Information & Statistics

Click on this myth and fact comparison link if you'd like to view Myths and Facts about the project.

In the very near future (September 4, 2007) the City Council will be voting on the 2008 Capital Program Budget.  This budget proposal includes $100,000 for the planning and development of a 3^rd Fire/EMS station to eventually be built in one of two locations on Route 9P.  The planning and development has been on going for a number of years and the need for such a facility has been identified as far back as the mid 1980’s.  The plan that the Saratoga Springs Fire Department has developed is a comprehensive plan that addresses all aspects of emergency services including: Fire Suppression, Rescue, Emergency Medical Services, Patient Transport, Dispatching and Fire Inspection.  It is not just a station for the Eastern Plateau of the City, as some may state.  The needs of this community have increased significantly over the years and that trend will obviously continue.  The number of simultaneous calls for service has had a dramatic increase approaching 500 calls annually.   In fact recently for the first time in any ones memory, the fire department was unable to respond to a working vehicle fire on I87.  The call had to be mutual aided to a neighboring department as all Saratoga Springs units were at other emergencies.  The need is clear, the plan is comprehensive, the cost is affordable and the time is now.  I would ask you to please attend one of two planned public hearings; Tuesday August 28, 2007 @ 7:00 PM in the public room of the Saratoga Springs Library or Tuesday September 4, @ 6:00 PM in City Hall Council Chambers or you can contact the city council and tell them you support the adoption of the 2008 Capital Program Budget. Please check our myth and fact comparison on issues and questions we’ve encountered.

Mayor Valerie Keehn

Commisioner of Accounts John Franck

Commisioner of Finance

Commisioner of Public Safety Ron Kim

Commisioner of Public Works Thomas McTygue

Response Time

Time is a variable the fire department cannot change; we cannot turn back the clock on your emergency. Firefighter train consistently to prepare for many emergencies, but our success is based on our rapid arrival; our training is very time sensitive.

Most assume when we talk about response time we give the average response time to gauge our performance, not true. An average response time may give a false sense of accomplishment. As an example, if a department handles many calls geographically close to the station the times would be below the standard and when longer runs come into play it would fall into the average.

To get a better perspective on response the standard to measure is by using the Fractile Response Time. This method lines response times from shortest to longest, placing a line at the 90% of the calls. The time below the line is the fractile response time.

Currently The Saratoga Springs Fire Departments fractile response at 90% is 9 Minutes. This far exceeds any standard both Fire and EMS related.

Communities must have sufficient first responder units deployed at all times to ensure rapid response to all life-threatening calls. As a rule of thumb, a first responder should arrive on the scene less than 5 minutes from the time of dispatch in 90% of all such calls. This will generally result in a median first responder response time of 2 to 3 minutes (NIH, NHLBI, 1993)

The American Heart Association recommends EMS response staffing that is consistent with the number of fire fighters typically assigned per unit.

In a system that attained survival rates higher than 20% for patients with ventricular fibrillation, the response teams have a minimum of two ACLS providers plus a minimum of two BLS personnel at the scene. Most experts agree that four responders are the minimum required to provide ACLS to cardiac arrest victims (AHA,1992)

According to the American Heart Association

“ For cardiac arrest, the highest hospital discharge rate has been accieved in patients in whom CPR was initiated within 4 minutes of arrest and ACLS within 8 Minutes. Early bystander rescue breathing or CPR intervention and fast emergency medical service (EMS) response are therefore essential in improving survival rates”

NFPA 1710 Section 5.3.3.4.4

Personnel deployed to ALS emergency response shall include a minimum of two members trained as Paramedics and two members trained as Emergency Medical Technicians

Predicting Survival from Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Graphic Model,” Annals of Emergency Medicine; November 1993

Sources

American Heart Association, “Guideline for Cardiopulmonary resuscitation and Emergency Cardiac Care,” JAMA, 268:76 ; October 28, 1992.

National Institute of Health, National Heart, Lung, & Blood Institute, Staffing and Equipiping EMS Systems; Rapid Identification of Treatment of Acute Myocardial Infarction; NIH Publication No. 93-3304; September 1993

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