Meeting Summary Operational Criteria December 19, 2002

Attendees :
The following individuals were present at the meeting: Chief Plaugher, Assistant Chief Kelley, Frank Finamore (Facilitator), Scott Springston, Dan Donahue, Anne Wilson, Mark Frondorf, Matt Martin, Ned Rhodes, Peter Fallon, Pete Tyler, Kevin O'Brien, and Reade Bush.

Meeting Agenda :

1. History of Relocations
2. Review of Operational Criteria
3. Review of Maps/ Demonstration of Response Bubbles
4. Size, Function & Services of Future Station

Agenda Item Discussions :

1. History of Relocations
   Assistant Chief Kelley outlined the history of previous station location studies. The main points included the following:
   
   • The last study of fire station locations was completed in the 1960's. As a result of that study, three new stations were built and one was renovated. The study did not take into account several factors that affect the County today, such as I-66, Metro, growth patterns, traffic and density.
   • The County conducted a 2020 study in 1995 that was adopted by the County Board in 1998. The study discussed the physical condition of stations as well as other County facilities, such as libraries. The 2020 study did not address adding fire stations but rather focused on the renovations required to maintain existing structures. The 2020 study is available, along with other related documents, on the County web site and at County libraries. As a result of this study, stations 1, 9, 2 and 6 were renovated with station 5 as the next in line to be refurbished.
   • In October 1999, the Fire Department contracted with Gordon Routley to assess station location requirements. The consultant was not given any instruction to take into account future needs but rather focused on existing requirements.
   • The Fire Department contracted with Tri-Data in 1999 to perform a comprehensive study of Fire Department operations. As part of this study, TriData was asked to review Routley's methodology and findings. This study largely validated the Routley Study. Furthermore, the TriData Study predicted the same range of fire calls but forecasted that EMS calls would double, at a minimum.
   • The Fire Department analyzed these studies and wrote a May 2002 letter to the County Manager making a recommendation on where stations should be located.

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2. Review of Operational Criteria for Selection Location
   Assistant Chief Kelley reviewed the required operational criteria for location of Station #3 and offered the following tentative prioritization of criteria.
   
   
   • Ability to meet response time objectives
   • Will not change current ISO rating
   • Minimizing travel through the Five Points intersection
   • Multi-function
   • Contain a safe haven
   • Provides direct access to a major transportation route with enough of a staging area
   • Takes into account the projected future growth of the Ballston/Rosslyn corridor
   • Limited impact to neighbors/buffer
   • Size of the lot
   • Only buy as much land as we need (approximately ½ an acre)
   • Compatible with neighboring properties
   • Sufficient parking

   Additionally, Assistant Chief Kelley and Chief Plaugher made the following points:

   • The national standard is to have 4.5 square miles of coverage per fire station. Arlington County has 10 stations for 26.5 square miles (2.65 sq. mi. per station).
   • The Fire Department currently has the ability to predict how fast a fire engine can go on various roads and this is taken into account when plotting the three-minute response times/bubbles. The response time is calculated from the time that the station receives the tone until they are in front of the building. This is also referred to as the horizontal response time. The three-minute response time does not take into account the first minute that is used for call processing and mobilization. Ideally, 4 minutes and thirty seconds is the total time desired once the call is answered from the citizen until the fire truck is at the front door of the building.

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3. Review of Maps/Response Bubbles
   Assistant Chief Kelley and Chief Plaugher made the following points:
   
   
   • When all realignments are completed as suggested in the Department's recommendation, the number of individuals not covered in the three-minute response time is reduced from 2,114 to 1,098 (based on 1999 data).
   • Additional stations are not being proposed because there are additional costs, such as personnel, that become annualized costs above and beyond the construction costs. Although there is no limit on the number of stations, the Department is seeking currently to build more bays in the event that a backup of calls occur, thus eliminating the need to build more stations. In order to add more stations beyond the existing ten, the citizenry of Arlington County would need to ask the County Board to consider the issue.
   • There are currently deals with Fairfax County and Alexandria to exchange services in areas near jurisdictional boundaries, although no money is exchanged in these agreements. Unfortunately, it is not possible to easily evaluate inter-jurisdictional responses, and when this has been tried in other jurisdictions, there has been a great deal of controversy among jurisdictions. Although there is a desire by some to migrate toward a Metro area fire department, this is difficult. It is difficult to take the first step of migrating to a regional dispatch center because many police chiefs are not willing to give up their dispatch centers due to the jurisdictional nature of law enforcement.
   • In order to deal with the possibility of increased call volume from high-rise buildings, the Department is seeking to revise codes to allow building engineers to deal with false alarms. Additionally, new high-rises are being built with smart systems that should decrease the number of alarms to which the Department must respond.
   • The difference in response time from the current station and the rear of the Honda lot (Quincy St.) to the first traffic light north on Military road was assessed. There was only ½ second difference between the two locations. That is, it took ½ second more to reach the traffic light from the current location than from the Honda lot. This was based on one test conducted by Assistant Chief Kelley.
   • There will still be areas, such as Bellevue Forest, that will be underserved. One possible remedy would be to locate a medic unit at station three.
   • In order to reach the NE corner of the County, the Master Plan calls for station eight to be moved north. Although a medic unit could also be placed in the new station, it is likely that such a unit would respond more to the needs of Fairfax County. In previous conversations, Fairfax has indicated that it is not willing to participate in a 50/50 cost sharing of a station located in the NE corner of the County.
   • Plans to relocate the Courthouse station are on hold until vertical call (i.e., calls that involve travel time inside of a building) volumes are measured.
   • In response to a question about whether the Nichols' property was a possible location, the Chief indicated that an answer has not been received from the County Attorney on the issue.
   • When asked why the Fire Department believes that the Quincy Street location is preferable to a site on Lee Highway, minimizing traveling through the five points intersection was provided as the primary reason. It was explained that in 2002 approximately 50% of calls require going down Quincy Street toward Ballston. 865 calls require going north. 653 calls require going to the south and 350 call require going east toward Rosslyn.
   • In response to a question about why the County cannot build on the site of the existing station, it was stated that the volunteer fire department owns the site and that it is designated a historic site.
   • In response to a statement by Scott Springston about the desire for the County to work with the volunteers, the Chief indicated that in Arlington County, there is a policy between the Board and the volunteers. Chief Plaugher stated that volunteers are fully embraced within the County.

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4. Size, Function & Services of Future Station
   The following points were made related to this agenda item:
   
   • Three bays are desired for the new station number three. This means that the station will likely be approximately 48 feet to accommodate the three bays and approximately 100 feet if other rooms are added, other than vertically. It is possible to have rooms above the bays for offices, sleeping quarters, and/or parking.
   • In response to a point made regarding the desire of volunteers to co-locate in the new station, Chief Plaugher stated that the question of what to do with the old station is an issue. It is up to the volunteers to determine the use of the current building.
   • When asked if a station with 2 bays could be built on the Nichols' site with another bay on the existing site, the Chief indicated that his understanding is that the historic preservation would prevent such a configuration.

The meeting concluded with a tour of fire station two.

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Action Items :

Specific actions to be taken as a result of the meeting include:

1. The 2020 study will be made available along with other related documents on the web site and the Cherrydale library. (Completed. See Web link on page 1.) An additional set of materials will be arranged at the Central Library due to their expanded hours.
2. The Fire Department will ask the traffic staff to measure response times from various points heading in each of the major thoroughfares in areas of call volumes.
3. Language of operational criteria used by the Fire Department will be changed to read “Minimize traveling through a five point intersection” as opposed to “Avoid traveling through a five point intersection”
4. An e-mail with a link to the section of the County web site dealing with the relocation of the station and the related studies will be sent to those who have provided their e-mail addresses.
5. The Fire Department will provide exact figures of the number of calls from each direction of the five-point intersection.