The Lake Havasu City Council will be taking a deep dive into the fire department’s operations today as it reviews a comprehensive study completed throughout 2022.
The council will hold a work session today at 4:30 p.m. to review the Lake Havasu City Fire Department Operational Study conducted by AP Triton of Sheridan, Wyoming. The consultant has spent the past year reviewing and analyzing the department’s performance data, fire response times, budgets, deployment of services, staffing levels, training, its six fire stations, and more. It compares Havasu’s performance to industry standards and best practices to identify areas the department can improve, and looks into how the department may need to grow as the city itself grows. The study also provides a community risk assessment.
Havasu Fire Chief Peter Pilafas said AP Triton began working with the fire department on the study in January 2022, and wrapped up its work last month. He said it was the first study looking in-depth at the fire department’s operations since the International City/County Management Association completed a study examining both fire and police operations in 2009, and a GIS study completed by the International Association of Fire Fighters in 2005.
“It is really a picture of what we have been doing, where we are at now, and where we should go,” Pilafas said. “The purpose of the study is to have an unbiased review from outside experts to see how our current operations are doing, what we can do to improve, and looking at the growth of our community and how services will potentially need to expand.”
Although the study was just completed, Pilafas said the department has already begun work on a couple of the findings. As an example, he said the study uncovered the need for better ventilation in all of the fire stations. Pilafas said the department was able to search out and successfully apply for a grant to pay for a Diesel Exhaust Extraction System for each fire station, and the city council will consider hiring Barnes Electric to install the new system during the council’s regular meeting today, immediately following the work session.
“There are a lot of things that we knew, and we were working on it during the study,” Pilafas said.
Pilafas said the study will serve as a guide for the department over the next 5 to 10 years as the city continues to grow along with the demand for fire, rescue and emergency services. But he said the study also underscores the need to continuously monitor the data the department collects on an annual basis.
“With continuous growth we have to continuously monitor, do analysis, and look at our service demands year by year,” Pilafas said. “Especially with new development occurring, are our stations located in the correct area, and are our services meeting the citizen’s expectations?”
The work session is scheduled to begin today at 4:30 p.m. inside the council chambers, located at the police facility at 2360 N. McCulloch Blvd. AP Triton’s final study is 277 pages long. It is available on the fire department’s website at lhcaz.gov/fire-department. The study can also be found at tinyurl.com/2j8xbh7n.
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