Evaluating Compliance with NFPA 1710 - US Fire Administration

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Format changes have been made to facilitate reproduction. While these research projects have been selected as outstanding, other NFA EFOP and APA format, style, and procedural issues may exist. - 6 -
Format changes have been made to facilitate reproduction. While these research projects have been selected as outstanding, other NFA EFOP and APA format, style, and procedural issues may exist. INTRODUCTION In this country, fire protection is primarily a function of local government. Because of that single factor, the issue of how much fire protection is to be provided is left in the hands of a wide variety of skilled and unskilled individuals. City Councils, Boards of Fire Protection Districts, and other bodies of government spend a great deal of time wrestling over the question of just how much money to spend on protection. Lacking an adequate measuring stick for what the fire department is supposed to be doing, they end up focusing almost all of their attention on the input (Coleman, 1998). At least that was the common wisdom prior to the emergence of National Fire Protection Standard (NFPA) 1710. In July 2001, the NFPA Standards Council voted to issue NFPA 1710 as a standard (International Association of Fire Chiefs [IAFC], 2001). The problem was that the Garland Fire Department had not determined if it met the requirements of NFPA 1710, as it pertained to staffing assignments and response times. The purpose of this research was to determine Garland's existing degree of compliance with NFPA 1710 as it pertained to those areas. Evaluative research was used to compare the specific requirements of NFPA 1710 to staffing and response times of the Garland Fire Department. The evaluative research method was used to answer the following questions: 1. Did the Garland Fire Department meet NFPA 1710 response time objectives for fire and emergency medical incidents 2. Did the Garland Fire Department meet NFPA 1710 assignment staffing objectives 3. What actions could the Garland Fire Department take if such compliance was lacking BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE The City of Garland, located northeast of Dallas, has a population of 220,000. The city measures 58 square miles and has a combination of light to heavy industry along with its residential areas. The department currently operates nine fire stations, and has nine engine companies, seven Mobile Intensive Care Units (MICU's), four truck companies, and 230 uniformed personnel. Garland's original volunteer fire department was organized on October 22, 1915, with 46 men and was equipped with a two-wheel handcart for extinguishing house fires. The tanks and hoses were later moved to the first motorized apparatus, a 1916 Ford Model-T chassis. Garland hired its first firefighter in 1944 and from there the department grew to 16 personnel with two fire stations in 1955, 25 firefighters and three stations in 1957, 31 firefighters in 1959, 51 firefighters and four fire stations in 1964. The staffing rose to 174 in 1982 with six fire stations (L. Corcoran, 2001). Today the department has 230 uniformed personnel at nine fire stations. Prior to 1959, the paid firefighters worked a shift schedule of six days on duty and then one day off duty. In 1959 the department went to a two-platoon system, with each firefighter having a shift schedule of 24 hours working at the station, then being off for 24 hours, before - 7 -
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Evaluating Compliance with NFPA 1710 - US Fire Administration

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