Pilot program presentation

Purpose
City Council Strategic Priorities Goal 1 
To improve emergency care and response time for the 
residents of El Mirage. 
Provide direction for the fire department to move 
forward with a pilot program or to maintain 
current level of service without the pilot 
program.

Background
The Automatic Aid Consortium standard for 
Battalion Chief Emergency Response Vehicles (BC), 
is constant staffing of one Battalion Chief and one 
Battalion Safety Officer (BSO) on each vehicle.

Background cont.
Due to budgetary constraints the El Mirage Fire 
Department (EMFD) is unable to staff a BSO for 
BC121.
Arizona Fire and Medical Authority (AFMA) has 
both BC and BSO positions budgeted to constantly 
staff BC101.

Background cont.
Each AFMA BC is assigned major programs in 
addition to their duties as emergency responders.  
A partnership between both agencies would provide 
increased operational capacity for EMFD and 
increased administrative capacity for AFMA.

Proposal
Pilot program to constant staff one BC emergency 
response vehicle (BC121) and one District Chief 
emergency response vehicle (DC101) with existing 
staff. 
BC staffing from EMFD with BC and BSO staffing 
from AFMA will provide both communities with 
two staffed command vehicles 24 hours,           
seven days a week.

Proposal cont.
Addition of one AFMA Captain per day can be 
accommodated at FS121 without additional 
expense.
No additional expense for AFMA with staffing.
Pilot program will run for six months beginning 
on February 1, 2020.

Proposal cont.
Operations Chiefs will evaluate the program every 
month.
Summary document provided at end of the pilot 
to both governing boards.
Program can be extended for two one year terms if 
approved by governing bodies.

Summary
The pilot will be beneficial to both agencies. 
The pilot will not require any additional funding for 
either agency.
The addition of BSOs for EMFD will enhance 
emergency scene safety to counterbalance 
department attrition over the last few years.