[ planning index ] [ home ]

Diamond Springs-El Dorado Fire Protection District

Strategic Planning for the Prevention Department

The Department, subject to legal authority, shall investigate all fires by gathering information to assist in developing an effective fire prevention program, identifying public education programs, describing the community’s fire problems, evaluating fire protection capability, and providing for the enforcement of fire related laws and regulations.

The fire chief shall develop written policies and procedures for fire prevention and investigation, and establish a fire prevention bureau with the responsibility to coordinate the Department’s fire prevention, investigation, and law enforcement activities.

Fire Prevention and Risk Reduction

The Department shall offer fire prevention services to local individuals and organizations with potential fire hazard conditions and shall assist our citizens finding their fire and life safety solutions.

Fire Investigation

The Department shall investigate fires in the District to determine the origin and cause of the fire.  All fire suppression personnel shall be trained in basic fire cause determination, arson detection, and investigation procedures to provide a high rate of origin and cause determination.  The fire prevention bureau shall be called to investigate all suspected arson fires, and all fires resulting in loss of life, or significant loss of property.

CODE ENFORCEMENT

The Department, subject to legal authority, shall establish policies and procedures for the enforcement of fire and life safety codes in the District.  The enforcement of fire and life safety codes shall be a major focus area of the Department.

State Codes and Regulations

The Department shall enforce the California Fire Code as adopted by the Board.  The Department shall enforce the forest and fire laws of the Public Resources Code.

County Codes and Regulations

The Department shall work cooperatively with the County Building Official to enforce the public safety related provisions of the California Building Code as adopted by the County Board of Supervisors.  The Department shall work cooperatively with County Planning and Transportation Department officials to ensure the fire and life safety objectives of the Department are addressed in plans for new development.   The Department shall review plans for new development, building construction, and tenant improvements in the District, and conduct inspections to determine compliance with permit requirements, and fire and life safety codes.

District Ordinances and Regulations

The Department shall enforce the local fire safety ordinances and regulations of the District as approved by the Board, including, but not limited to

Enforcement Administration

The Fire Chief shall appoint a qualified fire officer (trained specialist) as Fire Marshal, with the responsibility and authority to execute a competent fire prevention and code enforcement program. The Fire Marshal shall have the authority of a peace officer under Health and Safety Code 138773 and Penal Code 830.37

Inspection Program

Where inspection intervals are established by law they shall be followed.  The Department shall develop a structured program for performing inspections.  Department personnel issuing correction notices or stop orders shall be trained in fire code inspection practices as defined in the California Fire Code and adopted by the Board.

Current Fire Prevention Bureau Status

Personnel

The Prevention Department is headed by the Assistant Chief/Fire Marshal and assisted by a part time administrative position. A part time inspector/plan checker is used to support the prevention activities.  The district employed four part-time seasonal employees to perform plan review and inspection services as well as business inspections and fire investigations. Given the current economic climate and the budget shortfalls that we are facing over the next several years, three of the four part-time seasonal positions have been eliminated. This will continue to effect the District’s ability to perform state mandated inspections and investigation services.

Vehicles

The prevention department uses and maintains the following district vehicles:

Equipment

Computers:

Development / Plan Review

The Diamond Springs El Dorado Fire Protection District has adopted a locally amended version of the 2008 California Fire Code based on the 2007 International Fire Code.

The Fire Prevention Bureau assists the development community in building projects that are in compliance with state, county and local codes and ordinances. It is essential that new construction projects are properly planned and constructed to provide:

Development occurring within the District and the influences of growing demographics surrounding it is and will continue to impact the district.  It will be challenging to maintain the outstanding level of service that our tax payers have come to expect when providing prevention and emergency services during these tough economic times when revenue from taxes and fees continue to decrease. 

The plan review process is often confusing and cumbersome for developers and individuals trying to build in our county.  One of the roles of the Prevention Bureau is to help these people get through this often tedious process. Over the past year, we have been able to simplify the process of receiving plans and performing plan review.  We have been able to do this by simplifying our in house procedures for accepting and reviewing plans and by collaborating with other county agencies to simplify this process.

The District and The Fire Prevention Officer’s Association have worked cooperatively with County Development Services and the Department of Transportation to rewrite the Land Development Manual to reflect code changes that have occurred over the last 10 years.  We continue to simplify the plan review process by working with these agencies to standardize the interpretation of many of the codes.  

We have established the following Fire Prevention Standards to assist the development community:

§         Rural Water Supply Standard
§        
Gate Standard
§        
Residential Fire Sprinkler Standards
§        
Residential Driveway Standard
§        
Solar Photovoltaic Installation Standard
§        
Development Fee Standard   

We are committed to support the standardization of code interpretation into the future.  Standardizing how these codes are interpreted provides clarity and consistency throughout the county.

Business Inspection Program

Municipal Fire Departments have always placed a great emphasis on business occupancy inspections. They provide an opportunity for personnel to interact with the business community, instilling confidence in the fire department and mitigating potential fire hazards. Traditionally, these are completed with the on duty engine company personnel. However, with increased call volume, training requirements, and other responsibilities, this task has proven increasingly difficult.

The prevention department has been able to perform an increased number of business inspections over the past year. Prioritizing business occupancy inspections based on fire statistics and greatest life loss potential has been our goal.  Occupancies such as elderly care facilities, residential care homes and assembly occupancies warrant higher priority for inspection due to the greater potential for life loss.  Due to staff reductions, prioritizing inspections and developing a voluntary inspection program will be essential to maintaining our business inspections over the next few years.

Public Education

Another important service we provide to the community is Educating the public about fire safety and prevention.  Public education programs can be very expensive and time consuming for staff. It is essential they be targeted at changing the behavior that is actually causing the fires. This can be done by statistical analysis of what causes the fires and targeting the public education programs toward changing those behaviors. The Fire Prevention Bureau must be pro-active to prevent unnecessary fires that are caused from common careless acts. Every year countless fires occur due to the careless use of mechanical equipment and the discard of fireplace ashes without regard for their ignition potential. These fires are entirely preventable and can be greatly reduced with a proactive public education program.

In these tough economic times, we will need the public to also be pro-active in being fire safe.  It is even more important for us to reach out to the rural and residential community through schools, homeowners associations, local fire safe councils and senior citizen groups to create a partnership in public education. We recently acquired through donations two electronic signboards that we are refurbishing to use as public education billboards. These signs will enable us to notify the public of severe fire conditions as well as when burn permits are required etc.

Education in the Schools is also a priority. Annually we go out to the schools and provide education materials and presentations.  In the next few years, we would like to expand our School Ed Program to a more formal program.  We are researching several curriculums that we would like to incorporate into our school program including the use of robots and visual aides and we would like to expand our education program to include fire safety education for the ever growing population of elderly people in our district.  The Prevention Staff submitted a grant application for public education dollars through the Assistance to Fire Fighters Fire Prevention and Safety Grant.  We are hopeful that we will be awarded some money to formalize our school and senior public education programs.

We also provide a Juvenile Fire Setters Intervention Program. This FEMA inspired program allows the fire department to assist parents and the juvenile probations department to identify those children that are at risk of continued fire play and to enable them to receive the help they need to stop this risky and dangerous behavior.

We are currently in the process of creating and printing our own brochures and public education materials that are specific to our district to use in conjunction with our public education program.  Over the next several years we would also like to produce an informational video. Prevention staff are working to identify a funding source to produce this video.

Vegetation Management

The Diamond Springs El Dorado Fire Protection District currently does not have a vegetation management program. However, staff has been working cooperatively with the two established fire safe councils in Log Town and Sandridge as well as with the El Dorado County Fire Safe Council. They also assist Cal Fire resources in PRC 4291 compliance inspections. Because the Diamond Springs El Dorado Fire Protection District falls within State responsibility area, resources from Cal Fire are available to assist with vegetation management. According to your “Firehouse” statistics, 33% of the fires that occur in the Diamond Springs El Dorado Fire Protection District are vegetation fires.

The most effective way to manage this threat is through the education and cooperative efforts of the community. In order to do this, it is important to first identify and prioritize the hazards in the district.  We would like to do this by performing a hazard & risk assessment of the entire district.  The assessment will prioritize parcels based on risk so they may be targeted for educational material and follow up PRC 4291 inspections.  Although this is an expensive and time consuming program, we feel that it will provide substantial benefits for the community by providing us an important tool. It will be undertaken as a long-term commitment to the goal of providing a fire safe community.

A grant application to perform a Hazard & Risk Assessment and to create a Community Wildfire Protection Plan for the district has been submitted through the Assistance to Firefighters Fire Prevention and Safety Grant Program.  We are also working with the Fire Prevention Officer’s Association to develop a Countywide Weed Abatement Ordinance for vacant lots.  This would give us the ability to enforce clearance standards on undeveloped parcels and out of area landowner’s.

There are a number of county fire safe council programs available to the community of Diamond Springs that can assist residents in their vegetation management efforts. These include, a county curbside chipping program, a Green Waste Voucher program and a Senior and Disabled Assistance Program.  These programs are grant funded and have been in place for several years but are not widely advertised.  These programs will be incorporated into our Vegetation Management Program and will be included in the public education materials designed and sent to residents.

Cost Recovery & Fees

Plan Review & Fees for Services

The Prevention Department must try to recover the costs associated with providing these services through collection of plan review fees pursuant with Health and Safety Code Section 17951.  A careful study of our current fee schedule revealed that we were not charging enough for plan review services.  In January, Resolution 2009-01 was presented and adopted by the board that increased the fees to bring our fees in line with the rest of the county.   We are committed to doing an analysis of our fees every couple of years to insure that we are charging enough for our services.

Community Facilities District

Another way that we are trying to cover the cost of our services is through a Cost Recovery Program.  A Communities Facility District (CFD) was established in 2006.    The Prevention Bureau is committed to making sure that all new development projects are annexed into the CFD annually.  One of the responsibilities of the part time administrative support position is to administer the CFD.  With staff in place we were able to completed Annexation No. 2 of the CFD which added 15 parcels into the CFD and doubled the amount of the taxes we will be collecting annually. In going through this annexation process, we have had a chance to fine tune the process in the hopes of making all future annexations a lot easier.   Our goal is to be able to handle the annexation process and the annual direct charge procedures in house without having to use the help of consultants.

Fire Facility Impact Fees

The District currently has a fire facility impact fee in place, which was last calculated in 2006.  The fee needs to be updated to take into account recent growth projections and the facilities needed to serve the future population.  We are currently in the process of performing a Fire Facilities Impact Fee Study to assure that all new development in the district is provided with adequate fire protection facilities and services.

The County Building Department has been responsible for collecting the Impact Fees for the district.  Over the course of the past year, we have been auditing the Impact Fees being collected and have found discrepancies in how the county is collecting these fees.  The County has under collected a total of $39,990.59 this year alone.  The County has committed to go back and collect these outstanding amounts.  The district has committed to continue to audit these fees for discrepancies and we are working with other districts to standardize the fee collection process.  County Building Services would like the districts to start collecting their own Development Impact Fees and we are supportive of that.  During the next several months, we will be working with them to be added to the LMIS System and to get trained on how to collect these fees. 

The following Chart shows the current rates for Development Fees for the District:

Residential

   .36 per square foot

Commercial

   .77 per square foot

Industrial

   .88 per square foot

Fixed Asset Requirements

The vehicles and equipment that the prevention department uses and maintains will require replacement over the next several years. 

Existing Vehicles and Equipment

 

  Unit                 Vehicle Make                      Vehicle Value      Equipment   Total Value

Utility 49             2001 Ford F-150                    $11,000                   $7,000              $18,000
                         
2005 Toyota Tundra               $20,000                   $3,000              $23,000          
8102                   2005 Ford Expedition              $25,000                   $7,000              $32,000

Subtotal                                                         $56,000               $17,000             $73,000                                  

Computers

                                    Quantity                                   Value (ea.)       Total Value

 Desktops                          6                                         $2,000                         $12,000  
 
Laptop                              1                                         $2,000                         $ 2,000
Electronic Road Signs         2                                         $3,000                         $ 6,000          

                        Subtotal                                                                               $20,000

                        Total Existing Vehicles & Equipment                                                            $93,000

It is estimated that the replacement of these vehicles and equipment over the next five years will total approximately $200,000.00

 

Respectfully submitted,
Robert Combs
Assistant Chief/Fire Marshal

[ return to top ] [ planning index ] [ home ]