The economy keeps things interesting

The economic situation (do I get to say depression yet?) and state budgetary shortfall has combined to create some disconcerting situations here locally.

The village of Arlington Heights (pop. 899) was forced to close its volunteer fire department. The city of Reading (pop. 11,292) will provide fire/EMS response to the village. The volunteer department closing was due to budgetary reasons. Hamilton county has over 42 separate fire departments, which means there is likely to be some redundancy in the county. The closing of Arlington Heights makes fiscal sense but what remains to be seen is how Reading will be able to handle the additional runs. Reading, Lockland, and Wyoming fire departments are close enough together that often the responding unit comes from the adjacent town. Essentially what is going on is a regional fire/EMS department in practice but with separate municipalities paying the bills. Even if Reading has the budget to handle the additional load of Arlington Heights, this was done in reaction to a budget shortfall and not as a proactive measure. Now is the time to seriously start looking at more fire/EMS departments combining into a regional department. It saves money in the long run and helps improve response times but combining departments should be done as part of a long range plan and not in response to a financial crisis.

Related to fire/EMS service, front page today in the Enquirer was a story about CSX hauling chlorine through Cincinnati and other major metropolitan cities in Ohio. According to PPG Industries spokesperson, CSX hauls through major Ohio cities rather than alternate routes because they don’t want to lose revenue. CSX counters that rail is a very safe means of hauling hazardous materials (which I don’t disagree with), however choosing routes through major metropolitan areas seems to be inviting disaster. Out of 13 criteria listed in the article, only two dealt with issues outside the influence of the railroad. The weights for these criteria were not given. Emergency response and proximity to landmarks and major cities, the two that were outside the influence of the railroad, may or may not have enough weight to change a route. Given the number of state and county budget reductions to public safety, CSX needs to show more concern about running any type of hazardous materials through metropolitan areas. It may be in the interest of revenue to use these routes but one major spill or terrorist attack to could lead to lives lost and millions of dollars in liability.

The worrisome thing about both of these stories is the decision making all seem to be made in a vacuum. One municipality loses funding for fire while another picks it up without much apparent thought to the impact to the whole region. Railroad routes are selected based primarily on revenue without considering the impact of the economy on local emergency response services. Department of Homeland Security has been sending out warnings now for some time that the US is overdue for a major terrorist attack. Damaging a rail line used to haul hazardous material is less complicated than say hijacking an airliner. Decisions need to include input from all stakeholders, private sector as well as public, whenever services are reduced or when risky activities need to be conducted. Unfortunately, this process is time consuming and may result in being told “no” therefore it remains unlikely that such procedures will be adapted on a wide scale. The next best solution is for community leaders to take an strategic view of the risks to their communities and what resources they need (or have) to deal with those risks.

Things I don't understand

Some things have been in the news lately that just don’t make sense. Cincinnati and Hamilton county are in the midst of cutting expenditures to reach a balanced budget. Queensgate jail will close creating overcrowding in other jails and prisons. So far I’ve not heard any discussions on plans to reduce the number of people sent to jail. The Butler County sheriff made the news last week for choosing NOT to enforce evictions notices. He was rebuked by the Hamilton County sheriff for directing his deputies to not follow a the law and evict the tenants. In all of these discussions, no one seems to have noticed that by evicting people (who have nowhere else to live), it only increases the homeless population which will lead to more crime. We know we are going to lose an 800-bed jail, isn’t it time to start re-assessing laws and decisions that cause people to be sent to jail? I’m not defending law breakers but instead calling for a systematic approach that recognizes how one decision has cascading effects.

Another example, as reported in the Enquirer yesterday Cincinnati is spending $140K on a climate protection coordinator and $291K on a bedbug inspection program. I don’t claim to know the merits of either of these decisions but I do know Hamilton County and Cincinnati are short on road salt. Keeping roads clear of snow and ice helps reduce traffic accidents and fatalities. Accidents cause police and fire runs which cost money. Reducing the amount of salt produces a short-term gain on the spreadsheet but in the long run will cost the city and county more money in responding to increased accidents.
This morning councilwoman Leslie Ghiz said on the radio the city plans to hire laid off Hamilton County deputy sheriffs. These individuals will go through the police academy next year. If it happens, this would be an excellent example of working a well coordinated strategy. It shouldn’t be limited though to just this instance, now with economy is such a downturn the time is now to start relooking at how we fund public safety. Instead of duplicating police, fire, and EMS at each township why not look at a regional concept? Why have 42 different fire departments in Hamilton County alone? Combining some departments to create regional fire departments could help reduce costs and decrease response times.

Speaking of redundancy, I’m temporarily driving a Pontiac Vibe while my car is in the repair shop. The Pontiac Vibe is simply the Toyota Matrix with different decals. Why do we have two automakers selling the same vehicle? Or perhaps a more harsh question is why is GM asking for a bailout when at least one of its brands, Pontiac, is merely reselling a Toyota with Pontiac markings? Either Pontiac needs to reduce their offerings or be combined with another GM brand. Ever notice how Chevy trucks are also offered under the GMC brand as well? Each brand creates its own dealerships, overhead and logistics. No wonder the big three are in such a mess!

Blackouts, Plans, and Fire Stations

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, people who still don’t have power are becoming impatient. Tempers are becoming short in Venice Gardens (in Ross Township). There is a sense of frustration brought on by darkened neighborhoods not seeing a single utility truck all week. Both Cincinnati and Dayton residents have shared their frustrations on the reader comments pages of the websites of their local newspapers. It is apparent that the utility companies are making great strides as evidence by the increasing numbers of buildings and homes with power. Unfortunately this becomes more a point of frustration for those without power than a source of inspiration. I have seen only one utility truck come down our street in the last six days. It makes you wonder, where are all of the workers? Duke Energy released a statement today explaining how they work from major transmission lines, to substations down to neighborhoods and finally individual connections. The process makes sense but people do hold up for long without some sign of progress in their neighborhoods. Both Duke Energy and Dayton Power & Light stopped taking calls from customers days ago. Such tactics may save the energy companies headaches but it results in people creating their own answers as to why their homes remain dark. The utility companies need to open lines of communications at a time like this, not close off.

Butler County officials are discussing a new disaster plan. Concerns were raised this week when, according the Enquirer, a county fuel depot that did not have a generator to power the pumps, a lack of redundant computer systems, and limited access to water and ice. I have no idea what the old plan looks like but even with a new plan, nothing will be gained unless the county regularly exercises the plan. Shortfalls such as the lack of generators may never get identified during the planning process but certainly will during an exercise. You can’t plan for every contingency but you can test to see how well your agencies can react. Gap analysis allows you to identify deficiencies as well as identified solutions or alternatives. I hope other communities will dust off their response plans and exercise them soon if they haven’t already.

I had previously written about the locations of fire stations in the Greater Cincinnati area. Deerfield Township and Mason are getting into a squabble about that very issue. It appears both communities were planning fire stations within a mile of each other. The issue has become so contentious the county has resorted to arbitration. Each community is rightly concerned about the ability of their firefighters to respond, however the issue illustrates the need for addressing fire service on a more regional basis. Having spent most of my life dealing with federal and state bureaucracies, I know this concept is years from happening around here. Perhaps communities need to look into requiring residential fire sprinkler systems for new construction. While not a total solution, home sprinklers certainly reduce the risk from home fires which in turn would reduce the number of runs from fire stations.

Home Fire Sprinkler Systems

About a month ago, a very expensive home caught fire and burned downed in a Mason which is just North of Cincinnati. The home was valued at $500K and is typical of the homes in this rapidly developing suburb. The home burned in part because it took firefighters over 12 minutes to arrive at the scene. There was no negligence on the part of the fire department, rather the delay in responding was due to the sparseness of fire departments outside of the city limits. As Cincinnati continues to grow North, suburbs are being built faster than fire departments (and other public safety agencies) can be created to fill the need.

The Mason fire started a length discussion in the local newspaper about the distribution of fire departments in the area. For instance, within the city limits it is not uncommon to find multiple fire departments within a few miles of one another (Elmwood Place, St Bernard and Cincinnati have fire stations adjacent to each other). The Wyoming Fire Department often is called out to fight fires in other jurisdictions. The ability for other departments to support one another under such circumstances is ideal. As you travel North on I-75, the number of fire departments drop drastically. A single station maybe responsible for an entire township resulting in the long response time noted above.

The paper quoted local fire chiefs as to their thoughts on how the disparity between fire coverage in the city and suburbs could be addressed. Most agreed it would be impossible to redistribute fire service capabilities unless all a regional fire service was created. The outcry from local elected officials, citizens and even some fire chiefs keeps this option from being viable. For example, two smaller municipalities agreed to combine fire and EMS departments. Both of these municipalities have good tax bases which should have meant this was an ideal situation. Instead, one municipality is complaining because the majority of EMS runs goes to the other municipality. I can’t imagine the level of squabbling that would occur if such a proposal was attempted on regional basis.

I teach safety and security management and felt there had to be another solution to the problem. I then came across a concept many of you may not have heard of; home fire sprinkler systems. Home sprinkler systems, listed by Underwriters Labs, react automatically to fires using state of the art sensors and technology. They are low cost and according the United States Fire Association (USFA) website, cost per foot in new constructions is $1 to $1.50. The home systems don’t look like the typical systems you see in commercial or industrial constructions. The systems can be blended into the décor of the home. Installation and water requirements for the systems in new construction are estimated to be much lower than for commercial construction sites. The home systems are designed to respond only to the room with the fire, in other words the whole system does not activate in the event your dinner starts to burn on the stove. Water damage from the sprinkler system suppressing a fire is far less than from the smoke and associated damage from a house fire without a sprinkler system.

Several residences have initiated home sprinkler ordnances; Livermore, California
Montgomery County, MD; Long Grove, Illinois; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Germantown, Tennessee; Scottsdale, Arizona; Altamonte Springs, Florida. Insurance discounts vary but range between 5-15%.
Some other considerations for having a home sprinkler system:

- A fire occurs in a residential structure every 79 seconds, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.

- Families with children, senior citizens, and handicapped members have special fire protection needs. Home sprinkler systems provide added protection for these people.

- In case of a home fire, firefighters will have less risk of injury or life loss since they will be fighting a fire of less intensity.

- Allocation of community resources can be improved with the adoption of home sprinkler technology.

- Communities will be able to make better utilization of available land and thereby increase their tax base.

Developing a regional fire department is certainly a cost-effective and practical concept, however it may take years of negotiations before anything can happen. In the meantime, home owners can explore another option to insuring the safety of their homes and loved ones by installing a home fire sprinkler system.