Resource Concentration Study

Figure 112: ISO Fire Hydrant Coverage

When a 1,000-foot ring is placed around each of the fire hydrants on Southington’s water supply system and consolidated together, the Town provides coverage to 88.2% of its road base within the municipal boundaries. Other factors to consider when evaluating water supply are flow rates and capacities, inspections, flow testing, and record keeping.

Resource Concentration Study

While most responses within Southington are typically handled by one to two units, some incidents require large numbers of resources and personnel to mitigate the emergency condition and reduce loss safely and effectively. The ability of the Southington Fire Department to effectively deploy multiple units to an incident scene within a timely manner will often make the difference between minor damage and a total loss.

NFPA 1710 requires that for moderate risk incidents or greater, such as a fire in a 2,000 square foot residential dwelling, the balance of needed resources (a total of 16-17 firefighters) arrive at the scene within an 8-minute travel time. To achieve this, the concentration of Southington’s resources was evaluated to determine how the spacing of multiple resources (the response apparatus within their respective fire stations) are arranged so that an initial Effective Response Force (ERF) can arrive on scene within the time frames outlined in the on-scene performance expectations. An effective response force is defined as “the minimum amount of staffing and equipment that must reach a specific emergency zone location within a maximum prescribed total response time and is capable of initial fire suppression, EMS, and/or mitigation. The ERF is the result of the critical tasking analysis conducted as part of a community risk assessment.”

To determine Southington Fire Department’s ability to assemble an effective response force, GIS software was used to overlay the daily minimum staffing at the staffed fire stations within 8-minute travel areas, then add the totals. Unstaffed stations were not included because the minimum staffing levels at these locations are not included following NFPA 1710. The results are shown in Figure 113, the analysis presumes all units are available and in quarters with each unit’s minimum staffing present. As some number of units will most likely be committed to another incident at any given time, this figure provides a best-case scenario.

Figure 113. NFPA 1710 Effective Response Force

Staffing a minimum of 6 firefighters, Southington does not possess the capability to assemble an effective response force within the timeframe provided by NFPA 1710. They may have the capability to do so after a longer period of time, but even with the limited resources and 3-person crews, entry into a working fire is not possible for a period of greater than 8 minutes for the majority of the town.

To provide a comparison of the impact of staffed fire stations, an additional analysis was completed to show the impact of staffing Station 3, which will occur on June 1, 2022. Firefighters will staff Station 3 on weekdays from approximately 9 AM to 5 PM each day. Although this still does not meet NFPA 1710, the improvement to overall response capabilities is clear.

Figure 114. NFPA 1710 Effective Response Force with Station 3 Staffed

With firefighters staffing Station 3, nearly all areas of Southington fall within an eight-minute travel time and staffing is increased 50% along the interstate and core of the Town. Finally, although this analysis assumes that all units are available and in quarters, should a unit be committed at the time of a moderate risk or greater event, the ability of Southington Fire Department to muster resources improves dramatically.