2014 VILLAGE FIRE DEPARTMENT ANNUAL REPORT 901 Corbindale Rd. Houston, Texas
It is my pleasure to submit the 2014 Annual Report to the Fire Commission, the Mayors, City Councils and to the citizens of the Cities served by the Village Fire Department. This annual report was completed in an effort to provide information regarding the activities of the Village Fire Department during 2014. As we move into 2015, Village Firefighters and staff will continue to provide a high level of service to the community in the most efficient and effective manner possible. 2014 brought continued process improvements for the Department; highlighted by being presented on March 1, 2014, the Insurance Service Organization s Class 1 Award. Only 60 of 49,010 fire departments in the United States are rated Class 1 departments. Also, with a narrow focus to the Department s Mission of Saving Lives and Protecting Property, the Department filled vacancies with Firefighter/Paramedics increasing the number of paramedics by 44%. I want to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your continued support of the Village Fire Department. I also would like to thank you for the privilege to serve you and these great cities as your Fire Chief. Lastly, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to the devoted members of the Village Fire Department for their professionalism and commitment in carrying out their duties. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me by email, foster@villagefire.org, call me at 713-468-7941, or stop by the fire station. Respectfully submitted, David Foster Fire Chief
The Village Fire Department is operated under an interlocal agreement by the City of Bunker Hill Village, the City of Hedwig Village, the City of Hilshire Village, the City of Hunters Creek Village, the City of Piney Point Village and the City of Spring Valley Village. Each city appoints a representative Fire Commissioner and an Alternate Fire Commissioner to the Board of Commissioners of the Village Fire Department which supervises and administers the affairs of the Department. As of February 2015 the Village Fire Department Commissioners are: Commissioners: City of Bunker Hill Village City of Hedwig Village City of Hilshire Village City of Hunters Creek Village City of Piney Point Village City of Spring Valley Village Mr. Gerald Teel Mayor Sue Speck, Secretary Mayor Shannon Whiting, Treasurer Council Member Jim Pappas, Vice Chair Mr. Zebulun Nash Council Member Allen Carpenter, Chair Alternates: City of Bunker Hill Village City of Hedwig Village City of Hilshire Village City of Hunters Creek Village City of Piney Point Village City of Spring Valley Village Mr. Mac Shuford Council Member William Johnson Council Member Paul Maddock Mr. Tommy Fatjo Council Member Ron Goodwine Council Member Aaron Stai Department Profile: The Village Fire Department is a premier, Class 1 fire and rescue department in the Metro-Houston area. We provide fire suppression, emergency medical services, emergency management and fire prevention and education to the population of the Cities of: Bunker Hill Village, Hedwig Village, Hilshire Village, Hunters Creek Village, Spring Valley Village and Piney Point Village. Operating from a single fire station, the Village Fire Department is equipped with two engines, a ladder truck, a command vehicle and two rescue ambulances. Current staffing includes 40 full-time firefighters, four dispatchers, 1 fire marshal and two civilian administrative assistants. During major events, such as hurricanes, Village Fire Department staff act as the Emergency Management Coordinator for each jurisdictional city.
Organization Chart Village Fire Department 2014 Annual Report
Significant 2014 Achievements 2014 Family Day Annually the Department hosts a luncheon honoring distinguished guests, Department members and their families. During the luncheon new personnel are sworn in, firefighters completing probation are presented their badges and awards are presented to several deserving individuals. Unit Citations were awarded to: Captain B. Neptune Firefighter T. DePaul Driver/Operator G. Vincent Firemedic J. Nusser Civilian Life Save Award presented to: Rochelle Abrams Department Life Save Awards presented to: Captain D. Langenberg Firemedic J. Nusser Driver/Operator W. Wyatt Firefighter T. DePaul Firefighter E. Flores Bat. Chief H. Miller Firefighter B. Schweiss Firefighter J. Baker Captain B. Neptune Driver/Operator M. Hebert Firemedic K. Dozier Captain S. Witt Firemedic J. Ellis Driver/Operator J. Peck Driver/Operator T. Miller Receiving their badges: Firefighter E. Flores Firefighter A. Sanchez Sworn in: Firefighter A. Sanchez Firemedic J. Ellis
On March 1, 2014 the Village Fire Department received the ISO Class Award. The award was presented by representatives of the Texas Fire Marshal and Insurance Service Organization. The award recognizes the Village Fire Department as among the top.1% of fire departments in the Country. Village Fire Marshal Rusty Kattner serves as the president of the State Firefighters & Fire Marshals Association of Texas
Operations Operations personnel are on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Operations Division is divided into three shifts, A, B and C. Each shift is staffed with 13 firefighters, with a minimum shift staffing of 10 firefighters. All Operations personnel are trained and certified in emergency medical service (EMS). 18 personnel are Paramedics, 2 are EMT-Intermediates and the remainder are EMT-Basics. Village firefighters work 24 hour shifts, starting 7 a.m. and finish the shift at 7 a.m. the next day. Each firefighter works 9 shifts during each 27 day period. Firefighters work approximately 2,757 hours per year. The average U.S. employee works 2,080 hours per year. During their workday, firefighters maintain fire apparatus, equipment and the fire station; they train in fire and EMS subjects, perform fire hydrant inspections, building fire inspections, physical training, public relations tours and respond to emergencies. Emergency Medical Services oversight is provided by the Department s Medical Director, Dr. Sharon Malone. Under Dr. Malone s direction and authority, Department personnel provide the residents and visitors cutting edge advanced life support care.
Training Village Fire Department firefighters completed 10,089 combined hours of training during 2014. This training included fire operations and EMS skills enhancement. The training far exceeds Texas and National training requirements. All firefighters participate annually in live fire training. In addition, preparing for promotional opportunities as identified in the Department s career ladder, Department personnel completed Texas certification in Instructor 1 & 2, Fire Officer 1, 2, 3 and 4. Driver/Operator: Pumper, Fire Inspector, Incident Safety Officer, undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Communications and Dispatch Village Fire Department Communications is responsible for the immediate dispatch of fire and emergency medical resources. Essential lifesaving care is initiated immediately by certified Emergency Medical Dispatchers. Within seconds of receiving a 911 emergency, the dispatchers are tasked with identifying the type of emergency, dispatching equipment suitable to properly handle the emergency, and providing verbal directions to the caller to stabilize the patient until paramedics arrive on scene. This sometimes involves providing CPR instructions, direction to control bleeding or even steps towards child birth. During fire incidents, dispatchers provide assistance to responding firefighters by providing the details of the incident, the location of hydrants, utilities and contacting the Houston Fire Department for mutual aid when necessary. Dispatchers are the radio voice of the Village Fire Department. Village Fire Department dispatchers are also the first contact for citizens and visitors to the Village Fire Department. They schedule scout tours and handle all incoming phone calls among other tasks. Administration The Village Fire Department is unique in its structure as a Department. Typically Cities provide fire departments payroll, budget development and management, hiring, HR responsibilities, and purchasing services. Although the six cities provide oversight, the Village Fire Department s Administration is responsible for these functions. In addition, Administration also manages the Village s multi-agency health insurance coop and fuel delivery for all Village jurisdictions.
Personnel The 40 firefighter personnel account for approximately 457 years of firefighting service experience; with the average years of service at 12.03 years. After 39 years of service, Battalion Chief D. Hook retired. The Village Fire Department experienced several personnel changes in 2014. The following retirements occurred during 2014: Battalion Chief Hook, Captain Green, and Firemedic Mike Grove. Firemedic Parker, Firefighters Villarreal, Moore, Preston and Dispatcher Singletary resigned (Preston returned to the Village Fire Department in January 2015). These vacancies resulted in the following promotions: D. Langenberg to the position of Battalion Chief, G. Vincent to the position of Captain 2, D. Swinner to the position of Captain 1. B. King, J. Peck and B. Sandifer were promoted to Driver Operator. Fire Department Budget The 2014 approved budget was $5,036,663.00. As is typical with fire departments, approximately 88% of the approved budget comprised of personnel expenses. Apparatus and major equipment replacement is funded through the Capital Budget. 561,110.00 2014 Approved Budget 63,000.00 Capital Personnel Expenses 4,412,553.00 Operational Expenses
Actual Expenditures: The 2014 Actual Expenditures will not be available until after the Department s annual audit. 4,900,000 4,800,000 4,700,000 4,600,000 4,500,000 4,400,000 4,300,000 4,200,000 4,100,000 5 Year Trend Actual Budget Expenditures 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Fire Department Responses The Village Fire Department serves approximately 20,000 residents in an estimated 10 square mile area. The department also provides Automatic Aid to the Houston Fire Department. Calls for service increased approximately 6.5% in 2014; from 1886 incidents in 2013 to 2019 incidents in 2014. 2014 Incidents were also above the five year average of 1,812. FIRE 2014 2013 EMS 2014 2013 Fire Alarm Resident 298 270 Sick Call 120 109 Auto Aid Houston 276 251 Fall 114 142 Vehicle Incident 175 172 Unconscious Person 70 80 Fire Alarm Business 104 68 Unknown Medical 70 46 Service Call 86 95 Breathing Problem 66 66 Object In roadway 41 36 Chest Pain 52 63 Odor Gas 32 25 Seizures 50 41 Transformer Fire 20 15 Medical Alarm 42 31 Vehicle Fire 19 24 Hemorrhage/Laceration 26 23 Power Lines Down 16 23 Diabetic 23 35 Carbon Monoxide 16 11 Medical Service Asst 22 15 Smoke in Residence 16 10 Injured Party 21 23 Smell of Smoke 14 21 Stroke 19 32 Gas Leak 11 6 Heart Problem 18 31 Wash Down 9 7 Overdose/Poisoning 16 11 Elevator Rescue 9 2 Abdominal Pain 12 15 House Fire 8 11 Back Pain 8 15 Smoke In Business 8 3 Allergic Reaction 7 8 Child Locked in Car 7 6 Cardiac/Resp Arrest 7 9 Check for Fire 6 8 Dead On Scene 6 1
Grass Fire 5 5 Psychiatric Incident 4 25 Building Fire 4 1 Shooting/Stabbing 3 2 Unknown Odor 3 53 Drowning 2 0 Fuel Spill 3 8 Electrocution 2 1 Trash/ Dumpster Fire 3 2 Headache 2 2 Oven Fire 2 2 Heat/Cold Exposure 2 2 Lightning Strike 2 1 Eye Injury 1 1 Auto Vs Pedestrian 1 3 Animal Bite 0 1 Electrical Fire 1 3 Burn 0 2 HazMat Incident 0 2 OB Call 0 1 Illegal Burning 0 2 Explosion 0 1 The following Graphs depict five year trends in the areas of: 1. Number of Incidents 2. Average Response Times 3. Number of Structure Fires 4. Average Fire Loss 5. Average Dollar Loss per Fire 6. Number of Emergency Medical Service Patients and Number of Patients Transported 7. Emergency Medical Service Revenue 2500 2000 5 Year Trends - Incidents 1500 1000 Total Incidents Fire EMS 500 0
4:48 4:19 3:50 3:21 2:52 2:24 1:55 1:26 0:57 0:28 0:00 5 Year Trends - Average Response Times Travel Time Turnout Time 15 10 5 Year Trend - Structure Fires # structure fires 5 0 Linear (# structure fires) 2,500,000 2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000,000 500,000 0-500,000 5 Year Trend - Fire Loss
200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 0-50,000 5 Year Trend - Avg $ Loss Per Fire 180,122 90,192 5,773 1,889 20,060 Avg Loss Per Fire Linear (Avg Loss Per Fire) 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 EMS Patient Trend Patients Patients Transported 400,000.00 350,000.00 5 Year Trend - EMS Revenue 300,000.00 250,000.00 200,000.00 150,000.00 100,000.00 50,000.00 0.00
Fire Marshal/ Fire Prevention The Village Fire Department s Fire Marshal Office provides comprehensive prevention services to each of the Village Cities. Due to the Cities strong support of fire prevention, through the residential fire sprinkler ordinance, 22% of the homes within the Village Cities are sprinkled. Plans Reviewed General Plans Review 74 61 64 61 33 Sprinkler System Plans Review 179 176 190 262 255 Total Plans Review for Year 253 237 254 323 288 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Plans Review 5 Year Trend General Plans Review Sprinkler System Plans Review Total Plans Review for Year
Fire Inspections Fire Prevention Inspections 740 449 436 247 205 Residential & Commercial Sprinkler Inspections 360 315 361 403 465 Total Inspections for Year 1100 764 797 650 670 Tours and Public Education School and Station Tours 50 50 66 53 57 Public Events 23 26 13 14 23 Total 73 76 79 67 80 85 80 Public Events 5 Year Trend 75 70 65 60
Representing the Village Fire Department On KHOU Channel 11 Great Day Houston, September 11, 2014 Following tradition, the Village Fire Department participated in the Villages Red, White, and Blue Independence Day Festival 2014. Signaling the end of the festival, and a particular crowd favorite during the hot Texas summer, Village Fire Department Ladder 1 sprays the crowd.