland fires in the District. District investigators worked very closely with CalFire, the Sheriff’s Office, and the District Attorney’s Office to arrest this individual at the right time and ensure they had sufficient evidence to prosecute. The District and the Sheriff’s Office have been working together for several months on a joint helicopter program. The program places a fire captain/paramedic on the helicopter each day it is in operation to provide an aerial command platform, provide emergency medical care to patients in remote locations, to rescue victims from remote locations and move them to a location where ground transportation can be used, and to dump water on wildland fires in local jurisdictions. The current program is on a trial basis that will last through the end of fire season, after which the District will assess the program’s efficacy.