REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: BILLY P. ALCORN, Fire Chief
Fire Department
SUBJECT
Title
Approve acceptance of 2022 Fire Prevention & Safety (FP&S) Grant Award in the amount of $98,653, requiring a City match of $4,697.77.
1. ***RESOLUTION - Authorizing the acceptance of the 2022 Fire Prevention & Safety (FP&S) Grant and authorizing the completion and submission of all required documents (Subject to Mayor’s veto).
Body
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended the City Council adopt the resolution to accept the 2022 FP&S Grant in the amount of $98,653 with a City match of $4,697.77 and to authorize the Fire Chief to conduct all negotiations and execute all required documents on behalf of the City.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In March 2023, the Fire Department submitted a grant application with FP&S in the amount of $98,653 (City Match $4,697.77) to provide funding to conduct and complete a comprehensive and expert Community Risk Analysis (CRA) and Standards of Cover (SOC) document consistent with the recommendations and methodologies from the Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE). These documents are the foundation that will evaluate the current and future needs of the Fresno Fire Department.
BACKGROUND
As part of the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) process, a CRA SOC document must be developed and adopted by the agency having jurisdiction. The CRA SOC is a comprehensive study that analyzes the risks facing the City of Fresno and the services provided by the Fresno Fire Department.
The Fresno Fire Department has had an SOC document since the early 2000’s and this document is updated by internal staff members periodically. Unfortunately, the CRA portion and associated vulnerability statement were not thoroughly conducted due to a lack of qualified personnel to create that portion of the document. For this reason, we applied for funding to conduct a thorough, professional CRA to determine our vulnerabilities, understand our community demographics, and create a Community Risk Reduction (CRR) Plan based on concrete local data, and expert analysis and recommendations. We also wanted to have external experts analyze our data, response models, and station locations to evaluate our current effectiveness and future needs of the department.
Over the last three (3) years our department has responded to an average of 47,000 calls per year, a figure that has been steadily increasing year over year. In 2022, of the 50,383 calls for service, 15% were related to fire type incidents and of those fire incidents over 13% were structure fires. As a result, we experienced 10 civilian fatalities and a further 10 civilian injuries. Additionally, we saw $46 million in loss from fires and had 821 displaced persons from fire incidents. Our data mirrors the national average for fire injuries, while our civilian fatality rate is statistically higher than the national average.
Along demographic lines, the City of Fresno holds the distinction of having a high number of families and individuals living below the poverty line. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Fresno’s poverty rate in 2021 was 22.9% (roughly double the national average of 11.6%). FEMA’s report on Socioeconomic Factors and The Incidence of Fire found that low-income neighborhoods are more vulnerable to the threat of fire compared to other neighborhoods, due to vacant/abandoned buildings and non-maintained residences. As with many other California cities, Fresno has also seen a substantial increase in homeless-caused fires, which adds another layer of threat to already vulnerable, socioeconomically, disadvantaged neighborhoods. Add to this, according to the FEMA National Risk Index, social groups in Fresno County have a relatively high susceptibility to the adverse impacts of natural hazards when compared to the rest of the U.S.
Fresno County has a higher social vulnerability than 89% of U.S. counties and 94.8% of counties in California. Thus, Fresno has a disproportionate number of individuals in high-fire-risk living conditions.
A CRA would tell us what our exact vulnerabilities are (accidental house fires from cooking, space heaters, etc.) and which are the highest risk, who and where is most at risk (which neighborhoods, which demographics), what the causes are (culture, lack of knowledge, poor practices, etc.), and actionable steps (through a CRR Plan) to address how the risks can be prevented, reduced, or mitigated. The SOC would evaluate the level of service citizens are currently receiving and compare this to industry standards for levels of service. This plan would then evaluate future impacts, such as residential and commercial developments, and determine what steps the Fire Department would need to take in order to continue to serve the community at the same or higher level of service.
FISCAL IMPACT
The City of Fresno’s share of costs related to this grant is $4,697.77.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference was not implemented because this item is not the subject of a competitive bid.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
Pursuant to California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378, this item is not a project for the purposes of CEQA.
Attachment:
Resolution - Authorizing Acceptance of Grant