January 2009–December 2009

2010 Accomplishments – By The Numbers

• Responded to over 11,370 calls for service:
  • Over 215 Fire calls
  • Over 9,100 EMS calls
• Fire Suppression and EMS personnel participated in over 36,000 hours of training; stated another way, completed an average of over 300 training hours per person, per year.
• Completed 777 plan checks.
• Completed over 1,945 Fire and Life Safety Inspections of industrial and commercial businesses for code compliance.
• Fielded over 4,485 phone calls to the Fire Prevention Bureau.
• Completed over 655 Specialized Inspections.
• Responded to over 35 calls for Fire Investigation.
• Completed over 390 weed hazard inspections and handled over 758 customer service phone questions regarding weed hazards.
• Fire Department personnel taught Escondido University CPR classes to City employee, offering ten classes and training 201 people in CPR
• Certified 80 new members (citizens) as Disaster Service Workers for Escondido’s CERT Program
• Successfully recertified 35 paramedics in Advanced Cardiac Life Support
• Hired and trained 9 new Firefighter/Paramedics.
• Received over $200,000 in grant funding during 2010; grant funds were used or plan to use for items such as:
  • Rescue & Firefighting Equipment
  • Portable Radios
  • Safety Clothing
  • CERT Program
  • EMS Equipment
  • EOC Training Exercises

Fire Department Notable Events

• In May 2010, mold was discovered throughout Fire Station 4. Fire Station 4 provides emergency response to the North County Fair and Kit Carson Park area. Personnel were moved out of the Fire Station for health and safety reasons. Initially crews were moved to Fire Station 5 near Felicita Park. Due to the costs associated with mitigating the mold infestation and repairing the station to prevent future mold outbreaks, City Council agreed it would be best to remodel and expand Fire Station 4 at the same time. Because a remodel and expansion will take a prolonged duration to complete, we needed to find Fire Station 4 personnel a temporary home somewhere in District 4. After much consideration, an agreement was made with Aegis Senior Living located down the street from Fire Station 4. Crews are currently housed at the Aegis facility in a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom Casita. It is a great Public/Private Partnership, making the best out of a bad situation. Crews will remain at Aegis until the remodel of Fire Station 4 is complete.
• On July 10, 2010 at 04:40 AM, fire crews responded to a structure fire at 820 E. Washington Ave, the Holiday Garden Apartments. Crews arrived to find a single story apartment unit well involved with fire spreading to the neighboring apartments. The fire went to a second alarm, requiring a total of 14 fire units and 33 fire personnel. It took approximately 27 minutes to extinguish the fire which caused $410,000 of damage and resulted in one civilian fatality.
• On September 22, 2010, Engine 1314 responded to a reported natural gas leak at a road construction site on S. Escondido Boulevard at Felicita Avenue. While enroute, fire personnel were advised that the leak was caused by a street repair operation and that the Escondido Police Department was also enroute for possible evacuations. Upon arrival, the first arriving officer reported a major natural gas line leak in the middle of S. Escondido Blvd. Additional resources from the Escondido Fire, Police and Public Works Departments were requested to assist with developing and coordinating a response to the gas leak. San Diego Gas and Electric crews were requested to assist with shutting down the gas leak. A notice was sent to Juniper School to shelter the students in their classrooms. A perimeter was set up and a full shelter-in-place message was delivered by the Reverse 911 system to a major residential area surrounded by Juniper Street, Felicita Ave., Escondido Blvd. and Vermont Ave. A major evacuation of Juniper School was avoided when the natural gas leak was shut off two hours after it began. No injuries were reported, businesses were allowed to reopen and traffic resumed to normal along Escondido Blvd.
• On November 18, 2010, Engine 1313 and Medic 1391 responded to an explosion with injuries at 1954 Via Scott. The incident occurred in the unincorporated portion of Escondido, less than a block from Fire Station 3. Initial priorities were for life safety and the treatment of the injured person. The fire captain that responded recognized the potential for this incident and requested the Sheriffs respond Code 3. The incident turned out to be one that gained national newsworthiness as the "Escondido Bomb Factory House". The incident was actually located in the San Marcos Fire Protection District and was turned over to the San Marcos Fire Department. Since the area was surrounded by the City of Escondido; the Escondido Fire Department remained in a Unified Command with the San Marcos Fire Department, San Diego County Sheriffs, and Escondido Police Department. The incident concluded on December 9, 2010 when the house was purposefully burned to the ground to mitigate the many hazards that had been located on the property and within the house. This incident involved Local, State, and Federal personnel and resources, it was a real testament and success for Homeland Security.
• On December 22, 2010 at 12:11 PM, the Escondido Fire Department responded to the Sempra Energy plant for a "Step Up" transformer fire, which required two days to extinguish. Personnel from EFD, EPD, San Diego Haz Mat, Camp Pendleton Fire Haz Mat, County Health Department, Marine Corp Air Station Pendleton and Sempra Energy Officials were all involved. The fire was monitored along with air conditions and the reverse 911 system was implemented to notify local residents. A comprehensive tactical plan was initiated to suppress the fire. There were no injuries to report and the estimated dollar loss was three million dollars per SDG&E officials.  
• In 2010 our Senior Volunteers have collectively donated over 5,900 hours of service to the Fire Department and to the citizens of Escondido.  The Senior Volunteers provided assistance to the Fire Department each and every day thereby allowing us to save costs to our departmental budget as well as numerous personnel hours.  There are currently 29 volunteers, which include one administration volunteer. To maintain the number of volunteers at an adequate level, the Senior Volunteers held a new Senior Volunteer Academy, which resulted in the addition of 13 new Senior Volunteers. Our Senior Volunteers have consistently participated in the City’s Annual Holiday Drives.  As a group, the Senior Volunteers were an integral part of the collected food items, packaging materials and gift cards to help our Department and other agencies of the City of Escondido.  Collectively the City presented in excess of 300 baskets and bags of holiday meals to many Escondido senior citizens.  Of the 300 baskets presented to the Joslyn Senior Center in 2010, our Senior Volunteers were responsible for 151 of those donated. 

Other Fire Department Accomplishments in 2010 

• Grand opening and dedication ceremony Police and Fire Headquarters on May 1, 2010.
• Completed draft version of the Community Wildfire Protection Plan which is currently under public review and comment period.
• Instituted Target Safety online training and records management program and began to document training records in Target Safety.
• Sponsored, along with Palomar Pomerado Hospital District, a San Diego North Zone High Rise Drill with over 100 firefighters in attendance.
• Developed a new Public Education phone and documentation system utilizing on-duty personnel to record and schedule public relations activities.
• OES Bruch Unit 8632 was moved and is now staffed by Station 4 personnel.
• Continued oversight of the City’s Public Access Defibrillation Program and 21 AEDs.
• Assisted with the offering of continuing education at a National Fire/EMS/Law conference.
• Continued to upgrade our 800 MHz radio cache.
• Purchased new hydraulic cutters and spreaders to aid in vehicle extrication of trapped patients.
• Upgraded EKG telemetry to hospitals to provide better patient care.
• Submitted State and Local Fire Ordinances to the Rincon Water Board for approval.  Rincon Board approved on December 14^th and became effective on January 1, 2011.  City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing in February and we anticipate the adoption of the State and Local Fire Codes for the City limits at this meeting. 
• Purchased and equipped two Ford-450 Paramedic Ambulances and placed into service at Fire Stations 1 and 2.
• Administered the seasonal flu vaccine and other needed vaccines to all fire personnel.
• Conducted patient satisfaction surveys monthly to EMS patients to assess our customers satisfaction and needs.
• Conducted earthquake training for all Westfield North County Fair employees.
• Conducted a Golden Guardian EOC exercise for city employees.
• Functional exercise - Wohlford Dam Emergency Action Plan.
• The Great California Shake-Out exercise.
• Council approval of the revised Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan.
• CERT members participated in two significant disaster drills involving earthquake and plane crash scenarios.

For additional information contact:

Fire Administration
Escondido Police & Fire Headquarters
1163 North Centre City Parkway
Escondido, CA 92026

Phone: 760-839-5400
Fax: 760-739-7060