1A, Lake Johanna Fire Budget, Capital Facilities Need Study

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Comprehensive Management Study of the Saint Paul Department of Fire and Safety Services Final Report two of whom are paramedics. When an EMS call is received, the engine is placed out of service and the medic unit responds to the call. Depending on the type of call, the engine may also respond. The present model has been used since EMS was introduced in the early 1970's_ It worked well in the past; however, EMS call volumes have now increased substantially and the cross-staffing approach will not provide the necessary EMS resources to meet the city's need. Changing the model and staffing the EMS units independently is recommended in the near future. There are interim changes that can be made in the short term to immediately improve EMS and fire delivery, such as adding two additional medic units followed by full staffing of several of the busier EMS units. 3- What is the appropriate staffingfor each of the functional areas of the department (type. number, shift scheduling)? In general, the fire department has adequate staffing in most of its divisions. The changes to improve EMS delivery require a slight increase in the number of on-duty staff, but not immediately. Training needs one additional training officer and there is a need to fill several of the vacant but authorized positions in fleet services. The 56-hour work schedule for Saint Paul firefighters is somewhat typical of other departments but the schedule rotation is not. Firefighters and paramedics work 24 hours on-duty followed by 24 hours off-duty; the schedule is punctuated by four and five day off-duty periods between cycles. The schedule is tough, especially for paramedics_ Problems with sick leave are also occurring, which are likely attributable to the schedule_ Sick leave use is also being affected by the minimum staffing requirements the departmcnt is ilttempting to maintain- To improve the quality of work life and reduce sick leave, we recommend that a new 24/48 or other alternative schedule be considered. 4_ How can the fire department better align its technology resources to help achieve optimal performance in the key Department jUnctional areas? The SPDFSS is improving in its use of technology but it falls short in some areas, most notably having a "technically savvy" person to oversee IT. The department has attempted to improve the use of information and data for management decision-making; however, these efforts are fragmented. On the positive side, the fire department is implementing mobile data terminals (MDT's) and there have been attempts to automate administrative functions. In general these attempts have been unsuccessful due to the limited training for management staff to use technology such as computers_ Fire prevention has achieved much success using TriData, a Division of System Planning Corporation 4 March 2007