EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Wallingford Department of Fire and Emergency Services and the Chief of the Department are directed by the Charter of Wallingford, Connecticut as adopted November 7, 1989 to carry out the following:

“The Fire Department, which shall consist of the regular and volunteer divisions, shall be responsible for the protection of life and property within the town from fire and for the enforcement of all laws, ordinances and regulations relating to fire prevention and fire safety.”

The Wallingford Department of Fire and Emergency Services is on the leading edge of the fastest growing type of fire department in the United States. The combination fire department has been in place in Wallingford for over 100 years providing citizens with emergency services. Wallingford enjoys a fast response from on duty career personnel and also calls upon numerous volunteer firefighters to work simultaneously to stabilize emergency scenes. In addition to the core mission of suppressing fires, the department has evolved into an all-hazards responder. Medical emergencies represent the fastest growing number of incidents for our department. The calls are handled by our staff of paramedics and every member of the department has been trained as a medical first responder. We are also the community’s first responders for technical rescue, service calls, and hazardous conditions including hazardous materials.

Protecting a community with over 46,000 residents in an area of 39 square miles is a challenging task that is met each day by the men and women of the fire department. The department provides this service with a per capita cost of one hundred twelve dollars ($112) after taking into account the annual income generated from ambulance transports. The department faces significant challenges in the future including maintaining a strong system of volunteer personnel while handling an increasing demand for service.

The department saw some major changes in 2006 including Assistant Chief David Berardesca leaving to become the Chief of the Hamden Fire Department. The department training is now lead by Deputy Chief Richard Heidgerd and the department is refocusing on ensuring the volunteer divisions receive the basic training they need to remain strong. We currently have 17 new volunteer recruits training in our annual fire training class and have set a goal of maintaining volunteer strength at 90 firefighters system wide. The department has also taken advantage of equipment purchases from Connecticut Homeland Security. In 2006 a fully functional hazardous materials team was established with Wallingford career firefighters, volunteer firefighters, Cytec Industries, and other area fire departments. The department also enhanced its command and control capabilities with equipment from the State.

We remain committed to our community and focused on our mission. You have our personal commitment to take care of your families like they were our own.

Peter J. Struble

Fire Chief

Fiscal Year 2005-2006 Budget Actual

Account #	Account Description	Budgeted Amount	Actual Amount	Difference	% Unexpended
2000	Telephone	30,580	27,216	3,364	11.00%
2010	Utilities	58,500	74,436	-15,936	-27.24%
3000	Gas & Diesel	42,700	43,718	-1,018	-2.38%
4000	Office Expenses & Supplies	8,600	7,414	1,186	13.79%
4100	Fire Operating Expenses	120,600	100,762	19,838	16.45%
4800	Contractual Clothing & Expenses	38,000	36,398	1,602	4.22%
5000	Maintenance of Vehicles	74,825	78,841	-4,016	-5.37%
5100	Maintenance of Bldgs & Grounds	36,684	32,735	3,949	10.76%
5200	Maintenance of Equipment	52,683	49,806	2,877	5.46%
5700	Continuing Education & Trng Expenses	33,000	38,299	-5,299	-16.06%
5840	Drill Attendance	4,500	4,500	0	0.00%
6010	Fire Surgeon Expenses	3,700	3,686	14	0.38%
8370	EAP	1,950	1,950	0	0.00%
7990	Meetings, Seminars & Dues	3,480	3,477	3	0.09%
8270	Vehicle & Property Damage Deductible	4,000	1,883	2,117	52.93%
9012	Physicals	38,050	35,942	2,108	5.54%
9014	Custodial Services	2,625	2,325	300	11.43%
9016	CMED Contract	86,630	80,482	6,148	7.10%
9035	Ambulance Revenue Recovery	42,000	51,058	-9,058	-21.57%


		$683,107	$674,928	$8,179	1.20%

	Payroll
1000	Regular Salaries & Wages	3,595,970	3,585,470	10,500	0.29%
1400	Overtime	48,240	43,634	4,606	9.55%
1450	Wage Differentials	273,762	273,677	85	0.03%
1500	Replacement Pay	464,630	442,605	22,025	4.74%
1700	Other Pay	182,896	179,382	3,514	1.92%
1800	Volunteer Tax Abatement	25,000	20,239	4,761	19.04%
1801	Volunteer Length of Service	12,000	12,000	0	0.00%

		$4,602,498	$4,557,007	$45,491	0.99%

	Total Budget Line & Payroll	$5,285,605	$5,231,935	$53,670	1.02%


	Capital Budget	$509,177	$501,280	$7,897	1.55%


	Total Budget	$5,794,782	$5,733,215	$61,567	1.06%



	Ambulance Revenues		$887,538

FIRE DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL

CAREER PERSONNEL – There are currently 44 career firefighters, four Captains, and twelve Lieutenants represented by the International Association of Firefighters Local 1326. There are three Chief Officer Positions in the department. In addition to this staff, two members of the International Association of Firefighters are assigned to the Fire Prevention Bureau. These firefighters and officers currently work an average 42-hour workweek divided between four platoons. Each platoon has one Captain and three Lieutenants. Recruitment of career personnel is accomplished through civil service testing procedures. The Personnel Department maintains certified lists for Firefighter/Paramedics. Thirty-eight percent of the current workforce were active volunteers in Wallingford before being hired as career firefighters. The Fire Department actively invests in and promotes the hiring of its own volunteer firefighters for career positions when they represent the best candidate for the position. The department currently requires all applicants to be licensed paramedics to apply for employment as a career firefighter. This is necessary because of the severe shortage of paramedics nationwide.

VOLUNTEER PERSONNEL – There currently are approximately 86 active volunteer responders assigned to four volunteer stations. These volunteers are certified as firefighters or emergency medical responders prior to the assignment of duties. During the course of the year, they maintain their training by attending 24 hours of continuing education on a variety of subjects. Recruitment occurs all year long with initial firefighting training occurring once a year starting in January. Volunteer service is open to any person medically qualified with all training and equipment provided at no cost to the volunteer.

STRATEGIC GOALS

TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

GOAL TPD 1 – The Training Division shall conduct or direct Fire Training programs that ensure personnel are trained commensurate with their assigned duties prior to assignment and at least annually after assignment.

GOAL TPD 2 – The Training Division shall conduct or direct Emergency Medical Training programs that ensure personnel are trained commensurate with their assigned duties and comply with the Connecticut Office of Emergency Medical Services regulations.

GOAL TPD 3 – The Training Division shall monitor and ensure that each career platoon completes a minimum of 25 pre-fire plans per year and each volunteer company completes a minimum of 4 pre-fire plans per year.

GOAL TPD 4 – The Training Division shall ensure the fire department exercises the major components of the Town of Wallingford All Hazards Plan quarterly each year.

EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES

GOAL EF 1 – The Wallingford Fire Department will construct a fire station to replace the current North Farms Station within the next five years.

GOAL EF 2 – All Fire Department facilities will comply with Federal, State, and local standards.

GOAL EF 3 – Fire Department apparatus will be scheduled for replacement to ensure full compliance with NFPA 1901, Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus (Annex D-Guidelines for First Line & Reserve Apparatus), for pumpers by 2009 and aerial apparatus by 2015.

GOAL EF 4 – Fire Department Apparatus maintenance shall meet all manufacturers’ requirements.

GOAL EF 5 – The Wallingford Fire Department will ensure that all emergency communications equipment complies with current interoperability standards and is capable of expanding with new technologies.

ADMINISTRATION AND LEADERSHIP

GOAL AL 1 – The Fire Department will engage in recruiting, retaining, and succession planning for all levels of the department in both the career and volunteer divisions.

GOAL AL 2 – The Wallingford Fire Department will achieve status as a fully accredited fire department by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International within 4 years.

GOAL AL 3 – Volunteer Divisions will adhere to all Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) by July 1, 2007.

GOAL AL 4 – The Fire Department will monitor and publish a standard of coverage on an annual basis for the community.

GOAL AL 5 – The Fire Department administration shall commit to a positive working relationship with all line personnel by creating an inclusive environment.

GOAL AL 6 – The Fire Department will implement and practice all aspects of the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

GOAL AL 7 – The Fire Department will use prevention and education to protect lives, property, businesses, and the environment from the adverse effects of fires, medical emergencies, or exposure to dangerous conditions created by people or nature.

GOAL AL 8 – The Fire Department will implement NFPA 1500, Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program, by 2010.

SERVICES PROVIDED

FIRE SUPPRESSION – The Fire Department operations are organized to ensure that fire suppression capability includes personnel, equipment, and resources to deploy the initial arriving company, initial full assignment, and additional alarm assignments.

There are several fire and emergency service benchmarks that are often used to measure the effectiveness of a fire department:

Insurance Services Organization (ISO)

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standards

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

Commission on Fire Accreditation International

Insurance Services Organization (ISO) – ISO is an independent statistical, rating, and advisory organization that serves the property/casualty insurance industry. The ISO collects information on a community’s public fire protection and analyzes the data using the Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS). The ISO then assigns a Public Protection Classification from 1–10. Class 1 represents an exemplary public protection and Class 10 indicates less than minimum recognized protection. Wallingford, as a community, currently holds a Public Protection Classification of 3/9. The split classification means that some properties are eligible for Class 3, but other properties are Class 9, because they are more than 1,000 feet from a fire hydrant. Fifty percent of the overall grading is based on the fire department, while the water distribution system makes up the balance of the grade.

ISO Status of United States Fire Department:

Class	Number of Communities in U.S.	Percentage
1	42	0.1%
2	306	0.7%
3	1,150	2.6%
4	3,066	6.8%
5	5,429	12.1%
6	7,169	16.0%
7	6,800	15.1%
8	3,943	8.8%
9	15,563	34.7%
10	1,403	3.1%

TOTAL	44,871	100%

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standards – For the last fifteen years the Fire Department has used NFPA standards in many areas of operations. These standards represent voluntary consensus standards developed by industry experts. These standards are often used to establish training objectives and provide the framework for emergency operations. Two standards were approved in May 2001 that impact the measurement of an organization’s effectiveness: 1) NFPA 1710, Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments; and 2) NFPA 1720, Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Volunteer Fire Departments. It is still unclear how the details of these two standards are to be applied to combination career and volunteer organizations such as we have in Wallingford. Chapter 1, Section 1.1.1 of NFPA 1710 does state the standard is to be used by “substantially all career fire departments.” Wallingford does not have a substantially all career or all volunteer configuration. There are areas of the community where the response from the fire department is substantially career personnel, specifically the downtown area. The current capabilities of the Wallingford Fire Department exceed NFPA 1720 but do not meet NFPA 1710. In an effort to be proactive and provide the community with a benchmark on which standard to judge the level of service, we measure the department’s performance against the standards of NFPA 1710 with the understanding that the time requirements cannot be met in a combination fire department.

The Wallingford Fire Department has analyzed its Fire Suppression performance over the last calendar year. These statistics represent actual fires that were extinguished by the fire department.

The Fire Department responded to 39 incidents in 2006 where actual fire was found in the building. At 80% of the responses the fire department arrived with 4 or more firefighters in 5 minutes or less or with 14 or more firefighters in 9 minutes or less. The longest response time to arrive on scene with 4 firefighters was 9 minutes and occurred in a rural portion of East Wallingford. There were no civilian deaths from fire in the last year; however, 4 residents were injured as a result of fires in their homes. Total estimated value of the property responded to by the Fire Department was $61,000,000 with an estimated fire loss of $710,000. The average response time to building fires town wide is 4 minutes and 24 seconds.

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES – The Fire Department emergency response capability includes providing personnel, equipment, and resources to deploy at the basic and advanced life support levels and providing transport to an appropriate health care facility.

The term Emergency Medical Services (EMS) refers to “the department’s involvement in planning for, providing, and monitoring emergency care” primarily in the pre-hospital environment. The Town of Wallingford has long been involved in delivering emergency medical care including ambulance service. The Fire Department has taken the lead role in the delivery of these services since the Town of Wallingford Ambulance Service was combined with the Fire Department in the mid 1970’s. Advances in medical care outside the hospital have rapidly changed the scope of services the department provides in this area over the last twenty years. The addition of paramedic level service in 1985 greatly improved a patient’s chance of survival from both sudden medical and traumatic injuries. These improvements in care began to require a more extensive use of firefighting resources to respond quickly to medical emergencies. The modern emergency medical delivery system is represented by the illustration below. This system is modeled after the American Heart Association’s Chain of Survival.

Call 911

Begin CPR

FD on Scene

Use an AED

911 - Wallingford residents enjoy a 911 system that is available town wide. A trained emergency dispatcher answers the 911 calls with the ability to give instructions to the caller on subjects such as CPR, bleeding control, stroke patient care, or maintaining a person’s breathing.

AED, FD Responders, & ACLS – These three components are predominately provided by the Fire Department in Wallingford. The Fire Department engines, squads, and rescue vehicles are equipped with automatic external defibrillators (AED). These units are the first to arrive on the scene of a medical or traumatic emergency. Paramedics are assigned to the Fire Department’s transporting ambulance and provide Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS). When the Fire Department ambulance is busy, Hunter’s Ambulance provides this service.

RESCUE SERVICES – The Fire Department offers a wide range of rescue services. The most common service is medical first responder and vehicle accident extrication. Fire Department engines respond initially to assist medical crews at car accidents by controlling hazards and removing the patient from the vehicle. The department also maintains a heavy rescue vehicle at the North Farms Station and a full compliment of the equipment on the Truck Company located at Central Fire Headquarters. These two vehicles team up on emergency scenes to make an effective advanced extrication capability. These capabilities also include high angle rescue, heavy lifting, elevator rescue, and basic trench collapse awareness. Additional services can be arranged through the State Urban Search and Rescue Team or through local mutual aid agreements.

FIRE PREVENTION – The Fire Department utilizes the National Fire Protection Association’s “Learn Not to Burn” program as a guideline to enhance the existing public education programs. This program ensures consistency in material taught and enlists the help of preschool, kindergarten, first grade, and second grade teachers.

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS – The Fire Department has continued to be the lead agency in the response to emergencies involving hazardous materials. Chemical data is now incorporated into preplan systems and is readily available to command personnel on an emergency scene. All career personnel are now trained to the Environmental Protection Agency Hazardous Material Technician Level. Wallingford is a participant in the New Haven Area Special Hazards Team (NHASH) designed to handle chemical accidents and weapons of mass destruction attacks. The Wallingford Fire Department together with Cytec Industries will comprise the North Division of this 30-community team. Career and volunteer personnel have received additional training on a regional basis to be part of this team. Wallingford has received $225,000 in State Grants for equipment and training of the Hazardous Materials Team.

SPECIAL OPERATIONS –

CONFINED SPACE – The Fire Department provides a confined space rescue service in compliance with OSHA 29 CFR 1910.146. Equipment is located on both the heavy rescue and Truck Company. The two units respond jointly to make up the department’s rescue team.

DISASTER – The Fire Department has taken a lead role in Emergency All Hazards planning. The department has spearheaded an effort to revise the Town’s Emergency Plan to reflect current Federal Plans and comply with the National Incident Management System.

MUTUAL AID – The Fire Department has agreements with all surrounding towns for mutual aid including automatic aid from the Town of North Branford to cover the South Branford Road area.

Fire Department Accomplishments 2006

861 training sessions were conducted department wide in 2006. Over 10% of this training involved live fire training in our training facility.

The department delivered 73 public education classes to 1239 children teaching them about fire safety and how to call 911 in an emergency.

All fire officers and firefighters received specialized training in the National Incident Management System.

A successful recruit-training program was run at our training facility for new volunteer firefighters who then graduated at the level of State Certified Medical Response Technician and Firefighter I.

The department enhanced its ability to provide hazardous materials response by accepting delivery of a hazardous materials response trailer and truck grant from the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

The department led the Town’s “All Hazards Planning” and was able to update the Town plan with special shelter provisions for residents at home with special medical needs.

In October 2006, a full-scale emergency exercise was run at the Southern Connecticut Postal Distribution Center simulating a biological contamination of the mail. The exercise utilized regional mutual aid and multiple disciplines including law enforcement, public health, private industry, and the regional hazardous materials team.

Connecticut Homeland Security awarded grants to the Fire Department for communication equipment, a mobile command post in the Shift Commander’s vehicle, a thermal imaging camera, and a firefighter accountability system for safety.

Connecticut Homeland Security funded training for a second group of firefighters to attend advanced training in hazardous materials. Eight members from the Yalesville Volunteer Station successfully completed this training.

The department accepted delivery and placed in service a new ambulance donated by Masonic Care.

TEN-YEAR RESPONSE TREND

2006 INCIDENT SUMMARY

TOTAL 2006 CALL VOLUME – 5459

STATION LOCATIONS

Central Fire Headquarters (Company #2) 75 Masonic Avenue

Office of the Fire Chief

Administrative Offices

Training Tower and Training Division

Staffed by 48 Career Personnel (12 per shift)

Company #1 95 North Main Street

Staffed by 12 Career Personnel (3 per shift)

An additional unit with two members responds from this station on weekdays.

Cook Hill Volunteer Fire Department (Co. #4) 37 Hall Road

Reopened in July 2002. Operates as a 2^nd station of the Yalesville Volunteer Fire Department.

Yalesville Volunteer Fire Department (Co. #5) 143 Hope Hill Road

Volunteer Chief – Robert Morris

Manned by 27 Volunteers

North Farms Volunteer Fire Department (Co. #7) 636 Barnes Road

Volunteer Chief – Timothy Wall

Manned by 34 Volunteers

East Wallingford Volunteer Fire Department (Co. #8) 2 Kondracki Lane

Volunteer Chief – William Celata

Manned by 25 Volunteers

NEEDS ASSESSMENT

FOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT

AND

COMMUNITY FIRE PROTECTION

Wallingford Fire Department
2007-2008 Capital Budget Requests


1	Engine 7 -3rd Year of 3 Year Funding	$130,000

2	Engine 2 -2nd Year of 3 Year Funding	$130,000

3	Ambulance -1st Year of 3 Year Funding	$50,000

4	(4) Desktop Computers	$6,000

5	Apparatus Floor Lighting- Headquarters	$1,700

6	(2) Two Office Laser Printers	$1,000

7	Kitchen Oven -Station #1	$500

8	Portable Radios	$4,266

9	STIHL Rescue Saw	$1,550

10	Paving East Wallingford Station Rear Tarmac	$15,000

11	Rescue Stabilization Jack Kit	$5,150

12	Outboard Motor	$2,550

13	Nozzle	$710

14	Cardiac Monitor Upgrade Blood Pressure Unit	$2,500

15	Replace Water Tank -Squad 5 Yalesville	$10,000

16	Radio Pagers	$5,000

17	Furniture -North Farms Station	$1,500

18	Equipment Storage Box -Rescue 7	$500

19	Hoist - Torqhoist Rescue Kit	$2,555

20	Automatic External Defibrillators	$6,000

21	(2) Electric Hydraulic Reels -Truck 1 & Rescue 7	$7,000

22	Hurst Rescue Tool -Jaws of Life	$7,450



	Total:	$390,931

INSERT VEHICLE REPLACEMENT PLAN

TOWN OF WALLINGFORD

FIRE DEPARTMENT

BASED

AMBULANCE

The Town of Wallingford established the first town ambulance service in 1924. The ambulance service operated as an independent service until 1978 when it became affiliated with the Fire Department. The personnel and equipment have evolved through the years and the ambulance service obtained paramedic status in 1985.

Present Staffing: Twenty-three (23) Paramedics and Five (5) Emergency Medical Technicians are assigned to work on our transporting ambulance.

Vehicles: 1999 International/Emergency One Ambulance

2006 GMC C4500 Life Line Ambulance

2007 Chevrolet C4500 PL Custom Ambulance

Current Response Data: 2006 3906 Emergency Medical Calls

71% of Department Call Volume

10.5 Calls per day

1937 Transports by Wallingford Fire to Local Emergency Rooms

5 Transports per day by the Town Ambulance

The Wallingford Fire Department ambulance is a commercially licensed ambulance service and, as such, the State of Connecticut Department of Public Health, Office of Emergency Medical Services, sets the Schedule of Maximum Allowable Rates (copy enclosed). The Fire Department is able to provide service at a lower rate than area commercial services. This is possible because much of the overhead cost is absorbed by the fire protection service. Taxpayers are provided an added value by having the Fire Department deliver Emergency Medical Services. The fees collected for ambulance service flow back into the General Fund of the Town of Wallingford. In Fiscal Year 2005-2006, $887,538 was returned to the General Fund.

AMBULANCE FINANCIAL

FISCAL YEAR 2004 - 2005

2004 - 2005 Revenue Information -

	Billing Revenue (net of contractual allowances)	$1,102,998
	Town Grants/Contracts	0
	Subscriptions/Membership	0
	Fund Raising Income, Net	0
	Non-town Grants/Contracts	0
	Other Revenue	0

	Total Revenue	$1,102,998



2004 - 2005 Expense Information -

	Total Payroll and Payroll Related Costs	$418,406
	Volunteer Stipends/Expenses	0
	Depreciation Expense (Buildings, vehicles, equipment, etc)	31,462
	Motor Vehicle Expenses (excluding depreciation expense)	23,493
	Communications	57,735
	Medical Supplies & Equipment	41,233
	Uniforms & Laundry	4,828
	Insurance	34,807
	Total Building Costs	24,250
	Education and Training	1,907
	Utilities	29,142
	Billing Services	46,146
	ALS Agreements	0
	Travel & Entertainment	0
	Office Equipment & Supplies	2,278
	Legal & Accounting Fees	0
	Advertising & Promotion	0
	Bad Debt Expense	139,954

	Total Expense	$856,779

TOWN OF WALLINGFORD

Philosophy of Operations

Knowledge

Compassion

Ethics

Pride

Pride shall be demonstrated and reflected in the department’s equipment, facilities, and the everyday activities of our members.

STRATEGIC GOALS

ISO Status of United States Fire Department:

Total Expense