BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF MERCER ISLAND, WA

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1 BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF MERCER ISLAND, WA AB 4189 June 4, 2007 Regular Business SELF CONTAINED BREATHING APPARATUS Proposed Council Action: Approve SCBA Replacement Plan. DEPARTMENT OF COUNCIL LIAISON EXHIBITS Fire, (Walt Mauldin) Sven Goldmanis Steve Litzow Jim Pearman 1. Expenditure Breakdown 2. CIP Project Sheet from Budget APPROVED BY CITY MANAGER AMOUNT OF EXPENDITURE $ 300,000 AMOUNT BUDGETED $ 30,000 APPROPRIATION REQUIRED $ 270,000 SUMMARY The Fire Department s inventory of Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) and the breathing air compressor have exceeded their useful life of ten and twenty years respectively and need to be replaced. The purpose of this agenda bill is to ask Council to allocate funds to purchase new firefighter respiratory protection equipment the total cost which is estimated at $300,000. BACKGROUND Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) are fundamental firefighting tools used by firefighters that provide safe breathing air in hazardous atmospheres. Firefighters are required to use these devices as a practical part of their work. Respiratory protection in dangerous atmospheres is a key safety focus in the fire service. The atmospheric hazards that SCBA s protect Firefighters from generally fall into three categories; toxic, oxygen deficient or super heated atmospheres. Firefighters use the SCBA in incidents including fires, automatic fire alarms, gas leaks, carbon monoxide incidents, hazardous materials incidents, and other hazardous atmosphere calls. Mercer Island Firefighters respond to approximately 550 of these types of incidents each year. In addition, this equipment is operated on a daily basis as part of training and equipment testing. The main parts of an SCBA are a backpack tank of compressed breathing air, a regulator and a face mask. This provides purified, oxygen rich air from the tank for a rescuer to breathe, which allows entry into toxic or oxygen depleted atmospheres. In addition, SCBA devices are equipped with sophisticated safety devices including the Personal Alert Safety System (PASS). PASS devices sense the lack of motion and emit an audible alert if a firefighter is disabled. Integrated communications equipment assists firefighters to talk and hear in noisy areas and allows a firefighter wearing a mask to hear and speak on a radio. Currently both Seattle and Bellevue and almost all of the eastside fire departments use MSA brand of SCBA s and they are Page 1

2 fully interoperable. Our older equipment is built by Interspiro and is not interoperable. Upgraded equipment would provide a number of significant safety improvements such as improved communications and rescue capability with equipment from neighboring fire departments. The Fire Department currently has 33 SCBA units in service. Because of changes in the fleet and staffing the new request is for only 28 units. With a minimum daily staffing level of seven on Mercer Island it is a natural question why 28 units? Three things primarily drive this higher number: 1) these units cannot be assigned to an individual. For reasons of efficiency a firefighter in our community might be riding on any number of apparatus types at a given time, i.e., they could arrive at a fire on an aid car or a fire engine. It isn t practical to carry SCBA s from vehicle to vehicle. Thus the equipment must be assigned to a vehicle. Several different types of vehicles must all be equipped with SCBA s; 2) we have to equip our operation for a higher than normal demand, i.e., if there is a large fire we need to equip the called back crews with SCBA s; and 3) lastly we need some surplus units to replace units that are removed from service for testing or repair, therefore, 28 units is the correct number for our department. The Fire Department purchased its current inventory of SCBA s in SCBA s have an expected life span of ten years. There are a number of drivers that contribute to an expected life span. These include increased maintenance costs, liability due to failure, mandated cylinder life cycles, changes in technology that improve firefighter safety and decreased dependability. Because of interoperability, safety and training issues it is not feasible to phase in this project. Having more than one type of SCBA unit during the phasing in period, would pose an unacceptable safety problem. It is not feasible to have personnel trained on two different types of equipment. Breathing Air Refill System Mercer Island Firefighters fill their air bottles at the main fire station using an air fill system called a Breathing Air Refill System. This system is essentially a specialized air compressor. The current system was purchased in 1985 through capital funds with a life expectancy of 20 years. It was projected by Council at that time that they would be replacing this unit in a time period around The Fire Department s current Breathing Air system has required increasing maintenance to keep it operational. Not only does this affect the budget associated with this piece of equipment, but it increases the likelihood of the unit being unavailable for use, and the potential for contaminated air. Costs for maintaining this unit will continue to increase annually and its availability for use will decrease. Ancillary Equipment In addition to the SCBA s and the compressor system this purchase would include maintenance and testing equipment to support our SCBA program. Summary Both the SCBA equipment and ancillary compressor system have outlived their projected/effective lifespan. Our maintenance expenses continue to escalate and we have reached the break-over point for replacement of our SCBA s and Breathing Air System. Product support is increasingly difficult and parts are becoming difficult and time consuming to attain for both SCBA s and the Breathing Air System. Increasing maintenance will impact our operations due to this increasing difficulty in getting parts and receiving them in a timely manner. It is also worthy of noting that technological safety improvements have been made since our original purchase of both of these systems that will improve our customer service delivery and increase firefighter safety. It is the correct time to upgrade this equipment. The total upgrade cost is projected at $300,000. Page 2

3 FUNDING NEEDS In 2004, 2005 & 2006 the Fire Department applied for a federal grant to replace these units and the breathing air compressor system. The grant, which is funded through the U.S Fire Administration, would have provided 90% of the total costs. Several Fire Departments in the Puget Sound area have been successful in acquiring grant monies for their SCBA replacement programs but in three attempts we were not. The grant is no longer a viable option for the replacement of this equipment. Replacement of the system is estimated at about $300,000. This cost is broken down into three main parts: $219,990 for the SCBA s and spare bottles; $36,500 for the air compressor system and $23,620 for ancillary equipment. When the current budget was under development staff felt we might be awarded the grant. The city s 10% match or $30,000 was budgeted as a CIP expenditure (see Exhibit 2, Page H-49 of the Budget Book). The grant is shown as $270,000 of revenue. Since we will not receive the grant and we have $30,000 already budgeted, we need to find $270,000 to complete this project. The Finance Department has been involved in this project as we applied for grants. In light of the current situation, the Finance Director recommends using the following funding sources in the Capital Reserve Fund: $93,000 in available fund balance as of 12/31/06; $150,000 authorized transfer of 2006 General Fund surplus to the Capital Reserve Fund; and $27,000 of the estimated $200,000 in interest revenue that will be distributed to the Capital Reserve Fund in 2007 (note that only $77,000 of the budgeted interest revenue is earmarked for expenditure in 2007). PROPOSAL The Mercer Island Fire Department proposes the immediate replacement/purchase of new SCBA s, and a Breathing Air System. The Mercer Island Fire Department proposes the establishment of an equipment replacement fund, with monies contributed annually for both the SCBA equipment with a life of ten years and the compressor system with a life of 20-years. Establishment of this fund is recommended to be a part of the budget development. CONCLUSION The Mercer Island Fire Department has currently exceeded the industry standard life expectancy for SCBA s and our Breathing Air System. The Fire Department has developed the correct inventory needs for service delivery and safety of firefighters and the community. The Mercer Island Fire Department should replace the existing inventory of SCBA s and the Department s Breathing Air System. A replacement fund should be established to provide ongoing equipment replacement. Monies should be contributed to this fund on an annual basis. RECOMMENDATION Fire Chief MOVE TO: No action required. This information will be used as part of the discussions at the upcoming Council planning session. Page 3

4 SCBA PURCHASE Quanitity Item Unit Price Extended Total 28 SCBA 4, , Spare Bottles , Shoulder Quick Fill Attachment 200 5, Buddy Breather Hose , Spare Masks (w/hud) 810 9, Mask Voice Amplifiers , Radio Communication Interface 1,021 10,210 3 Rapid Intervention Team (RIT) Packs 3,600 10, Mask Bags SCBA Total Costs 12, ,990 1 Fit Testing Unit 12,000 12,000 1 Posicheck III Flow Test Bench 9,000 9,000 1 Tools and Maintenance Equipment 1,800 1,800 2 Certified Maintenance Class Ancilliary maintenance and testing equipment costs 23,210 23,620 1 Compressor - 4 Stage 6000 PSI 26,500 26,500 1 Cascade Bottle Storage System 1,500 1,500 1 Fill Station 8,500 8,500 Compressor Costs 36,500 36,500 Total 280,110 Tax 24,930 GRAND TOTAL 305,040 The very basic SCBA as worn on a Firefighters back costs about $4,945 per unit An SCBA with all of the communications and safety equipment costs about $5890 per unit AB 4189 Exhibit 1 Page 4

5 Capital Improvement Program Fire Self Contained Breathing Apparatus Project ID WG730E Project Description Project Mgr W. Mauldin Replacement of the Fire Department's Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA). Project Location Main Fire Station Business Need SCBA equipment is a firefighter's lifeline while operating in any kind of a hazardous/toxic atmosphere. Virtually all firefighting operations depend on this equipment. Existing Conditions Our SCBAs were purchased in 1995 with a maximum projected life of 12 years. Our compressor was purchased in 1986 with an expected life of 20 years. The equipment has exceded its useful life. Prior Council Review None Required Resources ($1,000's) CIP Funds - EXP Description Total Technology & Equipment Ac $0 $300 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $300 Total EXP $0 $300 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $300 CIP Funds - REV Description Total General Fund $0 $30 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $30 Grant $0 $270 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $270 Total REV $0 $300 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $300 Impact on Operations and Maint Total None $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 Net Impacts $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 Project Schedule Beginning Ending Bid & Award of Contract 1/1/2007 6/30/2007 Property Acquisition 6/30/2007 9/30/2007 Public Involvement Not Applicable Beginning Ending Labor Hours Other Hours 100 AB4189 Exhibit 2 Page 5 City of Mercer Island Budget H-50