Title
Phoenix Fire Department Staffing and Response Time Update - Citywide
Description
This report provides an update to the Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee on the Fire Department’s current staffing, hiring, activity levels, and transport activity.
THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION.
Report
Summary
This report serves as an update on the Fire Department’s Key Performance Indicators related to:
- Sworn staffing levels
- Recruitment/hiring efforts
- Emergency incident response times
- Overall demand for services
- Ambulance transport activity
Sworn Staffing
The Fire Department HR staff works throughout the year to recruit, test, and hire new firefighter recruits, striving to ensure that all vacant sworn positions are filled timely. With the fire academy lasting 16 weeks, we must plan for attrition and coordinate efforts to minimize vacancies.
Recruitment Efforts
Historically, the Fire Department has experienced a large interest when recruitments have been undertaken. While interest remains high, the ten-year trend has been moving in a downward direction. To ensure a robust pool of candidates remains available for future opportunities, the department continues to invest in various recruitment efforts working with Affinity Groups, the Fire Cadet Program, and partnerships with community organizations and educational institutions to impact on this trend positively. The Fire Department also recently launched a JoinPhxFire campaign to support recruitment efforts.
Emergency Response Times
Emergency response time is measured from the time of dispatch of an emergency apparatus to when the unit arrives on the scene of the emergency. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) establishes the standard that fire departments utilize to measure performance. Currently, the Fire Department’s response times do exceed the NFPA-established standards. The department continues to seek innovative ways to improve response times to the community we serve.
Calls for Service
Emergency response activity levels are tracked by the Fire Department to understand how the system is performing and what capacity level for additional service delivery may exist. The historical trend for the department activity levels has consistently been a year-over-year increase.
Patient Transport Activity
The Phoenix Fire Department operates a fire-based, emergency patient transportation system. This system has been in place for almost four decades. This system ensures that the residents of Phoenix receive the highest level of care from the point of calling 911 to the hospital arrival. While the number of transports remained consistent for many years, the average activity levels over the past three years shows a continued increase in service demand. The department continues to assess resources and services to meet the growing needs of the community.
A report on the Fire Department's Staffing and Response Time Update is included in Attachment A.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Assistant City Manager Lori Bays and the Fire Department.