OFD budget will request new ladder truck, crew

March 07--The Owensboro Fire Department will make a request for an additional ladder truck and firefighters to staff the truck in next year's budget, in an effort to augment its emergency response on the city's east side.

The fire department's plan is to order the truck in time for it to go into service in July 2018. The department needs to include the ladder truck and two firefighters to staff the truck in its 2017-18 budget in order to purchase the truck, which takes about a year to construct. A new ladder truck can cost about $900,000, city Fire Chief Steve Mitchell said last week.

The department currently has two "front line" ladder trucks and an older ladder truck used when one of the front line trucks is down for maintenance. The department needs the additional ladder truck and personnel to cope with growth on the east side, particularly in the Kentucky 54 area east of what was formerly known as the U.S. 60 bypass. The new ladder truck would also provide service to large buildings and critical infrastructure on the east side, such as the new Owensboro Health Regional Hospital on Pleasant Valley Road.

"Back in 2011-12, when we had our last insurance rating, we knew the city had expanded, but we wanted to do a consultation with (the Insurance Services Office) on what that has done to our deployment," Mitchell said.

The ISO and National Fire Prevention Association have standards they want fire departments to achieve. For example, ISO says a fire department should deploy resources in such a way that the fire engines are stationed within 1.5 miles of their primary service area, and "service" units and ladder trucks are located within 2.5 miles of their main service areas.

In terms of response time, NFPA says the first fire engines should be able to respond to a fire within four minutes 90 percent of the time, and that the entire crew needed for fire response should arrive within eight minutes 90 percent of the time.

Only 76.86 percent of OFD's fire engines are within 1.5 miles of their privacy service area. The department meets the four-minute initial response goal 81.2 percent of the time, Mitchell said.

Growth along Kentucky 54 has put more than 50 percent of the nearest ladder truck's primary service area outside the 2.5-mile radius. The nearest ladder truck on the east side is at Station 2 on East Parrish Avenue, Mitchell said.

"We're over the threshold where (a new ladder truck) is required for the east side of town," Mitchell said.

"Northwest, southwest and east are the areas where we are not meeting the criteria," Mitchell said. "In the southwest, we're not that bad yet, we're within the 50 percent," Mitchell said. In the northwest side of the city, "we have a (engine) company right there, but not a ladder truck."

The east side's growth requires that addition of a ladder truck, Mitchell said. Much of the city's critical infrastructure is also on the east side.

"That station (Station 2) comes with a water plant, a power plant and a hospital," Mitchell said.

The department will recommend including funding for a ladder truck and two firefighters to staff the truck in the next budget, Mitchell said. If approved, OFD would have ladder trucks at Station 2, Station 1 on West Ninth Street and Station 5 on South Griffith Avenue. Service sectors would be redrawn to reflect the additional truck, with a resulting benefit to response times on the east side, Mitchell said.

The city has a Class 2 ISO fire insurance rating, which is based on several factors, such as response times, water supply and distribution, and 911 dispatch capabilities. Doing nothing would negatively impact the city's fire insurance rating, Mitchell said.

"Our fire insurance is directly related to what you're able to do and not do," Mitchell said. "The less capable your fire service, the higher your insurance.

The fire department's goal, for now, is not to meet the 90 percent goal on initial response time, because that would require several more firefighters and would be cost-prohibitive, Mitchell said. The department's goal is meet the four-minute initial response goal 85 percent of the time, Mitchell said.

The deployment analysis looked at long-term deployment needs. An additional fire station might be needed in the future, Mitchell said.

"We're not proposing a new station yet," Mitchell said. "But in the long-range plan ... we have to consider a station around the hospital and Gateway Commons. That would be a long-term consideration."

James Mayse, 270-691-7303, jmayse@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @JamesMayse

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