Longterm Plan

[HAFD112]

Does your department have a written longterm plan?

Does your department work with its budget year by year or is it planned out for many years? Do you know what trucks you will replace or do you just buy new ones when the Officers decide to.

If you have a longterm plan, who is in charge of following it?

[tree68]

My fire department doesn't, but our governing fire district does, to an extent. They are mostly concerned with forecasting major expenditures. They handle the finances - we deal with the operations.

We're having enough trouble figuring out what we're doing next month.

[LaFireEducator]

We maintain a current 20-year plan.

It is updated every 5 years by the Chief officers, with input from the captains.

It contains truck replacement schedules, station addition schedules and staffing changes guideed by response and funding benchmarks.

[Blulakr]

We have recently formed a long term planning board. It is comprised of our fire chief, myself as a representative of the volunteers, a member of our district board of supervisors, a representative of the city council and a representative of our local indian tribe.

We discuss long term plans for acquiring new apparatus, gear and facilities as well as increasing volunteer staff.

We mailed out a questionaire to the public asking for input regarding what the community expectations are. We asked what they expect as far as response times and capeabilities. We also asked what their perception is regarding how we are funded and if they would be open to an assessment to fund new facilities.

You would be surprised at how little the public understands about their fire department, it's capabilities and limitations.

Since completion of the survey process we have prepared a long term planning report that includes...

documenting the current capabilities of the district
plan for projected growth of the community
identify needs to meet the increased demands of community growth
establish goals for equipment and apparatus replacement and facility improvements
identify funding sources through grants,fundraisers and tax revenue


All of this is time consuming and difficult to carry out in a volunteer department but it is necessary to keep up with the demands of the community and to maintain a high performance level.

[CKirk922]

Bluk, great idea...

[kuh shise]

Fire Company has been preparing a 25 year plan since 1977. It was started with the help of Dick Bland of Penn State. (Before he chaired America Burning) We were within $ 25K on the long term estimate for replacement of our aerial with a 1982 plan showing $800,000 for the 2007 replacement. We have a number of areas to review including regular equipment replacement (hose, B/A, etc) as well as insurance review, water supply, community expansion estimates, Training facilities repair/replacement estimates, and manpower issues. The plan is given a run thriough each year for the budget, and a major overhaul every 5 years. Present operating budget (combined City, FD & Relief) is about $145,000 per year, to maintain 2 stations, 9 apparatus and 100 volunteer FF's on the roll.

[bartonff201]

We have recently formed a long term planning board. It is comprised of our fire chief, myself as a representative of the volunteers, a member of our district board of supervisors, a representative of the city council and a representative of our local indian tribe.

We discuss long term plans for acquiring new apparatus, gear and facilities as well as increasing volunteer staff.

We mailed out a questionaire to the public asking for input regarding what the community expectations are. We asked what they expect as far as response times and capeabilities. We also asked what their perception is regarding how we are funded and if they would be open to an assessment to fund new facilities.

You would be surprised at how little the public understands about their fire department, it's capabilities and limitations.

Since completion of the survey process we have prepared a long term planning report that includes...

documenting the current capabilities of the district
plan for projected growth of the community
identify needs to meet the increased demands of community growth
establish goals for equipment and apparatus replacement and facility improvements
identify funding sources through grants,fundraisers and tax revenue


All of this is time consuming and difficult to carry out in a volunteer department but it is necessary to keep up with the demands of the community and to maintain a high performance level.

Would you happen to have a copy of that survey. I have been thinking of doing something simaler in my area [email protected]

[fao110]

can you send me a copy to?
[email protected]

[Blulakr]

Sorry guys, I do not have a copy to send.

Most of the questions we asked were multiple choice. Some of the questions we asked are..

What do you expect for a response time

A; 1-2 minutes
B; 2-5 minutes
C; 6-10 minutes or more

Other than fighting fires, what services does the fire department provide? Check all that apply

A; Emergency Medical
B; Vehicle Extrication
C; Water Rescue
D; Rope Rescue
E; Confined Space Rescue
F; Traffic Control
G; Building Inspections
H; Fire and Safety Code Enforcement
I ; Public Education

Are local firefighters paid for their services?

A; Yes
B; No

How many members are on the department?

A; 5-10
B; 10-20
C; 20-30
D 30+

How is the fire department funded?

A; Sales Tax
B; Income Tax
C; Property Tax
D; Donations

How many calls per year does the fire department respond to?

A; 10-50
B; 50-100
C; 100-150
D; 150-200
E; 200-300

Would you approve of an additional fee to help fund new equipment and apparatus?

If Yes, how much would you be willing to pay?