Honorable Mayor and Members of the Hermosa Beach City Council Regular Meeting of April 23, 2019
Title
LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT AND
MCCORMICK AMBULANCE QUARTERLY UPDATE
(Emergency Services Coordinator Brandy Villanueva)
Body
Recommended Action:
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the City Council receive and file the Los Angeles County Fire Department and McCormick Ambulance services first quarter update review for the period of January 1, 2019-March 31, 2019.
Body
Executive Summary:
The City of Hermosa Beach is entering the second year of the Los Angeles County Fire Department annexation contract. This report is the first quarter review of fire and transport services provided by Los Angeles County Fire Department and McCormick Ambulance for 2019. Staff continues to work with both departments to ensure the highest level of service is provided to the community and to identify trends in service.
Background:
The City of Hermosa Beach entered into a ten-year agreement with Los Angeles County Fire Department and a five-year agreement with McCormick ambulance in 2017. Both service providers began providing service to the community on December 31, 2017 and have completed the first year of each respective contract.
Analysis:
The first quarter of 2019, encompassing service provided between January 1, 2019-March 31, 2019, indicates that Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to 371 incidents with an average response time of 4:55 minutes. During the first quarter of 2018, Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to 430 incidents with an average response time of 4.08 minutes. There were 43 less calls for service in 2019 compared to 2018 for the same period of time.
As a reminder, Los Angeles County Fire Department defines the Average Response Time as the time that the first-arriving units, which excludes Lifeguard units, are en route and arrive at each incident and includes emergency and non-emergency calls. Dispatch and turn out time are not included in the Los Angeles County Fire Department average response time. Attachment 1 provides the incident type and average response times for first quarter responses for 2018 and 2019 for both Los Angeles County Fire and McCormick Ambulance services.
Los Angeles County Fire Department continues to partner with surrounding jurisdictions to provide automatic aid. Attachment 2 indicates that surrounding jurisdictions, labeled as Area G Cities responded into Hermosa Beach to provide automatic aid twice during the quarter while Los Angeles County Fire Department, labeled as the Fire District has responded 54 times into Area G cities to provide automatic aid during the quarter.
Attachment 3 provides a comparison of mutual aid responses for the first quarter of both 2018 and 2019.
Special Events:
Los Angeles County Fire Department assisted in the pre-planning for the St. Patrick’s Day parade and Hearts of Hermosa events, which occurred in March of 2019. Station 100 participated in the St. Patrick’s Day parade on March 16, 2019.
Fire Station Construction:
The Fire Station Construction team consisting of City staff and Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel meets monthly on the third Tuesday of each month at 2 p.m. to discuss the fire station construction. The plans were submitted and approved by the City of Hermosa Beach Community Development Department in March of 2019. Construction is anticipated to begin on May of 2019. In February of 2019, an informational item was submitted to City Council which included the scope of work, building rendering, and the interior layout of the station.
(<http://www.hermosabch.org/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=11815> - Attachment 4)
Fire Prevention:
Annual business fire inspections began on March 1, 2019. During the first quarter, 29 inspections were completed.
Film Permit:
Community Resources and Los Angeles County Fire Department have processed and approved 11 film permits.
Community Resources and the Los Angeles County Fire Department processed 13 film permits in the first quarter of 2018. There were two less film permits in the first quarter of 2019 than in the first quarter of 2018. Attachment 5 outlines the dates and locations of the 2019 film permits.
McCormick Ambulance:
McCormick Ambulance conducted 201 transports and were cancelled 100 times during the first quarter of 2019. In 2018, McCormick conducted 221 transports and were cancelled 107 times for the same time period. There was a difference of 20 transports and 6 cancelled transports during the first quarter of 2018 and 2019.
General Plan Consistency:
This report and associated recommendation have been evaluated for their consistency with the City’s General Plan. Relevant policies are listed below:
Governance Element:
1.6 Long-term considerations. Prioritize decisions that provide long-term community benefit and discourage decisions that provide short-term community benefit but reduce long-term opportunities.
Public Safety Element
5.1 High level of response. Achieve optimal utilization of allocated public safety resources and provide desired levels of response and protection within the community.
5.4 Adequate emergency access. Require new development to be designed to provide adequate emergency access and to maintain current levels of emergency services.
Fiscal Impact:
As stated in the Los Angeles County Fire Department agreement, the estimated cost of the fire station construction is $1,818,360, with payments commencing in January of 2019 and payable to the County over a five-year period. Funding for the fire station construction along with fire and ambulance services is included in the annual City budget.
Attachments:
1. 2019 Los Angeles County Fire Incidents and McCormick Transports
2. 2019 Automatic Aid Review
3. 2019 Mutual Aid Comparison
4. February 2019 Fire Station Information Item: <http://www.hermosabch.org/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=11815>
5. 2019 Film Permits
Respectfully Submitted by: Brandy Villanueva, Emergency Services Coordinator
Concur: Scott Hale, Los Angeles County Fire Department, Division Assistant Fire Chief
Noted for Fiscal Impact: Viki Copeland, Finance Director
Approved: Suja Lowenthal, City Manager