Resource Distribution Analysis

Figure 106. Southington Fire Department Service Demand by Time-of-Day 2016–2019 8%

7%

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While service demand is lowest during those early morning hours, it should be noted that most fatal residential fires occur most frequently late at night or early in the morning. Based on findings from a national study, from 2014 to 2016, residential fatal fires were highest between 1 AM to 2 AM, and 4 AM to 5 AM. The 8-hour peak period (11 PM to 7 AM) accounted for 48% of residential fatal fires. 22

Resource Distribution Analysis

To determine how the current deployment model of the fire department affects coverage throughout the Town, the current performance of the department must first be evaluated. Using fire service industry standards to include National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards and Insurance Services Office (ISO) criteria, Southington’s deployment model and performance were evaluated.

In the first section, NFPA criteria specific to fire department performance were applied and Southington’s performance evaluated.

NFPA 1710 Criteria

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is an industry trade association that develops and provides standards and codes for fire department and emergency medical services for use by local governments. One of these standards, NFPA 1710: Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments, serves as a national consensus standard for career fire department performance, operations, and safety. Within this standard, a travel time of 240 seconds, or 4 minutes, is

22 Fatal Fires in Residential Buildings (2014-2016), Topical Fire Report Series Volume 19, Issue 1 /June 18, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Fire Administration, National Fire Data Center.

identified as the benchmark for career departments to reach emergency calls within their jurisdiction with the first arriving unit. Additionally, the balance of the response (called the effective response force) is required to arrive to the incident within 480 seconds, or 8-minutes.

Figure 107 provides a synopsis of Southington Fire Department’s ability to meet these standards based upon predicted travel times using historical traffic data from Esri for traffic patterns at 8 AM on Monday mornings. Unshaded pockets indicate that the area falls outside of the model’s maximum extension from the road network. The analysis shown in this figure provides travel times for all four stations to demonstrate travel capabilities.

Figure 107. 4 and 8-Minute Travel – NFPA 1710

In the following figure, travel times from staffed stations are illustrated. In this figure, the actual performance for the majority of calls is shown as most demands for service occur during workweek hours.

Figure 108. 4 and 8-Minute Travel from Staffed Stations– NFPA 1710

Assuming all units are available and in quarters, Fire Station 1 can provide adequate coverage to the core of the town while Station 5, positioned near the northern border, has much of its 4-minute travel time coverage extending beyond the Town’s borders. Should the Town consider relocating a fire station at some point in the future, consideration should be given to station placement to optimize coverage.

ISO Criteria

The Insurance Services Office (ISO) is a New Jersey-based advisory organization that provides insurance carriers with a classification rating of a local community’s fire protection. The Property Protection Class (PPC®) score or rating classifies communities based upon an overall scale of 1 (best protection) to 10 (no protection) and assesses all areas related to fire protection. These areas are broken into 4 major categories which include: emergency dispatch and communications (10% of the rating), water supply system and distribution capabilities (40%), the fire department (50%), and Community Risk Reduction efforts (an additional 5.5% credit is available above 100%).

Engine Company Performance

A key area of credit towards a jurisdiction’s PPC® score is the degree to which structures protected by the fire department fall within a 1.5 road mile service area of a fire station. This 1.5 road-mile standard is used to estimate a 4-minute travel time for first responding units as required by NFPA 1710. In Figure 109, an analysis was completed for current fire stations with areas in yellow indicating those structures within a 1.5-mile drive. Based on the ISO engine company travel criteria, approximately 39% of Southington is included within the 1.5-mile travel distance.

Figure 109. ISO 1.5-Mile Engine Company Service Area

Engine company coverage is concentrated primarily along Main Street/Old Turnpike Road. Coverage for stations 3 and 5 extend outside of the Town’s borders and would not be eligible to be credited towards the deployment score.

Ladder Company Performance

In many jurisdictions across the country, ladder companies are deployed only to certain types of incidents and are not necessarily considered as the first due unit for all other incident types. Because of this, ISO uses a 2.5 road-mile travel distance for ladder companies to estimate an 8-minute travel time in urban and suburban areas by ladder companies to provide the balance of personnel and equipment needed for incidents such as working fires. Figure 110 displays Southington’s ladder company performance within the Town.

Figure 110: ISO 2.5-Mile Ladder Company Service Area

Southington Fire Department deploys its primary ladder company from Station 1 and a reserve ladder is housed at Station 3. Overall, nearly 58% of the road base in Southington is accessible within a 2.5 mile distance of a ladder company.

ISO Fire Station Coverage

In order to receive a PPC® rating that indicates fire coverage is available from ISO, structures must generally be located within 5-miles of a fire station. Areas outside of 5-miles are subject to receiving a PPC® rating of 10, meaning that no fire department coverage is available. Within the Town of Southington, all areas lie within 5-miles of a fire station and are eligible to receive a rating based upon the performance of the fire department.

Figure 111: ISO 5-Mile Service Area

Water Supply and Hydrant Locations

Access to water is a fundamental requirement for fire suppression in urban settings. Without an adequate supply of water, fire suppression operations are challenging. Additionally, the access point for this water supply must be located close enough to the structure to allow for rapid access by the fire department.

Next, fire hydrant coverage within Southington is displayed using ISO requirement that structures must be located within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant.