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FireKalispell Fire/Ambulance Dept. 336 1 st Ave. East • P.O. Box 1997 Kalispell, MT 59903-1997 Planning Priorities Manpower Needs: Telephone 406-758-7764 Fax 406-758-7758 We currently have twenty-one personnel. Three of these are administrative: chief, assistant chief, and fire marshal. The four shifts consist of a captain, a lieutenant and two firefighter/paramedics. We then have two firefighter/paramedics who float from shift to shift trying to cover vacation, sick leave, and comp. time. We need to have two more personnel and make a city policy declaring a minimum staffing level of four firefighters. (see ISO Action Plan e paragraph). This will also address the OSHA requirement of the two in two out rule. Additional Funding: The most feasible approach to additional funding for the fire department would be through the ambulance budget. There are fees available through insurance companies, but these would be minimal and may cost more to implement than we would gain. The additional manpower issue is just as important for E.M. S. operations as fire operations. ISO Study: (see attached ISO Action Plan) Action Plan ISO Improvements A decision needs to be made concerning your emergency dispatch. Currently fire calls are handled by the city dispatch center and ambulance dispatch only is handled by the county dispatch center. Neither dispatch center is providing a complete service to the fire department. There is a plan to establish a closer working relationship among the various fire departments in Flathead County and the county dispatch has indicated their willingness to handle your fire traffic. The county dispatch already receives the 911 fire calls and transfers them to the city. However, the system does not have the one -button transfer feature required by the ISO Schedule. On ambulance dispatch's, the county dispatches the calls and relies on the Kalispell Fire Department to provide radio service to the call. My recommendation is for the county 911 to handle all fire and EMS radio traffic for Kalispell Fire Department. The fire department needs to upgrade the radio equipment throughout the fire station in order to receive the county transmissions. If the county system is employed, all off -duty firefighters should carry radios or pagers equipped with the county frequency. The fire department needs to use the intercom -telephone line existing between the county 922 center and the fire station for a "rip and run", secondary dispatch circuit. The county indicated that they could "dump" their dispatch screen to a remote printer. A dot matrix printer set up in the apparatus room or duty office would suffice. This would give you the two dispatch circuits that your department needs. Both circuits are required to be used on every call. The city's 911 capability needs to be enhanced to receive one -button transfer from the county 911 center. This would include anie and ally data. The needed fire flow for the city is 3500 gallons per minute requiring three engine companies. You have three engine companies and one ladder. If your plans are to decommission the 1950 Pierch, you will not receive total reserve credit. Two engine companies and one ladder should respond to each report of structure fire in the city. More information about the response will be included in the draft report. All equipment listed on the ISO apparatus and equipment form should be on the appropriate truck. Some of the equipment is for pumpers and the other equipment is for the ladder. The 5-year non-destructive testing and the annual 400-pound cylinder drift test of the aerial ladder should be continued. In considering the distribution of fire stations, the maps provided indicated 18,000 feet was the approximate city limits. One fire station seems to take care of most of the city coverage area. I am concerned about the extreme North section of the city around the Buffalo Stage and Riverview Green areas. Their remote and limit access characteristics produce a lengthy response time. As the city grows, plans should be developed to establish a fire station in the northern area. I understand that the barrier of the Stillwater river will not allow a contiguous area at the present; however, city planners should consider the possibility of connecting the two northern peninsulas of the city. For the present, the city should consider an automatic aid agreement with the Evergreen fire Department specifically to enhance coverage in the Buffalo Stage and Riverview Green areas. Forecasting growth for the community is beyond the scope of this study but I would recommend that city plan the development of a second station along Hwy 93 in the area of Grandview. This would create a 2-1/2 mile response to the Buffalo Stage and Riverview Green areas. The city needs to strengthen the available on -duty personnel. For safety and ISO improvement, the on -duty force should never drop below four firefighters. A recall program should be established for the additional pumper and ladder service. This will be discussed in the draft report. The city needs to establish a training center. I would encourage the city to explore the Creston Training Facility that is located approximately 7.5 miles away. The city could claim this facility as its training center. Another suggestion would be for the city to explore the development of its own training center. Usually, an industrial area is better suited for this purpose. A minimum of two acres is required for this purpose. If the city acquires land for a second fire station, a training center could be located there. The fire station could be part of the two acres. The city needs to establish a hydrant flow pressure check process in which ALL hydrants are flowed and tested at lease once a year. Currently this is not being performed annually. The ISO schedule calls for this to be performed twice a year. I will discuss this in the draft report.