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| Our ISO Rating Improved over our last review from 2012. This is a good news story.... |
To hear the consternation and gnashing of teeth lately surrounding our fire service locally--an unbiased bystander might think we are facing dire consequences and on the verge of collapse as a system.
But to the contrary-our system has improved significantly over our last ISO rating in 2012.
On a 1-10 scale, with "1" being the best and "10" being the worst--our county moved UP from a 5/5 to a 4/4X.
(here's the report from 2012)
According to today's presenter from ISO--this puts Escambia County in the top 30% of the 70% of Fire Systems ISO monitors nation-wide.
Can we improve, can we do better? I believe the answer is yes. But the matrix utilized to measure our effectiveness as a fire service depends upon a host of complex issues, some of which are not under the control of the county at all (water availability from local water providers is a factor upon which we are judged but upon which we have little to no control, for example. This metric alone makes up 40% of our overall score)
Staffing, training, call-center technology, response times, and community outreach/education on fire prevention all factor into our score. We can control these areas and I know we will continue to improve in these areas.
Proximity to a fire station is also a factor.
For example, no matter what a county's overall score, if Your House in particular is more than 5 Miles by road from the nearest fire station, you score a 10. If you are more than 1000 feet from a fire hydrant, you score a 10. This is applicable anywhere, in any county that ISO measures.
So with a large geographic area to cover and limited control over where the utilities place the water lines--the fact that we are improving should be a good news story.
As my counterpart Commissioner Barry stated today in no uncertain terms--the numbers of paid personnel in ECFR over the last 6 years has nearly doubled- jumping from 88 to 152 paid. The budget has increased 62% from just over $10 Million to over $17 Million over this same period.
So he was right when he said this board is adding resources both in personnel and budget---again a good news story that should be reported but that probably will not be reported.
We know we need to keep improving, and we will. We know we need more resources to keep improving, and I believe we as a board will find a way to do this without raising taxes. That is my prediction and this is the way I intend to move as we go into budgeting---just as we did with the 4-year deal for ECSO.
Because first responders are important and they are a priority. And today's good news should be roundly welcomed by everyone--citizens, paid fire personnel, volunteer fire personnel, and staff.
It's a Good News story!
