Pilot program proposal
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Proposal for Shared Staffing of Battalion Chief Emergency Response Vehicle Pilot Program December 2019 1 12/11/2019 Contents Executive Summary ................................................. 2 Background ............................................................. 3 Proposal .................................................................. 4 2 12/11/2019 Executive Summary Fire departments are challenged with increasing service demands without a comparable increase in funding due to budgetary constraints. Cooperative agreements that provide enhanced service delivery are the basis of the Phoenix Metropolitan Automatic Aid System. This proposal is a continuation of existing automatic aid shared resources among Arizona Fire and Medical Authority and El Mirage Fire Department. 3 12/11/2019 Background Fire departments are challenged every year with additional service requirements due to increased emergency call volume and additional service requests that historically may not have fallen under the fire service umbrella. We must also adjust to tighter budget and system constraints. It is imperative that fire department leaders continue to streamline service delivery and create partnerships that allow us to provide an excellent customer service experience while maintaining the health and safety of our firefighters. The Automatic Aid Consortium standard for Battalion Chief Emergency Response Vehicles (BC), which all municipal and district fire departments in the Metropolitan Phoenix Area belong to, is constant staffing of one Battalion Chief and one Battalion Safety Officer (BSO) on each vehicle. El Mirage Fire Department (EMFD) is unable to constant staff either position, and when the assigned Battalion Chief is absent due to scheduled or unscheduled leave, BC121 is taken out of service in place of backfilling with overtime. Additionally, there is not a BSO/ISO budgeted for BC121 at this time. Arizona Fire and Medical Authority (AFMA) has both positions budgeted to be constantly staffed for BC101. Each of their three Battalion Chiefs is assigned major department programs in addition to their duties as emergency responders. These programs in larger departments would normally be managed by employees on a 40-hour work schedule. A partnership between both agencies that would provide increased operational capacity for EMFD and increased administrative capacity for AFMA would be beneficial for all agencies. A partnership that can be created without additional financial impact would be fiscally beneficial for all communities. The following proposal would provide the aforementioned increase in capacity within current budget limitations. 4 12/11/2019 Proposal The Fire Chiefs from AFMA and EMFD support entering into an intergovernmental agreement for a pilot partnership to constant staff one Battalion Chief emergency response vehicle and one District Chief emergency response vehicle with existing staff. The staffing pilot program would use Battalion Chief staffing from El Mirage Fire Department, and Battalion Chief and Captain/BSO staffing from Arizona Fire and Medical Authority to provide both communities with two staffed command vehicles 24 hours, seven days a week. The proposed staffing model would be: BC 121 BSO DC 101 A-Shift BC121 El Mirage AFMA ---- A-Shift DC101 ---- ---- AFMA B-Shift BC121 El Mirage AFMA ---- B-Shift DC101 ---- ---- AFMA C-Shift BC121 El Mirage AFMA ---- C-Shift DC101 ---- ---- AFMA If this proposed pilot is approved, the term of the agreement would be for six months with two additional two-year terms if approved by the Fire Chiefs. The agreement would start on February 1, 2020, and the co-staffed Battalion vehicle will operate from Fire Station 121 in El Mirage, while the District vehicle would likely operate from Fire Station 101 in Sun City West. The addition of one AFMA Captain per day can be accommodated by existing space in Fire Station 121 and no additional expense will be generated for either agency with this pilot program. When the Battalion Chief from El Mirage is off for sick or vacation leave AFMA can send an additional employee to staff BC121 if AFMA staffing is available. If AFMA staffing is not available the AFMA Captain/BSO can assist with staffing DC101 and BC121 will be out of service, which currently occurs due to staffing limitations with El Mirage Fire Department. Emergency response by both vehicles into AFMA and EMFD areas of responsibility will occur through automatic aid dispatching. The Operations Chiefs would manage the operational effectiveness of the 5 12/11/2019 pilot study for each of the departments. Monthly meetings of the Operations Chiefs would be held to determine the effectiveness of the program and make any necessary adjustments. The Fire Chiefs and Operations Chiefs will meet quarterly to evaluate the study and provide feedback to their respective administrators. A summary document will be prepared at the end of the six-month pilot and given to all governing bodies; included will be a recommendation for continued partnership or discontinuation of the program.