EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Town of Wallingford Department of Fire and Emergency Services is a combination fire department composed of 63 career and 70 volunteer firefighters. Protecting a population of 46,000 residents, fire and emergency services are provided by the Department within a 39.8 square mile radius. The Fire Department is licensed for and operates one paramedic transporting ambulance 24 hours per day, seven days per week with two backup transporting units. The Department also provides three non-transporting units at the paramedic level and four volunteer company units at the first responder defibrillator level. The Department responds to all fires and hazardous materials, service, and technical rescue calls within the Town limits. Written mutual aid agreements are in place with adjacent communities of Meriden (population 56,000), North Haven (population 22,500), Hamden (population 51,230), Cheshire (population 29,100) and Durham (population 6,120). The Wallingford Fire Department is an active participant in the New Haven Area Special Hazards Team (NHASH) and houses the team’s North Division. NHASH is a regional hazardous materials response team deployed for chemical accidents and weapons of mass destruction attacks to protect over 500,000 Connecticut residents. The Department is also a participant in the Connecticut Statewide Fire and Rescue Disaster Response Plan.

The year 2008 was very active for the Fire Department. The Town of Wallingford experienced several severe fires including a chemical explosion at Thermo Spas and the loss of a large home on North Main Street. These fires underscore the need to have a well-trained and equipped fire department available to respond. The department significantly improved its ability to respond to medical and traumatic injuries. Using existing staff, the department increased the number of paramedics on duty to four during the day and three at night. This was accomplished by licensing our two career fire engines as paramedic units. The paramedic service model significantly increases the level of care provided to the citizens by ensuring they are treated at a Paramedic Advanced Care Level. The demand for emergency services in the community continues to require not only a staffed career fire department, but is heavily dependent on maintaining a vibrant volunteer system to address call volume.

Within the Town of Wallingford, 15.2% of the population is over the age of 65, which is recognized by the U.S. Fire Administration as a high-risk population. Another 19.9% of the population is over 45 years of age. The median age of the community is currently 39.1 years, a 42% increase from the 1970 median age of 27.6 years. The increase in median age will continue as the current population ages and more of our citizens fall into the high-risk category for both fires and medical emergencies. Due to an influx of larger commercial chain stores, the community has seen an additional 4,144,602 square feet of commercial/industrial expansion in the last six years, representing a new risk. This is in addition to 676 new housing units for a total of 11,407 of which 509 units are senior housing. There are 2,400 condominiums in 44 complexes and 2,720 2-3-4 family homes. These challenges remain our focus in protecting the community.

We remain committed to our community and focused on our mission. You have our personal commitment to take care of your families like they were our own.

Peter J. Struble

Fire Chief

Fiscal Year 2007-2008 Budget Actual
Account #	Account Description	Budgeted Amount	Actual Amount	Difference	% Unexpended
2000	Telephone	32,750	31,714	1,036	3.16%
2010	Utilities	84,650	88,287	-3,637	-4.30%
3000	Gas & Diesel	64,781	57,040	7,741	11.95%
4000	Office Expenses & Supplies	8,600	8,508	92	1.07%
4100	Fire Operating Expenses	135,960	129,116	6,844	5.03%
4800	Contractual Clothing & Expenses	38,000	39,130	-1,130	-2.97%
5000	Maintenance of Vehicles	86,520	91,324	-4,804	-5.55%
5100	Maintenance of Buildings & Grounds	40,000	33,883	6,117	15.29%
5200	Maintenance of Equipment	62,000	59,748	2,252	3.63%
5700	Continuing Education & Training Exp.	52,999	52,677	322	0.61%
5840	Drill Attendance	4,500	4,500	0	0.00%
6010	Fire Surgeon Expenses	3,700	3,195	505	13.65%
8370	EAP	1,950	1,950	0	0.00%
7990	Meetings, Seminars & Dues	3,480	3,402	78	2.24%
8270	Vehicle & Property Damage Deductible	4,000	3,412	588	14.70%
9012	Physicals	37,000	40,646	-3,646	-9.85%
9014	Custodial Services	2,625	2,100	525	20.00%
9016	C-MED Contract	79,772	79,771	1	0.00%
9035	Ambulance Revenue Recovery	58,000	52,610	5,390	9.29%

		801,287	783,013	18,274	2.28%


	Payroll
1000	Regular Salaries & Wages	3,856,475	3,846,822	9,653	0.25%
1400	Overtime	51,527	51,031	496	0.96%
1450	Wage Differentials	306,476	318,477	-12,001	-3.92%
1500	Replacement Pay	496,282	475,594	20,688	4.17%
1700	Other Pay	201,797	201,468	329	0.16%
1800	Volunteer Tax Abatement	25,000	20,589	4,411	17.64%
1801	Volunteer Length of Service	18,634	18,634	0	0.00%

		$4,956,191	$4,932,615	$23,576	0.48%


	Total Budget Line & Payroll	$5,757,478	$5,715,628	$41,850	0.73%


	Capital Budget	$409,759	$411,059	-$1,300	-0.32%
	(Includes $9,200 in Grants)

	Total Budget	$6,167,237	$6,126,687	$40,550	0.66%



	Ambulance Revenues		$907,793

FIRE DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL

CAREER PERSONNEL – There are currently 44 career firefighters, four Captains, and twelve Lieutenants represented by the International Association of Firefighters Local 1326. There are three Chief Officer positions in the department. In addition to this staff, two members of the International Association of Firefighters are assigned to the Fire Prevention Bureau. These firefighters and officers currently work an average 42-hour workweek divided between four platoons. Each platoon has one Captain and three Lieutenants. Recruitment of career personnel is accomplished through civil service testing procedures. The Personnel Department maintains certified lists for Firefighter/Paramedics. Thirty-eight percent of the current workforce were active volunteers in Wallingford before being hired as career firefighters. The Fire Department actively invests in and promotes the hiring of its own volunteer firefighters for career positions when they represent the best candidate for the position. The department currently requires all applicants to be licensed paramedics to apply for employment as a career firefighter. This is necessary because of the severe shortage of paramedics nationwide.

VOLUNTEER PERSONNEL – There currently are approximately 70 active volunteer responders assigned to four volunteer stations. These volunteers are certified as firefighters or emergency medical responders prior to the assignment of duties. During the course of the year, they maintain their training by attending 24 hours of continuing education on a variety of subjects. Recruitment occurs all year long with initial firefighting training occurring once a year starting in January. Volunteer service is open to any person medically qualified with all training and equipment provided at no cost to the volunteer. The department currently has 12 new volunteers in training that will be ready by June 2009 to respond.

STRATEGIC GOALS

The Wallingford Fire Department has identified six strategic goals. These goals are based on an analysis of the department’s operations, physical resources, personnel, volunteer system, and emergency medical delivery system.

ADMINISTRATION & PLANNING - The goal of the administration function is to identify policies, financial practices, standards of coverage, risk management, and planning processes to ensure the organization can achieve the stated mission.

TRAINING - The goal of the training function is to provide personnel with the necessary skill and knowledge levels to keep current with fire suppression, emergency medical, and special operations. Training will continue to be a cornerstone of the department.

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES - The Wallingford Fire Department is committed to adding valued service to the community through an enhanced emergency medical program that maintains patient care excellence.

OPERATIONS - The department will provide operational programs to promote an optimum level of service to the community through knowledge, skill development, and equipment acquisition.

HUMAN RESOURCES - The department will provide programs for volunteer and career fire members to achieve personal enrichment, superior morale, and organizational unity to become the best combination fire department in the country.

PHYSICAL RESOURCES - The department will maintain vehicles, facilities, and equipment in a constant state of readiness.

SERVICES PROVIDED

FIRE SUPPRESSION – The Fire Department operations are organized to ensure that fire suppression capability includes personnel, equipment, and resources to deploy the initial arriving company, initial full assignment, and additional alarm assignments.

There are several fire and emergency service benchmarks that are often used to measure the effectiveness of a fire department:

§ Insurance Services Organization (ISO)

§ National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standards

§ Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

§ Commission on Fire Accreditation International

Insurance Services Organization (ISO) – ISO is an independent statistical, rating, and advisory organization that serves the property/casualty insurance industry. The ISO collects information on a community’s public fire protection and analyzes the data using the Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS). The ISO then assigns a Public Protection Classification from 1–10. Class 1 represents an exemplary public protection and Class 10 indicates less than minimum recognized protection. Wallingford, as a community, currently holds a Public Protection Classification of 3/9. The split classification means that some properties are eligible for Class 3, but other properties are Class 9, because they are more than 1,000 feet from a fire hydrant. Fifty percent of the overall grading is based on the fire department, while the water distribution system makes up the balance of the grade.

ISO Status of United States Fire Department:

Class	Number of Communities in U.S.	Percentage
1	42	0.1%
2	306	0.7%
3	1,150	2.6%
4	3,066	6.8%
5	5,429	12.1%
6	7,169	16.0%
7	6,800	15.1%
8	3,943	8.8%
9	15,563	34.7%
10	1,403	3.1%

TOTAL	44,871	100%

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standards – For the last fifteen years the Fire Department has used NFPA standards in many areas of operations. These standards represent voluntary consensus standards developed by industry experts. These standards are often used to establish training objectives and provide the framework for emergency operations. Two standards were approved in May 2001 that impact the measurement of an organization’s effectiveness: 1) NFPA 1710, Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments; and 2) NFPA 1720, Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Volunteer Fire Departments. It is still unclear how the details of these two standards are to be applied to combination career and volunteer organizations such as we have in Wallingford. Chapter 1, Section 1.1.1 of NFPA 1710 does state the standard is to be used by “substantially all career fire departments.” Wallingford does not have a substantially all career or all volunteer configuration. There are areas of the community where the response from the fire department is substantially career personnel, specifically the downtown area. The current capabilities of the Wallingford Fire Department exceed NFPA 1720 but do not meet NFPA 1710. In an effort to be proactive and provide the community with a benchmark on which standard to judge the level of service, we measure the department’s performance against the standards of NFPA 1710 with the understanding that the time requirements cannot be met in a combination fire department.

The Wallingford Fire Department has analyzed its Fire Suppression performance over the last calendar year. These statistics represent actual fires that were extinguished by the fire department.

The Fire Department responded to 28 incidents in 2008 where actual unconfined fire was found in the building. At 90% of the responses the Fire Department arrived with 4 or more firefighters in less than 7 minutes. The longest response time to arrive on scene with 4 firefighters was 9 minutes and occurred in a rural portion of East Wallingford on Wildlife Drive. There were no civilian deaths from fire in the last year and 4 residents were injured as a result of fires in their homes. The total estimated value of the property responded to by the fire department was $34,028,985 with an estimated fire loss of $1,656,587. The average response time to building fires town wide is 5 minutes 42 seconds.

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES – The Fire Department emergency response capability includes providing personnel, equipment, and resources to deploy at the basic and advanced life support levels and providing transport to an appropriate health care facility.

The term Emergency Medical Services (EMS) refers to “the department’s involvement in planning for, providing, and monitoring emergency care” primarily in the pre-hospital environment. The Town of Wallingford has long been involved in delivering emergency medical care including ambulance service. The Fire Department has taken the lead role in the delivery of these services since the Town of Wallingford Ambulance Service was combined with the Fire Department in the mid 1970’s. Advances in medical care outside the hospital have rapidly changed the scope of services the department provides in this area over the last twenty years. The addition of paramedic level service in 1985 greatly improved a patient’s chance of survival from both sudden medical and traumatic injuries. These improvements in care began to require a more extensive use of firefighting resources to respond quickly to medical emergencies. The modern emergency medical delivery system is represented by the illustration below. This system is modeled after the American Heart Association’s Chain of Survival.

Call 911

Begin CPR

FD on Scene

Use an AED

911 - Wallingford residents enjoy a 911 system that is available town wide. A trained emergency dispatcher answers the 911 calls with the ability to give instructions to the caller on subjects such as CPR, bleeding control, stroke patient care, or maintaining a person’s breathing.

AED, FD Responders, & ACLS – These three components are predominately provided by the Fire Department in Wallingford. The Fire Department engines, squads, and rescue vehicles are equipped with automatic external defibrillators (AED). These units are the first to arrive on the scene of a medical or traumatic emergency. Paramedics are assigned to the Fire Department’s transporting ambulance, daytime rescue truck and two career fire engines to provide Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS). When the Fire Department ambulance is busy, Hunter’s Ambulance provides transport services.

2008 Response Times For All Emergency Medical Incidents

Average Response Time 5 minutes 52 seconds for a Fire Department first responder unit to arrive.

RESCUE SERVICES – The Fire Department offers a wide range of rescue services. The most common service is medical first responder and vehicle accident extrication. Fire Department engines respond initially to assist medical crews at car accidents by controlling hazards and removing the patient from the vehicle. The department also maintains a heavy rescue vehicle at the North Farms Station and a full compliment of the equipment on the Truck Company located at Central Fire Headquarters. These two vehicles team up on emergency scenes to make an effective advanced extrication capability. These capabilities also include high angle rescue, heavy lifting, elevator rescue, and basic trench collapse awareness. Additional services can be arranged through the State Urban Search and Rescue Team or through local mutual aid agreements.

FIRE PREVENTION – The Fire Department utilizes the National Fire Protection Association’s “Learn Not to Burn” program as a guideline to enhance the existing public education programs. This program ensures consistency in material taught and enlists the help of preschool, kindergarten, first grade, and second grade teachers.

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS – The Fire Department has continued to be the lead agency in the response to emergencies involving hazardous materials. Chemical data is now incorporated into preplan systems and is readily available to command personnel on an emergency scene. All career personnel are now trained to the Environmental Protection Agency Hazardous Material Technician Level. Wallingford is a participant in the New Haven Area Special Hazards Team (NHASH) designed to handle chemical accidents and weapons of mass destruction attacks. The Wallingford Fire Department together with Cytec Industries comprises the North Division of this 30-community team. Career and volunteer personnel have received additional training on a regional basis to be part of this team. Wallingford has received $225,000 over the last three years in State Grants for equipment and training of the Hazardous Materials Team.

SPECIAL OPERATIONS –

CONFINED SPACE – The Fire Department provides a confined space rescue service in compliance with OSHA 29 CFR 1910.146. Equipment is located on both the heavy rescue and Truck Company. The two units respond jointly to make up the department’s rescue team.

DISASTER – The Fire Department has taken a lead role in Emergency All Hazards planning. The department has spearheaded an effort to revise the Town’s Emergency Plan to reflect current Federal Plans and comply with the National Incident Management System.

MUTUAL AID – The Fire Department has agreements with all surrounding towns for mutual aid including automatic aid from the Town of North Branford to cover the South Branford Road area.

Fire Department Accomplishments 2008

· 1014 training sessions were conducted department wide in 2008. 32 training sessions involved live fire training in our training facility.

· The department delivered 32 public education classes to 1084 children and 229 adults teaching them about fire safety and how to call 911 in an emergency.

· Rescue Core training was delivered to 25 firefighters and officers. This program is 48 hours of training preparing the firefighters for advanced rescue situations.

· A successful recruit-training program was run at our training facility for new volunteer firefighters who then graduated at the level of State Certified Medical Response Technician and Firefighter I.

· The department enhanced its ability to provide hazardous materials response by sending its personnel to a region-wide exercise held in Milford that involved five different fire departments responding. We also placed in-service a training simulator funded by the Department of Homeland Security to train hazardous materials technicians throughout the region.

· All of the department’s career officers were trained and are now fully compliant with the requirements of the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

· The Federal Assistance to Firefighters Federal Grant program awarded a grant in the amount of $127,514 to the Fire Department for the replacement of the department’s radio system.

· Department personnel began to collect data electronically from Emergency Medical incidents creating the ability to do data analysis, quality assurance, and outcome based care in the future.

· The department implemented paramedic service on its two career fire engines greatly expanding our coverage ability.

· The Fire Department participated in a region-wide grant opportunity to standardize accountability on emergency scenes. We are now one of 17 fire departments in the area using a standardized system to track firefighters on emergency scenes.

· The Fire Department secured the use of the former Walgreens Pharmacy before it was demolished for total replacement. This provided an opportunity for all of the department’s personnel both career and volunteer to train in the structure. Over 336 hours of training occurred in this one structure.

· Eight career and volunteer officers went to the 2008 Fire Department Instructors Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. This was an opportunity for them to work together as a team and bring back cutting edge techniques.

· The department received and placed in-service two advance level meters designed to identify unknown substances as part of a hazardous materials response. The First Defender and True Defender meters are provided to the department with Homeland Security Grant monies.

· A State of Connecticut Emergency Medical Services Equipment Grant in the amount of $2,999 was awarded to the Fire Department for paramedic training.

TEN-YEAR RESPONSE TREND

2008 INCIDENT SUMMARY

TOTAL 2008 CALL VOLUME – 5404

STATION LOCATIONS

Central Fire Headquarters (Company #2) 75 Masonic Avenue

Office of the Fire Chief

Administrative Offices

Training Tower and Training Division

Staffed by 48 Career Personnel (12 per shift)

Company #1 95 North Main Street

Staffed by 12 Career Personnel (3 per shift)

An additional unit with two members responds from this station on weekdays.

Cook Hill Volunteer Fire Department (Co. #4) 37 Hall Road

Reopened in July 2002. Operates as a 2^nd station of the Yalesville Volunteer Fire Department.

Yalesville Volunteer Fire Department (Co. #5) 143 Hope Hill Road

Volunteer Chief – Robert Morris

Manned by 25 Volunteers

North Farms Volunteer Fire Department (Co. #7) 636 Barnes Road

Volunteer Chief – Timothy Wall

Manned by 20 Volunteers

East Wallingford Volunteer Fire Department (Co. #8) 2 Kondracki Lane

Volunteer Chief – William Celata

Manned by 25 Volunteers

NEEDS ASSESSMENT

FOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT

AND

COMMUNITY FIRE PROTECTION

Wallingford Fire Department
2009-2010 Capital Budget Requests


1	Truck 1 Overhaul - Year 1 of 2	$100,000

2	Medic Unit (Ambulance) - Year 3 of 3	$125,000

3	Rescue 3 - Year 1 of 3	$20,000

4	Tower Stairs - Year 2 of 2	$45,000

5	Rescue Jack T-1	$1,250

6	Grip Hoist T-1	$2,200

7	5" Hose	$10,000

8	Hurst Power Unit	$7,850

9	Computer Server Replacement	$17,000



























	Total:	$328,300

INSERT VEHICLE REPLACEMENT PLAN

1 to 5 Year Major Capital Equipment Needs

Rescue 3 Replacements $70,000
Refurbish Arial Apparatus $200,000
Replace Medic Unit $180,000
Replace One Pumper $500,000
Generators Stations #1 & #4 $150,000
Thermal Imaging Cameras (6) $60,000

5 to 10 Year Major Capital Equipment Needs

Replace Medic Unit $210,000
Command Car $80,000
Replace One Pumper $600,000
Rescue 7 $600,000
Breathing Apparatus and Bottles $300,000
Replace Two Squads $200,000
Air Fill System $80,000
Mobile Data Terminals $80,000
Replace Hydraulic Rescue Tools $100,000

1 to 10 Year Major Building & Grounds Needs

Central Fire Headquarters

· Replace Roof

· Replace Windows

· Heating System (Boiler)

· Reconfigure Heating Controls

Station # 4 Cook Hill

· Replace Roof

· Replace lights

· Tarmac and Parking Area Repaving

Station # 5 Yalesville

· Replace Roof

· Reconfigure Heating System

· Tarmac and Parking Area Repaving

Station # 7 North Farms

· Secure Land & Construct New Station

Station # 8 East Wallingford

· Tarmac and Parking Area Repaving

· Living Space Addition

· Replace Roof

TOWN OF WALLINGFORD

Philosophy of Operations

Knowledge

Compassion

Ethics

Pride

Pride shall be demonstrated and reflected in the department’s equipment, facilities, and the everyday activities of our members.

Fiscal Year 2007-2008 Budget Actual

STRATEGIC GOALS

ISO Status of United States Fire Department:

Station # 4 Cook Hill