KAWARTHA LAKES-An independent, third-party review of Kawartha Lakes Fire and Rescue found public safety is being jeopardized by an “ineffective low-cost resourcing model” that does not meet peer comparator Fire departments’ urban station staffing and service levels.
Performance Concepts Consulting Inc. (PCC)was retained by the City of Kawartha Lakes in late September 2021 to execute a Fire Service Modernization Review that was designed and executed to answer a series of core questions around service delivery efficiency (cost) and effectiveness (quality). This independent 3rd party Final Report was completed on January 31, 2022 and is meant to position the City to fully comply with the terms of its Audit and Accountability Fund funding contract with the Province.
The review found unacceptable response times to get 4 firefighters on-scene to execute an internal attack/rescue constitute a significant risk to public and firefighter safety.
“This failed deployment/resourcing model results in a significant response time lag for delivering 4-firefighters on- scene to most Lindsay structure fires. The result is serious erosion in the capacity of Kawartha Lakes Fire to deliver a timely internal attack/rescue response that complies with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)guidelines.” said the report.
Performance Concepts Consulting said the City of Kawartha Lakes should immediately adopt a performance target of 100% compliance when it comes to deploying “4 firefighters on the 1st Truck” for Lindsay station structure fire responses.
“The wait times associated with the arrival of the 4th firefighter on a second truck represent an unacceptable public safety risk in the professional opinion of the Performance Concepts team,” said the report.
PCC recommended the City add 4 full-time firefighters to the Lindsay station; creating a go-forward staffing/scheduling model of “staff 5 to get 4” across Lindsay’s four platoons immediately.
The review says this will provide a significant public safety benefit by providing timely/consistent internal attack/rescue capability across Lindsay’s growing urban community.
Not only will this provide a significant firefighter safety benefit by eliminating the unacceptable risk scenario of a 3- firefighter internal attack/rescue contrary to NFPA procedures and guidelines, it will also provide a net positive financial impact by mitigating future City of Kawartha Lakes liability payouts for unsafe work conditions according to PCC.
The integrity and effectiveness of the non-urban volunteer firefighter service delivery model deployed beyond Lindsay is also at risk according to PCC.
“Multi-station participation in a Tanker Shuttle response to a structure fire call is the glue that holds the non-urban service model together. The Tanker Shuttle model is at risk due to a serious deficit in volunteer firefighter availability across multiple stations.
According to the review Kawartha Lakes also has a deficit of more than 70 volunteer firefighters to meet the Kawartha Lakes target of 20 firefighters per station. Only two stations (#12 and #21) currently meet or exceed the target and this not only impacts safety but could also impact insurance rates for residents.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada requires a minimum of 15 active volunteer firefighters per hall, with 21 preferred. 7 of 19 Kawartha Lakes stations are currently below the 15-firefighter minimum, with 4 more stations hovering at/around the Insurance Bureau minimum.
“Continued station staffing levels below the active firefighter minimum place thousands of residential and business property taxpayers at risk of higher insurance premiums.” says the report.
PCC says insurance companies may also provide an additional discount from the base rate if the recognized fire hall is Tanker Shuttle accredited. Tanker Shuttle is a fire suppression process where fire departments dispatch sufficient resources (at least three pumpers, three tankers and 24 firefighters to deal with a single-family residential fire) to ensure adequate water supply and “mimic” hydrant protection. Each Tanker Shuttle accredited fire hall must have both a pumper and a tanker and at least three stations must be dispatched to each fire. The insured property must also be serviced by year-round roads to qualify. Most insurance companies provide an additional 5% discount to properties receiving an accredited Tanker Shuttle service level. To be accredited, a fire department must demonstrate it can provide sufficient water supply for either residential or commercial grade suppression.
Thousands of Kawartha Lakes residents/businesses depend on the City’s Shuttle Relay Accreditation for substantial relief in their annual Fire insurance premiums according to PCC and the “imminent loss” of the City’s Shuttle Relay Accreditation will trigger significant Fire insurance premium increases across Kawartha Lakes households ($225-$300 annually)
The report recommends the City Implement Pumper/Tanker replacement by revisiting the City’s 2022 capital budget and executing the “3 apparatus per year” compliance plan to maintain the City’s Shuttle Relay accreditation thereby avoiding an unintended increase in Fire insurance premium increases for thousands of Kawartha Lakes households and businesses.
“The required $1M additional annual capital funding to maintain Tanker Shuttle accreditation is significantly less per household than the resulting fire insurance premium impact if Accreditation cancelled which would be an estimated $2.5M to $3M for 10,000 typical households.” says the report.
According to the review Kawartha Lakes Fire operating costs are significantly lower than its peers on a per capita basis, a per household basis and a per square kilometre of coverage basis. The expenditure gap between Kawartha Lakes and its peers is “significant” according to PCC. For instance, the lowest spending comparator (Timmins) spends 66% more per household than Kawartha Lakes despite a lack of comparable taxable assessment growth.
The significantly lower spending pattern in Kawartha Lakes versus the peers is most likely the result of service level variation according to the report.
Firefighter health and safety is another issue addressed in the report.
“With no live fire training facility and a single training officer to coordinate and deliver training to up to 400 firefighters, Kawartha Lakes struggles to provide consistent training across all stations,” explains PCC. “Further, while Kawartha Lakes Fire is commended for its installation of apparatus bay air filtration systems, it lacks a formal firefighter cancer reduction strategy with such important elements as on-scene decontamination and gear cleaning.”
The review recommends the Joint Health and Safety Committee be tasked with developing a firefighter cancer reduction strategy that includes on-scene decontamination, regular gear inspection and maintenance, annual 3rd party thorough cleaning of PPE, segregated storage of PPE, and proper washer extraction devices in stations.
Finally, the report found Kawartha Lakes Fire does not engage in Transparent/ Accountable Target Setting or Public Results Reporting.
“Kawartha Lakes Fire should adopt a Plan-Do-Check annual management framework. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) should inform new accountable performance targets for urban and non-urban delivery frameworks. Transparent results reporting of KPI actuals versus targets should be aligned with the annual operating and capital budget process.”
“The City of Kawartha Lakes Fire Service is at cross-roads. Population growth/development is proceeding at a steady clip, but the Fire Service is not keeping up.” stated the report.
We contacted the City of Kawartha Lakes for comment but have not yet had a response.