HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 1782City of Palo Alto (ID # 1782)
City Council Staff Report
Report Type: Consent Calendar Meeting Date: 8/1/2011
August 01, 2011 Page 1 of 4
(ID # 1782)
Council Priority: Emergency Preparedness
Summary Title: Automatic Aid Agreement with Menlo Park Fire
Title: Approval of Automatic Aid Agreement With the Menlo Park Fire
Protection District; and Authorization to Transfer Ownership of One Inflatable
Boat, Motor and Boat Trailer to the Menlo Park Fire Protection District
From:City Manager
Lead Department: Fire
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Council:
1.Approve a new, expanded Automatic Aid Agreement between the City of Palo Alto and
the Menlo Park Fire Protection District for a term of five years; and
2.Authorize the transfer of the City’s ownership share of one rigid hull inflatable boat,
motor and trailer to the Menlo Park Fire Protection District with the expiration of the
South Bay Water Rescue Program Joint Power Agreement between the City and the Fire
District.
BACKGROUND
The Palo Alto Fire Department and the Menlo Park Fire Protection District share a contiguous
border and have a long history of working together to provide the best and most expedient
response to render emergency assistance to the citizens of Santa Clara and San Mateo
Counties. Both agencies have been working on updating the current Automatic Aid Agreement,
dated November 17, 1999 to better serve the community and enhance the current response to
reflect today’s climate and changing needs.
August 01, 2011 Page 2 of 4
(ID # 1782)
The City of Palo Alto (“City”) and Menlo Park Fire Protection District (“Fire District”) entered
into an Automatic Aid Agreement on November 17, 1999 to provide emergency medical and
rescue services in a reciprocal exchange on a day-to-day basis. The current agreement is still in
force, however it is 11 years old and both agencies are amenable to replacing the current
contract with updated terms that better reflect current needs and services,and that can
enhance resource responses to emergency medical and rescue services, fire protection as well
as mitigate other types of emergencies.
The new agreement enhances the automatic aid response by adding Truck Company and
Battalion Chief responses from both agencies into the requesting jurisdiction. In addition,
Menlo Park agrees to provide water rescue in the San Francisquito Creek and the San Francisco
Bay adjacent to the Palo Alto Airport while Palo Alto agrees to expand coverage into portions of
East Palo Alto. Palo Alto agrees to support the Fire District in seeking available grant funds and
other available forms of financial recovery for incidents involving a municipal airport and
related preparedness and rescue activities. By approving the agreement with these new,
updated automatic aid terms, the existing agreement will necessarily be terminated.
The South Bay Water Rescue Agreement entered into in April 1992 terminated on June 30,
2011. As part of the new mutual aid agreement, the District will provide, upon request,
appropriate water craft response to emergency incidents for the San Francisquito Creek and
San Francisco Bay in Palo Alto jurisdictional areas.
DISCUSSION
Key provisions of the new agreement include:
1.Automatic Aid Response
Automatic aid means that the closest available and appropriate engine will respond to Code
3 emergencies which require the use of red lights and sirens by responding fire units. For
confirmed structure fires or secondary incidents requiring a Truck and Battalion Chief from
August 01, 2011 Page 3 of 4
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each agency will respond. The response of a truck and Battalion Chief are new components
to this agreement.
2.Palo Alto Airport -Water Rescue Response
Water rescue was formerly provided under the South Bay Water Rescue operating
agreement between the City and the Fire District, which expired on June 3, 2011. The City
concluded that the Palo Alto based boat was not practical due to the tides and lack of
launching facilities near Palo Alto. It was also costly and difficult to complete required
training. The Fire District agrees to, upon request of City, provide appropriate water craft
response to emergency incidents for the San Francisquito Creek and the San Francisco Bay
adjacent to the Palo Alto Airport. In exchange, the City of Palo Alto supports the Fire
District in seeking available grant funds and other available forms of financial recovery for
incidents involving a municipal airport and related preparedness and rescue activities.
3.Response Area Boundary
Each jurisdiction’s boundary for response is listed and clearly delineated in Attachment B of
the agreement. The new agreement expands Palo Alto coverage into East Palo Alto up to
Bay road and expands the Districts coverage into West Bayshore, the Airport and the
baylands.
RESOURCE IMPACT
There is no direct resource impact to the City’s budget, as this agreement provides for the
mutual exchange of emergency services, but no monetary compensation.
In the event either party is not available to provide assistance, pursuant to this agreement, the
dispatcher for the assisting agency shall promptly notify the Agency Having Jurisdiction. The aid
provided to each jurisdiction assist in providing better service and coverage to the citizens and
enhances response times, safety and potentially minimizes loss.
August 01, 2011 Page 4 of 4
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Transfer of the City’s ownership of the rigid hull inflatable boat, motor and trailer to the Menlo
Park Fire Protection District will result in lower maintenance expense to the City. The boat was
jointly purchased by both agencies at inception of the water rescue agreement, however, it
now has minimal asset value to the City and a low resale value. Proceeds of a sale would have
to be split between the agencies. The transfer to the Fire District keeps the boat as a resource
available to the City.
This contract requires Council approval because it is for a five-year term period.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
This recommendation is consistent with existing City policies, and various provisions of the
Health and Safety and Government Codes of the State of California, and acts and statutes of the
Federal Government relating to mutual aid and cooperation between emergency responders.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
An agreement to provide mutual aid in emergencies does not constitute a project under the
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Attachments:
·1999 Auto Aid Agreement (PDF)
·Water Rescue JPA 062111 (PDF)
·2011 Automatic Aid Agreement -071211 (DOC)
Prepared By:Roger Bloom,
Department Head:Dennis Burns, Police Chief
City Manager Approval: James Keene, City Manager
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AND THE MENLO PARK FIRE
PROTECTION DISTRICT FOR AUTOMATIC AID AND INTERJURISDICTIONAL
FIRE PROTECTION SERVICE,
EMERGENCY MEDICAL AND RESCUE AND FIRST RESPONSE SERVICES
This Agreement, made and entered into on ___________, 2011, by and between the
City of Palo Alto (“City”)in Santa Clara County and the Menlo Park Fire Protection District
(“Fire District”)in San Mateo County in the State of California
RECITALS
WHEREAS, in 1999 the City and Fire District entered into an Automatic Aid and
Interjurisdictional Fire Protection Agreement for the benefit of the City of Palo Alto and
Menlo Park Fire Protection District; and
WHERAS, the parties to this agreement provide emergency medical and rescue
services, fire protection, as well as mitigate other types of emergency and non-emergency
incidents; and
WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of the citizens within Santa Clara and San
Mateo County and each individual jurisdiction to provide the most expeditious response to
render emergency medical and rescue assistance and to suppress fires, as well as mitigate
other types of emergencies and non-emergency incidents; and
WHEREAS,each party is desirous of providing to the other a reasonable and
reciprocal exchange of emergency medical and rescue, fire and other emergency and non-
emergency services on a day-to-day basis; and
WHEREAS, this agreement is authorized and provided for by provisions of the
Health and Safety and Government Codes of the State of California and acts and statutes of
the Federal Government, where applicable.
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of these mutual covenants, the parties
hereto agree as follows:
1.Type of Assistance.
(a) Purpose. This agreement is intended to provide for automatic response by the
closest emergency first response unit for use in fire suppression and first responder medical
and rescue emergency incidents within individual jurisdictional fire boundaries in Santa
Clara and San Mateo County.
For purposes of this agreement, the party providing automatic aid into the
adjacent jurisdiction shall be identified as the “Assisting Agency” and the party receiving
automatic aid shall be identified as the “Agency Having Jurisdiction”.
(b) Automatic aid response. The automatic aid response shall consist of the
closest available and appropriate Engine or Truck Company and shall follow each agency’s
jurisdictional guidelines and deployment plan or model.Battalion coverage is based upon
each Agency Having Jurisdiction but shall include the AHJ and next closest Menlo Park or
Palo Alto Battalion Chief for confirmed structure fires or secondary incidents requiring a
Battalion Commander.
(c) Availability to provide automatic aid. Specific jurisdictional response
deployment will be determined by each agency.Should the closest automatic aid unit be
unavailable due to circumstances related to “Brown Out, Black Out or Station Closure”, the
parties agree to meet together prior to creation of the impact in order to mitigate any potential
adverse affects to either party. The agencies agree to contact each others respective Battalion
Chief and Communications Center daily or when ever it is most reasonable during the period
of impact to update operational status. In the event that agreement can not be reached the
“assisting agency” has the option of “refusing” automatic aid.
(d) Types of emergencies for which automatic aid will be provided. Code 3
emergencies which require the use of red lights and sirens by responding fire units are the
only incidents for which provisions are made for automatic aid under this agreement.
Calls for public service, post-fire investigations, invalid assistance and similar
responses which do not require the use of red lights and sirens by the responding fire units
are not incidents for which provisions are made for automatic aid under this agreement.
(e) Assignment of resources for automatic aid.Resources not pre-assigned to
incidents shall officially attach themselves to an incident per the discretion of the Agency
Having Jurisdiction or by authority of the Fire Chief.Assigned units are expected to check
into staging or directly to the command post incidents involving more than a single resource.
In addition, each agency agrees to provide the specialized services and participate
in the training described in Attachment A.
2.Insurance and Liability.
No debt, liability, or obligation of one party shall be the debt, obligation, or
liability of another party.Each party shall provide, in its discretion, insurance for its
personnel and entity.
The Agency Having Jurisdiction agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the
Assisting Agency from all costs, expenses, claims, liabilities or damages, including
attorneys’ fees and cost of defense, to persons or property arising out of or in any way
connected with the Agency Having Jurisdiction’s actions in response to the alarm or call for
service, with the exception of the active negligence or willful misconduct of the Assisting
Agency.
The Assisting Agency agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Agency Having
Jurisdiction from all costs, expenses, claims, liabilities or damages, including attorneys’ fees
and cost of defense, to persons or property arising out of or in any way connected with the
Assisting Agency’s actions in response to the alarm or call for service, with the exception of
the active negligence or willful misconduct of the Agency Having Jurisdiction.
3.Worker’s Compensation. Each party shall provide, at its sole expense, the
required worker’s compensation insurance coverage necessary for its own employees. It is
recognized that at such times as one Agency provides aid to another Agency pursuant to the
terms of this Agreement, the employees of the Assisting Agency may claim to have become
special employees on a temporary basis, of the Agency Having Jurisdiction. Should any such
claim result in any worker’s compensation claim being asserted, it is hereby agreed that each
such claims shall be the responsibility and liability of the Assisting Party as general employer
to process, defend, and pay, if necessary.
4. Equipment and Resources.
Each agency shall use the equipment designated in National Fire Protection
Agency (NFPA) Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression
Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career
Fire Department –Edition 2010 NFPA 1710 or its discretion to determine the equipment and
resources it deems appropriate in any automatic aid response.
5.Incident Command and Management.
The Incident Command System (ICS) and the National Incident Management
System (NIMS) will be utilized for all incident responses.
6. Agency Having Jurisdiction.
The highest ranking officer of the Agency Having Jurisdiction will have
operational responsibility and the final authority as to strategic and tactics deployed at the
incident.If the first arriving officer on scene is from the Assisting Agency, that officer will
assume command until an officer from the Agency Having Jurisdiction responds to the
incident and assumes command.
It shall be the responsibility of the officer in command to summon additional
personnel and equipment, if needed, to handle the emergency.
As soon as the officer in command determines that no further assistance is
required, the officer in command will inform the Communications Center to “cancel” any
other responding units.
It shall be the responsibility of the Agency Having Jurisdiction to utilize their
staffing and equipment for overhaul and clean up operations after a fire. The Assisting
Agency shall, provide assistance for overhaul and clean up, if available.
Resources from the Assisting Agency shall be released from the scene of an
emergency as soon as is possible or at the request of the Assisting Agency’s command team.
7. Fire Incident Reporting.
The Agency Having Jurisdiction, if it responds to an incident, will be responsible
for completing, filing, recording, and storing all reports including reports mandated by local
and state governments and agencies. If the Agency Having Jurisdiction does not in fact
respond to an incident, the assisting agency will be responsible for completing, filing,
recording and storing all reports (unless otherwise provided by law) and shall additionally
transmit a copy of each report to the Agency Having Jurisdiction for the incident upon
request.
8. Response Area Boundary.
Each jurisdiction’s boundary for response is listed and clearly delineated
in Attachment B.
9. Coordination and Communications
Upon execution of this agreement, both agencies shall provide each other with
current standard response maps and pre-plans for the designated areas and shall provide
updated versions within 30 calendar days of changes which may occur.
Contact shall be made to the dispatch centers through pre-established
communication or computer links requesting the appropriate unit per this agreement.
All necessary information including address, type of emergency, radio frequency,
and related information that is available shall be relayed to the responding unit by
dispatching communications center and updated as appropriate.
Automatic aid shall be delivered first based on closest station and then by type of
apparatus need.If the requested type of unit is not in the station requested and its actual
location at the time of the request would result in an extended response time, the requesting
agency dispatch center will be advised of the delay to ensure that closest available unit will
respond.
In the event the automatic aid unit of either party is not available to provide
assistance pursuant to this agreement, the dispatcher for the assisting agency shall promptly
notify the Agency Having Jurisdiction.
Each jurisdictions’dispatcher is to advise their respective on-duty Battalion Chief
when automatic aid is being provided.
Radio coordination of responding units shall be handled by the dispatch center of
the Agency Having Jurisdiction. When apparatus is in a joint response, the frequency(s) of
the Agency Having Jurisdiction will be used.
Both agencies agree to share radio frequencies when needed as a result of their
dual response to a given incident. Further, both agencies agree to give the other the right to
communicate using the frequencies listed in Attachment C.
The right of either party to use these frequencies is with the express control of
either jurisdictions’ command and dispatch center.
10. Compensation
All services provided by the “parties” under this agreement shall be performed
without monetary compensation unless bordering agencies agree to a compensation
arrangement made outside of this agreement related to shared services, consolidation, brown
outs, black outs or station closures.The mutual advantages, protections and services afforded
by this agreement are mutually agreed to be adequate compensation for both agencies.
11. Third Party Beneficiaries.
Nothing set forth in this Agreement shall create, nor is it intended to create, third
party beneficiaries who may rely upon a breach in the relationship(s) established in this
Agreement to assert a cause(s) of action in their behalf.
12. Evaluation.
The effectiveness of the procedures contained in this agreement shall be evaluated
at least annually by the respective Fire Chiefs of the agencies which are party to this
agreement.
13. Legal Relationship.
For purposes of this agreement, the parties concur by signature that employees so
assigned to automatic aid or special details will remain the employee of each individual
agency and the responsibility of the respective agencies.
14.Termination.
This agreement may be terminated by either agency at any time during its term by
providing written notice of intent to terminate 30 days in advance of the requested
termination.
15.Term
This agreement shall become effective on __________, 2011 and unless
terminated earlier as set forth in Section 14, shall remain in full force and effect through
________, 2016. This agreement shall be reviewed by both fire chiefs annually on or around
____(month), and no later than 90 days prior to _________, 2016 for possible amendments
and extension.
Menlo Park Fire Protection District:City of Palo Alto:
____________________________________________________________
Menlo Park Fire Protection District City Manager
________________________________
Interim Fire Chief
Approved as to form:
________________________________
Sr. Deputy City Attorney
Attachment A
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AND THE MENLO PARK FIRE
PROTECTION DISTRICT FOR AUTOMATIC AID AND INTERJURISDICTIONAL
FIRE PROTECTION SERVICE,
EMERGENCY MEDICAL AND RESCUE AND FIRST RESPONSE SERVICES
Palo Alto Airport -Water Rescue Response:
The Fire District agrees to on request of City, provide appropriate water craft response to
emergency incidents for the San Francisquito Creek and the San Francisco Bay adjacent to
the Palo Alto Airport.
In exchange, the City of Palo Alto support the Fire District in seeking available grant funds
and other available forms of financial recovery for incidents involving a municipal airport
and related preparedness and rescue activities.
Both agencies are encouraged to establish a Unified Command Post for Water Rescue related
emergencies. The first arriving water craft will establish the Operations Branch and designate
the need for additional resources.
The Parties will make their best efforts to plan and conduct a minimum of one joint response
exercise each calendar year. The exercise will be jointly scheduled by December 1st of the
preceding year and will include incident management, water rescue and patient care and
handling.
Wildland Interface Response:
Upon mutual aid request, both agencies agree to respond a “Patrol” off road capable mini-
pumper or Type III “Brush Rig” to Wildland Interface incidents along San Francisquito
Creek, San Francisco Bay, Stanford Hills and the Alpine Road corridor.
The Parties will make their best efforts to plan and conduct a minimum of one joint response
exercise each calendar year. The exercise will be jointly scheduled by December 1st of the
preceding year and will include incident management, progressive hose lay, pump and roll
and fire shelter deployment.
Other Specialized Services
Deceased individuals will be respectfully recovered and addressed by the County Coroners
Office of the respective Agency Having Jurisdiction.
Attachment B
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AND THE MENLO PARK FIRE
PROTECTION DISTRICT FOR AUTOMATIC AID AND INTERJURISDICTIONAL
FIRE PROTECTION SERVICE,
EMERGENCY MEDICAL AND RESCUE AND FIRST RESPONSE SERVICES
The City of Palo Alto and the Menlo Park Fire Protection District have established the
following boundary for response.
City of Palo Alto
The Fire District shall respond into those areas of Palo Alto delineated and enclosed by a
solid line on the map identified as “Area A” incorporated by the reference herein. “Area A is
generally described as being bordered on the north by Highway 101 at the Embarcadero
Road interchange, on the east by Embarcadero Road from Highway 101 extending along
Arboretum Road and University Avenue to Campus Drive and then along Junipero Serra
Boulevard and San Francisquito Creek to Highway 280, on the south by Highway 280, and
on the west by Sand Hill Road from Highway 280 extending along San Francisquito Creek to
Highway 101 near its intersection with Embarcadero Road.
Menlo Park Fire Protection District
The Palo Alto Fire Department shall respond into those areas of the Fire District delineated
and enclosed by a solid line on the map identified as “Area B” incorporated by reference
herein. Area B is generally bounded on the north by Highway 101, on the east by San
Francisquito Creek extending to Highway 280, on the south by Highway 280, and on the
west by Walsh Road extending to Alameda de las Pulgas to Valparaiso Avenue and thence
along Middlefield Road to Ringwood Avenue to Highway 101 to San Francisquito Creek.
Attachment C
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AND THE MENLO PARK
FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT FOR AUTOMATIC AID AND
INTERJURISDICTIONAL FIRE PROTECTION SERVICE,
EMERGENCY MEDICAL AND RESCUE AND FIRST RESPONSE SERVICES
Updated February 1, 2011
Radio Frequencies:
Agency Frequency Use XMT Frequency Rcvd Frequency PL Tone
PAF Primary 154.4450 153.7700 110.9
PAF C25 154.0600 154.0550 110.9MNL
Control 1A 159.0750 153.8900 114.8
MNL Command 11 155.7450 154.3700 162.2
MNL Tactical –Tac 15 154.0400 154.0400 118.8
MNL Tactical –Tac 16 154.0100 154.0100 146.2
MNL Tactical –Tac 17 155.4000 154.4000 141.3