Minutes 09-13-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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North Chatham Fire Department Chief John Stroud said that his department serves the southern Triangle area. The insurance rating is 6. He said that they work mostly with Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and White Cross and they have great working relationships with these departments. Chapel Hill Fire Chief Dan Jones said that Chapel Hill is a municipal service and they are funded through the Town of Chapel Hill's general fund. They have five stations, 97 paid staff, seven response units, an insurance rating of three, and they run about 5,000 calls a year. Of that, about 45% is EMS. The areas in which they have a vested interest are 911 and EMS. He expressed appreciation for the addressing of this with additional personnel in the past two budget years. There are continued resource needs for equipment and technology. He said that they are waiting on Orange County 911 to catch up with them in the technology area. Mutual aid is another issue, because though they are the largest department, they depend on these other fire departments for equipment and personnel. Chapel Hill has some very urban, big city problems but a small fire department. There are mutual aid agreements with New Hope, Carrboro, Orange Rural, and North Chatham in order to meet the demands of the University. He made reference to the report and said that the VIPER radio system in Orange County is different than the one he was using years ago in Florida. He said that the entities in the County did not do enough homework with the VIPER system. The State sold the County on this system, which was designed for highway patrol. He said that there are many problems with this system. He cannot penetrate brick, steel, or glass. He said that it really is a bad situation. He said that the report alluded to the lack of strategic planning, but the County has never looked at standards of coverage. He thinks that it is incumbent upon everyone in the County to address these standards. He said that the issue of economic development brings up another set of issues. If commercial development is wanted, fire protection becomes a major issue because it is an issue of sustainability. Commissioner Gordon arrived at Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.. Dan Jones said that there needs to be a discussion with a smaller group about the report and what is useful and what is not. He asked the Board of County Commissioners to look at an Emergency Services management model that is based on collaboration, problem-solving, and goal-setting. In order to do that, everyone has to be at the table. He said that citizens do not care what color the fire truck is or what it says on the door, or who the Fire Chief is, but that they get there quick and their problem gets solved. He said that they all need to commit to a strategic planning process, because the lack of one is affecting everyone. Emergency Services Director Frank Montes de Oca said that he agrees with a lot of the points that have been made. He made reference to the CAD system and said that it is a 12-15 year old system. The technology has far surpassed the capabilities and there is an electronic method of dispatching, but it only goes so far. He said that the price tag attached with a suitable CAD system is $2.5-3 million. This does not include the towers. He said that the system was designed without the Sheriff's Department input. He said that the channels are saturated now but any upgrades cost monies. They were able to hire more EMTs this past summer but they need more. They also need more units to keep up with the workloads. He said that their response times are not where they need to be. It has to be a collaborative service. He said that the VIPER system does not work well and it is a 30-year old technology. Follow-up Comments/Questions by Board of Commissioners