Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Slow fire response blamed on short staffing

North Las Vegas firefighters cannot respond to emergency calls quickly enough because of a shortage of staff in the rapidly growing community, according to a study the fire department hopes will bolster its calls for a budget increase.

The analysis, conducted by the department, showed the percentage of occasions that firefighters and paramedics arrived at priority-call scenes in less than four minutes. The National Fire Protection Association recommends meeting that time threshold on 90 percent of priority calls. In North Las Vegas, the rate was 51 percent.

"The staffing of the North Las Vegas Fire Department is almost half of the average for cities of its size," the study said. "Staffing is the common link to every deficiency."

A fire doubles in size for every minute that passes without suppressing it, the report said. The American Heart Association and other groups cite the importance of a four-minute response time to improve the chance of patients surviving medical emergencies.

Fire Chief Al Gillespie said there's no evidence that any delays in responding to calls has resulted in a death, but it remains a major concern.

"It doesn't mean that the firefighters we have are not doing a great job, but we just need more staff," Gillespie said.

Gillespie, who has been on the job for less than a year, is using the report to support his request to raise his department's budget by more than 25 percent, to $27 million. The City Council will consider its budget in the spring.

North Las Vegas has 147 firefighters, including administrators. Gillespie wants another 50 staff members. The department is to get 15 more firefighters, paid for from a $1.4 million federal grant, to staff a station opening later this year in the northeast.

North Las Vegas spends 14 percent of its general fund budget on fire services, below the 18 percent spent in Henderson, according to another city study.

Despite the North Las Vegas Fire Department citing its shortcomings, it has faster response times than some of its neighbors.

North Las Vegas reported an average response time during the study period of 4 minutes, 49 seconds. Henderson reports it responds to priority calls on an average of 5 minutes, 27 seconds, while the Clark County Fire Department responds at a similar rate to Henderson.

North Las Vegas recently budgeted $113 million for a new City Hall in the next three to four years. The city, whose population was listed by Clark County at 182,000 in July, is going ahead with other building projects and evaluating staff levels in several departments to deal with rapid growth.

City Manager Gregory Rose said it's too soon to say how much money he'll recommend be added for the fire department. He said the city must be fiscally responsible and have a balanced approach to addressing needs not only in the fire department, but in public works, planning and other departments.

"I believe we are providing a good level of (fire) service to the community," Rose said. "We just want a higher level ... in the future."

The slow response times aren't the fault of firefighters, Gillespie said. A large volume of calls spreads firefighters throughout the community and lengthens response times, he said.

North Las Vegas handled about 24,500 emergency calls in 2005, an increase of 9 percent, officials said. About 78 percent of the calls were for emergency medical service.

The 2005 call volume was 27 percent higher than it was in 2003 and 53 percent higher than 2001.

Starting Jan. 1, the department launched a "Band-Aid" approach to the shortage by increasing minimum staffing levels from 32 to 36 firefighters per shift across six stations, Gillespie said. The study recommends building a fire station in southwest North Las Vegas to deal with a growing number of calls there.

Boosting staffing levels will help improve the fire department4s public pro- tection insurance rating, meaning homeowners and businesses will pay even lower rates, Gillespie said. The department's rating was upgraded in November, but Gillespie attributed that tothe city's water system and joint fire dispatch system with Clark County and Las Vegas.

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