HomeMy WebLinkAbout106-Fire Department Response.pdf[City of Saratoga Letterhead]
DRAFT RESPONSE
August 18, 2011
Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury
Office of the Civil Grand Jury c/o Honorable Richard J. Loftus, Jr.
Presiding Judge
Santa Clara County Superior Court
191 North First Street
San Jose, CA 95113
Re: 2010-2011 SANTA CLARA COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY REPORT
REGARDING “FIGHTING FIRE OR FIGHTING CHANGE? RETHINKING
FIRE DEPARTMENT RESPONSE PROTOCOL AND CONSOLIDATION
OPPORTUNITIES”
Honorable Members of the Civil Grand Jury:
The City Council for the City of Saratoga has reviewed your June 15, 2011 report
regarding Fighting Fire or Fighting Change? Rethinking Fire Department Response
Protocol And Consolidation Opportunities (“Report”) and authorized me to provide this
response. The City Council appreciates the thorough and deliberate work of the Civil Grand Jury and its attention to identifying opportunities for public sector cost control.
With respect to the specific applicable findings and recommendations in the Report, the
City’s response is set forth below:
Finding 1:
It is extremely costly to equip a fire department for only the occasional fire response; the
County and fifteen towns/cities have not been proactive in challenging fire departments
to adopt changes that are more cost effective and that better serve their communities.
Further, unions are more interested in job preservation than in providing the right mix of
capabilities at a reasonable cost, using scare tactics to influence the public and fostering
firefighter unwillingness to collaborate with EMS.
The City disagrees based on lack of information to make a determination on this finding
for fire service in the City. The City was established as a minimum services city with a
deliberate decision on the part of the City’s founders to leave fire service in the hands of
the two independent fire districts serving residents of the City. Accordingly, the City
lacks the institutional expertise to evaluate the specific circumstances of staffing and
equipment levels in Saratoga. As a general matter, residents of the City appear satisfied
with the quality of service, particularly since the two districts entered a boundary drop
agreement in 2001 and the Saratoga Fire Protection District (“SFPD”) contracted with
Santa Clara County Central Fire District to provide services on SFPD’s behalf beginning
in 2008. Given limited funding available in the current fiscal climate, the City lacks the resources to perform an independent evaluation of services not within its jurisdiction.
Recommendation 1B:
All fifteen towns/cities—Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los
Gatos, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa
Clara, Saratoga, Sunnyvale—and the County (for CCFD and SCFD) should determine
the emergency response service they want to achieve, particularly as to the result, then
determine how best to achieve that.
The recommendation will not be implemented because the City lacks jurisdiction to
direct the operations of independent fire districts.
Finding 3: Whether the emergency responder is a firefighter-paramedic or an EMS paramedic matters little to the person with the medical emergency; using firefighter-paramedics in firefighting equipment as first responders to all non-police emergencies is unnecessarily costly when less expensive paramedics on ambulances possess the skills needed to address the 96% of calls that are not fire related.
The City agrees that whether the emergency responder is a firefighter-paramedic or an
EMS paramedic matters little to the person with the medical emergency. The City
disagrees with the remainder of the finding based on lack of information regarding the
necessity of costs involved given the specific circumstances in Saratoga. As noted above,
the City was established as a minimum services City with a deliberate decision on the
part of the City’s founders to leave fire service in the hands of the two independent fire
districts serving residents of the City. Accordingly, the City lacks the institutional
expertise to evaluate the specific circumstances of management and resource allocation
decisions with respect to fire protection in Saratoga.
Recommendation 3A:
All fifteen towns/cities—Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los
Gatos, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa
Clara, Saratoga, Sunnyvale—and the County (for CCFD and SCFD) should adopt an
emergency services department mentality and staff or contract accordingly to meet
demand.
The recommendation has been implemented. The City has jurisdiction over police
services (via contract with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department) and disaster
preparedness. The City promotes close cooperation between these two departments and
encourages coordination with other emergency service providers such as the independent
fire districts serving the City.
Thank you for your consideration of this response.
Sincerely,
Howard A. Miller
Mayor, City of Saratoga
Cc: Members of the Saratoga City Council
City Manager
City Attorney