Emergency Service in Florida

Presented by Chief Thomas G. Weber, CFO, EFO, MPA, MIFireE

First Vice-President, FFCA

Emergency Service

• There are approximately 617 paid, volunteer and combination fire departments providing emergency services in Florida

• Provided from 2887 Stations

• Provided by over 44,000 firefighters

• Responded to 2,125,902 calls for assistance in 2008

Today’s Emergency Service Professional

• Emergency Control Specialists

• Health Care Provider

• Educator

• Problem Solver

• Emergency Manager

• College Educated

• Accredited

Today’s Emergency Service Professional

Emergency Service Accreditation is conferred by the Center for Public Safety Excellence.

There are:

• 67 Accredited Chief Fire Officers

• 14 Accredited Emergency Service Departments

• 155? Credentialed Executive Fire Officers

What is Emergency Service in Florida?

• Fire Prevention– Goal: “The desire to make Florida the safest

State in which to live, work and play. • Public Education• Inspections• Code Enforcement• Plans Review

What is Emergency Service in Florida?

• Fire Suppression – 58,040 fires with $ 489,387,580 real dollar

loss– Protect over $ 1.6 Trillion dollars of property– Save rate of 90% statewide in 2008?– 176 Fatalities caused by Fire in 2008

• More residents die in fires then all natural disasters combined in the worst year

What is Emergency Service in Florida?

• Emergency Medical Service - 1,518,084 calls for assistance– Paramedics– Emergency Medical Technicians– First Responders– Primary patient transportation service in the

State– Preventative Care Providers

What is Emergency Service in Florida?

• Emergency Management– Primary Response agency for

• ESF 4 Firefighting• ESF 9 Search and Rescue• ESF 10 Hazardous Materials• ESF 8 Medical

– Local Level Emergency Managers– Incident Management Team Members– RDSTF Members– NIMS / Incident Command Educators

What is Emergency Service in Florida?

• Technical Rescue - 349,382 responses– Hazardous Materials– Search and Rescue– Confined Space Rescue– Water Rescue– Elevated Rescue– Extrication Specialists

Emergency Service Impact 2008

• Each day we protect:– 15 million residents – 1 million visitors ?– 1.6 Trillion dollars of property

• Quality of Life– Save Rate ?– Still 179 Lives were lost to fire in 2008

What it takes to Respond and be Successful

• Career Response times & Adequate Staffing– 4 minute response to fires and medical

emergencies with a crew of 4– 8 minute response to fires by a minimum team

of 15-17 firefighters and apparatus

What it takes to Respond and be Successful

Volunteer Response Time & Adequate StaffingDemand Zone Demographics Minimum Response

    Staff to Respond Time (minutes)

Urban area >1000 15 9

people/mi2

Suburban area 500-1000 10 10

people/mi2

Rural area <500 6 14

people/mi2

Remote area Travel distance 4 Directly depended on

> 8 mi travel distance

Special risks Determined by Determined by AHJ Determined by AHJ

AHJ based on risk

Why Rapid Response

• NFPA flame promulgation chart

Why Four Personnel?

STAFF RESOURCES NEEDEDSTAFF RESOURCES NEEDEDMODERATE RISK STRUCTURE FIREMODERATE RISK STRUCTURE FIRE

Search/Rescue

Water Supply

Ventilation

Incident Command

Attack line Back-up line

Safety Team

Pump Operator

Exposure line

Solution to Loss of Life and Property

• Fire Sprinkler Systems in all new Buildings– 80% of fire fatalities occur in homes– 62% of firefighter deaths occur in residential

structures– Survival time in residential structures has

fallen from 17 to 3 minutes

Solution to Loss of Life and Property

• Fire Sprinkler Systems in all new Buildings– Firefighter on-duty at every building 24/7– 90% of fires contained by single sprinkler

head– 80% chance of surviving a fire in a sprinklered

building– Aids Fire Departments keep up with growth

State Emergency Response Plan(SERP)

• Developed after Hurricane Andrew

• Created State-wide Mutual Coverage for– Wildfires– Hurricanes – Tornados– Flooding– Mass Evacuations

State Emergency Response Plan(SERP)

• Codified in State Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP)

• Deploys resources for • ESF 4 Firefighting• ESF 9 Search and Rescue• ESF 10 Hazardous Materials• ESF 8 Medical

State Emergency Response Plan(SERP)

State Emergency Response PlanActivation

Local resources exhausted

CEM requests resources thru

SEOC

SFMContacts

SERP Chair

SERP Chair requests resources thru

Regional/County Coordinators

Local resources deployed to emergency

State Emergency Response Plan(SERP)

– Deployment Examples• Wildfires May 5-10, 2007 (449 Personnel 110

Apparatus)– 13 Engine Strike Teams– 10 Task Forces– 1 Brush Strike Team– 11 Single Resources

State Emergency Response Plan(SERP)

– Deployment ExamplesHurricane??

State Emergency Response Plan(SERP)

– Plan Comparison Florida to California

FloridaPart Time CoordinatorLocal Government provides Personnel Equipment Cover initial cost

Annual Funding DOF $22 million Apparatus - not fundedReimbursement if eligible

CaliforniaState Office of Emergency Services Full time staffState Provides funding for Personnel Equipment

Annual Funding OES $168 million Apparatus $48 millionReimbursement if eligible

State Emergency Response Plan(SERP)

• Plan has been selected as one of four anchor states to assist with Intrastate Mutual Aid Systems of the IAFC

• We provide Technical Advisors nation-wide to assist states and tribal nations develop plans

• Recognized as mature proven plan

State Emergency Response Plan(SERP)

– Adversely impacted by cuts and lack of funding

• Local emergency services can no longer cover costs for deployment

• Less apparatus and personnel available to respond

• Less funds available to cover what costs reimbursement does not cover

Condition of Today’s Emergency Service Providers

• In 2009– 49% of Departments cut their budgets– 73 % will be cutting budgets for 2010– 37% reduced capital budgets– 46% had hiring restrictions– 33% eliminated positions– 20% laid off active firefighters

Emergency Service (ES) Economic Impact

• Emergency Service support– 29,000 jobs with $ 1.5 billion in earnings– Support another 1.07 jobs across other

industries– $1 in paid wages support $.65 in wages for

other workers– Operating budgets support $226.2 million

dollars in direct and indirect tax revenues

Future of Emergency Services

• Continued reductions will– Reduce local ability to respond– Reduce SERP ability to respond– Increase unemployment– Negatively impact State economy through

multiple sectors and industries

Future of Emergency Services

• Essential to Florida’s Safety is– Continued funding for Emergency Services– No additional reductions to emergency

service funding sources– Support for new funding opportunities– Fire Sprinkler Systems in all new construction

of any type building throughout the state