Honorable Mayor and Members of the Hermosa Beach City Council Regular Meeting of November 12, 2019
Title
LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT AND
MCCORMICK AMBULANCE QUARTERLY UPDATE
(Emergency Management 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 third quarter update review for the July 1, 2019-September 30, 2019 period.
Body
Executive Summary:
The City of Hermosa Beach is in the second year of the Los Angeles County Fire Department annexation contract. This report is the third 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 service providers 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 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 by RCC, as a safeguard, prior to transferring the call to LACoFD. Should the call be dropped during the transfer and/or there is a change in the 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 third of 2019, RCC received and transferred 219 fire and medical related calls with an average call transfer time of 48 seconds. Attachment 1 provides the RCC call transfer time for the third quarter of 2019. Attachment 2 provides the LACoFD call processing information. During the third quarter, data for September 22 was not available due to an equipment outage.
The third quarter of 2019, encompassing service provided between July 1, 2019 and September 30, 2019, indicates that Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to 463 incidents with an average response time of 5:14 minutes. During the third quarter of 2018, Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to 381 incidents with an average response time of 5:01 minutes. There were 82 more 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 turnout 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 third 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 4 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 64 times into Area G cities to provide automatic aid during the quarter.
Special Events:
During the third quarter, there were several events held in the City in which the Los Angeles County Fire Department participated. Although there were no City- approved events on Fourth of July, there was an influx of visitors celebrating the holiday. LACoFD responded to six incidents in 2019 compared to four in 2018. In addition, the Lifeguards and Station 100 were prepared to respond during the AVP tournament in July. In August, LACoFD deployed additional resources to assist with the Teen Choice Awards. There were three minor medical incidents within the footprint of the award show. Throughout the City, there were six additional calls on the day of Teen Choice Awards. In addition, LACoFD was prepared for the Summer Series event and Fiesta Hermosa. Station 100 participated in the 9/11 ceremony honoring those who lost their lives in the New York City terrorist attack. Also, the CERT trainers provided a complete Basic CERT training of 20-hours of instruction for members of the community. Los Angeles County Fire department resources participated in the Hermosa Heroes Pancake Breakfast in September.
Fire Station Construction:
The Fire Station pre-construction meeting was held on September 4, 2019 and demolition began the week of September 30, 2019. The project is scheduled to be completed in March of 2020.
Fire Prevention:
Annual business fire inspections began on March 1, 2019. During the third quarter, 114 inspections were completed.
Film Permit:
Community Resources and Los Angeles County Fire Department have processed and approved nine film permits.
Community Resources and the Los Angeles County Fire Department processed 14 film permits in the third quarter of 2018. There were five less film permits in the third quarter of 2019 than in the third quarter of 2018. Attachment 5 outlines the dates and locations of the 2019 film permits.
McCormick Ambulance:
McCormick Ambulance conducted 237 transports and were cancelled 152 times during the third quarter of 2019. In 2018, McCormick conducted 226 transports and were cancelled 134 times for the same time period. There was a difference of 11 transports during the third 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:
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 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