Honorable Mayor and Members of the Hermosa Beach City Council Regular Meeting of August 27, 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 second quarter update review for the period of April 1, 2019-June 30, 2019.
Body
Executive Summary:
The City of Hermosa Beach has entered the second year of the Los Angeles County Fire Department annexation contract. This report is the second 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:
As requested by City Council, call transfer data will be included in the quarterly reports moving forward. The South Bay Regional Public Communications Authority, known as RCC is the initial public-safety answering point (PSAP) for police and fire services within the City of Hermosa Beach. When RCC receives a call for service, the dispatcher collects critical data including name, phone, address, and nature of the emergency. For police related incidents, RCC continues to gather additional information from the caller and dispatches police personnel as necessary. For fire related incidents, the critical data is collected, and the caller is transferred to the Los Angeles County Fire Department Dispatch (LACoFD) center. A LACoFD dispatcher gathers all information needed to dispatch fire and EMS personnel accordingly. The critical information is collected at RCC prior to transferring the call to LACOFD as a safeguard. Should the call be dropped during the transfer and/or there is a change status of the patient calling for assistance, RCC can try to reconnect with the caller and relay the information to LACoFD who can dispatch resources based on the information gathered. Total call time begins when the call is initiated with RCC to the arrival of units on scene. During the second quarter of 2019, RCC received and transferred 196 fire/medical related calls with an average call transfer time of 48 seconds. Attachment 1 provides the RCC call transfer time for the second quarter of 2019. Attachment 2 provides the LACoFD call processing information. Due to an equipment upgrade, call processing data for the month of June is unavailable.
The second quarter of 2019, encompassing service provided between April 1, 2019-June 30, 2019, indicates that Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to 383 incidents with an average response time of 4:56 minutes. During the second quarter of 2018, Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to 420 incidents with an average response time of 5:17 minutes. There were 37 less calls for service in 2019 compared to 2018 for the same period.
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 3 provides the incident type and average response times for second quarter responses for 2018 and 2019 for both Los Angeles County Fire and McCormick Ambulance services.
During this second quarter, Los Angeles County Fire Department along with the neighboring departments responded to a house fire located at 8th Street and Strand. The fire was contained to the originating structure although the properties adjacent and behind were impacted by the fire.
Los Angeles County Fire Department continues to partner with surrounding jurisdictions to provide automatic aid. Attachment 4 indicates that surrounding jurisdictions, labeled as Area G Cities responded into Hermosa Beach to provide automatic aid five times during the quarter while Los Angeles County Fire Department, labeled as the Fire District has responded 53 times into Area G cities to provide automatic aid during the quarter.
Special Events:
Los Angeles County Fire Department assisted in the pre-planning for Fiesta Hermosa, Teen Choice Awards, and Fourth of July. In addition, LACoFD and McCormick ambulance provided units for display at the Hermosa Beach Community Safety fair on June 1, 2019.
Fire Station Construction:
The Fire Station Construction team continues to meet monthly on the third Tuesday of each month at 2 p.m. to discuss the fire station construction. The County of Los Angeles team has submitted a Board letter to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for approval of the project and to move forward with the job order contract (JOC) process. The letter was placed on the July 2, 2019 supervisor meeting. Due to the Fourth of July holiday, the letter was moved to the July 9, 2019 Board of Supervisor meeting. The letter was subsequently approved at this meeting. Due to the cost estimates provided by the original contractor, Los Angeles County ISD and Fire determined that a second contractor should bid on the project. A second contractor conducted a job walk and is currently in negotiations with ISD. Therefore, a notice to proceed has not been issued. It is anticipated that construction will begin in September of 2019.
Fire Prevention:
Annual business fire inspections began on March 1, 2019. During the second quarter, 270 inspections were completed.
Film Permit:
Community Resources and Los Angeles County Fire Department have processed and approved 15 film permits.
Community Resources and the Los Angeles County Fire Department processed 12 film permits in the second quarter of 2018. There were three additional film permits in the second quarter of 2019 than in the second quarter of 2018. Attachment 5 outlines the dates and locations of the 2019 film permits.
McCormick Ambulance:
McCormick Ambulance conducted 203 transports and were cancelled 104 times during the second quarter of 2019. In 2018, McCormick conducted 214 transports and were cancelled 104 times for the same time period. There was a difference of 11 transports during the second quarter of 2018 and 2019.
General Plan Consistency:
This report and associated recommendation were 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:
Funding for the fire station construction along with fire and ambulance services is included in the annual City budget.
Attachments:
1. South Bay Regional Communications Center Call Transfer Report
2. Los Angeles County Fire Department Dispatch Call Transfer Report
3. 2019 Los Angeles County Fire Incidents and McCormick Transports
4. 2019 Automatic Aid Review
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