Accomplishments Report - 2000
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Salina Fire Department
2000 Annual Report
Executive Summary
The Salina Fire Departmer:lt has a yearly goal of inspecting 100% of commerCial buildings
in the City. The department completed 2,156 building inspections in 2000. The 1,229
violations that were identified (and corrected), averted many potential fires. Another
component of ensuring s?fe buildings is plan review. The department reviewed 183
commerCial building plans.:,
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Over three thousand students received life safety education. Added to the program this
year was "Meet the Fire fighter" and "Be Safe Poster." A program called, "Remembering
When", was started to educate seniors. Sadly, Salina experienced three fire deaths in the
year 2000. The departm~nt responded with radio and television PSAs stressing smoke
detectors, lighter safety and practiCing escape plans. Plans are also underway for a
broad-reaching. smoke detE;lctor give away program. '
The dollar loss from fires was very high in 2000, but the property saved on those fires was
also very high. Vehicle purchases included an ambulance and two new fire "trucks" (one
pumper and one quint). ~emodeling to fire station one's shop bay was necessary to
accommodate the neW quint. Firefighters performed all of the interior work.
Fire equipment purchasesuincluded thermal imaging cameras for each of the four first-out
trucks, air pak updates, a "jaws of life" power unit, and bunker gear.
Training accomplishments included training in rapid sequence intubation, hazardous
materials operations, equipment operations, confined space and a wide array of typical
yearly,topic~; '".,
Two hard-hitting budget areas were vehicle maintenance and prescription medications.
Rising gas" prices and, tre replacement of the ambulance (Firestones) tires were,
unexpected expenses. 'In order to reduce the costs of medications, fire' officials .have
visited with hospital a'dmini~tration about purchasing medications through them. Even with
these and other unexpected expenses, the final budget was in the black.
A station location study and an Insurance Service Organization assessment gained the
department invaluable direction for the future.
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Overall, the year 2000 reflected an organization that fulfilled its mission' through the
tremendous efforts of a de9icated group of men and women.
The Mission
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, The mission of the Salina Fire D~partment,is to protect lives and property by minimizing
the frequency and effect ::of fires, sudden medical emergencies, hazardous materials
incidents, disasters and other like occurrenCes. This report will detail the department's
efforts towards attaining th~t mission in the year 2000., '
Prevention and Public Education
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The Salina Fire Department's overall goal is "Excellence in the prevention and mitigation
of emergencies." Even though the words "prevention and public education" aren't the first
things most people think of when they hear the name "fire department," the Salina Fire
Department p~ts them first:in their efforts.
The department is able to re,duce the frequency of fires by identifying risks and correcting
them before they cause a:fire. The department was ablE! to accomplish its 2000 goal of
completing 2,156 inspectiohs of commercial structures. Prevention 'officers and company
crews worked up until the final days of the year to complete this task. The value of having
engine crews assist in performing commercial inspections is it gives the department extra
aSsistance in completing inspections and allows fire fighters to see, the layout of the
buildings. The 1,229 v.iolations that were identified by the inspectors (and corrected by the
commercial property ownefs) averted many possible fires.
The Salina Fire Department uses the Uniform Fire Code to address building violations and
to direct developers in, ~he fire protection requirements for new buildings. Every
commercial building goes through a fire code review by the Salina Fire Department. Last
year the department completed 183 'plan reviews., '
The three Prevention Officers on the department counsel juveniles who have be,en
involved with fires. A juvenile fire setter program is important because national statistics
tell us that children start 40% of all set fires in America. The statistics also show that
appropriate intervention programs are 91% effective and,., fire setting has an 81%
probability of being, repeated if not dealt with. There were twenty~two juveniles counseled
by the department in 2000.
The Public Educator addr~sses overall safety education in the community. A big part of
the Public Educator's time"is educating children in the elementary schools. All of Salina's
public ,elementary schools (and all private/parochial and Saline County schools) participate
in the Life Safety Education Program. The goals of the program are: 1) To teach' children
practical life~saving skills t,hat could save lives in a fire or burn emergency. 2) To help
children become aware of ~r~ and life safety hazards within their home, community, and 3)
To teach children practical life-saving and preventable injury skills. Children K-4 (including
special education children); receive fire safety ,lessons in the fall. A total of 3,666 students
received lessons. New to the program in 2000 was the "Meet the Fire fighter" in which fire
fighter crews visited each first grade class as a curriculum component of "community."
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Thel'children receive life safety lessons in the spring. A total of 3,620, students received
these lessons. New to this program was the "Be Safe Poster", which each 3rd and 6th
grade student designed for display at the Central Mall in honor of EMS week in May. This
was also a way to reach thy community outside the classroom.
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Over 1500 students in 4'\ 5th, and special education classes participated ina role play
practice called, "The. Fire Safety House." This gives the child an opportunity to.
demonstrate fire escape techniques using the Fire Safety House smoke simulator. .
A new program for seniors called "RemembE?ring When" was a huge success. Experts
have determined that as people age they must use different methods of practicing fire
safety. The program centers on general methods of practicing fire safety as well as special
methods for seniors. Over 900 seniors received this training.
There were 77 station tours given to children and adults, and programs of fire safety
reached over 400 adults inthe community. The department's annual Activity Day brought
.in over 500 as families enjoyed fire education activiti~s.
The Public Educator put: together numerous. radio and television PSAs on smoke
detectors, lighter safety angfire exiting plans.
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The departme~t participat~~ in other local activities in the community including the Health
Fair, the Tri River's Fair, Home and Garden Show, the Smoky Hill River Festival, and
various school and organiz~tion events through demonstrations and exhibits. .
Fire Suppression
To the overall quality of fir~ safety, astrorig response system is imperative because the
best prevention and publiq education programs cannot avert all fires. Fire companies
res'ponded to 1,596 calls ,last year, which was an increase of 86 from 1999 (5 year
response graph Appendix ~). There were 99' of these calls that were structure fires. The
properties had a total value.of $13,192,340 and the fires caused losses of $1,314,235.
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The department acquired ,two. pieces of fire apparatus this past year; one American
LaFrance 1500 gallon pUrY]per and one American LaFrance 1500 gallon 85' quint. The
name "quint" comes from t~e five features of the fire truck (water tank, hose, pump, grouJ'ld
ladders and hydraulic ladder). The quint gives personnel the option of using the truck as
either a pumper or a ladder. Remodeling at station one was necessary for the placement
of the new quint. Fire fighters painted the entire bay and built a new metal staircase.
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. Equipment purchases incl!.Jded three thermal imaging cameras, a hazardous material
spotting scope, a power unit for the "jaws-of-life", updates to air paks and protective fire
. clothing. The cameras give fire fighters "heat outlined" sight in a smoke-blackened
environment. The thermal i,maging camera.purchases give Salina a camera on all of the, .
first-out fire trucks. A new power unit for the "jaws-of-life" was purchased to replace an
aging unit.. This tool is for vehicle extrication. The air pak updates modernized the
breathing apparatus up tokurrent standards. The new spotting scope gives response
personnel the capability to reach out with their vision to see hazardous materials incidents
from a safe distance.
The Salina Fire Department provides fire protection. to those county property owners (in
close proximity to the city) who wish to pay a valuation based fee. . The total funds
generated for this sel"{ice I~st year was $174,000 (5 year chart Appendix 8). The Salina
Fire Department was happy to acquire a verbal commitment from the Exide Corporation to
come on board as a countY: subscriber in April 2001.. .
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Insurance Service Organization (ISO) is an independent company that contracts with the
insurance companies to rate fire departments. At the fire department's request, ISO did
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an assessment of Salina: A reduced rating of the city's water supply offset an . improved
rating of the fire departm~nt. The reduced rating for the water supply actually was a
reflection of a poor ISO r~:view by the assessor at the previous assessment years ago.
The ISO process .has some antiquated methods but the overall process is a valuable
learning tool for the fire department. The department has identified several areas for
improvement. .' . . . ,
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Officials believe that the City of Salina's last fire location study was around 1982. Salina'
hired Sparr Associates to (loa fire station location study during the last quarter of 2000.
The report concluded thatSalina currently has an adequate number of properly located
stations. The company advised the city to consider changing the staffing methods for
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several stations, which would ,require station expansion and acquisition of property.
Overall, the study has provided the city with a tremendous road map for future fire
department direction. _
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Emergency M,edical Service
The fire department operates a county wide advanced life ~upport ambulance se~ice with.
three.staffed ambulances a'ndthe capability of staffing an additional three, The majority of
emergency responses that the fire department makes (fire and ambulance units) is for
medical emergencies. Ambulances made 4,089 responses in 2000, with an average "city"
response time of 3.4 minutes and a "county" time of 10.28 minutes (multi-year graph
Appendix A). .
There was a purchase of one new ambulance in 2000.
Ambulance transport for Salina is fee-based and generated $467,315 in 2000 (5 year
graph Appendix D). Two major factors have affected -the funds generated through
ambulance transports. The first factor is medicare rules that have decreased (and
sometimes eliminated) the payment for medicare patient transports. A seizure patient is
an example of how restrictive the new rules have become. There is no reimbursement for
a seizure patient transportE:d, unless the patient has other complications. . The second
. factor affecting ambulance transport funds has been the arrival of Salina's cardiac
surgeon. Out-of-town tran$ports have dropped by 70% from what it was in 1998 (3 year
graph Appendix D). '
The story of a life saving Call is a common -thing for Salina's emergency workers. This
past year the department worked 5.7 cardiac ~rrests, Many of these patients are with us
today because of the efforts of the men and woni~n of the Salina ~ire Department.
A new life saving procedure paramedics learned' this past year is "rapid sequence_
intubation." The procedure is for patients who cannot protect their airway. The patient is
administered a paralytic m~dication and then the paramedic places a breathing tube into
the patient's trachea. '!'
The Salina Fire Department sends a "Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire" to every
patient transported. The overall customer satisfaction rating from those who returned
questionnaires in 2000 was4.6, on a scale of 1 to 5 (-1 is unacceptable and 5 is excellent).
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Training
Being responsible for medical emergencies, rescues, fires, and hazardous materials
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incidents (and just about every other type of emergency) requires a wide range of
education and technical skills. This presents a yearly challenge to get adequate training in
the necessary areas. The department created a block foimat for medical training 'in 2000
that helped organize the d~livery and consistency of this training. All of the, department's
response personnel received 24 hours of hazardous materials training. This training
brought the department from hazardous materials recognition status to a hazardous'
materials operations level. '. Several department members also received the higher level of
hazardous materials training called, "hazardous materials technician."
Four fire department members attended 2-week classes at the Natior:lal Fire Academy in
Emmittsburg, Maryland. ','
Facilities
Fire station two received a, new roofand fire station one received a new roof arid HVAC '
units. Fire fighters remodeled two offices and converted a bedroom into a conference
room at station one. .
Plyovent installed a diesel exhaust removal system at fire station four. This system rLins
on a track and remains on the exhaust pipe until the vehicle exits the building. There was
a similar system installed 'at fire station one in 1999 and plans are to add systems at
stations two and three in the future. The removal of diesel exhaust fumes ensures cleaner
breathing air for fire fighter~.'
Budget
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Several factors in mainten~mce affected the' budget adversely this past year. Increasing
fuel prices, the replacement of all ambulance tires, and medication prices all caused major
impact. The fire department had Firestone tires on all of its ambulances when news
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surfaced about a tire recall. The Firestone tires the Salina Fire Department had were not
part of the initial' recall, but ::after contacting Firestone" the company offered to replace the
tires with an adjustment. The department had not had any problems with the tires, but
because of the risk to depc:l'rtment members and patients, the decision was to change out
the tires. Stories are now~urfacing in leading emergency tabloids about departments that
have had problems with the brand of tires that our department was running.
The price, of the, medications administered to patients by paramedics has risen
dramatically. Up until several years ago, the Salina Fire Department was able to purchase
medications through the hospitals. Because of problems that bigger cities were having ,
and kick back laws, lawyers began advising hospitals to discontinue supplying
medications to ambulance :,services. This change forced the' Salina Fire Department to .
purchase medications thro~gh a pharmacy in large lot stocks (larger than could ever be
used) and .at much higher <:;ost. Recent interpretations have relaxed on situations similar
to Salina. Fire departmentjofficials and hospital administration have met and are looking
at ways, that the hospital can help the fire department with medication costs.
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Even with the unexpected, expenses of fuel, tires and medications the fire department
finished the year under budget (5 year graph Appendix E). ' .
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Appendix A
SALINA FIRE DEPARTMENT
EMERGENCY RESPONSE DATA.
FIRE RESPONSES
Explosion Pressure Rescue Hazardous SerVice Good Mistaken Calls
Fire Rupture Condition Call Intent Call Total
1997 198 1 491 252 273 69 274 1558 .
1998 192 1 601 265 215 85 271 1630
1999 201 3 457 215 253 . 92 289 1510
.2000 231 1 504 224 256 110 270 1596
MEDIC RESPONSES
RESPONSES
1987 1,974
1988 2,112
1989 2,246
1990 2,560
1991 2,639
1992 . 2,663
1993 3,091
1994 3,146
1995 3,327
1996 3,563
1997 3,384
1998 4,141
1999 3,913 .
2000 4,089
.! 1800
, 1600
1400
.1200
1000
800
600
400
200
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SALINA 'FIRE DEPARTMENT
FIRE RESPONSE DATA
lEI Explosion Fire
. Pressure
" Rupture
o Rescue
o Hazardous
Condition
. Service Call
lEI Good ,Intent
III Mistaken Call
1997 " 1998' 1999 2000
o Calls Total
SALINA FIRE DEPARTMENT
AMBULANCE RESPONSE DATA
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
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I_ RESPONSES I
l'- Q) ..- M 10 l'- Q)
co co Q) Q) Q) Q) Q)
Q) Q) Q) Q) Q) Q) Q)
-c- -c- T""" T""" T""" T"'" T"""
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DOLLARS
1995 $103,458,
1996 $147,333
1997 $153,665
1998. $153,665
1999 $176,636
2000 $174,481
Appendix B
SALINA FIRE DEPARTMENT
. RURAL'FIRE CONTRACTS
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RURAL FIRE CONTRACTS .
6 YEAR ANALYSIS
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il~~:~ii_'.DOL~RS]
'1995 1996 1997 1998 19992000
FIRE CREWS
MINUTES
.1997 3.17
1998 3.18 .
1999 3.16
2000 3.21
MEDIC CREWS
MINUTES
CITY
1998 3.6
1999 3.6
2000 3.4
. Appendix C
SALINA FIRE DEPARTMENT
FII~ECREV\l RESPONSE TIMES .'
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FIRE COMPANY
.AVERAGE RESPONSE TIME
33~_ .
318.....'., "','. . "."....,. " . ........ .'."',. ..,'.... '.' """', . .'
-. , " '.'" ,.",,' '. ',..., ,,'.' ,'. ", " I
.,. '.' '.'. ........., .' "",'" T,' .MINUTES I
l1~'i, ':'D":':",i,:,,:!;;';" , .' '::.,,:,;2,;,:, .
1997 1998 1999 2000
MINUTE. s.['."
COUNTY
10.4
10.2
10.28 . 15
10
5
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MEDIC CREW
AVERAGE RESPONSE TIME
. MINUTES CITY
IIlII MINUTES
COUNTY .
1998
1999
2000
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1996
, 1997
1998
1999
2000
. Appendix D .
SALINA FIRE DEPARTMENT
EMS BILLlNC;; AND RECEIVABLES
OUT OF TOWN TRANSPORT
TOTAL TRANSPORTS
TOTAL BILLINGS' & RECEIVABLES
Amt Billed Received / .
$531,921 . $404,520
$650,990 $455,682
$661,038 $656,004
$643,516 $504,067
$661,037 $467,315
1998
1999
2000
325
141
97
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SALINA FIRE DEPARTMENT EMS
BILLiNGS AND RECEIVABLES
$i~:::::: _.:~.,.!<~~,;.{.'1;!..
$0 ....., .',
1996 19971998 1999 2000
YEAR
. Amt Billed
. . Received
SALINA FIRE DEPARTMENT
OUT OF TOWN TRANSPORTS
400
200
. TOTAL
TRANSPORTS
1998
1999 .
YEAR
2000
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FIRE
SUPPLIES
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
$102,177
$105,028
.$100,778
$99,417
$100,661
'. EMS
SUPPLIES
$69,922
$69,340
$83,179
$80,292
$83,834
Appendix E
SALINA FIRE DEPARTMENT
5 YE~R BUDGET ANALYSIS
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:.CAPTIAL CAPITAL OTHER OTHER
. OUTLAY Q.UTLA Y SERV/CHARGES SERVlCHARGES .
FIRE EMS FIRE " EMS
$23,961 $96,703 $67,424 $45,042'
$22,851 $22,031 $43,16~ $49,327
$36,081 $16,032$42,904 $48,849
$44,326 $11,958' $54,936' $41,975
$30,435' $,9,451 . $43,941 $44,354.
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1/ SALINA FIRE DEPARTMENT.
EXPENDITURES EXCLUDING
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SALARIES:, .
SALARIES
1996 $2,998,275'
.1997 $3,233,672
1998 $3,276,049
1999 $3,370,700
2000 $3,533,076
B FIRE SUPPLIES
ilEMS SUPPLIES
. '$120,000 o CAPTIAL OUTLAY
~-.- 'FIRE
$100,000 )..i{i;:";k :.~'
$80,000 " DC APITAl OUTLAY
} '''{'..''I EMS
$60,000 -c:
$40,000 11 . OTHER
$20,000 ~ SERV/CHARGES FIRE
$0
<0. r-- 'ex> 0) 0 o OTHER
0) 0) :0) 0) 0 SERVlCHARGES EMS
';. 0) 0) 0) 0) 0
..... ..... ,.~~ ..... N
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. TOTAL
BUDGET
$3,420,505
$3,730,360
$3,605,871
$3,703,604
$3,845,752
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SALINA FIRE DEPARTMENT
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SALARIES & TOTAL EXPENSES
$6,000,000 _
. $4,000, Oqo.. 30;:.,,;',......'....._...,,"..,...,1.... ?";;;::",:,.."...:.,:;'".f.'....:..:.',...,,'..:'{....,
$2,000,000 .. .; 2 ".
. $0 ,: "; .
<0 f'-. co 0) 0
0) 0) 0) 0) 0
0)' 0) 0) 0) 0
~ ~ ~ ~ C\I
_SALARIES
III TOTAL BUDGET
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