As the Los Angeles City Council begins debating the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, City Controller Wendy Greuel this afternoon went public with her analysis of the Los Angeles Fire Dept.’s incident response times.
Ms. Greuel’s report found that although LAFD has been able to maintain full deployment response times for fire and non-medical incidents, there has been an increase in the response times for medical first responders.
The report shows that compared to the full deployment period, between January 2007 and July 2009, average response times for turnout and travel for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) incidents have increased by 12 seconds, from 4:45 to 4:57.
The effects of the new deployment plan varied across different Los Angeles neighborhoods. Total EMS response times in the San Fernando Valley were the most significantly impacted by the changes in deployment. Average response times there grew by more than 20 seconds. For East L.A., San Pedro and the Metro area, each slowed by an average of 18 seconds.
Sloppiness Is the Charge
“It’s unacceptable that the LAFD has not been able to accurately track its emergency response times,” Ms. Greuel said. “My analysis lays the groundwork for the mayor, the City Council and the Fire Dept. to have a real discussion about what needs to be done to improve public safety for all Angelenos.”
In contrast to the Emergency Medical Service times, response times for turnout and travel for fire and non-emergency incidents have actually decreased since the end of full deployment. The drop is considerable, from 5:18 to 4:57.
Advanced Life Support First Resource average response times have decreased by 16 seconds, from 5:21 to 5:05, since the full deployment period.
Structure fire response times have stayed flat, going from 3:36 to 3:37.
“Public safety is absolutely the city's top priority,” said Councilmember Mitch Englander, Chair of the Public Safety Committee. “We must have accurate numbers on fire response times. You can't fix what you can't measure.”
Running for Higher Office
Even though the Fire Dept. presented its data in comparison to National Fire Protection Assn. standards, Ms. Greuel’s review found that the department’s performance cannot be compared to those standards.
Nearly 650,000 of the 1.9 million incidents the Controller’s office reviewed were coded unclearly. They could be categorized as either an emergency or a non-emergency, at the discretion of the dispatcher. As a result, there is no way to determine whether the Fire Dept. has met its 90 percent goal because emergency incidents were not clearly identified.
“I'm troubled to learn San Pedro has seen one of the largest increases in Emergency Medical Services response times in the city,” said Councilmember Joe Buscaino. “If your heart has stopped, 18 seconds can mean the difference between life and death.”
Ms. Greuel’s report calculated both the actual response times, which include just turnout and travel, and real response times experienced by the caller, which include call processing.
Since July 2009, real response times for Emergency Medical Services have increased by 20 seconds, from 6:48 to 7:08. Nearly half of this increase is attributable to a 9-second increase in call processing time, which has increased from 95 seconds to 104 seconds.
“I want to thank the City Controller for providing her analysis of the LAFD’s incident response times,” said Councilman Dennis P. Zine, Chair of the Audits & Governmental Efficiency Committee. “I share her concerns about the inconsistencies related to the processing and reporting of the statistical information. It is important that we receive honest, accurate, and precise information when making policy decisions, especially while we consider the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. This audit will help make sense of where we can make improvements.”
Ms. Greuel said her next step will be to scrutinize the Fire Dept. deployment plan to determine how to best deploy “our scarce city resources. It is imperative that the LAFD implement the recommendations in this analysis to improve the use of tracking resources so that there will always be an honest assessment of how well the department is doing.”
In 50 audits, Ms. Greuel, a candidate for mayor next March to succeed termed out Antonio Villaraigosa, said she has uncovered nearly $130 million that the city “has lost to wasteful spending, fraudulent activity, and abuse of government resources” over the last two years.
Ms. Greuel may be contacted at http://controller.lacity.org/index.htm
To view the complete report, click here,
