Texas Fire Chief - Fall/Winter 2008 - (Page 17)

Squad Concept: DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO HAVE A BIG RED TRUCK? By Assistant Chief Bill Gardner, Leander Fire Department his article is a review of the current squad concept being used by the Leander Fire Department in Leander, Texas. This review is based on what the fi re department did and what results occurred during their time with different response models using the Squad concept. Background on Leander Fire Department: The department is a combination fi re department with 20 full-time employees (covers operations and administrative staff) and 50 volunteers. The department currently operates out of two fire stations with a third station to be coming on line in spring of 2009. The Leander Fire Department’s call volume in 2007 was 2566 with 78 percent of them medical in nature. LFD currently provide BLS first response and has completed approximately 30 percent of the training necessary to have ILS response capabilities on all units and all shifts. The department T has a response district of approximately 60 square miles with a population of 32,000. LFD entered into the squad concept to address a growth problem in the City of Leander. The city has 2123 percent annual increase in population, while the tax revenue from the growth has an 18-24 month lag time. The growth demanded the addition of more resources to the fire department. The lack of funds to be able to provide adequate staffing for a new engine company in 2006 led the fire department to hire three lieutenants and three firefighters to implement the Squad concept. The department looked at and compared the initial start up cost of the squad program versus an engine company by looking at the purchase of the unit, the staffing of the unit and the on going fuel cost to operate the unit. Once operating the squad, the ability to go back and review the impact to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) was reviewed. The KPIs used were response times, mainly the percentage of time the fire department was able to arrive on scene within four minutes from the time the caller requested assistance. Other KPIs included the number of firefighters from LFD on scene of a working fire in the LFD district, if the squad caused a delay in fire attack and then the return of spontaneous circulation in cardiac arrest patients. Cost Comparison The department ran the squad concept initially with a modified brush truck, then purchased a minipumper to be used as a squad in late 2007. During this same time, the department purchased a new pumper and looked at both units having similar add on items such as generators, lighting, emergency lighting packages and compressed air foam systems. The initial cost of the new units was the Type 1 Engine cost of TEXAS FIRE CHIEF Fall/Winter 2008 17

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Texas Fire Chief - Fall/Winter 2008

Texas Fire Chief - Fall/Winter 2008 Contents Executive Director’s Report Texas Fire Chiefs Academy Project Reports Southwest Fire Rescue Conference Program Membership Application Customer Service Orientation in Fire Rescue Departments A Visit to the E-One Plant Index to Advertisers

Texas Fire Chief - Fall/Winter 2008

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