DeSoto Fire Rescue Newsletter

Look at the past Month of acitivites for your Fire Deparment.

Fire Department Citizen’s Newsletter March 2024

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March 2024| www.desototexas.gov

Fire Department

Table of Contents

Calendar Pg. 3

Deployments Pg. 8

Dept Announcements Pg. 4

Civil Service Updates Pg. 9

Hiring Updates Pg. 5

Call Volume Pg. 10-13

Did You Know? Unit Utilization Rate Pg. 14

Training Updates Pg. 6

Fire Training Center Pg. 7

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March 2024| www.desototexas.gov

Fire Department

Event Calendar

March 2 Public Education Program: DeSoto Private School March 5 City Council Meeting: 6 PM @ Town Center March 10 Annual Ladder Testing, All Equipment March 12 Citizens Fire Academy Alumni Meeting: DFTC @ 6:30 March 18 City Council Meeting-Topical work Session March 19 City Council Meeting March 21 Paramedic Graduation: Cedar Valley College March 27 Renaming of the DFTC to Joe Brown DeSoto Fire Training Center March 28 Citizens Fire Academy Class # 2 Opening Night

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March 2024 www.desototexas.gov

Fire Department

Department Announcements

Citizens Fire Academy:

Night 1 of the Second ever Citizens Fire Academy begins on March 28 th at 6:00 PM

Schedule coming.

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March 2024| www.desototexas.gov

Fire Department

Hiring Updates

The Fire department currently has no Vacancies.

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March 2024| www.desototexas.gov

Fire Department

Upcoming Department Training / Conferences

March 5 – 7 & March 19 – 21 : EMS Continued Education: All Personnel

March 11 – 15 & Marrch 25 – 29 :

Regional Fire Continuing Education: Engine Ops All Personnel

March 16:

Wildland Certification Field Day: Captain Barkham FF Clater FF D. Kennedy

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March 2024| www.desototexas.gov

Fire Department

DeSoto Fire Training Center Updates

Fire Academy Class # 72

March 1: Fire Behavior March 4 – 5: Ropes & Knots March 6:

Water Supply Systems March 7 - 8: Fire Hose, Appliances, and Nozzels March 11-12: Supply Line and Attack Line Evolutions March 13-14:Fire Service Hydraulics March 15: Fire Detection, Suppression Systems March 18-19:Fire and Life Safety Initiatives March 20-25:Personal Protective Equipment March 26: Consumption Course March 27: Skills March 28: Portable Fire Extinguishers March 29: Culinary & Cooking: FF Mental Health

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March 2024| www.desototexas.gov

Fire Department

Deployments

February 28, 2024: Deployed to Smokehouse Creek Wildfire in the Panhandle. This fire has now become the largest in Texas history.

E263 Captain Eldred-Desoto Engineer Kennedy-DeSoto Lancaster FF Duncanville FF

February 29, 2024: Deployed additional personnel to the Smokehouse Creek Wildfire:

Cedar Hill Brush 214: FF J. Barkham-DeSoto Grand Prairie Firefighter

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March 2024| www.desototexas.gov

Fire Department

Civil Service

Civil Service Meeting:

March 25, 2024 @ 1:00 PM at Station 262 EOC

Civil Service Commission Members:

Louie Bright III James Collier Tonnette Byrd

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Date Range:

From 02/01/2024 to 02/29/2024

Incident Type Report (Summary) Southwest Regional RMS

Agency: City of DESOTO Company: All Companies

Count

Pct of Incidents

Total Est Loss

Total Est Loss

Incident Type

1 Fire 100 Fire, other

1

0.11%

$0

0.00%

111 Building fire

4

0.46% $75,926

100.00%

113 Cooking fire, confined to container

2

0.23%

$0

0.00%

116 Fuel burner/boiler malfunction, fire confined

1

0.11%

$0

0.00%

118 Trash or rubbish fire, contained

1

0.11%

$0

0.00%

122 Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle

1

0.11%

$0

0.00%

142 Brush or brush-and-grass mixture fire

1 1

0.11% 0.11%

$0 $0

0.00% 0.00%

143 Grass fire

151 Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire

1

0.11%

$0

0.00%

Totals

13

1.48% $75,926

100.00%

2 Overpressure Rupture, Explosion, Overheat(no fire)

Totals

0

0.00%

$0

0.00%

3 Rescue & Emergency Medical Service Incident 321 EMS call, excluding vehicle accident with injury

282

32.12%

$0

0.00%

3211 EMS call, Medic Only

315

35.88%

$0

0.00%

322 Motor vehicle accident with injuries

12

1.37%

$0

0.00%

324 Motor vehicle accident with no injuries.

17

1.94%

$0

0.00%

331 Lock-in (if lock out , use 511 )

1

0.11%

$0

0.00%

Totals

627

71.41%

$0

0.00%

4 Hazardous Condition (No Fire) 412 Gas leak (natural gas or LPG)

12

1.37%

$0

0.00%

424 Carbon monoxide incident

3

0.34%

$0

0.00%

440 Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other

1

0.11%

$0

0.00%

443 Breakdown of light ballast

1

0.11%

$0

0.00%

444 Power line down

1

0.11%

$0

0.00%

463 Vehicle accident, general cleanup

1

0.11%

$0

0.00%

Totals

19

2.16%

$0

0.00%

5 Service Call 500 Service Call, other

2

0.23%

$0

0.00%

511 Lock-out

2

0.23%

$0

0.00%

522 Water or steam leak

5

0.57%

$0

0.00%

531 Smoke or odor removal

2

0.23%

$0

0.00%

551 Assist police or other governmental agency

1

0.11%

$0

0.00%

553 Public service

6

0.68%

$0

0.00%

554 Assist invalid

51 13

5.81% 1.48%

$0 $0

0.00% 0.00%

571 Cover assignment, standby, moveup

Totals

82

9.34%

$0

0.00%

6 Good Intent Call 611 Dispatched & canceled en route

69

7.86%

$0

0.00%

622 No incident found on arrival at dispatch address

8

0.91%

$0

0.00%

651 Smoke scare, odor of smoke

3

0.34%

$0

0.00%

652 Steam, vapor, fog or dust thought to be smoke

1

0.11%

$0

0.00%

Totals

81

9.23%

$0

0.00%

7 False Alarm & False Call 700 False alarm or false call, other

8

0.91%

$0

0.00%

Date: 03/01/2024

Page: 10

Date Range:

From 02/01/2024 to 02/29/2024

Incident Type Report (Summary) Southwest Regional RMS

Agency: City of DESOTO Company: All Companies

Count

Pct of Incidents

Total Est Loss

Total Est Loss

Incident Type

733 Smoke detector activation due to malfunction

1

0.11%

$0

0.00%

736 CO detector activation due to malfunction

1

0.11%

$0

0.00%

740 Unintentional transmission of alarm, other

1

0.11%

$0

0.00%

743 Smoke detector activation, no fire - unintentional

1

0.11%

$0

0.00%

745 Alarm system activation, no fire - unintentional

40

4.56%

$0

0.00%

746 Carbon monoxide detector activation, no CO

4

0.46%

$0

0.00%

Totals

56

6.38%

$0

0.00%

8 Severe Weather & Natural Disaster

Totals

0

0.00%

$0

0.00%

9 Special Incident Type

Totals

0

0.00%

$0

0.00%

Totals

878

$75,926

Date: 03/01/2024

Page: 11

March 2024 www.desototexas.gov

Fire Department

Call Volume-Unit Utilization Rate

February Unit Utilization Rate

Station 261: Overall Rate = 40% Q261 = 16 % M261 = 24 % Station 262: Overall Rate = 38% E262 = 15 % M262 = 23 % Station 263: Overall Rate = 37% E263 = 14 % M263 = 23%

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March 2024 www.desototexas.gov

Fire Department

Call Volume-Unit Utilization Rate

Year to Date: Unit Utilization Rate

Station 261: Overall Rate = 40.8% Q261 = 15.5 % M261 = 25.2 % Station 262: Overall Rate = 41.4% E262 = 17.5 % M262 = 23.9 % Station 263: Overall Rate = 40.7% E263 = 15.6 % M263 = 25 %

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March 2024| www.desototexas.gov

Fire Department

Did You Know

Unit Utilization Rate: The number of hours units are on the call divided by the whole number of hours for the period being observed.

See Explanation on and Chart on Next Page:

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Unit Hour Utilization

Unit utilization is a factor in determining whether there is an appropriate emergency services system response. For purposes of this analysis, unit utilization is calculated by taking the total hours the unit is committed to incidents for the year divided by the total hours in a year. Expressed as a percentage, it identifies the amount of time the unit is committed but more importantly the amount of time the unit is available. In 2016, Henrico County, Virginia conducted a study of unit utilization. Through their study they developed a scale to identify the community impact on travel time and availability of their emergency medical units. 1 The following table illustrates how unit utilization impacts the system reliability.

Factor

Indicator

Description

Personnel can maintain training requirements and physical fitness and can consistently achieve response time benchmarks. Units are available to the community more than 75 percent of the day. Units below 0.16 should be evaluated for more efficient use as additional operating capacity is available. Community availability and unit sustainability are not questioned. First-due units are responding to their assigned community 75 percent of the time, and response benchmarks are rarely missed. At this level, agency leaders must understand that commitment factor increases are imminent. The community this unit serves will begin to see increasingly longer response times as neighboring stations send apparatus during one out of four calls. In this range, the community served will experience delayed incident responses. Just under 30 percent of the day, first-due ambulances are unavailable; thus, neighboring responders will likely exceed goals. Agency leadership should immediately begin identifying funding sources to provide relief. At this range, commitment factors are only expected to increase. Not Sustainable: Commitment Threshold – shows our community has less than a 70 percent chance of timely emergency service and immediate relief is vital. Personnel assigned to units at or exceeding 0.3 may show signs of fatigue and burnout and may be at increased risk of errors. Required training and physical fitness sessions are not consistently completed.

Ideal Commitment Range

16%to24%

25%

System Stress

26% to 29% Evaluation Range

30%or more

Line in the Sand

As illustrated above, when utilization is below 25% the system is operating well. At 25% utilization there is stress on the system due to the reduced reliability of a first responding unit responding from the service area of the emergency. When utilization is between 25% and 30% it is time to evaluate the need for additional emergency response resources and at 30% or more the system is not sustainable and additional units should be added to reduce system strain.

1 https://www.fireengineering.com/apparatus-equipment/how-busy-is-busy/#gref

206 S. Parks Drive DeSoto, Tx 75115-3939

972.230.9680 desototexas.gov

#somuchtolove

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