Title
COMMUNITY PARAMEDICINE PILOT PROGRAM/PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
COUNCIL INITIATIVE ADDRESSED:
Enahnce Public Safety & Emergency Response
CITY ATTORNEY REVIEW: N/A
SUMMARY STATEMENT:
A. Over the last few years, the fire chief has met with a number of stakeholders regarding pre-hospital Emergency Medical Service care programs. As a result of some of those discussions, Kaiser Permanente approached the Fire Chief and proposed using fire department resources to provide post-discharge checkups of Kaiser patients who would benefit from in-home visits.
Between the dates of October 16 and December 31, 2017, Kaiser will work with Longview Fire staff in scheduling in-home visits of identified patients. During this time, Longview Fire staff will assemble results of the benefits, challenges and opportunities of this program. Throughout the pilot and immediately following, Kaiser and Longview Fire staff will assess and evaluate the effects for our community and the potential impacts in decreasing emergency medical responses, as emergent events through 911 and the current service delivery model.
Budget impacts are expected to be minimal.
B. Self-contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) is a crucial component of a firefighter’s personal protective equipment ensemble. Three years ago, as our existing SCBA became more and more maintenance-intensive, we had a few occasions when the equipment failed on the fire ground. Fortunately, no firefighters were injured due to that failure. Simultaneously, having recognized the safety issues with our existing SCBA, staff applied for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) to replace this equipment. During one cycle the Longview Fire Department took the lead on a regional grant and most recently we applied for a local grant request to replace this crucial safety equipment.
Two years ago, while we were applying for grant funding to replace SCBA, we became aware of an opportunity through an online marketplace that a vendor was selling SCBA that was two generations (or two model years) newer than our existing SCBA. The cost was 10% of purchasing new and according to the vendor of the SCBA would meet all of the safety requirements, if serviced prior to being put into service. Subsequently, we acquired this SCBA.
Earlier this year, we became aware that the “bridge” SCBA that we had purchased is not in compliance with WAC 296-305-04001, which states, “Firefighter's self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) shall, at a minimum, meet the requirements of the 1997 edition of NFPA 1981, Standard on Open-Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus for Fire Fighters. Equipment purchased after the effective date of this rule must meet the 2007 edition of NFPA 1981, Standard on Open-Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus for Emergency Services. The effective date of this rule was on January 1, 2014, and we had purchased our current SCBA in early 2016.
Last week, FEMA notified us that our most recent SCBA grant application had not been selected for funding during this AFG cycle. As a result of that notification and the recent discovery that the current SCBA is not in compliance with state regulations, the existing SCBA needs to be replaced as soon as possible. The cost of replacement is approximately $222,000.
In addition to the SCBA replacement issue, we have also become aware that per WAC 296-305-02002, replacement of structural firefighter clothing must be per manufacturers’ specifications, which is 10 years from date of manufacture. In order to become compliant with that rule, the fire department needs to purchase 30 sets of firefighting structural clothing ensembles which would ensure that all spare and frontline PPE clothing is less than 10 years old. The cost of purchasing 30 sets of structural firefighting clothing is approximately $73,000.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
A. This is for informational purposes only.
B. Motion to direct the City Manager to pursue an immediate purchase of new SCBA and Structural Firefighting Clothing for the cost of $295,000 from the General Fund.
STAFF CONTACT:
Phil Jurmu, Fire Chief