Bruce Philpott, New Fire Models, Segment 7 Summary: Staffing, Three Versus Four

The GFD generally staffs with four firefighters on fire apparatus, but it also routinely staffs with three. Two samples of engine company activity logs reveal that the fire department operates with three on engine companies daily.

Sampling #1: A sampling of 30 Personnel Assignment Logs showed 10, or 33%, recorded engine companies staffing with three for at least several hours and sometimes for the entire shift. That means that each shift several engine companies operate with three firefighters, sometimes for extended periods of time.

Sampling # 2: A sampling of forty-four Personnel Assignment Logs revealed that 26, or 60%, posted individual engine companies staffing with three for an average time of five hours each shift. All of the staffing reductions occurred during peak call demand. While staffed with three, the engine companies handled emergency calls in a routine manner without adverse consequences.

On June 26, 2007, the GFD showed this slide to the city council to present the case that engine companies are "required" to be staffed with four firefighters. They offered these required staffing mandates to justify spending $5.8 million last year to cover mandatory overtime. They cited three primary reasons.

Reasons # 1: The National Fire Protection Association, Section 1710, states that the first arriving engine company must have the capability to implement an "initial rapid intervention crew", or IRIC. To meet the requirements of an IRIC, there must be four firefighters. Two make entry into a burning structure with the fire hose to extinguish the fire and two remain at the point of entry to provide the necessary resources to rescue the two person entry team should it be required. The fact that this entry method requires four firefighters is one of the reasons why the GFD told you it has to staff with four. But, according to Carl Peterson, a Director of NFPA, and Gary Giacomo of the California State Firefighters Union, it is not possible to mount an interior attack with the first arriving engine company staffed with four. They both agreed that in order to mount an interior attack on a structure fire with the first arriving engine company it would have to be staffed with six firefighters. The reason is that two of the four firefighters have other responsibilities and are not available to make up the entry team.

One firefighter must remain at the hydrant ready to release the water when instructed by another firefighter who is at the controls of the pump that regulates water pressure to the hose line that will be used by the entry team. The second firefighter must remain at the pump controls to provide a steady and constant stream of water to the entry team. Both of these assignments are contained in the NFPA 1710 guideline. The best a first arriving engine company staffed with four can do is dedicate only two firefighters to the entry team. This failed logic is one of the reasons why NFPA 1710 has not been adopted by the State of California or any city within the state, including Glendale.

Reason # 2: As the slide shows, OSHA, for safety reasons, like the NFPA, requires that four firefighters make up the entry team. This is the second reason the GFD has told this city council that they must staff with four. OSHA refers to it as the 2 in, 2 out rule. But the same dynamics apply as specified in the NFPA 1710 guideline. The difference is that OSHA does not "require" minimum staffing on engine or truck companies, but it cannot be ignored like the NFPA, because it has enforcement powers. OSHA’s requirement is that four firefighters must be assembled to make up the entry team. Two enter and two remain outside ready to rescue if needed. But, again, this cannot happen if the first arriving engine company is staffed with four. The first two arriving engine companies if staffed with three on a structure fire are able to mount an interior attack, where four on the first engine company could not.

It takes several minutes for the first engine company to prepare for entry anyway. The hydrant hose line has to be laid and the attack hose line leading from the engine to the entry team has to be laid. The engine company captain is the incident commander until relieved and he must make critical assessments of the fire as it develops and instruct in-coming engine and truck companies on how best to deploy.

Reason # 3: The slide states, "State Mutual Aid system requires us to staff with 4 firefighters". Today, I spoke with Assistant Chief Paul Beckstrom of the State Office of Emergency Services, which administers the state mutual aid system. He said there is no requirement that fire companies be staffed with four under the state mutual aid system. He said it is important to let the incident commander know if the engine and truck companies being sent for mutual aid purposes are staffed with three or four for tactical reasons.

Conclusion: All three reasons given by the fire department for its justification to staff with four appear to be flawed. Why shouldn’t we save the $6 million annually and staff with three firefighters on engine companies?  87% of engine company activity is associated with backing up medical emergency calls of which over 99% are single victim events. And, according to the International Association of Firefighters, the nation fire union, 93% of fire alarms are false and 90% of all fire calls can be adequately handled by a single engine company.

Contact Information:
Bruce Philpott
Phone: (818) 240-8949/Email: logicpoint@aol.com