By Jason Green
Palo Alto Daily News
PALO ALTO, Calif. — Only 1.5 percent of the 2,118 calls for service the Palo Alto Fire Department received in the first quarter of the current fiscal year were for actual fires, according to a new report from the city’s top fire official.
The vast majority, about 62 percent, were for emergency medical service, Fire Chief Eric Nickel wrote in his inaugural quarterly performance report, which the council is set to receive Monday.
The shift in focus isn’t unique to Palo Alto, according to the report. However, the Palo Alto Fire Department is the only fire department in Santa Clara County that provides ambulance and transport services.
“This is especially valuable to our community, because the 2012 Council on Aging Silicon Valley Report indicates that Palo Alto has the highest percentage of the oldest seniors (75 and over) in the county,” Nickel wrote. “This population relies most on our services, with a service utilization rate more than six times greater than the rest of the population.”
The “overwhelming majority” of the 1,315 emergency medical service calls the fire department received in the first quarter of the current fiscal year were for maladies that did not involve a car crash. About 76 percent resulted in ambulance transport to a hospital or care facility.
The fire department went one for two in meeting its response time goals for emergency medical service calls, according to the report. A first responder arrived within eight minutes 91 percent of the time, beating the goal of 90 percent. However, a paramedic responder arrived within 12 minutes 96 percent of the time, missing the goal of 99 percent.
Nickel said he expects response times to improve in January when a paramedic is assigned to every fire department unit as part of a plan to provide 24-hour advanced life support service.
The fire department received only 32 fire calls in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, according to the report. And 10 of them were for blazes outside of Palo Alto and Stanford, including the Wilderness Lodge Fire in Mendocino County. The fire department dispatched an eight-person crew and two engines as part of a mutual aid agreement.
There was just one structure fire in Palo Alto and it was extinguished by construction crews before firefighters arrived.
The fire department did not meet its response time goal for fire calls, according to the report. A first responder arrived within eight minutes 82 percent of the time, well short of the 90 percent goal.
Nickel said the fire department is in the midst of conducting an assessment to identify ways to improve performance.
Good intent and false alarm calls made up nearly 30 percent of the 2,118 calls the fire department received in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, according to the report. Calls for rescue/hazardous materials and service made up about 3.8 and 3.2 percent, respectively.
The inaugural report was produced in response to requests for greater communication on the activities and performance of the fire department, according to an accompanying cover letter also written by Nickel.
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©2014 the Palo Alto Daily News (Menlo Park, Calif.)