HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015/08/15 - Minutes - Fire Spec Min August 15, 2005
CITY OF RANCHO CUCAMONGA
FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT MINUTES
Special Meetinq
A special meeting of the Rancho Cucamonga Fire Protection District was held on Monday, August 15,
2005, in the Tri Communities Room of the Civic Center located at 10500 Civic Center Drive, Rancho
Cucamonga, California. President William J. Alexander called the meeting to order at 1:05 p.m.
Present were Boardmembers: Rex Gutierrez (arrived at 1:09 p.m.), Dennis Michael, Sam Spagnolo,
Diane Williams and President William J. Alexander.
Also present were: Jack Lam, City Manager; Pamela Easter, Deputy City Manager; Fire Chief Peter
Bryan, Deputy Fire Chief Mike Bell, Management Analyst II Pam Pane, Battalion Chief Darrell Luttrell, and
Fire Prevention Inspector Michelle Devoux-Thomas, Rancho Cucamonga Fire Protection District; Tamara
Layne, Finance Officer; Kimberly Thomas, Management Analyst III; Fabian Villenas, Management Analyst
II; and Debra J. Adams, Secretary
[[ B. PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS
No communication was made from the public.
]] C. ITEM(S) OF BUSINESS ]
O1. CONSIDERATION FOR APPROVAL OF POLICY DETERMINING SERVICE LEVEL GOALS
Jack Lam, City Manager, introduced the item on the agenda.
Fire Chief Peter Bryan gave a power point presentation, which is on file in the City Clerk's office. He
added these were needs based on the current and future demands for service.
Questions about the presentation were asked by the Fire Board.
President Alexander felt everyone agreed with what is being proposed, but the question is how we will
pay for it. He commented on fire sprinklers in buildings. He stated it is just as hard to fight a fire in a
residential area as it is in a commercial area. He stated he would like to see residences required to have
sprinklers if they are over 2,500 square feet.
Boardmember Williams asked about the current fire sprinkler requirements.
Special Fire District Minutes
August 15, 2005
Page 2
Mike Bell, Deputy Chief, stated right now any structure that is 7,500 square feet or greater requires full
sprinklers unless required by the code. He stated there are exceptions to that for commercial, which are
required to automatically have sprinklers per the Ordinance.
Boardmember Williams asked how this would be implemented.
Chief Bryan stated this would need to be done over time.
Boardmember Gutierrez suggested using a suburban for EMS calls and asked what the cost would be to
do this.
Chief Bryan felt it was easier to respond as a squad and that it would be easier to find the equipment
needed. He did not feel the cost would be any different, but stated they are examining this.
Jack Lam, City Manager, stated staff would like the Board to make the policy determination of the levels
of service as per the goals presented by Chief Bryan.
Councilmember Williams stated she is not sure what the inspection frequency should be, and stated she
would need that information from the Fire Chief.
Chief Bryan stated with regards to inspections, item 42 in the goals presented is recommending the four
categories listed because they represent the biggest risk. He stated the recommendation is that they
inspect these types of occupancies annually, and they have picked the ones with people in them because
they have the biggest risk. He stated this will give staff direction as to what level to bring back for the fee
for service inspections, so staff will know how many inspection hours it will take and how many bodies to
do those inspections.
Councilmember Michael felt they should possibly bring back for discussion a change in the multi-family
units that are non-sprinklered as well. He felt this would be important.
Chief Bryan stated they could add to the first category that had the public assembly, education detention
information, the words "non-sprinklered, multi-family residential."
Chief Bryan stated what he is hearing from the Council is they want modified within the six goals an
inspection of non-sprinklered, multi-family residential, and fire sprinklers in residential occupancies larger
than 2,500 square feet.
President Alexander stated he would like to have included that residential occupancies over 2,500 square
feet are required to have sprinklers in the Ordinance for future consideration because it does have an
effect on our response time.
Boardmember Williams stated she would like to have an information sheet about what types of facilities
are required to have sprinklers.
Boardmember Williams felt the Fire District staff would need to help the Board determine a travel time
goal because she did not want to set ourselves up to fail by setting an unrealistic goal.
Chief Bryan felt four minutes is a realistic goal and is achievable, but would take some work to get there.
MOTION: Moved by Williams to approve staff's recommendation.
President Alexander asked that the motion include the 2,500 square feet residential sprinkler provision.
Councilmember Williams stated any changes to the Ordinance she would like to see everything come
back in a draft form so there is opportunity for discussion.
Special Fire District Minutes
August 15, 2005
Page 3
Seconded by Spagnolo. Motion carried unanimously 5-0.
C2. CONSIDERATION FOR POLICY DIRECTION REGARDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A
PROPOSAL TO REVIEW AND CONSIDER ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL RESOURCES
A staff report was presented by Jack Lam, City Manager, who stated this goes hand-in-hand with the first
item. He stated staff needs policy direction to develop a proposal for the Board's review. He stated then
there would be policy discussion to determine the direction of the implementation.
Boardmember Gutierrez stated if there is going to be a cost to the public, there should be a vote of the
people to see if they want to pay for this.
Boardmember Gutierrez left the meeting at 2:30 p.m.
President Alexander felt this should be discussed openly with the public.
MOTION: Moved by Williams, seconded by Spagnolo to direct staff to go forward with the development
of a proposal to review and consider additional financial resources.
President Alexander opened the meeting for public comment. Addressing the Board was:
Matt Jones commented he recently went on a ride along with the Fire District and stated one of
the things he found is the need for a fourth man on a crew. He stated they did respond to a fire,
and that if there had been another fire concurrently, the City would have been defenseless. He
commented on other cities that have four man crews and the importance of that.
There being no further input, public comments were closed.
Motion carried unanimously 4-0-1 (Gutierrez absent).
Chief Bryan thanked Administrative Services for their assistance in developing this document for the
Board.
The meeting adjourned at 2:35 p.m.
Respectf ull,~s~bmitted,
Secretary
Approved: September 21,2005