2016 Fire Department Master Plan Study
On June 14, 2016, the Mayor and City Council approved entering into a contract with ESCI (Emergency Services Consulting International) to conduct a fire department master plan study for the City of Midwest City. A committee was created to oversee the progress and to provide information to ESCI. This committee was made up of Mayor Dukes, City Manager Guy Henson, Assistant City Manager Tim Lyon, Fire Chief Bert Norton, Administration Major David Richardson, Major Doug Beabout, Senior Firefighter Daniel Herren.
Collection of data for the study started immediately after Council approval of awarding the study to be completed by ESCI. Phone calls, email, site visits, and data exchange through dropbox occurred throughout the summer and fall of 2016. Areas of information covered four core areas. These included agency information, financial data, emergency response information, and electronic files of records and GIS data. ESCI utilized the use of the NFPA 1710 standard for response times, staffing, and station locations in lieu of the ISO standard methodology.
Agency information included contacts, annual reports, population and service area covered, ISO information, and mutual aid. Financial data covered 5 years of budgets, audits, debt, capital, revenue, and wages and benefits. Emergency response data included response history, staffing, apparatus, response procedures, polices, dispatch information, fire prevention activities, training, and apparatus maintenance. Electronic files submitted included 2 years worth of NFIRS (National Fire Incident Reporting System) files. The NFIRS files break down each and every call down to the minute and what apparatus and staffing was assigned. The GIS files requested included street centerlines, city boundaries, station locations, zoning/planning, hydrants, railroads, addresses and parcels.
Please keep in mind that the final report presented by ESCI was a “snapshot” of the department in June 2016. As the study developed and pieces of the study were completed, management simultaneously was conducting business as usual and some of the observations ESCI found had changed. Some of these changes are NOT reflected in the final draft due to the impact a change may have throughout the entire document. For example, fire station 1 only had a squad in service at the time of the survey. A ladder company has since been put back in service based upon the real time results coming from the ESCI feedback being received and recommending that a pumping apparatus be in service at fire station 1. Another item was a brush pumper had been purchased prior to the study, but was not received and put in service until near completion of the ESCI study. The ESCI document will state a brush pumper is overdue for replacement due to age. Lastly, a Fire Protection Engineer vacancy was recommended to be filled, which was already in process prior to ESCI’s visit, and thus has also since been filled. Other items may be discovered in the final draft similar to those previously mentioned. We would encourage anyone with questions as to the current status on a subject or item, to speak with a member of the committee to verify or validate the status.
In conclusion, the overall Master Study was well worth the investment to have an outside view into our department from seasoned industry professionals. The committee established to follow ESCI’s progress worked very well together and everyone involved provided input to help provide accurate and consistent information each step of the way. We feel we can use this Master Plan study to assist the department in the future. All recommendations by ESCI will be evaluated and weighed by a Strategic Planning Committee for future implementation. This Strategic Planning committee will be made up of fire department command staff to examine and evaluate the direction and needs the ESCI master study has presented to Midwest City.
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Bert Norton, Fire Chief
