Fire Commission — Burlington, VT
Date: 2024-10-01
Time: 08:30

BURLINGTON FIRE COMMISSION
 Minutes of the Meeting
 October 1, 2024

These are the minutes of the October 1, 2024, meeting of the Burlington Fire Commission. The meeting
convened at 08:35 hours via Zoom and in person with Commissioners Perkinson, Chapman, Sheehey, and
McLaughlin. Chief LaChance, Deputy Chief Curtin, Battalion Chief of Training Troy Ruggles, and
Administrative Assistant Meghan Sweeney were also present.

Call to Order
Commissioner McLaughlin called the meeting to order at 08:35.

Motion for Meeting End Time
Motion to end meeting by 09:30 from Commissioner Sheehey, seconded by Commissioner Chapman.

Motion to Adopt Agenda
No motions made.

Public Comment
No members of the public were present.

Chief’s Oral Report
Chief Lachance’s report (attached) was emailed to commissioners. Additional discussion of topics included:

Personnel—Chief LaChance said the number of members who have submitted applications for the next
lieutenant process is surprisingly low. He thinks the cover officer position that many newly promoted
lieutenants are assigned may not be as appealing. This can be negotiated, but the promotion process may need to
be held again sooner to fulfill officer vacancies.

Fleet – New ambulances now take three years to build. Pairing that with the expected life of current ambulances
means that the current Ambulance 2 should have been purchased in 2023. Ladder 2 is a 2017 truck.

Buildings—Memorial Block discussions are still ongoing. Different locations are under consideration for a
public safety building that would be a new location for Station 1 and the Police Department.

Radio System Upgrade—Equipment will need to be moved to City Place. Contingency money is available to
pay for this move. Lieutenant Brad Wilson has done a wonderful job with this project.

Community Response Team—While discussing the non-transport numbers, Commissioner McLaughlin asked if
there was a general age group of those refusing treatment and transport. Chief LaChance thinks it’s mostly
people in their mid-20s to mid-40s.

Training—BC Ruggles: The recruits are testing for FFI next week and then Firefighter II after that. He hopes
they will be assigned to shifts and apparatus by October 14th. EMS refresher training will be offered in the
winter months.
BC Ruggles applied and was awarded an AFG grant that focused on our members' lack of live fire training
opportunities. The grant allows us to host three trainings (offered for each shift) for live burns at the Vermont
Fire Academy. He’s hoping the burns will happen in the spring of 2025, Fall of 2025, and then in the Spring of
2026. The grant expires in June of 2026. It will cover the transport cost, so he hopes to rent a bus and bring the
entire shift at a time.
The lateral transfer posting is going live today. Recruitment for fire service is generally down, and we as a
department have seen the effects. In the last couple of years, our retention has been better. However, we have
seen classes from 2020 and 2021 where the majority of members moved on and left the fire service jobs. We
hope the lateral transfer process will allow those who want to stay in the profession but move to the area to find
it more fiscally possible. We are also recognizing people who are current members who came with prior
experience. There is no retro pay for them, but they will get pay steps and recognition of experience, allowing
them to be promoted sooner.

EMS Division: Commissioner Chapman asked what buprenorphine is. It’s an opioid blocker that allows people
who are experiencing a high to come down but not so much that they have completely crashed. It will hopefully
allow people to level out enough to accept the services offered to them after we treat the overdose. DC Curtin
explained he tries to think of it as a more advanced Narcan. Commissioner Chapman asked if any other cities
were involved in the pilot program. Chief LaChance thinks Bennington, Newport, and Brattleboro are also
trying this.

Commissioner Chapman asked if the department is able to accept donations from the public. We are; however,
when the money is used, it still falls under the general guidelines of the city's purchasing policy.

Commissioner Chapman asked if there were any safety concerns for the department after the Red Square
incident. Chief LaChance stated that the event was handled swiftly by responding BFD and BPD units. The area
construction affected scene access.

Review and Accept Minutes from the August Meeting
Commissioner McLaughlin asked for a motion to accept the August minutes. Commissioner Sheehey moved
the motion, and the minutes were accepted.

Old Business/New Business
  The commission's status is that they are requesting the city administration to discuss the budget bond vs.
 budget—no updates.
  Public Safety forum—Chief LaChance attends the meetings; however, they are provided with the same
 report he provides the commission with statistics. He was also asked to join the Ward 3 meeting in
 November to discuss public safety.
  Discuss upcoming commission date—Chief LaChance wondered if the Commission would be willing to
 meet on the second Tuesday of the month during the months we meet. This would allow him to capture
 the full month data he’s trying to report on. The commissioners were in favor, but they wanted to wait to
 finalize when Commissioner Bond was present.

Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned by motion from Commissioner Chapman and seconded by Commissioner Sheehey
at 09:37.
October 01, 2024
Chief’s Report to the Burlington Fire Commission


Personnel: We currently hold three vacancies. BC Jamie Valyou has submitted his intent
to retire. His last duty day on shift is Oct. 19. He has accepted the Fire Chief position in
Charlotte, Vermont. After a promotional process for Battalion Chief held in August,
Christopher Laramie was appointed the Battalion Chief of B-Shift, satisfying the vacancy
created when DC Curtin was promoted. Mark McDonough has been promoted to the
Battalion Chief of C-Shift, satisfying the vacancy created by BC Valyou. Capt.
McDonough’s promotion is effective October 21. It’s been my pleasure to make other
promotions based on these command staff appointments. Congratulations to Christopher
Sullivan for his promotion to Captain, Kevin Alexander for his promotion to Lieutenant,
and Jason Charest for his upcoming promotion to Lieutenant, effective on October 21.
Our Captain’s and Lieutenant’s promotional lists are exhausted with these latest
promotions. We will conduct the Lieutenant’s process in November and the Captain’s in
February 2025. BOF and CC have approved our lateral hiring process. The job posting
for the lateral position will open on October 01.


Fit4Fire: Our Fit4Fire committee meets quarterly to discuss new ideas and programs. In
September, the Fit4Fire team, with the department's support, conducted an annual fitness
assessment of members. This is a voluntary assessment, but the team believes that we had
an 80+% participation rate, the highest yet. In December, a class about peer support will
come to Burlington. The IAFF offers this course and will be open to other area
departments.


Responses: As of Sept 22, 2024, the fire department had reached incident number 8,062.
During the same period in 2023, we reached incident number 7,979, a 1.04% increase
over the same time last year.

 1
 FIRE DEPARTMENT RESPONSE TOTALS
 CALENDAR YEAR UPDATED THROUGH
 09/22/2024
 1 yr ago Current YTD Projected EOY
 11031 11063
 9864
 8306 8408
 7979
 7819 8032 7521 8062




 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024



 2022 - 2024 RESPONSES BY MONTH
 1057 1066
 1102
 1102 1119 1054
 937
 979 954 955
 924 905 919
 866
 917 884 879
 857 852 837
 825 834
 695 794 787
 762
 735 764
 724 749
 786
 615




 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC


Overtime: August 01 – September 22
 2023 2024
 • Minimum Staffing Overtime: 1069.5 hrs 1130.25 hrs
 • Mandatory Minimum Staffing Overtime: 242 hrs 191.5 hrs
The above data shows a 5.6% increase in Minimum Staffing Overtime and a 20.87%
decrease in Mandatory Minimum Staffing Overtime during the same period last year.


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Overall, the minimum staffing overtime burden on the employees and city budget
increased by 0.78%.
Note: The above overtime burden on the staff accounts for Minimum Staffing Overtime,
giving us the 22 people required to meet minimum staffing levels. This does not account
for extra duty jobs, dispatch extra duty, or CRT overtime. In the same period, our staff
committed to the following extra duty, dispatch extra duty, and CRT overtime:
 • Extra Duty: 156.5 hrs
 • Dispatch: 326 hrs
 • CRT Overtime: 114.5 hrs


Fleet: Funding for fleet replacement continues to be a priority for the city’s fleet
committee. Ensuring fleet repair requests are addressed promptly and coordinated with
the shift commanders to reduce response disruptions is a primary concern for the DC of
Operations. We expect delivery of two fire apparatus to the Fire Department this week.
Engine 1 and Engine 3 will be replaced with this delivery. The current Engine 1 will
become the new Engine 6. The current Engines, 6 and 3, will be sold after the transition.
With the three-year build schedule for new ambulances and a five-year delivery timeline
for new fire trucks, a priority should be placed on a sustainable fleet purchasing plan. The
city is working on a plan to fund our next ambulance for 2027 delivery.


Buildings: We currently have contracts for annual PM maintenance for our bay doors
and plymovent systems. The RFP to replace the apparatus floor at Station 2 has been
awarded. We are working on scheduling and are concerned this will need to be delayed
until the spring. With the cold weather coming, we are limited to where we can store
trucks. Fire Trucks cannot remain outside in below-freezing weather without being in
operation, as the water can freeze, damaging the unit.


Radio System Upgrade:The Comms System Upgrade is progressing well. As of now,
all of the equipment has been installed on all four sites: 1 North Ave, 100 Bank St,
Diversity Hill, and Jeffords Hall. The Delivered Audio Quality test was completed in the
first week of September, and the results were very promising. Many places that were

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"dead zones" for Fire and PD are now loud and clear. We continue to work with FD and
PD to get radios programmed for the cutover. We are waiting for the FCC to approve 2
more frequencies. We are waiting for BCS and Consolidated Communications to
connect the redundant back-haul links. Once this is complete, Motorola requires two
more inspections to finalize the system. After the inspections, we can set a date for the
cutover.
Motorola is getting a quote from BCS for the equipment move once City Place is ready.


Community Response Team Pilot: Staffing of the CRT in August and September has
decreased from prior months. Over the last two months, our average in-service time has
been about 7 hours per week. The month of August shows overdose numbers consistent
with the same month of the year prior. There are two disturbing trends happening. One is
the significant increase in Overdose, accounting for a spike in monthly averages. The
other is the alarming trend of people not seeking medical care after an overdose. Non-
transports after overdose were averaging between 10% and 25% of the total. We are now
seeing that in almost 50% of the overdoses we respond to, the person does not seek
further medical treatment.




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 OverdoseTotal:Transported:Not Transported
 Data through 09/22/2024

 470


 357 355 362369
 292
 265
 220
 179167 190 193176
 163 158148 150
 135
 113
 27 12 10 40 45 65

 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

 1 yr ago OD total OD transported OD not transported



 Average Overdose Responses per Month
 Data through 09/22/2024

 42.3
 39.2



 29.8


 22.1


 14.9 15.8
 13.6 13.2




 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024




We are tracking data from the CRT deployment. Below are some metrics showing the
program's impact. This data shows how many people the team has touched, the quantity
of wound care supplies handed out, comfort care supplies distributed, Narcan leave-
behind kits distributed, the number of referrals, direct phone requests, and incidents
where the team went above and beyond in their duties.


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Operations Division:
 • BFD deployed three members with state USAR to Florida for Hurricane Helene.
 They are currently relocating to North Carolina.
 • The CAD Cloud Migration is complete and off the city servers. There were minor
 hiccups, but overall, it went smoothly, and all systems are back up and
 operational. Thank you to SF Cochran and Scot Barker for their work on this
 migration
 • All apparatus have been pump tested and passed.
 • The lieutenant's process application period closed on 9/27. Two members
 submitted resumes.
 • Captain's test reading list has been published and distributed to members.
 • The New Firehouse Committee is brainstorming basic concepts of what a new
 firehouse would look like and feature.
 • We are in the process of transitioning to E-keys with our Knox box system.
 Moving forward, only the electronic core will be available to purchase. If
 properties want to retrofit their current boxes, that is an option. The E-Key has
 many advanced features, such as recording who used the key and at what building
 as it has the electronic core for audit purposes. It also enhances interagency
 operations as if another dept comes to Burlington and has the E-Key system, they
 can use their key with their dept code to open boxes that have the electronic core,
 and it's all trackable. The same goes if BFD goes to Shelburne, who is now 100%
 E-Key boxes. South Burlington and Williston are going to be utilizing E-Keys as
 well.
 • We met with the Coast Guard to discuss the contract they are federally required to
 have and toured the facility. The Coast Guard would like to train together more
 and offered their facility for hosting training if BFD wanted it. They would also

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 like to work on building a better relationship with BFD and BPD and will invite
 us and our families to a haunted house/trunk-or-treat they will be putting on in
 October.

Fire Marshal’s Office: The Fire Marshal’s office is working with operational staff to
ensure a successful fire prevention week in October. This year, the week is October 6 –
12. The department will host an event on October 12 at the Champlain School on Pine St.
There will be fire prevention handouts, special guests, the Division of Fire Safety trailer,
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, food trucks, and firefighters.


Training Division:
 1. Recruits nearing the end of Academy. They begin testing out the first week of
 October.
 2. VT Gas has been outfitting the McNeil training building with gas props for
 training purposes.
 3. We have several buildings within the city we will be using for training and
 company drills in the near future.

EMS Division: The division is currently conducting department-wide EMS training
focused on the PREVENT Initiative, particularly highlighting the new Standard
Operating Procedure related to controlled substances. This training also covers the state-
approved variance allowing our AEMTs to administer Suboxone (buprenorphine).

We are also working on the Medicare Ground Ambulance Service report, which is due by
November 30th. On the clinical side, we are reintroducing case reviews with Dr. Michael
Sheeser, who will join our paramedics on the first Friday of every month. Other case
reviews will also be a central focus of our October EMS training for the entire
department.

We’re also strongly emphasizing documentation practices and QA/QI, especially with the
added support from the Vermont Department of Health in gathering data related to the
PREVENT Initiative.


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We received a new infant airway mannequin that lets us specifically work on airway
management skills. Dr. Sheeser and I will sign off on airway skills for our paramedics on
October 4th and utilize the mannequin amongst all providers based on their scope.
Latest EMS Response Data:


 Monthly Fire Department Overdoses
 Updated through 08/31/2024
 80

 70

 60

 50

 40

 30

 20

 10

  0 January
 April
 July
 October
 January
 April
 July
 October
 January
 April
 July
 October
 January
 April
 July
 October
 January
 April
 July
 October
 January
 April
 July
 October
 January
 April
 July
 October
 January
 April
 July
 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024




 Dispatch
 Unknown Problem/Person Down
 Updated through 09/22/2024

 477
 344 359 343
 251 279 250
 225 212 211


 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

 1 yr ago Current YTD Projected EOY




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 Dispatch
 Alcohol Intoxication
 Updated through 09/22/2024

 230 240
 205 210 210 197 209
 184 170 152



 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

 1 yr ago Current YTD Projected EOY




 Annual
 Fire Department EMS Responses to
 Homeless/Houseless/Transient/
 No Address Population
 Updated through 09/22/2024
1800 1689
1600 1507
1400 1231
 1156
1200
1000
 820
 749
 800 637 655
 620
 600 441
 400
 200
  0
 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

 1 yr ago Current YTD Projected EOY




 9|Page
 Monthly Fire Department EMS Responses to
 Homeless/Houseless/Transient/No Address Population
 250

 200

 150

 100

  50

 0




 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024




 Monthly Fire Department EMS Responses to
250
 Homeless/Houseless/Transient/No Address Population
 Data Through 08/31/2024

200




150




100




50




 0

 Jan-17 May-17 Sep-17 Jan-18 May-18 Sep-18 Jan-19 May-19 Sep-19 Jan-20 May-20 Sep-20 Jan-21 May-21 Sep-21 Jan-22 May-22 Sep-22 Jan-23 May-23 Sep-23 Jan-24 May-24




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