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Commentary: CMFD restructuring addresses modern needs

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Editor’s note: The city of Costa Mesa provided the following Q&A with Fire Chief Dan Stefano. The questions were asked by the city, not the Daily Pilot.

I am excited to announce that on Tuesday we officially opened the application process to hire up to five new Costa Mesa firefighters. Within the first 11 minutes, we had more than 500 applicants! We hope to have our new firefighters on duty by the fall.

This is an extremely important time for the Costa Mesa Fire Department. In addition to the recruitment, we are in the process of an organizational restructuring that will make us a model fire department for the 21st century, delivering emergency medical aid services more quickly and with more flexibility while retaining our firefighting and rescue capabilities.

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With all of this going on, I thought it would be an opportune time to answer some frequently asked questions about the Costa Mesa Fire Department, the reorganization and our future.

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Can you give me an overview of the fire department’s reorganization plan?

Because of advances in fire prevention and suppression (fire sprinklers, technology and improved fire/building codes), fire-related calls for service have decreased significantly over the years. While we still respond to more than 200 fires annually, approximately 70% of our calls are now for medical aid-related incidents. The balance of what we do falls in a number of other critical areas, including safety inspections, community education, hazardous spills, technical rescues and extensive training demands.

We are a department that offers an increasingly complex variety of services, and the restructuring is intended to align us better with these realities of a modern-day fire department. The 17-point reorganization plan allows us to redeploy our emergency resources and, through this efficiency, decrease staffing levels.

The reorganization plan will give us nine more firefighter-paramedics (three more on duty each day), increase the number of response vehicles in the city from eight to 10, improve response times and lower the cost of service. While the plan will improve service, we will have realized a cost savings of $1 million by the end of this fiscal year from a decrease of six firefighter positions through attrition.

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Who developed this plan?

The basics of this plan were first proposed by the Orange County Fire Authority and endorsed by the Costa Mesa Firefighters Assn. in 2012. However, the City Council voted unanimously to retain its own fire department. In April 2013, interim Fire Chief Tom Arnold presented a similar restructuring plan using city firefighters and, ultimately, City CEO Tom Hatch presented an alternative, phased-in plan that was approved by a unanimous vote of the City Council in May 2013.

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Where do the new rescue ambulances fit in?

Traditionally in Costa Mesa, an advanced lifesaving call would tie up a four-person paramedic engine crew until doctors at a local hospital took over (usually one or two paramedics would continue to deliver medical aid while riding in a private ambulance to the hospital; the rest of the crew followed in a fire engine).

The city purchased six rescue ambulances (at a total cost of $1.2 million) that are operated with two-person crews. This allows only two firefighters-paramedics to be tied up on trips to the hospital and frees the fire engines to return to service and respond to additional emergency calls.

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Will the rescue ambulances replace private ambulances in transporting patients to the hospital?

Once the initial restructuring plan is complete, the Fire Department management team will deliver a report to the City Council outlining the pros and cons of city firefighters-paramedics transporting patients to the hospital and provide some recommendations to the City Council. The City Council will make the ultimate decision.

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Where are we in the reorganization?

Over the past year, we have completed a lot of the ground work for this significant restructuring, including the ordering and outfitting of six rescue ambulances (four will be in regular service; two are needed as reserves and will also be utilized for peak staffing and special event needs). Moreover, with the City Council’s formal approval, we have initiated a traffic signal/emergency preemption plan that will literally give our firefighters the green light through intersections and allow us to get to our emergency calls more quickly. The initial traffic signal preemption is specific to the South Coast Metro area, but the intent is to initiate this type of project in other areas of the city.

Two paramedic rescue ambulances are in service. We are diligently and thoughtfully working through the planning process for the deployment of the remaining rescue ambulances. As such, we are scheduled for a July 1 deployment of our third rescue ambulance, which will be placed into service out of Fire Station No. 1 (Royal Palm Drive). This transitional part of the plan will create two three-person paramedic assessment engines at Fire Station Nos. 1 and 4, in place of our four-person paramedic engines. It will be several months before we roll out our fourth rescue ambulance. Before this happens, we will need to complete an expansion of Fire Station No. 4 and hire our new firefighters.

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Why wasn’t this done more quickly?

By design, this has been a deliberate, careful process to implement a 17-point plan. This phased-in approach allows us to objectively evaluate our progress, identify any shortcomings, and make real-time adjustments during this transition. I am extremely proud of our firefighters who have accepted this challenge (change is never easy) and played a variety of different roles to make it happen — all while continuing to serve the people of Costa Mesa with the finest service anywhere.

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What is happening with Fire Station No. 6 in the South Coast Metro?

At this time, it remains open and staffed. Per the reorganization plan, several steps need to be completed before the closure of Fire Station No. 6 can take place, including all four rescue ambulances being in service and the traffic signal preemption project and expansion of Fire Station No. 4 being completed.

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What else do you envision for the Costa Mesa Fire Department in the future?

As we move forward with our service-delivery evolution and institutionalizing a more efficient approach to conducting our operations, we are resolved to make sure we continue to provide the highest quality of professional service to the community, while aggressively looking for innovative cost-effective solutions. We are also going to initiate a strategic planning process to develop a collaborative five-year plan for the Fire Department and help drive our vision to provide Costa Mesa with the best fire and rescue services in Orange County and to be a destination fire department for firefighters.

Lastly, I am very thankful for being able to serve such a vibrant and caring community as Costa Mesa. And I’m proud of each and every of one of our men and women who serve the community with professionalism, passion and honor on a daily basis. I see a future for our community and organization that is extremely bright.

DAN STEFANO is the Costa Mesa fire chief.

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