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Fire Department Needs Assessment
A departmental needs assessment looks at the fire department’s current apparatus and equipment to see if it meets the need of the fire department and community on a day to
day basis. While there is a certain amount of overlap between this type of assessment and a Community Needs Analysis, this review deals with much more department specific needs. Generally, less time consuming than a Community Needs Assessment. This review looks at current fire department operations and whether or not they meet the recommendation of the ISO. Whether or not there is an appropriate level of redundancy in apparatus and equipment, or too much. Does the current fleet have the appropriate type and size of apparatus? Items reviewed during this type of inspection include, but are not limited to:
- Historic review of Fire Department’s responses, including the number and type of alarm responses.
- Historic review of the Fire Department’s staffing levels for past responses.
- Review of the Fire Department’s current fleet and equipment.
- Review of vehicle records to determine the frequency of repairs and out of service time for each vehicle.
- Review the utilization of each vehicle in the fleet to see the amount of actual usage it gets.
- Review of the current Insurance Services Office rating of municipality/fire district and applying them to see if the fire department currently meets those recommendations.
- Completion of a written report that articulates the findings with recommendations for changes in fire apparatus and equipment.
Community Needs Analysis
A Community Needs Analysis looks at the physical characteristics of the municipality or fire district. Items reviewed include but are not limited to the size of the response district, placement of fire houses within the district, and other infrastructure and occupancies with the municipality that have an effect of the needs of the fire department.
- Review of the growth in the community in the last twenty (20) years, construction of new buildings, schools, health facilities, multi-family residents, single family homes, commercial and industrial occupancies.
- Review changes of occupancies in major building of the municipality. Has an old school or factory building been turned into apartments? Has high hazard occupancy been turned into a low hazard occupancy or vice versa?
- Review of the changes or elimination of occupancies in the community in the last (20) years. Has a major industrial complex been vacated? Has there been a shift from being an industrial or commercial based area to a residential one? Has the community changed from residential to industrial/commercial?
- Review of community’s plan for future development of vacant land, locations being repurposed or redeveloped, and the infrastructure to support this development, a Master Plan review.
- Review of community-specific needs as related to fire apparatus (multi-story buildings, topography, population density, fire suppression related infrastructure, target hazards.
- Review of the current Insurance Services Office rating of municipality/fire district and applying it to current and future fire suppression needs and hazard mitigation needs.
- Historic review of Fire Department’s responses, including the number and type of alarm responses.
- Historic review of the Fire Department’s staffing levels for past responses.
- Review of the Fire Department’s current fleet and equipment.
- Completion of a written report that articulates the findings with recommendations for changes in fire apparatus and equipment.
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