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Master Plan Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

POPULATION DENSITY AND GEOGRAPHICAL DEMAND

A major contributing factor to the levels of service demand experienced by Nashua is the population density
of the areas served within its jurisdiction. The City of Nashua is an urban municipality, with many of its
developed areas exceeding population densities of 3,000 people per square mile.

Figure 71 displays population density by U.S. Census blocks, the smallest unit of division available from the
census bureau. Using proprietary software by Esri, population density information for 2019 was compiled by
census blocks and displayed. Detailed census block information from the U.S. Census is updated every ten
years following the completion of the U.S. Census survey.

Figure 71. Population Density by Census Block, 2019

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The greatest concentration densities in Nashua occur in and around the downtown area, with additional
pockets of high density scattered throughout the city. In areas of greater population density, higher demands
for service should be anticipated. This is also reflected in Nashua’s deployment of fire stations. The current
stations are distributed more densely in areas with higher populations around downtown and less densely
distributed in areas of lower total population.

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The next figure provides an analysis of incident density using three years of fire rescue response data from
January 1, 2017, through December 31, 2019. This analysis, commonly referred to as Hot Spot Mapping,
calculates areas of greatest demand based on the density of incidents within an area. This analysis does not
indicate how many calls actually occurred within each ring, but instead provides a way to compare each area

to one another. In this analysis, each ring is calculated to display incidents per square mile and provides a
range of how densely located calls for service were to each other.

Figure 72. Incident Density Analysis, 2017-2019

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The areas indicated as having the highest levels of incident density correlate with those areas identified as
having the densest populations from the previous figure. While stations 1, 2, and 4 surround the region of
greatest calculated density, it does not necessarily mean that these units are busier than others, particularly

those stations with larger service areas. However, this analysis would suggest that the stations surrounding
the downtown area are located proximal to the majority of their service demand.

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Master Plan Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

RESOURCE DISTRIBUTION

To determine how Nashua Fire Rescue’s current deployment model affects coverage throughout the City,
the current performance of the department must first be evaluated. Using fire service industry standards to
include the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards and Insurance Services Office (ISO)
criteria, Nashua’s deployment model and performance were evaluated.

In the first section, NFPA criteria specific to fire department performance were applied, and Nashua Fire
Rescue’s performance was evaluated.

NFPA 1710 Criteria

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is an industry trade association that develops and provides
standards and codes for fire departments and emergency medical services for local governments. One of
these standards, NFPA 1710: Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations,
Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments, serves as a
national consensus standard for career fire department performance, operations, and safety. Within this
standard, a travel time of 240 seconds, or 4 minutes, is identified as the benchmark for career departments
to reach emergency calls within their jurisdiction with the first arriving unit. Additionally, the balance of the
response (called the effective response force) is required to arrive at the incident within 480 seconds, or 8-
minutes. Figure 73 provides a synopsis of Nashua Fire Rescue’s ability to meet these standards based upon
predicted travel times using historical traffic data from Esri for traffic patterns at 8 a.m. on Monday mornings.
Unshaded pockets indicate that the area falls outside of the model’s maximum extension from the road
network.

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Figure 73. NFPA 1710 4 and 8-Minute Travel

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While the central core of Nashua should have the ability to adequately provide emergency responses with
the first due unit arriving in a 4-minute or less travel time, other areas of the city lie outside of this standard.
Of particular note are those areas previously identified as having high incident counts or increased incident
density, specifically the southeast part of the city east of the Everett Turnpike and, to a lesser extent, areas
north and west of the airport. Nashua Fire Rescue’s ability to assemble an Effective Response Force (ERF) will
be evaluated in the Resource Concentration section. The decision as to whether or not a community possesses
adequate coverage is dependent upon the expectations of the community and their ability to fund services.
While ideally all structures would be located within a 4-minute travel time and a sufficient number of
firefighters present, in most communities this is not possible. The City should evaluate the fire department's
current capabilities and determine if they meet the community's expectations.

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ISO Response Performance

The Insurance Services Office (ISO) is a data analytics organization that provides insurance carriers with a
classification rating of a local community's fire protection. The Property Protection Class (PPC®) score or
rating classifies communities based upon an overall scale of 1 (best protection) to 10 (no protection) and
assesses all areas related to fire protection. These areas are broken into four major categories, which include:
emergency dispatch and communications (10% of the rating), water supply system and distribution
capabilities (40%), the fire department (50%), and Community Risk Reduction efforts (an additional 5.5%
credit is available above 100%).

As part of the Master Planning Process, ESCI conducted a complete benchmarking assessment for Nashua
to identify key performance measures based on the Insurance Services Office (ISO) criteria. This report has
been submitted to Nashua Fire Rescue as a separate report. These criteria were graded based on past and
current performance and deficiencies prioritized based on the greatest impact on overall score improvement
versus the cost of those improvements.

Engine Company Performance

A key area of credit towards a jurisdiction’s PPC® score is the degree to which structures protected by the
fire department fall within a 1.5 road-mile service area of a fire station. This 1.5 road-mile standard is used to
estimate a 4-minute travel time for first responding units as required by NFPA 1710. In Figure 74, an analysis
was completed for current fire stations with areas in yellow indicating those structures within a1.5-mile drive.
Based on the ISO engine company travel criteria, approximately 50% of Nashua is included within the 1.5-
mile travel distance.

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Figure 74. ISO 1.5-Mile Engine Company Service Area

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Nashua Fire Rescue
412.1 Miles of Roads

Roads within 1.5 miles of
a Fire Station: 203.6 miles

Percentage of Coverage:
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1.5 Mile Travel Area

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Ladder Company Performance

In many jurisdictions across the country, ladder companies are deployed only to certain types of incidents
and are not necessarily considered as the first due unit for all other incident types. Because of this, ISO uses
a 2.5 road-mile travel distance for ladder companies to estimate an 8-minute travel time in urban and
suburban areas by ladder companies to provide the balance of personnel and equipment needed for incidents
such as working fires. The next figure displays Nashua Fire Rescue’s ladder company performance in the city.

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Master Plan Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

Figure 75. ISO 2.5-Mile Ladder Company Service Area
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Roads within 2.5 miles of a
Ladder Company: 268.7 miles

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Percentage of Coverage:

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Deployed from stations 1, 2, and 3, Nashua Fire Rescue has the ability to provide ladder coverage to
approximately 65% of the city along its central and eastern core. Prior to adding or removing ladder
companies to the deployment strategy for Nashua, the Department should consult with its local ISO
representative to discuss the potential implications and impact to the overall rating when ladder companies
are added or removed.

ISO Fire Station Coverage

In order to receive a PPC® rating that indicates fire coverage is available from ISO, structures must generally
be located within 5 miles of a fire station. Areas outside of 5 miles are subject to receiving a PPC® rating of
10, meaning that no fire department coverage is available. Within the City of Nashua, all areas lie within 5-
miles of a fire station and are eligible to receive a rating based upon the performance of the fire department.

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Master Plan Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

Figure 76. ISO 5-Mile Service Area

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412.1 Miles of Roads

Roads within 5 miles of a
Fire Station: 412.1 miles

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5 Mile Travel Area

Nashua Boundary

Fire Districts

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Master Plan Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

Water Supply and Hydrant Locations

Access to water is a fundamental requirement for fire suppression in urban settings. Without an adequate
supply of water, fire suppression operations are challenging. Additionally, the access point for this water
supply must be located close enough to the structure to allow for rapid access by the fire department.

Next, fire hydrant coverage within Nashua is displayed using ISO requirement that structures must be located
within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant.

Figure 77. ISO Fire Hydrant Coverage
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412.1 Miles of Roads

Roads within 1,000’ of a
Fire Hydrant: 402.0 miles

Percentage of Coverage:
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At nearly total coverage, Nashua’s water supply should be sufficient in most areas of the city. For the small
pockets that lack fire water coverage within 1,000 feet, Nashua Fire Rescue should work with both the water

utility provider and preplan structures within those areas to ensure an adequate water supply can be
established and maintained.

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Master Plan Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

General ISO Considerations

The City of Nashua possesses the ability to dramatically improve its ISO PPC® rating and potentially receive
an ISO 1 rating. A review of the fire department's latest ISO survey indicates that significant credit was lost
within the emergency communications, staffing, water supply, deployment, and community risk reduction
sections of the evaluation and subsequently contributed to a rating of 82.04 or a low ISO Class 2 rating.

Resource Concentration

While the majority of responses within Nashua are EMS in nature and are typically handled by one to two
units, some incidents require large numbers of resources and personnel to mitigate the emergency condition
and reduce loss safely and effectively. The ability of Nashua Fire Rescue to effectively deploy multiple units
to an incident scene within a timely manner will often make the difference between minor damage and a
total loss.

NFPA 1710 requires that for moderate risk incidents or greater, such as a fire in a 2,000 square foot residential
dwelling, the balance of needed resources arrive at the scene within an 8-minute travel time. To achieve this,
the concentration of Nashua’s resources were evaluated to determine how the spacing of multiple resources
(the response apparatus within their respective fire stations) are arranged so that an initial Effective
Response Force (ERF) can arrive on scene within the time frames outlined in the on-scene performance
expectations. An effective response force is defined as “the minimum amount of staffing and equipment that
must reach a specific emergency zone location within a maximum prescribed total response time and is
capable of initial fire suppression, EMS, and/or mitigation. The ERF is the result of the critical tasking analysis
conducted as part of a community risk assessment.”

To determine Nashua Fire Rescue’s ability to assemble an effective response force, GIS software was used to
overlay Nashua’s daily minimum staffing at each station within 8-minute travel areas, then add the totals.
The results are shown in Figure 78.

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