The final report is out on Clallam County Fire District 3’s service study and the numbers show demand is growing.

Fire Chief Ben Andrews said Fitch &Associates LLC, which conducted an approximate $50,000 study of everything in the district from response times to facility assessments, said the fire district could meet call capacity in about three years.

From that fire commissioners could consider seeking more funding, manage existing resources with cost avoidance or let the level of service go down, Andrews said.

“More than 90 percent of the time when you call 9-1-1 the station closest to you is able to respond,” Andrews said. “If we don’t find more resources, then the patient is going to get a medic from Carlsborg or Blyn (stations).”

The study revealed 88 percent of the district’s calls were basic and advanced life support calls in 2015 with 52.5 percent for basic life support calls and 35.4 percent for advanced life support.

Overall, about 92 percent of service calls come from within the City of Sequim. On average the district receives 19 calls per day with 17.4 coming from within the city.

Fire officials said they are receiving calls for issues such as back pain, toothaches and much more that doctors and dentists could handle more appropriately.

“There’s a myth that if you call an ambulance you go to the front of the line at the hospital,” Assistant Chief Dan Orr said. “It’s not true. (Olympic Medical Center) triage’s you.”

Regardless, these types of calls are expected to grow, fire officials said.

“(Fire commissioners) will need to make a policy decision in the next couple of years to either add more resources, find ways to avoid cost and reduce the load,” Andrews said.

One earlier fix includes shifting two medical teams out of Station 34 on Fifth Avenue splitting duties going north or south of Cedar Street.

Andrews also is confident they’ll receive a three-year grant — Staffing for Adequate Fire &Emergency Response, SAFER, through FEMA that funds up to six new positions for 75 percent the first two years and 35 percent the third.

“Even if it’s only for three years, we can identify the value of those positions and identify a way to fund those positions,” he said.

Assistant Chief Eric Quitslund said they’d know about the grant in the coming months and if the grant comes through, it could be around a year from now before people are hired.

The consultants suggest the fire district add an advanced life support unit at the peak load between 8 a.m.-8 p.m. in the coming years and another unit shortly thereafter.

Andrews said if they add more staff and units and ultimately call capacity, they’ll need to begin the process in the next two years

“We need to start raising the questions now and planning for it,” he said. “We’ve got a year of getting (potential firefighters) going through recruit school, probation, orientation and the hiring process.”

Suggestions

The consultants offered several recommendations ranging from future facility placement to partnering more with Olympic Ambulance services.

Andrews said one way to avoid bringing on more cost potentially could be shifting the work week from 49.9 hours a week to 56.

“It would cost more (with current staff) but less than bringing in more employees,” he said.

With Olympic Ambulance, Andrews said consultants suggested partnering more with it to cut down on the time crews are away for basic life support calls.

“They send a crew every time to a medic call and if it’s an (advance life support call) then we split up our ALS unit and one medic goes with them and the other becomes a basic (basic life support),” Andrews said. “The average time it takes to take someone to the hospital is 108 minutes on an ALS. For a BLS it’s 33 minutes.”

Andrews said one possible conversation with Olympic Ambulance would be whether its officials might be interested in offering ALS units so that the fire district doesn’t have to add more units.

However, fire officials said any changes would need to be negotiated with the district’s union because they’d be “asking the union to give away a portion of their work.”

Another option for possible call load reduction would be offering a nurse at a dispatch center on the district’s own or with others to assess less immediate issues.

Fire officials said they receive about 500 calls a year to professional care facilities to help with basic functions such as for lift assists.

“Right now the fire district is on the bottom of the funnel,” Andrews said.

“We could look at triaging calls at dispatch and whether or not they go to a nurse rather than the fire department.”

Andrews said he also plans to approach Olympic Medical Center leaders about the possibility of creating a standalone emergency room in Sequim for receiving patients that would stabilize them for dismissal and/or transport.

“It adds capacity (to respond to calls) without adding units,” he said.

Consistency

Fire officials said after reading the consultant’s report they feel good about the level of service in the Sequim area, however some things could be improved on such as training.

In the report, it reads “a considerable number of career and volunteer members describe the training provided as lacking depth. In fact, there is concern that a significant portion of the training being assigned is not actually being accomplished.”

Consultants wrote that firefighters’ busy schedules and training while working with consistent interruptions contributed to that.

They recommended improving training by scheduling it more routinely and outside of peak call times.

While there were a few negative aspects about the fire district’s policies, fire officials said consultants found their staff committed and passionate about customer care.

“Our peak time is during the day but our ratio of transports to responses stays pretty level,” Andrews said.

“Some organizations, at about 10 p.m., the guys don’t want to go to the hospital because they want to go to bed. Our guys are making that decision to transport based on patients’ needs and not on if they are tired or not. That’s a system of patient-centered care.”

Facilities and equipment

The study also pointed out what fire officials had a good grasp of already — the need to replace the Carlsborg Fire Station 33’s facility and build a new R Corner station off U.S. Highway 101.

Quitslund, who did an in-house facilities study, said the study gives them “tremendous value” because it provides data about where the optimal locations could be for quicker response times with existing and possibly new stations.

Andrews said one possibility to consider would be purchasing property and rebuilding the Carlsborg station roughly a mile north to extend the coverage area and consolidate the Dungeness station.

“Staffing a fire district is a balance of what’s near your highest call load,” Quitslund said

“We still have to distribute our resources to where your call concentrations come from and 80 percent of our calls come from 18 percent of our service area. So we still have to distribute our resources to cover the whole district.”

Quitslund also is developing a capital replacement plan for the district’s equipment including roughly $650,000 needed to replace 80 air tanks.

He said their equipment has a predictable life span but items can get expensive such as a fire engine at about $433,000.

One cost-saving method fire officials are considering is rather than buying new ambulances, going with refurbished ones to save about 45 percent or $60,000-$70,000.

Orr said because of the high cost of these items cash flow can be a problem so they are considering leasing items.

Philosophy change

The fire district is debt-free after paying off a 10-year bond to construct the Carlsborg Station’s shop last December.

Andrews said they’ve maintained the mentality to pay cash for things but now they want to approach residents about the philosophy of paying for facilities through saving property taxes or through bonds.

“What I’m seeing in other fire districts is they are using other general and EMS levies to pay for staff and equipment and using capital bonds for facilities and vehicles,” he said.

One prohibition, Andrews said, is the district’s 1-percent property tax increase allowable by law.

“Everything goes up more than 1 percent and fire districts are caught in an unsustainable funding model,” he said. “We are at a point where something is going to have to change.”

One possible revenue source aside from tax increases would be incorporating a medical transport unit similarly to Olympic Ambulance.

However, Andrews said “at first look, there’s not enough benefit to make the change” because of the needed cost of staff, equipment, etc.

Going forward, fire officials plan to work with a citizens advisory group which has sat in on the consultants’ presentations to solicit feedback on possible policy changes.

For more information on Clallam County Fire District 3, call 683-4242 or visit www.clallamfire3.org.

Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.

Clallam County Fire District 3 responded to a brush fire on Thursday, Feb. 2, in Carlsborg. Fire officials report the call came in at 3:13 p.m. for the fire at 201 Childers Lane, west of Sequim. Fire Chief Ben Andrews said the resident was burning outside and the wind picked up and spread the fire about 200 yards from the home’s backyard into a nearby field but avoiding a large brush pile. No animals or residents were harmed. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash