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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSouth Santa Clara County Fire District - Boundary Drop and Operational AgreementBOUNDARY DROP and OPERATIONAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF GILROY, THE SOUTH SANTA CLARA COUNTY FIRE DISTRICT, AND THE CITY OF MORGAN HILL JANUARY 1992 (REVISED: October 2015) This Boundary Drop Agreement ( "Agreement ") is made as of , 2015 ( "Effective Date ") between the City of Gilroy, a California municipal corporation, herein referred to as "Gilroy ", the City of Morgan Hill, a California municipal corporation, herein referred to as "Morgan Hill" and the South Santa Clara County Fire District, a fire protection district organized and operating under the Fire Protection District Law of 1987 ( Health and Safety Code Section 13800 et seq.), herein referred to as the "District ". The parties to this Agreement are individually referred to as an "Agency" and collectively as the "Agencies." RECITALS WHEREAS, the purpose of this Agreement is to eliminate geographic boundaries and streamline delivery of service to provide the most efficient emergency response service; and WHEREAS, it is the intent of the Agencies of this Agreement to provide reciprocal services covering the wide range of emergency response including, but not limited to, fires, medical aids, rescues, and hazardous materials incidents ( "Emergency Incidents "); and WHEREAS, It is also the intent to mutually provide Battalion Chief ( "BC ") coverage for Emergency Incidents. Now therefore, in consideration of the promises and mutual covenants contained in this Agreement, the Agencies agree as follows: 1. BOUNDARY DROP: The basic philosophy of this Agreement is to commit the closest appropriate available resource and BC, regardless of jurisdiction, to mitigate the Emergency Incident and, as quickly as possible, return the apparatus and BC to its respective jurisdiction once the Emergency Incident has stabilized. In the event that multiple engines are out of their normal response area, the primary responding resource shall be the closest available resource. In those instances when Agencies are experiencing multiple emergency calls, the Duty Chiefs and the Morgan Hill Emergency Command Center ( "ECC ") and /or Gilroy Dispatch ( "Dispatch ") shall coordinate available resources in order to provide adequate emergency response. 2. RESPONSE PLANS: The Standard Response Plans for Morgan Hill, the District, and Gilroy are attached hereto as Appendix A.3, A.4, and A.5, and are hereby incorporated by this reference. 41 all ' The following Move and Cover Plan is a template for station coverage priority for Emergency Incident and training coverage. Stations in bold lettering are the core stations for this Agreement. The intent is to centralize coverage regionally. This Move and Cover Plan may be altered with concurrent Duty Chief approval. Treehaven Sunrise Sunrise Dunne Hill Dunne Hill Dunne Hill Morgan Hill Morgan Hill Mor an Hill Morgan Hill Masten Chestnut Chestnut Chestnut Chestnut Chestnut El Toro El Toro El Toro El Toro El Toro El Toro * Mutual Aid Masten Masten Masten Masten Masten Masten Morgan Hill Las Animas Las Animas Las Animas Las Animas Las Animas Las Animas Las Animas Doff Lyff 1 1' In the event that an engine is dispatched to an incident outside of its jurisdictional area and, upon arrival, the Emergency Incident is determined to be stable and it appears that the incident requires a period of standby in excess of sixty (60) minutes, the engine on scene may request an engine from the responsible jurisdiction to replace the initial responding resource on the incident. 210111 ME ►9 : v In situations not covered by this Agreement, responding Company Officer(s) shall take the most appropriate action in the best interest of the public, based upon then - available information. Additionally, the Company Officer(s) shall report the incident and actions to his/her supervisor for guidance in future similar incidents. A company officer is an individual in charge of a crew of firefighters and their responding apparatus. 1 u O RIO u Incident Command System is a standardized on -scene emergency management construct specifically designed to provide for the adoption of an integrated organizational structure that reflects the complexity and demands of an incident, without being hindered by jurisdictional boundaries. When two (2) or more engines respond to an Emergency Incident, the first arriving engine shall implement the Incident Command System. The first arriving BC, regardless of jurisdiction, may assume incident command. The responsibility of the Emergency Incident, however, rests with the Agency in whose jurisdiction the Emergency Incident occurs. Therefore, the BC of the Agency in which the Emergency Incident occurs may assume incident command upon his /her arrival. The Incident Commander is responsible for all aspects of the response, including developing incident objectives and managing all incident operations. The Incident Commander shall have the authority to request additional resources, including the activation of the Santa Clara County Fire Mutual Aid Plan. 7. FIRE INVESTIGATION: Fire scene investigation beyond engine company level shall be the responsibility of the Agency in whose jurisdiction the Emergency Incident occurs. The Incident Commander shall notify the responsible Agency's ECC or Dispatch of any need for a fire scene investigator. The responsible Agency can also request an investigator from the assisting Agency or the Santa Clara County Arson Task Force, if needed. 3 8. INCIDENT REPORTS: A. Single Engine Responses - Non -Fire Incident Company Officers shall complete their Agency specific incident report(s), up to and including, EMS Patient Care Reports, with reference to the incident number of the Agency that was assisted. B. Single Engine Response - Fire Incident Company Officers shall complete a draft incident report form and forward it to the Agency in whose jurisdiction the Emergency Incident occurred, maintaining a copy for the Engine Company's Agency use. C. Multiple Agency Response The Agency in whose jurisdiction the Emergency Incident occurs shall be responsible for completing all appropriate incident reports. 9. ALTERNATIV In the event that the primary responding BC(s)are not available for response into one (1) of the other jurisdictions, the Agency in whose jurisdiction the Emergency Incident occurs shall dispatch its closest available BC or process a Mutual Aid Request for a BC. In those instances when both BCs are experiencing multiple emergency calls, the BC and the ECC and Dispatch shall coordinate to provide appropriate BC coverage. Each Agency shall provide relief coverage with mutually agreed upon qualifications as defined by the respective Fire Chiefs. For the purposes of this Agreement, "Primary Responding BCs" are those BCs designated daily, as opposed to on or off duty jurisdictional BC use or function. 10. COMMUNICATIONS PLAN: ECC or Dispatch, depending on where the Emergency Incident occurs, shall be responsible for maintaining communications control over all responding apparatus and BCs. The Communications Procedures are attached in Appendices A.1 and A.2, hereby incorporated by this reference. this agreement. Responding BCs shall coordinate communications through the ECC or Dispatch, depending on the Agency having jurisdiction. In the event of a Dispatch communication failure, ECC will provide command and control services until Dispatch's system is restored. 11. Knox Box keys from each Agency shall be provided to the participating BCs and to each Agency apparatus, as needed. Each Agency shall ensure security of Knox Box keys provided. An audit of all Knox Box keys for all Agencies shall be performed annually in January, coordinated by the Agencies' Operation Chiefs. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if a key is found to be missing, an additional audit shall be conducted. Each agency shall advise the others of the need for additional K no x B o x keys. 2 Each Agency shall provide the other Agencies with all appropriate response maps or other similar response materials to facilitate efficient response and command and control functions. Any Response and Operational binder updates will be provided by the Agency providing the binder, as soon as practicable after the update is made. In the event of Emergency Operations Center activation, the Agencies agree to provide overhead support, to the extent feasible. amwomyn 1 tax 101 BCs shall endeavor to attend training in the other Agencies for the purpose of operational familiarization and coordination. Multi- Company drills shall be scheduled and conducted regularly and with enough frequency to ensure consistent training is delivered to the majority of employees of each Agency. Night drills shall be scheduled frequently enough to meet the needs of the participating Agencies. ' wo) -.1 N Bla • Whenever a problem or misunderstanding arises at the Company Level, Company Officers are encouraged to meet and discuss the situation with the intent of resolving the problem. In the event that resolution cannot be reached, the Company Officers shall meet with his/her respective Chief Officer. Lowm" -A Din ox"wellma I lei la tild 109 "411 Lei WINE These parameters are based on factors including but not limited to totality of call volume, geographical area of coverage needs and response travel distances, simultaneous incident response coverage, and coverage gap probabilities. Two (2) BCs on duty 24/7, available for immediate response, for the South County Region, defined herein as the jurisdictional boundaries of the District, Morgan Hill, and Gilroy as such are on file with the Local Agency Formation Commission of Santa Clara County, as may be amended from time to time. 2. One (1) BC to beat the scene of Emergency Incident notification within fifteen (15) minutes ninety percent (90 %) of the time. 3. The second BC to arrive at the first Emergency Incident or to a new Emergency Incident within fifteen (15) minutes of Emergency Incident notification ninety percent (90 %) of the time. 16. COMPENSATION: To the extent that compensation, including but not limited to statutory cost recovery, is available from third parties as a result of a response to an Emergency Incident under this Agreement, the Agencies shall cooperatively pursue such compensation and allocate any recovery pro rata in accordance with the cost incurred by each Agency in providing response to the Emergency Incident. To compensate for the variance in reciprocal response from the District to Gilroy, the District agrees 5 to provide twenty -five (25) days of BC coverage to Gilroy. Said days will be negotiated between the schedulers of each Agency and documented on an annual basis, using the calendar year. Each Agency shall bear its own exposure for Workers' Compensation for its own personnel. Nothing in the provisions of this Agreement is intended to affect the legal liability of any Agency to this Agreement by imposing any standard of care different from the standard of care imposed by law. 19. INDEMNIFICATION: In lieu of and notwithstanding the pro rata risk allocation which might otherwise be imposed between the Agencies pursuant to Government Code Section 895.6, the Agencies agree that all losses or liabilities incurred by an Agency shall not be shared pro rata but instead the pursuant to Government Code Section 895.4, each of the Agencies hereto shall fully indemnify and hold each of the other Agencies, their officers, board members, employees and agents, harmless from any claim, expense or cost, damage or liability imposed for injury (as defined by Government Code Section 810.8) occurring by reason of the negligent acts or omissions or willful misconduct of the indemnifying agency, its officers, board members, employees or agents, under or in connection with or arising out of any work, authority or jurisdiction delegated to such agency under the Agreement. No Agency, nor any officer, board member, employee or agent thereof shall be responsible for any damage or liability occurring by reason of the negligent acts or omissions or willful misconduct of another hereto, their officers, board members, employees or agents, under or in connection with or arising out of any work, authority or jurisdiction delegated to such other Agencies under this Agreement. I ta 01 B1UV I 12 • • ta a D101 • a . ma auma ': This Agreement shall not be construed as, or deemed to be, an Agreement for the benefit of any third party or parties, and no third party or parties shall have any right of action hereunder for any cause whatsoever. Any services performed or expenditures made in connection with this Agreement by any Agency hereto shall be deemed conclusively to be for the direct protection and benefit of the inhabitants and property, which are situated within the respective jurisdictions of the Agencies. \1 V., 1_ \_ •\ ::_ •: None of the provisions of this Agreement is intended to create, nor shall be deemed or construed to create, any relationship between the Agencies other than that of independent agencies contracting with each other for the purpose of effecting the provisions of this Agreement. The Agencies are not, and will not be construed to be, in a relationship of joint venture, partnership, or employer - employee. 1 M I _ 1 The Agencies shall comply with all applicable Federal, State, and local laws and regulations concerning nondiscrimination and equal opportunity in contracting. Such laws include, but are not limited to, the following: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended; Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Sections 503 and 504); California Fair Employment and Housing Act (Government Code Sections 12900 et seq.); California Code of rel Regulations, Title II, Division 4, Chapter 5; and California Labor Code Sections 1101 and 1102. Agencies shall not discriminate against any subcontractor, employee, applicant or any person for employment or in the provision of services because of age, race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, sex/gender, sexual orientation, mental disability, physical disability, medical condition, political beliefs, organizational affiliations, or marital status. 9100TWI-114-Urp This Agreement shall commence upon execution by all Agencies and shall continue in full force and effect unless terminated as provided herein. This Agreement may be terminated upon written notice of termination given to the other Agencies at least ninety (90) days in advance of the effective date of termination. Notice of termination shall be personally served or mailed, postage prepaid to the address designated in Section 24. All notices of the Agencies shall be in writing and shall be addressed to the primary contact for each agency as set forth below: AGENCY Gilroy Fire Dept. (GIL) Address South Santa Clara County Fire District (SCC) Address Morgan Hill Fire Department (MRG) Address uv Iola 1U. 012MIRM Eel M-99.013101 I Contact Fire Chief Fire Chief Fire Chief Except as otherwise specified, this Agreement shall not be amended or altered without the written consent of all the Agencies. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Fire Chiefs of the Agencies shall have the authority to mutually add, delete, or amend the "Operational Procedures" as well as the Service Area Appendices. Any such amendment shall be mutually agreed upon and require the written consent of the Fire Chiefs of the Agencies or their designees. M : BI BIUV 13191 This document embodies the entire Agreement between the Agencies with respect to the subject matter hereof. 7 27. ASSIGNMENT: None of the Agencies shall not assign obligations under this Agreement without prior written consent of the other Agencies. U The Agencies to this Agreement shall meet at least once annually to review, update, and modify this Agreement, as may be required. 0 CITY OF GILROY Jt U t _i Ui Date t j ,;,City Administrator Alan Anderson Date Fire Chief Approved as to Form: Gilroy City Attorney's Office �bc By: CITY OF MORettyv,P %iey Steve Rymer Date City Manager Approved as to Form: Renee A. Gurza Date City Attorney SOUTH SANTA CLARA COUNTY FIRE DISTRICT Dave Cortese Date President Board of Directors Derek J. Witmer Fire Chief Date Ap oved as Form and Legality: _ S r J. onzio Date Deputy County Counsel �S Appendix A.3 Morgan Hill Standard Response Plan Incident Type M-1191-31 Appendix A.4 South County Fire District Standard Response Plan I.,+irinn+ Txmn nr_ Rr FNG.T1 FNG -T3 TRUCK SFTY/ VOL Moslem PH 2 OUR 3 - 7m • 1 Appendix A.5 Gilroy Fire Standard Response Plan Incident Type BC MEDIC ENG -T1 ENG -T3 ENG -T6 TRUCK OVERHEAD FIRES: Alarm Sounding Residential 1 Multifamily 1 4 Shared BC Commercial 1 Hospital /Care 1 4 Shared BC Structure Residential 1 4 Shared BC Commercial/ Multifamily 1 4 Shared BC Vegetation Out of Season 1 In Season 1 3 1 or 1 Shared BC Vehicle Small (car, truck) 1 Large (Commercial) 1 2 Freeway 1 2 Aircraft 1 4 Shared BC Train Fire/ Derailment 1 4 Shared BC Refuse, etc 1 EMS: Life Threat 1 Known CPR 2 Water Rescue 1 2 Shared BC Vehicle Accident City 2 Highway, Rescue 1 2 H AZ -MAT: Minor Sill /Leak 1 M a i o r Threat to Life & Property 1 4 Shared BC PSA. 1 BOMB THREAT: 1 1 1 1 APPENDIX A.1 —SCC Communications Plans South Santa Clara County Fire (SCC) PROCEDURE NO. 031 Subject: South County Battalion Chief Sharing Approved: Action: Date: 02/02/2010 As South Santa Clara County has entered into an Agreement with the fire agencies in South Santa Clara County to operationally share battalion Chief coverage, the following procedure will cover the procedures to be processed by the ECC. 1. Battalion Chiefs (BCs) will advise the ECC that they are on duty. 2. ECC will ensure that the Gilroy Fire Communications Center is advised of which resource will have the coverage prior to 0730. 3. ECC will ensure the proper resource status is in CAD. 4. ECC will roster the battalion resources in CAD. 5. ECC will follow existing notification procedures & communicate to both Battalion Chiefs regarding south county resources and incident status. 6. ECC will dispatch both BCs in CAD to any multiple resource responses in any jurisdiction. 7. Both BCs will be dispatched and voiced out for any multiple resource response in the South Santa Clara County Fire District and Morgan Hill Fire Department as per the approved response plans. 8. Any conflicts are to be resolved, if possible, at the lowest level possible and the ECC chief will be advised. APPENDIX A.2 —GIL Communications Plan 9 -1 -1 Communications Unit Procedure Bulletin O�y pF Vol. No. Division: Dispatch Section: Date: Originator: Authorized: Date: South County Battalion Chief Coverage PURPOSE: This update to the Agreement remains a guideline for dispatchers to follow when a Fire Battalion Chief response is needed in the City of Gilroy, City of Morgan Hill, or the San Martin/South County area pursuant to the Shared Battalion Chief Program implemented on April 1, 2010. The City of Morgan Hill has contracted with Cal Fire to reinstate the Morgan Hill Fire Department, which has replaced the Santa Clara County Fire Department in providing fire services to Morgan Hill and as part of this Agreement as of January 3, 2013. POLICY: Beginning January 3, 2013, the Gilroy Fire Department ( "GIL "), Morgan Hill Fire Department ( "MRG "), and South Santa Clara County Fire Protection District ( "SCC ") will continue the Agreement to share Battalion Chief response coverage in the South County. This arrangement is effectively a Boundary Drop and Operational Agreement and requesting a single Battalion Chief from Morgan Hill ECC (which encompasses CAL FIRE - SCU/MRG /SCC) will require only a phone call to the ECC rather than use of the REDNET. County -wide terminolojjy note: On Duty Battalion Chief — Responsible for battalion or field level response and coordination. In MRG and SCC, this function is provided by their Battalion Chiefs and in GIL by their Division Chiefs with the Battalion 47 identifier. When a BC (or GIL DC) is unavailable, another BC will be covering or providing battalion coverage. The Duty Chief — In Santa Clara County fire service terminology, this is generally a higher ranking chief officer than a Battalion Chief who is called for higher level, county -wide or policy matters. For CAL FIRE/MRG /SCC the Duty Chief is generally one of their Division Chiefs. For GIL, the Fire Chief is designated as the Duty Chief, unless delegated to a Division Chief or the Chief with the Battalion Chief Coverage due to unavailability. For example: GIL B47 may be designated to act as the Duty Chief in the Fire Chief's absence. PROCEDURE: Resources and Coverage: Each agency will provide one (1) Battalion Chief to respond as the closest BC to all incident types requiring a Chief Officer, regardless of jurisdiction or nature. There will be a minimum of two (2) Battalion Chiefs on duty each day in the South County region. At least one (1) on duty BC will always be from CAL FIRE (SCU, MRG and or SCC), and one (1) on duty BC from Gilroy Fire (GIL), unless the GIL BC is off on leave and covered by a CAL FIRE BC. Unit radio identifiers by a2ency: Primary BC Unit Radio Identifiers by Agency: Gilroy Fire (GIL) • B47 Cal Fire (SCU, MRG, SCC) • B57, B67, B70, B1605, B1609, B1611, B1612, B1613, B1614, B1615, B1618 Gilroy Fire may provide support BC coverage with Radio Identifiers • C2, C3, C4, C5 CAD Unit Identifiers and Dispatch Procedures: On duty BCs will remain logged on with the proper status at all times. Each morning at approximately 0730 hrs., the two (2) Battalion Chiefs responsible for South County Coverage will call Morgan Hill ECC and log on. The Morgan Hill Emergency Command Center (Morgan Hill ECC), servicing both MRG and SCC, will then call Gilroy Fire Communications to advise who has the duty in South County. In addition to the unit identifiers, the badge numbers for all Morgan Hill Fire and South County Battalion Chiefs have been added to CAD as valid resources because they will identify themselves on the radio with their agency and Unit ID. For example: • If the on duty Battalion Chief is SCC B70, s/he will identify her/himself as "Battalion 70" when on the radio and the dispatcher will status change the unit identifier to "B70." • If the on duty Battalion Chief is MRG B57, s /he will identify her /himself as "Battalion 57" on the radio and the dispatcher will status change the unit to "B57." • It should be noted that all CAL FIRE BCs will be statused the same way o That they may be assigned to SCU, MRG, or SCC on a given day is irrelevant since they are essentially the same organization (CAL FIRE) for operational purposes. Upon recommendation for a Battalion Chief on a Gilroy Fire event the GIL dispatcher shall: • Dispatch the appropriate GIL Fire units • Dispatch the on duty BC to the event • Call Morgan Hill ECC to request a Battalion Chief The intent of BC sharing is to keep the process the same as any Auto Aid or Mutual Aid request where the dispatcher calls the agency and asks for the type and resource needed. Therefore, the follow -up phone call will be for requesting a Battalion Chief and the Morgan Hill ECC dispatcher will advise whether one is available and if so which one is responding. The BC responding to the call will come on the requesting jurisdictions radio frequency and advise that s/he is responding and where they are responding from. All of this information will be logged on the CAD event. Upon receiving a request for a Gilroy Fire BC from the Morgan Hill ECC the dispatcher shall: • Determine whether a Gilroy Fire BC is available • If available, create an AUTOA or MUTAID event • Dispatch the on duty BC and provide the channel assignment. Battalion Chief Status Keeping: After it is determined which two BCs will be covering the South County region on any given day, it is imperative that their status is kept up to date at all times with any changes in status being accurately documented in CAD. In the event that both BCs covering South County are committed to a single event and/or multiple events and another event comes into the Gilroy Communication Center requiring a BC response, the dispatcher will check to see if a Gilroy Fire BC is available to respond. If a Gilroy Fire BC is not available, the dispatcher will call the Morgan Hill ECC for a BC on a mutual aid response and will log the appropriate BC responding to the event. Elapsed Incident Time Broadcast and Notifications: To assist the BCs in ensuring that there is adequate coverage and that move -ups are done in a timely manner, BCs will be advised when a unit has been on a call for thirty (30) minutes. On specific calls, BCs (or ICs) will request the ECC or Comm. Center to start a timer. The ECC or Comm. Center will notify the IC of elapsed time in ten (10) minute increments. Ten (10), twenty (20), thirty (30), etc. minute marks during Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health (IDLH) events. The BC or IC will acknowledge each time increment and will announce "stop timer" when the IDLH atmosphere has been mitigated. The on duty BC covering GIL will be notified of the following: • Any rescue, auto - extrication, bomb threat, or similar. • When a paramedic is accompanying a patient in an ambulance to an out of area hospital. • When GIL Fire Ambulance (Medic 47) is transporting a patient. • When a fire apparatus is put out of service for mechanical or similar reasons. o It is the responsibility of the agency whose equipment is out of service to coordinate a replacement and to coordinate the repair of the equipment. • Other information deemed appropriate by thel dispatcher based on the notification intent. The intent of this section is to provide the BC with timely and appropriate information for potential decisions, call -back, or adjustments to the operation.