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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.
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
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
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.
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
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
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