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Letter: City needs to address firefighter staffing 

To the editor,

At Tuesday night’s city council meeting, May 17, a question about emergency service levels was raised during public comments. The Paso Robles Fire Department has a service rating of 4/5. That means that the highest level of service is a class 4 and beyond five miles from a fire station the class of service is 9. Class 1 is the highest level of service and class 9 is the lowest service level in the rating system. The Paso Robles airport is just beyond five miles from any staffed fire station.Submit news of Letter to the editor

The Paso Robles Fire Chief stated that the fire department did not have enough fire firefighters working daily to extinguish a house fire, currently six or seven daily. When asked by a councilman how long it would take for a fire engine to respond to the new four-story hotel at Union Road and Highway 46 and how could they reach a fire on the 4th floor. The fire chief said it would be approximately eight minutes drive time and the city has a 110 foot ladder truck. However, the fire chief did not explain that the city ladder truck was not in service because there is no dedicated staff to operate it, and approximately two minutes are added to the response time for what is called reflex time (call processing, dispatch and firefighter prep to respond).

The Insurance Services Organization (ISO) evaluates fire services and determines local fire service capabilities. These rating levels are used by insurance companies to establish local insurance rates for business owners and home owners. In addition to rating our fire service, ISO also makes recommendations for fire station response distance (1&1/2 miles), the number of staffed fire engines to provide protection, the number of firefighters to provide fire protection, and other recommendations to upgrade the class fire of protection. ISO’s most recent evaluation recommends a minimum of three staffed fire engines for Paso Robles.

The Safety Element adopted for Paso Robles by the council states that FD staffing will be at .8 to 1.2 firefighters per one thousand population. The City Annual Report on the General Plan dated April 5, 2016 shows the current staffing to be .69 firefighters per thousand. The Growth Management Plan for FD Emergency Services states that resource needs for the year 2015 with a projected population of 32,000 will be 14 daily staffing.

The documentation for required FD staffing needs is clear for all to see. However the general public is unaware of the serious short fall of Emergency Services in the City of Paso Robles. These needs must be public knowledge to force the City to fund Emergency Services to provide safety for the citizens and the visiting public. The fire chief is at a disadvantage to vocally express these deficiencies due to the fact that he is what is called an at will employee, which means if he disagrees with his boss/council he could be dismissed from employment.

By Darrell Cooper

A retired veteran of the Fire Service with 31 years experience; BA in Fire Administration, BS in Fire Prevention, Ca. State Certified Chief Officer, National Fire Academy Executive Officer training.

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About the author: News Staff

The news staff of the Paso Robles Daily News wrote or edited this story from local contributors and press releases. The news staff can be reached at info@pasoroblesdailynews.com.