CAMDEN COUNTY, GEORGIA BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION COUNTY S FIRE PROTECTION SYSTEM: PRE-ISO SURVEY 200 EAST FOURTH STREET, WOODBINE, GEORGIA 31569 TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 2014, 5:00 PM The Camden County Board of County Commissioners held a Work Session at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 24, 2014, in the Board of Commissioners Meeting Chambers of the Government Services Building, Woodbine, Georgia. Present: Chairman James H. Starline. ; Vice-Chair man Chuck Clark; Commissioner Willis R. Keene, Jr.; Commissioner Tony Sheppard; Commissioner Gary Blount; County Attorney John S. Myers; County Administrator Steve Howard and County Clerk Kathryn Bishop. Work Session County s Fire Protection System: Pre-ISO Survey presented by Jack J. Krakeel Chairman Starline called the meeting to order. Chief Mark Crews gave a brief introduction regarding the Work Session and introduced Mr. Jack J. Krakeel to the Board. Mr. Jack J. Krakeel presented the following PowerPoint presentation to the Board: INSURANCE SERVICE S ORGANIZATION Evaluates approximately 48,000 communities. Establishes Public Protection Classification (PPC ) Numeric grade utilized by the insurance industry to determine policy rates. Fire Suppression Rating Schedule Establishes the criteria utilized by ISO in reviewing a community s public fire protection system. PUBLIC PROTECTION CLASSIFICATION (PPC ) Grade assigned under the PPC Program are either a single grade or a split grade ranging from a Class 1 through Class 10. Split grade is based on proximity of a property to a recognized water source and within 5 road miles of a fire station. Properties must be within 1000 to receive the lower of the split grade. Properties more than a 1000 are graded at either a Class 8B or Class 9. Properties more than 5 road miles from a fire station are automatically assigned a Class 10 rating.
FIRE SUPPRESSION RATING SCHEDULE (FSRS) Identifies the criteria used by ISO in evaluating a community s fire protection program. Schedule incorporates national standards published by organization s such as the National Fire Protection Association, American Water Works Association and others. Filed with the Office of the State Insurance Commissioner. Major revisions to the schedule went into effect July 1, 2013. COMPONENTS OF THE FSRS Fire Department = 50% of the Grade Water Supply = 40% of the Grade Municipal Water Supply Hydrants Fire Department Supply Tanker Shuttles Emergency Communications = 10% of the Grade Community Risk Reduction = Up to an additional 5% (New Element in the Schedule) CAMDEN COUNTY CURRENT ISO GRADE Last ISO Review 2002 Initial Review resulted in a split grade Class 4-9. Subsequent review utilizing an alternate water supply delivery resulted in a change to a Class 4-10 Class 4 applied to all properties within 5 miles of a fire station. Based on department s ability to deliver an uninterrupted fire flow utilizing tanker shuttles to deliver water to a fire scene and maintain a 250 GPM flow for a period of two hours. Required this capability to 85% of all structures within the fire protection area. IMPACT OF NEW FSRS ON CAMDEN COUNTY Departments graded under a Fire Department Supply (delivering water to a fire scene and maintaining an uninterrupted flow of 250 GPM) are now required to be able to deliver that capability to 100% of all structures within the fire protection area as opposed to the 85% requirement previously. The new requirement is a pass/fail system. The new schedule changes the survey methodology from one that is prescriptive to one that is more performance based.
ANALYSIS OF IMPACT ON CAMDEN COUNTY Extensive GIS modeling of locations throughout the fire protection area consisting of previous test locations utilized by ISO as well as other locations reflect that the County cannot meet the 100% requirement currently due to: Geographic coverage requirements; Number of stations providing coverage; Travel distances between current approved water sources. PRE-ISO SURVEY RESULTS PROJECTED ISO GRADE Fire Department 21.44 Water Supply 35.32 Communications 7.65 Operations 2.00 Community Risk Reduction 3.49 Divergence -9.08 Total Community Grade 60.82 FIRE DEPARTMENT COMPONENT Fire Department Grade - 2013 Categories Points Actual Engine Companies 6.00 4.73 Reserve Pumpers.50 0.48 Pumper Capacity 3.00 2.25 Ladder/Service Companies 4.00 0.43 Reserve Ladder/Service Companies.50 0.00 Deployment 10.00 1.75 Company Personnel 17.00 3.23 Training 9.00 8.57 Total Fire Department Credit 50.00 21.44 WATER SUPPLY COMPONENT
CREDIT FOR WATER SUPPLY Water Supply 26.32 Hydrants 3 Inspection Program 3 Fire Flow Testing Program 3 TOTAL CREDIT 35.32 COMMUNICATIONS COMPONENT CAMDEN COUNTY PRE-ISO SURVEY COMMUNICATIONS -400 410 CREDIT FOR EMERGENCY REPORTING 2.25 420 TELECOMMUNICATORS (TC) 3.70 430 DISPATCH CIRCUITS (DC) 431 1.70 440 CREDIT FOR EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS (CEC) 7.65 COMMUNITY RISK REDUCTION COMMUNITY RI SK REDUCTION CAMDEN COUNTY Fire Prevention Programs (CPCE) Fire Prevention Code Regulations (PCR) 10 2.76 Fire Prevention Staffing (PS) 8 0.85 Fire Prevention Staff Certification and Training (PCT) 6 6.00 Fire Prevention Programs (PCP) 16 8.08 Credit 0.97 Public Fire Safety Education (FSE) Public Fire Safety Educators Training and Qualifications (FSQT) 10 0.50
Public Fire Safety Education Programs (FSP) Credit 30 25.00 40 1.43 Fire Investigation (IF) Fire Investigation Organization and Staffing (IOS) Fire Investigator Certification and Training (IQT) Use of the National Fire Incident Reporting System (IRS) Credit 8 6 6 Credit for Community Risk Reduction 7.80 6.00 6.00 1.09 3.49 RECOMMENDATIONS Fire Department In recognition of the department s current method of operation, the department should ensure a minimum response of three engines to all structure fires, two engines for meeting the basic fire flow requirements at the fire scene and a third engine to support water supply operations at the water supply fill site. Ensure that Fire Stations 17 and 19 have a minimum complement of 4 firefighters assigned per shift to the station using either career (paid), paidon-call, volunteers or combination thereof. Ensure that fire department pumpers and tankers are pump tested annually in compliance with NFPA 1901 Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus. The department should place additional service companies in service in order to receive additional points for ladder/service companies based on the current operating environment. The department should strive to have the current automatic aid agreements modified to reflect the provision of automatic aid to a maximum of five miles from the responding automatic aid department. Replace Tankers 18 and 19 with 3,000 gallon vacuum tankers.
WATER SUPPLY Conduct a comprehensive review of water supply source sites to determine how each site will be utilized either using the available dry hydrant or turbo draft device. The water source site reviews should also including the following: a. site maintenance b. site marking and identification c. repairs or improvements d. dry- hydrant painting e. back-flushing Conduct multiple water shuttle exercises including tanker fill times, tanker dump times and fire scene pumper evolutions to determine department readiness for ISO on-site visit. Record the water shuttle training exercises using a video camera for ISO verification purposes. Establish additional water sites based on tanker travel distance and water fill site distance from the most remote structure in each station s response district. Initiate engineering studies on various water sites to achieve a distribution of a recognized water source site within 2.5 3 miles of every structure in the unincorporated areas of the county. Estimated cost of additional water source sites engineering analysis is approximately $500-$700 per site. Consider the closure of Fire Station 10 and having the area currently covered by this station served by the City of Kingsland Fire Department through an Automatic Aid Agreement.
Redeploy resources and assets from Station 10 to other County Stations specifically Stations 11, 19 and 17. Relocate Tanker 10 to Station 11 and staff to Stations 17 and 19. Modify the current response matrix for all structure fires to reflect a minimum of three engines. Modify current response matrix to ensure that the first due stations tanker also responds on the initial alarm to all structure fires. Conduct a GIS Travel and distance analysis of modified response matrix. COMMUNICATIONS Initiate scheduled process for the replacement of the CAD System. Establish an integrated quality assurance process for all emergency calls. Review and modify dispatch procedures for fire calls to reduce call processing times in compliance with NFPA 1221. Institute a process for testing the emergency power backup system under full load for the E 9-1-1center and allied transmitter/receiver sites on a weekly basis. Develop a system of maintaining geo-code files on the CAD system to ensure data is accurate and current. Establish a process for monitoring dispatcher performance by implementing a process for call review based upon criticality. Provide an alternate back-up center capability. IMPACT OF RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the Department s water shuttle capability and the implementation of recommendations, the department should be able to achieve a Class 4 for properties within 1000 of a recognized water source. For properties more than 1000 from a recognized water source it is estimated that those properties should receive a Class 8B based on the department s ability to deliver 200 GPM for twenty minutes with current resources Adjournment: Chairman Starline adjourned the Work Session at 5:41 PM. COMMISSIONERS BY: JAMES H. STARLINE, CHAIRMAN CAMDEN COUNTY BOARD OF ATTEST: KATHRYN BISHOP, COUNTY CLERK