Oakland Township Sentinel readers –

I sent the email below to the listed Township officials 1/16/18 at 12:51 PM. As of 9:44 AM Saturday 1/20/18 I have received no comments. I plan to address this situation at the Tuesday 1/23/18 Board meeting in public comment.

You may have seen the recent article in the Rochester Post about how Rochester is planning to address a similar fire department response time /  manpower issue with a planning committee involving citizens.

“To:

 Charter Township of Oakland Elected or Appointed Officials:

 Michael Bailey, Township Supervisor

Karen Reilly, Township Clerk

Jeanne Langlois, Township Treasurer

Robin Buxar, Township Trustee, Member Fire Subcommittee

Frank Ferriolo, Township Trustee, Member Fire Subcommittee

Lana Mangiapane, Township Trustee

John Giannangeli, Township Trustee, Member Fire Subcommittee

Dale Stuart, Township Manager

Paul Strelchuk, Fire Chief and Emergency Manager

Louis Danek, Assistant Fire Chief

 

Below is an editorial article I intend to post on Oakland Township Sentinel website on Saturday, January 20 at 7 AM. I invite comments from all those above to whom this is addressed. Deadline is Friday 1/19 at 10 PM. I will publish any comments in their entirety and “no comment” for those who have none. I will similarly give you the opportunity to comment on future articles in this series.

 

Robert A. Yager

Editor

Oakland Township Sentinel

1146 Bear Creek Ct.

Oakland Township, MI 48306

248-495-8563”

 

Our Fire Department Needs a Long-Term Strategic Plan – Immediately

 

The Oakland Township Fire Department (OTFD) cannot muster sufficient manpower (skeleton crew of full-time, augmented by volunteers) to respond in force and on time in order to comply with all national, state and county standards, including the Oakland County license requirements to operate Advanced Life Support units. New senior housing under construction in the Township will further stress this system.

Inadequate responses pose an unacceptable danger to both residents and OTFD paramedic/firefighters. We are asking them to rescue us from burning or smoke-filled buildings or give us advanced emergency medical treatment with inadequate manpower at the scene. This manpower most of the time has driven a large ambulance or huge fire-truck alone without benefit of a “co-pilot” to watch for traffic, work lights and sirens or talk to the dispatch center for any updated information,  or talk to each other to make a plan. This poses an unacceptable traffic accident risk and reduces effectiveness of responses. 

As one example, national standards say it takes at least 4 firefighters to safely enter a burning building. Two go in as a team and two stay outside to potentially rescue them. Recall a recent firefighter death in Auburn Hills. We have no public data on how well we comply with this.

In a second example, the Oakland County protocols governing the Oakland Township license to operate Advanced Life Support (ALS) units in the county requires at a minimum 1 paramedic and 1 EMT to staff each unit at all times.  Current Oakland Township ALS staffing is only 1 paramedic for each unit at all times.  The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) reports Oakland Township’s population in 2017 was 18,575.  For this density of population (>500 per square mile), the Oakland County Medical Control Authority requires that ALS units arrive within 6 minutes, 90% of the time.  According to our analysis of raw data received under the Freedom of Information Act, OTFD was capable in 2017 of under 12.5 minutes 90% of the time, with the worst response being to the farthest SW section 31 (bounded by Dutton, Adams, Silverbell) at under 15 minutes 90% of the time.  Section 31 is the location of the new Blossom Ridge senior living facility.

OTFD should have a comprehensive, publicly available, improvement plan to address these and other important issues. A competent planning process to make such a plan, would start with the Board defining the relevant policies that broadly define the Fire Department’s job performance requirements. Board policies regarding compliance with the various national, state and county response standards would be key early policy decisions in such a plan. The Township Manager and Fire Department must know Board policies first before they can provide plan details.

The recent very short 1/9/18 Board meeting would have been a good time to resume discussing this issue. Perhaps it will be on the agenda for 1/23/18.

The above opinions, or parts of them, supported by facts, have been expressed, starting in late 2014 to the Board of Trustees, the Board Officers, The Board of Trustees Fire Subcommittee, the Township Manager, the Fire Chief and the Assistant Fire Chief in numerous email and / or face-to-face communications by me and at least five other knowledgeable people (listed alphabetically) –

• Paul Elder – OTFD volunteer (Paid-on-Call) paramedic / firefighter – expressed his concerns in meetings with Board Officers and by email
• Jerry Kalinski – retired Southfield fire service officer and longtime Oakland Township resident  – expressed his concerns in Public Comment at Board meetings and at Officer Office Hours
• Marty McQuade – a resident and retired business executive, who spent considerable volunteer time in 2015 helping the fire department prepare a 78 page draft 10-year Strategic Plan that has never been publicly discussed
• Dave Piche, retired Bloomfield Twp. “Fire Chief of the Year” in a confidential 11-page report in October 2017. This report was leaked to Oakland Township Sentinel.
• Scott Rosati – OTFD full-time paramedic / firefighter – delivered detailed statistical information in a 43 page report to Board Officers

 

At present the Fire Department has no formal public improvement plans.

Board members say correctly that what an individual Board member says about policy is only personal opinion unless backed by a Board approved motion. What has the Board said about its policy regarding fire department planning?

At the 8/25/15 Board Meeting –

“MOTION by Langlois, supported by Reilly to form a subcommittee regarding a 10-Year Strategic Operating Plan for the Fire Department consisting of Trustees Ferriolo, Giannangeli and Buxar.

 Motion carried unanimously. “

In spite of this motion, 28 months later, the Fire Department has no formal plans except the annual budget and we have heard nothing from the Board or Fire Subcommittee concerning any progress or deadlines on this planning assignment. Since a recommendation-making subcommittee requires public notice of meetings under the Michigan Open Meetings Act; we conclude there have been no subcommittee meetings.

At 33 minutes, the 1/9/18 Board meeting was the shortest Board meeting of recent record. Ten minutes (18:01 to 28:22) was spent on a review of how the new full-time 75%/25% Facilities Technician / Assistant Fire Chief Lou Danek was handling his new Facilities assignment. I applaud these efforts, and like the increased focus on systematic inspection and maintenance. The Board had many questions and comments. But, I wish we had also seen at least equal attention to fire department policy planning. There was plenty of time available to the Board.

I will lay out the facts about the issues that require planning in detailed “bite sized” pieces in future articles to come soon.  Support from the community for a rapid comprehensive planning effort is welcome and perhaps vital to getting forward movement with appropriate direction and speed. You can find your Board members email addresses at this link if you wish to communicate with them.

http://www.oaklandtownship.org/boards_and_commissions/board_of_trustees/index.php