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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 10-06-2016 Fire Chief's Assoc. 1 APPROVED 12/5/2016 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS JOINT MEETING WITH THE ORANGE COUNTY CHIEF'S ASSOCIATION October 6, 2016 7:00 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners held a joint meeting on Thursday, October 6, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. at the Whitted Building in Hillsborough, N.C. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Earl McKee and Commissioners Mark Dorosin, Mia Burroughs, Barry Jacobs, Bernadette Pelissier, Penny Rich and Renee Price COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: John Roberts COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Bonnie Hammersley, Deputy County Manager Travis Myren and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) VOLUNTEER FIRE CHIEFS PRESENT: Brad Allison, Fire Chief, Caldwell FD; Matt Sullivan, Fire Chief, Town of Chapel Hill; Matt Lawrence, Chapel Hill Deputy Fire Chief; Chief Susanna Williams, Town of Carrboro; Kent Squires, Carrboro Deputy Fire Chief; Jeff Borland, Fire Chief, Cedar Grove FD; Phillip Nasseri, Fire Chief, White Cross FD; Jeff Cabe, Fire Chief, Orange Rural FD; John Stroud, Fire Chief, North Chatham FD; Kevin Brooks, Fire Chief, Efland FD; Pete Hallenbeck, Efland Deputy Fire Chief; Matthew Mauzy, Chief, South Orange Rescue Squad (SORS); Mike Tapp, Fire Chief, New Hope FD; Steve McCauley, Fire Chief, Orange Grove FD; Keith Hayes, Chief, Eno FD; Dinah Jeffries, Orange County Emergency Services Director VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPTS. — CHAIRS, BOARD OF DIRECTORS Barry Walker, Caldwell BOD President; Bill Waddell, Orange Grove BOD President; John Holland, Orange Rural BOD President; Fred Stipe, SORS BOD President; Howard Pratt, New Hope BOD President,;Tony Blake, White Cross BOD President Chair McKee called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. Welcome and Introductions Chair McKee recognized Dinah Jeffries as the new Orange County Emergency Services Director. 1. Fire Departments' Accomplishments During 2015 White Cross Fire Chief Phillip Nasseri Phillip Nasseri thanked the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) for this collaborative meeting. He went through a list of the Fire Departments' Accomplishments for 2015, and his comments are below: Ladies and Gentlemen of the Board. 2 Good evening and thank you for having us. This year, the Fire Departments and Emergency Services of Orange County have accomplished a tremendous amount. We have conducted several county wide training sessions. • Orange Rural Fire Department successfully mitigated one of the largest structure fires in the Town of Hillsborough's history, with help from almost every other fire agency in the county. • Emergency Services has coordinated or supported 6 large-scale events this past year. • Emergency Services activated the Emergency Operations Center on 3 different events throughout this last year. • Emergency Services participated in a FEMA Complex Coordinated Workshop with multi-agency/multi-jurisdictional participation. They also provided a resource-typing program to the fire departments of the county through a program called Salamander, currently 6 fire departments are enrolled and actively using it. Several fire departments this year continued to improve their ISO ratings. • The Town of Chapel Hill received new grade of Class 2 from a Class 3. • White Cross Fire Department received a new grade of a Class 5 from a Class 7. • Several of our other departments such as Caldwell Fire Department and Cedar Grove Fire Department are working on submitting or have submitted a request to improve their grade further. • Additionally, Cedar Grove, White Cross and Orange Grove Fire Departments have placed several new rural water points in service this year. The fire departments of the county have put several pieces of new equipment into service for the protection of its citizens. • The Town of Chapel Hill placed a new engine and mobile support SCBA trailer into service. • Orange Rural Fire Department put two new fire engines into service. • New Hope Fire Department placed a new fire engine into service. • Orange Grove Fire Department purchased a new 2000-gallon elliptical tanker. • Efland Fire Department has put a new medical response unit and paced it into service. • Eno Fire Department has placed a new extrication/rescue unit into service. • North Chatham Fire Department replaced three tankers. One of the tankers provides direct support to southern Orange County. • Orange County EMS placed a new ambulance into service. • Cedar Grove Fire Department is currently working on the processes to purchase a new fire engine to replace an out-of-date unit. This year the fire departments of Orange County have worked on improving their rescue capabilities. • Orange Grove Fire Department purchased extrication equipment, • New Hope Fire Department upgraded their extrication equipment to new Hurst cordless equipment. • White Cross Fire Department has applied for medium rescue certification. • Orange Rural Fire Department has received their heavy rescue certification. The members of the various departments have attended thousands of hours of training throughout the year. 3 • Carrboro Fire department has sent numerous members to National Fire Academy courses. • New Hope Fire Department hosted Mayday and Safety and Survival programs. • White Cross Fire Department hosted the new North Carolina Technical Rescue course, successful certifying 26 new rescuer technicians throughout the County. • Orange Rural Fire Department hired a training and safety officer. • Efland Fire Department certified four new emergency medical technicians within their department. The fire departments have been working very hard to replace out-of-date equipment with new technology that provides safer and more efficient operations. • New Hope Fire Department, Efland Fire Department and Chapel Hill Fire Department have all replaced their self-contained breathing apparatuses this past year. All the departments work to replace our protective gear regularly as they only have a 5 to 10- year life span. • Efland Fire Department put a new stationary breathing compressor for use by their members into service. • Emergency Services has been working on the County's Backup 9-1-1 Center and the project is moving forward. Radio equipment has been purchased, contracts for the phones have been completed, and they are working with the vendors and Asset Management/IT to start the implementation. • The Communication Center has added new technology for CAD-to-CAD information sharing with Alamance County. Communications is working on implementing the technology with Durham and Person Counties next. The Fire Marshal's office continues to work with the fire departments on needs for technical rescue operations and equipment for these services. They continue to provide on-scene support for the fire departments when requested. They have provided fire safety presentations when requested and helped purchase materials for Fire Safety Month to be provided to the schools thorough their local fire department. The fire departments of the county over the past year have accomplished several upgrades to their facilities or approved plans for new facilities. • Caldwell Fire Department renovated their administrative office area and dayroom. • Cedar Grove Fire Department is midway through a station renovation at their Station 2. • Orange Rural Fire Department is completing a remodel of their Station 3 to facilitate 24- hour staffing, while repurposing their Station 2 for housing an Orange County EMS unit. • Chapel Hill Fire Department approved the Station 2 re-development project with a joint partnership component with Orange EMS. • White Cross Fire Department installed a 13-D sprinkler system to protect its 24-hour staff. • North Chatham Fire Department rebuilt their Station 3 Located on Manns Chapel Road to add 2 personnel for 24-hour a day staffing. This station directly supports operation in the southern part of Orange County. • Additionally, Emergency Services has been working with Orange Rural Fire Department, UNC Air Care and South Orange Rescue Squad for additional collaboration for EMS station locations. Commissioner Rich asked if the 15,000 calls are comparable to the number of calls in the past two years. 4 Phillip Nasseri said most departments are at least maintaining, but more likely increasing, the number of calls about 2-5% per year. Commissioner Rich asked if the calls tend to be emergencies or fires. Phillip Nasseri said fires in general are on the decline, but the fires that do occur are more severe in nature due to modern construction techniques. He said calls tend to be rescue based. 2. Radio Infrastructure Including Paging Background Information: The Countywide Radio Communications Interoperability and Systems Engineering Services Committee was established in January 2016. A Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued on January 29, 2016 for a vendor neutral consultant who could determine the most efficient and effective method for designing a countywide radio system. A total of seven (7) Fire/Rescue representatives —four (4) from the Chief's Association and three (3) from Municipal Departments — make up this committee along with a representative from every Law Enforcement Department and four (4) representatives from Orange County Government. The committee conducted an interview assessment and met afterwards to discuss and deliver a recommendation of the selected consultant. Efforts are currently in the contract stage. Phillip Nasseri said this project is costly but vital to Orange County for communications. Commissioner Price asked if there is anything Orange County can do in reference to the infrastructure. Phillip Nasseri said when the contract is awarded it would be helpful to have the Board of County Commissioners to support the consultant's recommendations. Commissioner Dorosin asked if Phillip Nasseri could detail the current challenges with the communication infrastructure. Phillip Nasseri said the current 800 system, the VIPER Network System, being used by the State and Orange County has limited user sites and limited coverage area. He said there are minimal towers, which are used by multiple jurisdictions leading to overuse. He said on a day-to-day basis, things function fairly well, but in times of inclement weather or greater emergencies, the system is not sufficient. Commissioner Dorosin said the problem is insufficient capacity. Phillip Nasseri said that is correct, and some problems are due to aging equipment. Commissioner Price asked if it is possible to communicate between various counties across the State, during emergencies. Phillip Nasseri said there are statewide channels, which can be used. He said the problem being discussed this evening is a local one. Dinah Jeffries said the currently used 800mz does not allow data information on it, or non-public safety entities to use it; for example: schools, animal control, transportation, etc. She said it was designed very much for Highway Patrol. 3. Discussion on PageTrack Software Background Information: This item provides an opportunity to discuss issues and opportunities relating to PageTrack software. Emergency Services is working closely with Efland Deputy Chief Pete Hallenbeck. Efforts have been made to configure some Gateway boxes to talk to the PageTrack server, meaning that fire and Emergency Medical Services can see one another. Work is continuing 5 on getting the remaining Gateway boxes configured and Deputy Chief Hallenbeck has suggested a meeting to figure out what can be done with this capability and how to manage it. Orange Rural Fire Department Chief Jeff Cabe made the following PowerPoint presentation: PageTrack Overview Features responders use and like PageTrack Statistics • Used by over 500 Fire responders with 10 departments in Orange County. • In development for 5 years. • The User Interface was designed by responder feedback that comes from field use. • Has many features not found on the SunGuard/OSSI system. Unique Features • There are several features in PageTrack that the CAD vender solutions do not have. • Other features may exist in the CAD vendor solutions, but the user interface is difficult to use in responding apparatus. Trucks bounce around a lot more than a desk does. • Feedback from fire, EMS, and rescue responders drives the look and feel of PageTrack. o The main use is seeing a map of where the incident and responders are in real-time o Once on scene, units can see where all apparatus are located and see pre-plans for buildings o PageTrack is not limited to just apparatus. It engages volunteers by sending incident page-outs to their smart phones. o This also serves as a back-up dispatch system for when the radio system is down. o PageTrack can also page-out calls when the CAD system or county email is down. o PageTrack is not limited to just apparatus. It engages volunteers by sending incident page-outs to their smart phones. o This also serves as a back-up dispatch system for when the radio system is down. o PageTrack can also page-out calls when the CAD system or county email is down. o Real-Time weather information for woods fires o Show detours on the map, along with detour routes. At 2 in the morning, you might not remember that a bridge was being replaced o A Bulletin Board feature to keep everyone informed o A "Big Picture" view showing everything going on in your department o Hazardous Materials tools to help responders identify "Hot Zones" and exposure zones to protect themselves and the public. o There are tools to help visualize statistics about your department so you can improve your performance. o This incident history map shows where your calls are. o There is a tool for visualizing how good your response times are into various areas. o This can help with station location decisions or other changes that could improve response time. o Scatter plots of response times help you see time of day based strengths and weaknesses. 6 o Bad cell coverage areas can be determined, and they can also be displayed to responders on their maps so they know where they will have communications problems. o Closest and critical information is displayed, speeding up decisions. o Responders can see mutual aid partners in different counties dispatched from different CAD systems. o Fire Units can see where EMS units are located. Hopefully, as the SunGuard/OSSI integrates with PageTrack or EMS uses PageTrack everyone can see everyone else. o There are many EMS specific features being used by dispatch areas that use PageTrack for EMS. o Here we see a list of closest hospitals along with information such as "the VA is on diversion and not taking patients at this time". Page Track Features • This is an example of the features that PageTrack has that the CAD vendor solutions do not. • There are many other features in the system. • The best feature is the user interface designed by responder feedback. It is easy to use in the mobile environment. Dinah Jeffries said it will not always be possible to have one technology that all entities can efficiently and effectively use, but strides are being made in this area to integrate the technologies. Matthew Mauzy said this has been used at large events such as UNC games, etc., and is also being put on ambulances. He said it is not just useful in Orange County, but also when responding out of county to mutual aid calls. Chair McKee asked if there is any interest in surrounding counties. Pete Hallenbeck said two departments in Person County, some departments in Caswell County, and Mebane Fire are using and evaluating it, and there is some interest in Chatham County and Wilmington. He said there are also some departments in other states using the technology. Commissioner Price asked if everyone involved has the right smart phone to use this technology. Jeff Cabe said any phone can be used, as long as there is an internet/wi-fi connection. 4. Training Facilities for County First Responders Background Information: Emergency Services welcomes the opportunity to join others at the table for discussions regarding a countywide training facility. Emergency Services has been coordinating to actively reach out to state and federal resources gathering information that may provide guidance and direction on best practices to pursue this venture. Jeff Cabe said staff needs to be trained, while protecting districts as the same time. He said the Chief's Council wants to get a training facility in place. Orange County Training Center Concept Discussion October 2016 7 Needs • Facilities for training Firefighters (Live Fire, Search and Rescue, Suppression • Facilities for Training EMS Personnel (Patient Access, Triage, Movement) • Facilities for Training Rescue Personnel (Victim Access, Packaging, Removal) • Facilities for Training Law Enforcement (Building Search, Forcible Entry) • Facilities for storing Equipment Trailers and the Children's Fire Safety House Obstacles • Funding- How do we fund specialized training facilities? (Initial vs Long Term) • Location- How do we build Facilities so all agencies have access and maintain district coverage while training? • Access- How do we build enough Facilities for so many agencies to Share? • Management- Who has final oversight for design, development and scheduling? Funding • Propose to increase county wide property taxes by 1/2 cent for Training Facilities o Approximately $830,000 per year • Funds would be used to develop, maintain and operate the training Centers • Once the sites were completed, the tax rate would decrease to 1/4 cent for maintenance and Operations o Approximately $419,000 Location • County owned Property on Mincey Road o Police Driving Course o Burn Building with Rappelling Anchors (Residential Design) o Vehicle Training Classroom (Apparatus Bay) • Efland Fire Department Property o Burn Building with Rappelling Anchors (Commercial/Industrial Design) o Pump Operator Test Facility (Tank and Plumbing) o Training Classroom for 50 seats with AV Equipment • Southside of the County near Chapel Hill/Carrboro o Burn Building with Rappelling Anchors (Combination Residential and Commercial) o LP/Natural Gas Fire Trainer o Classroom with seating for 50 with AV Equipment o Fire/EMS Rescue Driving Course Access • Construct three separate sites that are geographically located so that travel distance to and from is reduced • Agencies can train together while still maintaining district coverages Management • Create a Task Force of BOCC, County Management, Police, Fire, ES to manage the project • Task Force would be responsible for design and construction, management of funding 8 • Create a web site or page on the county web site for scheduling and requesting use of the facilities Next Steps? • Further discussion on needs, Logistics, insurance, funding, permitting, etc... • MOU/MOA with Efland for use of their land • Locate property for south side site • Open conversations with Alamance Orange, OWASA or Hillsborough for Water Supply depending on site locations Chapel Hill Chief Matt Sullivan said there is a law enforcement issue to this topic, and a site such as this would be of value to all the emergency responders of Orange County. He said Durham Tech also has a place at the table in this discussion, since it does the majority of the training. Phillip Nasseri said Durham Tech would not have a training program if not for Chapel Hill's older training facility. He said the relationship with Durham Tech has been bumpy over the years on this topic. He said if Orange County would support this, he felt that Durham Tech would come on board to support a new training facility. Commissioner Dorosin referred to the suggested three-site model and asked if this is the ideal, or is it the most practical option due to size of the county. Jeff Cabe said this is the ideal since other one-site options would make it difficult to for County departments to train together on a regular basis. He said training in one location would leave districts without staff to provide emergency services, or cause a delay in completing the training, as staff would have to travel in groups to be trained. He said ideally the sites would be geographically located in the northeast, central-west and south of the County. Commissioner Price asked if Durham Tech has a burn facility. Jeff Cabe said no, it uses the Durham City Fire Department, where it also runs the academies. He would prefer that Orange County run the proposed training facilities. Sheriff Blackwood said he is supportive of a three-site training facility. He said Durham Tech does not even have showers. He said if a facility is built in Orange County, it should be run and managed by Orange County. Commissioner Jacobs asked Sheriff Blackwood if he has settled on an indoor firing range. Sheriff Blackwood said property is being acquired by a federal seizure in the Cedar Grove area near the Community Center. He said if the land can be acquired, it is 17 acres with many options. He said outside of a firing range, a playground, community garden, classrooms or shelter could be established. He said this land was previously used to sell drugs, and repurposing it for positive use would send a powerful message. He said there would be some cost, but the federal agencies involved are in favor of the idea, and all involved will need to think about how to acquire the land. Commissioner Pelissier asked if the overall capital costs for the training facilities are known. Jeff Cabe said a residential style burning building would cost about $100,000. He said on the commercial side, it would be in the $200,000-$300,000 range, because land would have to be purchased and gas piped in. Commissioner Pelissier asked if the $800,000 capital costs on the PowerPoint slide would cover most of the expenses. Jeff Cabe said yes, especially if property could be donated. 9 Jeff Cabe said he knows EMS is looking to have more space for ambulances, and these proposed training sites would be able to accommodate this. Commissioner Rich asked if the expected income produced by these training sites is known. Jeff Cabe said he does not know at this point, but the infrastructure costs could be determined, and then determine what fees could be charged to others to use the facility. Commissioner Rich asked if the cost to send employees to out of county firing ranges could be shared. Sheriff Blackwood said it is about $6,500 per agency per year. He said if a range were to be built, it would be available for citizens to use as well, with an appropriate usage fee being determined. Phillip Nasseri said going to out of county burning facilities, etc., is very expensive. Deputy Chief Matt Lawrence of Chapel Hill said the concrete capital costs are not yet known, but they wanted to propose their priorities. He said in addition to the actual buildings, there would also be site development, security, asphalt, etc. Jeff Cabe said a two 50-person classroom could be added in the proposed training centers and be used by the community. Chair McKee asked if there is a proposed time frame or next steps. He would like to move this conversation forward. Jeff Cabe said Board feedback on this proposal is important to determine if it is even a possibility. He said a task force can work on crunching the numbers, and he hoped to work with the County Manager and Dinah Jeffries. Chair McKee said the best route is to have the Fire Chief's Council put more definitive costs together, with a timeline for further discussion by the Board of County Commissioners. Commissioner Price said she strongly supports the exploration of this proposed idea. Commissioner Jacobs said he would want the Sheriff and Emergency Services to be part of putting the proposal together, before it gets to the Manager. He said he would like to have an order of priorities within the proposal; and questions such as if this would be part of the fire tax or property tax, and who would be included. Chair McKee said if the Council wanted Durham Tech to be involved, it should be invited to work with the Fire Chiefs. Commissioner Burroughs and Commissioner Rich agreed with Commissioner Jacobs. Commissioner Rich asked if the way in which this proposal fits into the annual budget, and its priorities, could also be pursued. Commissioner Price said there may be grant funding available, which can be researched. Jeff Cabe said the process will move forward with these suggestions, with all stakeholders being included. Kirby Saunders gave an update on Hurricane Matthew. The meeting adjourned at 8:39 p.m. Earl McKee, Chair Donna Baker Clerk to the Board