Operations Staffing and Deployment Pilot Program

About the Program

Category: Risk and Emergency Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

Stafford County, like many localities nationwide, is faced with an increase in emergency calls for fire, rescue, and emergency medical services while also facing the fiscal realities of today’s economy. An in-depth review of the County’s fire and rescue department, a combination career and volunteer department, projected that an additional 52 career positions were needed to provide staffing of current apparatus to meet the response time goal of eight minutes or less ninety percent of the time. That review included looking at deployment of current staffing and resources compared to call volume and call location. While hiring 52 additional personnel was a financial impossibility, it did spark a low-cost idea that resulted in decreased response times and increased staffing of available resources. The re-deployment of a medic unit and implementing a quick response vehicle has proven to be a win-win on several levels. Thus, the Advanced Life Support Pilot Project was born.