Growth creating challenges for YFD
Yuma agency has hired 19, upgraded technology
Last year was big for the Yuma Fire Department. The agency hired 19 firefighters, replaced portable radios, equipped ambulances with power-load gurneys and even built an ambulance in-house.
However, the department is still facing challenges, including growth in certain areas of Yuma that make it hard to keep low response times and aging stations that need attention.
The department has 10 new employees, but another nine have been hired thanks to a $1.4 million Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response federal grant. FEMA will pay 75 percent of the personnel costs for two years and 35 percent for a third year. The city will cover the remaining costs as a match. Irr gave kudos to Assistant Fire Chief Dusty Fields for writing the SAFER grant.
The SAFER hires started their academy on Feb. 12 and will finish it in late April. They will be dispersed throughout the department, permitting the ladder truck to be fully staffed and moved to Station 1, which allows for secondary response in the North End, an area that is quickly growing.
“This movement of the ladder to Station 1 will not decrease service to Station 5’s area. We will continue to staff it as we have for many years, with two engines and an ambulance,” Irr explained, adding that this unit can cover stations during training.
The department also received a Firehouse Subs Grant for $21,164 and bought a utility terrain vehicle. Irr noted these grants are funded by customers. “It really does go to fire safety,” he said.
The agency implemented a new report management software. Irr noted having two report systems caused issues and cost more money.
The department also transitioned from laptops to Ipads for field reporting. Irr said they are “working great” and the department saves money with the tablets.
The department replaced 56 handheld portable radios through a seven-year leasepurchase plan. “It’s not all the radios we have in the department, but most of them, the ones the guys use in the field,” Irr said.
Ambulances were equipped with power-load gurneys, which increase patient and operator safety. The department built the first of two ambulances through in-house talent and support from local
businesses.
Training was a big — although challenging — component for the department in 2017. “Training is an issue financially. We have to take people off the street and still serve the community,” Irr said. “The training takes money, but it’s something we have to do.”
For the first time, 100 firefighters completed live fire training. Personnel also went through mayday and active shooter training, in cooperation with FEMA. The fire department has a special team that works specifically with the police department when it deploys its Special Enforcement Team. If an officer is shot or injured, paramedics would be right there on scene to treat the officer.
Irr noted the Mesa Heights Apartments fire was a good example of interagency communication and cooperation, a product of the training and radio system.
“It was great to see all the fire agencies (including the Yuma, Marine Corps Air Station and Imperial County fire departments) all talking on the same channel,” he said. “When we train together, we learn each other’s ways of working and communicating.”
About 90 to 95 percent of training is done in house, however, for some specialized training — like that received by the team working with police — personnel has to go out of town, usually to Phoenix.
With a response total of 14,544, the department experienced a 3 percent increase in calls for service and a 4 percent increase in transports in 2017; 88 percent of responses were EMS responses. Station 1 responded to 3,643 calls, Station 2 to 2,386, Station 3 to 3,351, Station 4 to 2,544, Station 5 to 1,533 and Station 6 to 712.
The MCAS fire department responded to 237 calls in the area just outside the main gate that is in the city. MCAS responds to that area through an agreement with the YFD.
“This is a huge benefit and saving to the Yuma community because that area would need an additional fire station if MCAS did not agree to provide this for us,” Irr said.
He pointed out several areas stand out, mainly the North End, which had a 10 percent increase in calls due to the amount of people drawn by the parks and riverfront. Area 5, which is on the east side of the city and experiencing growth, also stands out.
Due to growth, the department is planning for future stations No. 7, 8, 9 and 10. In particular, Future Area 7, situated in the far east of the city, has seen a lot of growth. It had 398 calls for service in 2017, an increase of 20 percent over the previous year. The new station is currently in the city’s Capital Improvement Plan for 2021.
“What’s important to us is that the response time is now 9 minutes from the fire station,. Six minutes is our target. We might have to look for something temporary as we figure out how to serve that area,” Irr said.
Plans also call for remodeling of Station 4, located at 2850 W. 16th St. It was built in 1978 as a remote station intended to serve a small neighborhood. It’s now the third busiest station. However, the station lacks adequate facilities for female staff and the required washing gear and storage. And it’s not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The department has a million dollars in the budget to do something in that station, but it won’t fix everything, Irr said.
YFD has begun replacing mobile data computers in trucks; it will replace five per year at a cost of $4,500 each.
The agency is also replacing cardiac monitors at an estimated cost of $30,000 per unit. It is looking at grants to help cover the cost for replacing the 30 units it has now.
“The monitor we use now is no longer manufactured and will no longer have support,” Irr said, noting that the monitors are used in every call. “It’s the first thing they bring out of the truck.”
Another future need is more fire inspectors and vehicles for staff inspectors. Currently, the department does not have enough staff to inspect businesses on an annual basis. In 2007 the department had nine inspectors and now it has four.
Irr also pointed out the department relies heavily on Arizona Western College to conduct the fire academy. It takes a full year to go through both the EMS and fire components, but employees need to have these credentials to work on a truck.
He noted AWC has recently had some struggles managing the program, “but we want to support them. As a city we don’t want to go back to the training industry.”
City Administrator Greg Wilkinson said it would cost the city $150,000 to $250,000 to conduct its own academy. “I want council to know how critical AWC is to us,” he added.
On a good note, Irr said the fire department has one of the lowest turnover rates in the city. “As soon as you move up the rank, no one’s looking to leave. We try to promote the goods ones as soon as possible.”