NAWILIWILI — Kaua‘i Fire Chief Robert Westerman on Monday told County Council members that despite financial and operational challenges the department has achieved improvements and will implement initiatives for Fiscal Year 2012, which starts July 1. But the department’s goal
NAWILIWILI — Kaua‘i Fire Chief Robert Westerman on Monday told County Council members that despite financial and operational challenges the department has achieved improvements and will implement initiatives for Fiscal Year 2012, which starts July 1.
But the department’s goal to become an accredited fire department will have to go on hold, and will be removed from KFD’s list of goals for next year, according to Westerman.
“Accreditation standards are not going to be met,” he said. “We’ll have to remain below the national standards, which will affect our accreditation program.”
Without the staff to work on the accreditation process, KFD can only work on single line items such as the Records Management System and the upcoming Computer Aided Dispatching System.
Westerman said response times — without fully staffed engines — have a direct impact on Insurance Services Office ratings, where staffing accounts for 18 percent. He said staffing can only be managed up to the level of funds available, and KFD’s operations overtime budget has been reduced to less than $180,000.
This year’s overtime budget represented a $65,586 reduction from last year, which was cut $40,000 from the previous year.
To run safely and efficiently as possible, Westerman said KFD reduced some of their staffing goals to below nationally accepted standards.
“We try to maintain a standard of 80 percent versus the nationally accepted standard of 90 percent or better,” he said.
One of KFD’s goals for FY12 is to be able to staff all engine companies with four firefighters at least 80 percent of the time. KFD fell below the minimum daily staffing guide of 80 percent in May and January, according to a report Westerman provided to the council.
Despite an overall 5.3 percent increase in salaries, wages dropped to 53 percent of the entire budget in FY12, compared to 57 percent of the budget in the current fiscal year.
Salaries, wages and benefits combined account for 88 percent of KFD’s $22.8 million budget request for FY12. KFD’s budget for the current year was $20.2 million, and salaries, wages and benefits accounted for 89 percent of the entire budget.
Other challenges noted by Westerman include the ability to retrain critical skills, which could lead to losing important certifications.
“Continued limited budgets are starting to have a cumulative effect on our ability to maintain adequate training and certification,” he said.
Despite the end of furloughs, the department still has an “extreme shortage in clerical and administrative staffing,” causing it to modify daily priorities to administer daily paperwork, payroll inputs and even community responses, Westerman said.
“As the fourth largest department we have the least administrative staff,” he said. “So many things do not get done on time or are still awaiting assignment.”
The Ocean Safety Bureau is part of KFD. The bureau is not funded to change safety signs.
“A majority are either missing or rusting and ready to fall down,” Westerman said.
The bureau has three district supervisors who oversee eight to 10 water safety officers, spread over up to four different locations. Westerman said this is causing problems with the ability to supervise all the lifeguards.
“We are seeing an increase in incidents of work-related issue, injuries, complaints and reduced morale from other than the pay decrease,” he said.
KFD is also working on realigning and reallocating several positions within the bureau to improve management, Westerman said.
Improvements
KFD will move to use the Records Management System to its full potential, to better manage personnel and resources, plus minimize multiple inputs, Westerman said.
The department has pushed its way into the complete streets program, and has improved communication with the county Planning Department to avoid zoning problems after permits are issued.
The Prevention Bureau revamped its Fire Extinguisher Training, including adding a projector to show fire behavior videos. It will also include a digital extinguisher trainer, reducing cost and increasing the number of people each training session.
Fire Prevention has also improved grant-writing capabilities, the chief said.
“As we move into the newly renovated Fire Headquarters in early 2012 we will improve our ability to respond by adding a backup emergency operations center,” Westerman said.
The new Computer Aided Dispatching System, through the Kaua‘i Police Department dispatch and KFD mobile CADS, Westerman said, will allow firefighters to “literally see what’s coming around the corner and integrate with our county commuter network.”
The Prevention Bureau is working on a grant for a smoke alarm distribution program. The bureau will also swap out its 20-year-old costume, “worn by more inspectors than I can count,” Westerman said.
Water Safety Supervisor Kalani Vierra is scheduled to attend a national conference in North Carolina, and seek approval to have President Barack Obama declare a National Beach Safety Week.
The new helicopter recently acquired by KFD will include in its program a training and familiarization with the Water Safety Bureau personnel to assist in rescue operations.
Accreditation and
ISO rating
The Insurance Services Office collects information on municipal fire-protection efforts in communities throughout the United States, according to the ISO website.
ISO rating helps communities to evaluate public fire protection services. The program provides an objective, nationwide standards that helps fire departments with training and to plan and budget for facilities and equipment.
The Commission on Fire Accreditation International accreditation process provides a well-defined, internationally recognized benchmark system used to measure the quality of fire and emergency services to a community, according to the CFI website.
This accreditation process improves fire agencies’ abilities to recognize and understand fire risks and emergency protection needs. It determines local fire departments’ needs to update resources, improve the communities’ quality of life, and rewards participants by helping them to achieve excellence in service and establish continuous improvements.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@thegardenisland.com.
