PRINCE GEORGE FIRE AND EMS Safety/2012...the response times between 9-15 minutes, leaving 40 % of the calls that Prince George Fire and EMS are handling with a greater than 15 minute

PRINCE GEORGE FIRE AND EMS

James B. Owens, Director

Fire and EMS

2012 Annual Report

2012 Annual Report

Overview

2012 was a year of triumph, a year of tragedy, a year of victory and a year of

significance. Our first responders, both volunteer and paid, faced many challenges

throughout the year. From structure fires, fatal EMS calls, to disaster preparation and

response, our system was stressed in ways it had never been before. The resilience of

our system remains from the people who make up the response system. The first

responders always have been and continue to be the strength of our system. Several

committees, and groups worked tirelessly to

problem solve these challenges. However, the

key to resolving issues, the key to moving this

organization forward, and the key to providing

the best level of service to the citizens,

visitors, and workers of Prince George is the

teamwork between our first responders.

Carson Volunteer Fire Department celebrated

their 50th anniversary. The community came

out to support the first responders and participate in their ceremony. Volunteers

conducted live demonstrations on vehicle extrication techniques.

Our system also lost a great member who helped

pave the way to where we are today in many ways.

Firefighter Josh Culler’s tour of duty ended on Friday,

May 11, 2012 at the age of 35. Firefighter Culler was

a 20 year veteran of the fire service in Prince George

County. He battled leukemia for the last few years of

his life. Firefighter Culler leaves behind a wife and

two children.

The importance of our members continues to be the

focus of 2013. Ensuring they have the resources to meet the needs of the citizens

remains a challenge. The economic situations we are facing at the local, state and

federal level continue to be the catalyst that forces us to change our business practices

in order to more efficiently meet the demands placed on public safety.

2012 Annual Report

Operations:

Fire

The Chiefs Management Committee made several improvements in organizational

operations this past year. The committee implemented several policies and procedures

to strengthen the organization. The most significant

continues to be improving communications both on

emergency incidents and internally with day-to-day

business. The committee approved two

communications plans that address both areas. Email

addresses were created for every member in the

organization. The process of rolling out new ideas,

policies, and programs was embraced by all members.

The result of this was that everyone was provided

with an opportunity to get involved with the direction that the department is headed.

The County had a survey conducted by the Insurance Services Organization. ISO is the

leading influential organization on rating the community’s fire protection capabilities.

Insurance premiums are determined by the localities ISO rating. Currently the County

has a split classification of 6/9 in a rating system from 1-10 with 1 being the best and 10

being no fire protection measures in place. In areas of the County that have fire

hydrants the rating is a 6 and in areas not service by fire hydrants the rating is a 9. The

final report will be delivered between January and February of 2013.

Department conducted its first Strategic Planning Process with Fire & EMS Company

Chiefs. The Strategic Planning Process focused on all aspects

of the Fire Department and allowed members to provide

thoughts on creating a shared vision for the future of Fire

and EMS service delivery in the County.

The department also faced many difficult calls for service.

Fatal house fires, complicated vehicle extrications, and tragic

incidents that claimed the lives of our youth all contributed

to the organization as a whole to remember the importance of constant reevaluation in

order to be better at what we do each time we respond.

2012 Annual Report

614

307 285

123

372

147

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Company 1 Company 2 Company 3 Company 4 Company 5 Company 6Sub-3

Fire Responses by Station

43

114

7

92

94

17

30

316

25

141

221

124

77

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

Vehicle Fire

Tree/Power Line Down

Technical Rescue

Structure Fire

Public Service

Police Assist

Mutual Aid Provided

Motor Vehicle Accident

Hazardous Condition

Fire Alarm Acticvation

EMS Assist

Brush/Woods Fire

Automatic Aid - Dinwiddie

Call Type

1301

Total

Calls

2012 Annual Report

0

50

100

150

200

250

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

Calls For Service by Day of Week Agency: Fire Date: 01/01/2012 - 12/31/2012

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Calls For Service by Hour of Day Agency: Fire Date: 01/01/2012 - 12/31/2012

2012 Annual Report

EMS

The EMS Advisory Council is comprised of one representative from each of the following

stakeholder groups: Volunteer Fire and EMS Companies, Career Staff, John Randolph

Medical Center, Southside Regional Medical Center, The County’s Operational Medical

Director, Emergency Communications, Police Department, and a Citizen. The Council

meets every other month or as needed. In 2012, the Council provided a tremendous

amount of guidance in shaping the EMS system for Prince George County. The

development of a Quality Control program was important for establishing a baseline for

the department to build on.

The County passed its bi-annual EMS inspection with the State Office of EMS. The first

EMS appreciation week picnic was held at Scott Park in spring of 2012.

The department enrolled 12 members into the EMS Precepting Program which validates

their skills and authorizes them to perform as a stand-alone EMS Provider in the County.

Eleven of those members completed the program.

Efforts continued to focus on staffing and handling EMS Calls for service within an

acceptable time frame. In 2012 Prince George Fire and EMS handled 2636 of 2906 EMS

calls for service with 463 calls for service being dispatched with no unit readily available

to handle the call. Surrounding jurisdictions

handled 270 of those calls. Of the 2636 that

Prince George County was able to handle, only

20% of the response times to the scene were

less than 8 minutes and 59 seconds which is the

National Standard. Only 40 % of the time were

the response times between 9-15 minutes,

leaving 40 % of the calls that Prince George Fire

and EMS are handling with a greater than 15 minute response time. Additionally, the

270 calls that Mutual Aid Agencies handled take a minimum of 6 minutes to get a unit

on the street (in their respective jurisdictions) and enroute to the call in Prince George

County, creating a response from the time a citizen dials 911 until medical attention

arrives to their door is in excess of 30 minutes. Data from our records management

system show that the peak times of 9am – 9pm which is when 64% of our calls for

service are dispatched. The Board of supervisors authorized a trial program to fund an

additional position at Station 5 (Jefferson Park) during the peak hours. The trial proved

to aid in the response to EMS calls.

2012 Annual Report

Station 1 Station 3 Station 5 Station 6 Station 8

Responses 12 1 320 162 2141

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Ambulance Responses by Station

154

125 120

Responder 1 Responder 5 Responder 6

EMS Calls by Fire Department First Responder Units

2012 Annual Report

80

304

7

56

744

68

72

130

81

341

9

289

15

164

237

52

228

29

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Unconscious /Unresponsive

Trauma

Technical Rescue

Stroke

Sick

Seizure

Public Service

Police Assist

Overdose/Poison/SA

Other

Mutual Aid Provided

Motor Vehicle Accident

Hazardous Condition

Fire Standby

Difficulty Breathing

Diabetic Emergency

Chest Pains

Allergic Reaction

Call Types

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

Calls For Service by Day of Week Agency: EMS Date: 01/01/2012 - 12/31/2012

2012 Annual Report

Other Operational Information

Volunteer members have been working with Sgt.

Pearson from the Police Department to form a Water

Rescue Team. Major improvements in the process

have been made and the team met this week to clean

the boat and equipment and discuss the next steps of

policy development and training.

The Department approved and presented the 2012

Apparatus Replacement Program to the Board of

Supervisors. The Board approved the purchase of two

ambulances to replace the aging fleet.

Fire and EMS worked with the I.T. Department to create an email system for all of the

volunteers.

Fire and EMS staff worked with General Services and Volunteers to form a station repair

program. This would be the first time in the history of the County that such a program

was provided.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Calls For Service by Hour of Day Agency: EMS Date: 01/01/2012 - 12/31/2012

2012 Annual Report

Administration:

Recruitment and Retention

The Department launched a recruitment and retention campaign. A billboard, located

on County Drive, was negotiated at a reduced rate to

advertise for Volunteer Firefighters and EMT’s.

Fire and EMS coordinated the County Volunteer

Appreciation picnic for all first responders in the County.

The Fire and EMS Chiefs agreed to a new Awards and recognition program. The new

program will provide instant recognition to those who are nominated and meet the

criteria.

Awards Picnic Awards Company 1 Company 2 Company 3 Company 4 Company 5 Emergency Crew

Vounteer of the Year Donald Mitchell Alan Sullivan Nick Doukas Luther Vick Chris Sprague Norman MacArthur

50 years Bobby Cain Jr

40 years G. Reid Foster

Jimmie Franchok William Sowards

30 years Roy Brockwell

Barney Winfield Sidney Tyler

25 years Jeff Smith John Trexler

20 years Josh Culler John Culler/Chris Miller

10 years Bryan Harless Ryan Pecht Nash Cox

Anthony Moegling

Charles Suitt

5 years Justin Cowan J. Waverly Clements Harold Allin, IV Timothy Cibula Jared Farley

Timothy Lucy Kendall B. Christopher Jesse Marshall

Donald Mitchell Benjamin Duncan Cory Newman

Cody Edlin

Blake Gilliam

1 year Jerry Carlson Donald Blake Jesse Britt Steven Aigner

James Flangan Carly Deaver Travis Cibula Brandon Eastwood

Jimmy Holt Kevin Hamel Johnathan Squires Michael Martin

George Hawkins John Mullenix

Scott Holten Tyler Towers

Theodore Jonas Shannon Thompson

Kelsey Koser Lori Whittington

Robert Seay

2012 Annual Report

Grants

The department continues to pursue grant funding opportunities. The following list

indicates grants that were awarded in 2012:

Aid to Localities $ 82,000.00

Four for Life $ 31,000.00

LEMPG $ 25,000.00

UASI $ 15,000.00

CEMPG $ 7,500.00

Total $ 160,500.00

Community Outreach Fire Prevention and Life Safety

Fire and EMS Staff worked with the Building Official, and the General Services Manager

to conduct a Fire Safety Sweep of all buildings in the

Administration Complex. The sweep helped identify

code violations and recommendations to improve Fire

and Life Safety for employees and the general public.

Fire and EMS participated in the 2012 J.O.B.S.

program. Director Owens assisted with teaching

student techniques on interviewing and the

Department also received a student from the program

to assist with office work.

Lt. Greg Simms was requested by the School System to

serve on an Allergy Task Force, geared towards providing proactive measures in the

school system to recognize and handle allergic reactions.

Fire and EMS staff partnered with Prince George School system to discuss the logistics of

the CPR/AED and first aid classes to be taught this year. Lt. Simms explored the

possibility of grant opportunities to cover the cost of teaching these classes with school

staff.

Fire and EMS hosted the first meeting developing the Crater Regional Fire Prevention

and Life Safety Coalition. In 2012, seven (7) fatalities were related to structure fires in

the Crater Region.

2012 Annual Report

Over 3000 people were reached during a series of Public Education Events in the

County. Volunteers put in over 100 hours in education the public about fire safety and

injury prevention.

Training

Fire and EMS staff provided over 544 instructional hours of EMS Continuing Education

Training within the department.

In addition to the EMS Continuing Education Training, the staff provided 26 community

and first responder CPR training classes with over 202 people trained for a total of 808

hours of instruction.

On June 26th, 27th and 28th, Lt. Simms and Captain

Chris Lawrence Company 1 (Prince George) attended

a joint training opportunity with the U.S. Army

National Guard 45th Civil Support Team (CST) in

conjunction with the Davis Defense Group. The

training expanded the CST team’s core capabilities

in planning and executing their mission in support

of local responders. Captain Lawrence participated

in the Haz-Mat portion of the exercise. Lt. Simms

supported the medical portion with Andrew Cox and US Army PA’s.

Fire and EMS also reached a partnership agreement with

staff at Crater Criminal Justice Training Academy to

conduct joint training with all public safety

departments. Fire and EMS staff will assist with the

instruction of courses and CCJTA will allow the

Department of Fire and EMS to hold classes at the

facility.

Company 1 Company 2 Company 3 Company 4 Company 5

398.5 124 44 1 83

Fire Training Hours by Company

2012 Annual Report

Emergency Management

Emergency Management continues to be an evolving field nationwide. Focus has been

stressed on citizen preparedness and community sustainment. The Department of Fire

and EMS hosted a series Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program meetings.

Fire and EMS Director Owens was appointed the as the Exercise Director for the Sept

25th and 26th Tri-Cities Framework table top exercise and drill. The exercises tested EOC

to EOC communication capabilities for large scale incidents.

County Staff participated in the 2012

Statewide Tornado Drill and the

Statewide Earthquake Drill.

The County continued to upgrade the Emergency Operations Center. The I.T. Director and Fire/EMS Director installed and tested the backup internet system at the EOC. New computers were purchased for the

EOC and a satellite phone was installed, both of which were all funded through grants that the Department

of Fire and EMS received from the state and federal levels.

The Director of Fire and EMS also led the Prince

George Local Emergency Planning Committee

through its first Strategic Planning process. The

community involvement is vital to ensure that the

County meets the needs of the citizens during a time of crisis.

First responders continued to step up and help the County during potential disaster

events. Last year the Volunteers staffed their respective station numerous times in

anticipation of weather-related events impacting the quality of life for the citizens in

Prince George County.

EMS Revenue Recovery

In spring of 2012, the Board of Supervisors made the decision to change the Revenue

Recovery Program to an internal process. Therefore, in July of 2012, Prince George Fire

and EMS hired Ms. Becka Goodman as the Revenue Recovery Program Manager. Ms.

Goodman has increased the amount of collections substantially from what the County

has been receiving in the past. Over $500,000.00 was collected in EMS transport fees in

2012. Ms. Goodman continues to work with the EMS leadership and first responders to

ensure that the documentation in our patient care records are adequate to process for

payments.