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Master Plan Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

Section IV. Analysis of Service Delivery and Performance

An evaluation of service delivery and performance within the City of Nashua provides the fire department
and its community with the baseline performance that it can expect. As the City continues to grow and
develop, public services should maintain pace with that growth if effective and equitable services are to be
provided to all taxpayers. In this section, multiple areas of evaluation will be identified and discussed, andthe
performance and deployment methodology of Nashua Fire Rescue compared with national and industry
standards. Ultimately, the decision regarding the appropriate level of fire and rescue services for the City of
Nashua and their related costs will be made by Nashua’s citizenry.

SERVICE DEMAND ANALYSIS

The demand for services drives Nashua Fire Rescue’s mission to provide a safe and vibrant community
through risk reduction, preparedness, and a proactive all hazards response. The ways in which Nashua Fire
Rescue is deployed, the types of services provided, and the way training is accomplished should be reflective
of the types of incidents to which the department responds, the level of risk associated with those incidents,
and the relative frequency of occurrence of these incident types.

Trends in the data provided can provide insights into how service demand may change year to year and the
major categories of incident types. Knowledge of when high demand periods occur will assist Nashua Fire
Rescue in determining whether staffing levels are sufficient for that demand. Additionally, that knowledge
will assist in scheduling additional duties such as training, fire safety inspections, and vehicle maintenance.

First, annual calls for service by calendar year are displayed.

Figure 64. Annual Calls for Service, 2014-2019

16,000
14,000 13,531 13,513
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000

2,000

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

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Master Plan Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

When service demand is examined by annual calls for service, a sharp increase in demand occurred in 2016
and 2017, then leveled off and reduced in 2019. The increase in demand rose 56.2% from 2015 through 2017
and fell by 40.5% from the peak in 2017 to 2019. The reason for this increase and decline was due to a change
in policy regarding medical call types that the department responded to. In 2016, the fire department began
responding to low level nonemergency medical calls in addition to their emergency responses; however, it
was determined that this policy was not needed and placed additional wear and tear on equipment and
apparatus. In 2018, the decision was made to return to the previous policy of not responding to
nonemergency medical calls, resulting in the decline in annual call volume.

Figure 65 provides additional information about Nashua Fire Rescue’s annual service demand. In this figure,
service demand by incident type was evaluated. Categories used in this analysis are based upon the National
Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) guidelines for grouping of incident types. Within the NFIRS
classifications, the following incident types are grouped within the corresponding series:

= 100 Fires

= 200 Overheat/Overpressure
= 300 EMS

» 400 ~~ Hazardous Conditions

= 500 Service Call

= 600 Good Intent

= 700 False Alarms

= 800 Severe Weather

= goo Special Incident

The following figure displays service demand during 2014 through 2019 by general NFIRS classifications.

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Master Plan

9,000
8,000
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000

0

m 2014
2015
2016

m2017

™2018
m2019

Fire

196
300
325
223
244
157

Figure 65. Service Demand by NFIRS Classification, 2015-2019

Hazardous

Overpress
6 4170
6 4209
3 6615
0 8331
11 8038
8 4562

Condition
413
399
327
430
348
175

Service

Call
1221
1083
1264
1576
1838
996

Good
Intent

1392
1374
1462
1676
1586
1296

False
Alarm

1275
1284
1270
1264
1442
853

Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

Severe
Weather

6
2
2
25
1
4

7

WwW Ae Oo oO

Special
Incident

When annual demand is displayed by incident type, EMS is clearly the driving force for the increased demand

with service calls and good intent calls also contributing to overall service demand increases. In 2019, the

demand for EMS calls for service fell nearly as sharply as it rose from 2015 to 2017.

Finally, the distribution of call types from 2017 through 2019 is presented as a pie chart to provide an

understanding of service demand relative to incident categories.

Figure 66. Service Demand by Incident Frequency, 2017-2019

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EMS
60%

Hazardous
Condition

Fire
2%

3%

Service Call

12%

Good Intent

13%

False Alarm
10%

104

Master Plan Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

When the relative frequency of incident types is compared, the majority (59.6%) of Nashua Fire Rescue’s
demand is for emergency medical services. Additionally, 35.7% of Nashua’s total call volume across the three-
year period was for nonemergent call types such as service calls, good intent, and false alarms. Fires,
hazardous conditions, and overpressure/overheating emergencies accounted for 4.5% of the total call

volume.

In Figure 67, GIS software was used to create a 10-acre hexagon grid across the City of Nashua. Geocoded
incident locations were added, and the number of incidents that occurred within each hexagon was
calculated and presented. Dark green hexagons represent 1 incident occurred within the hexagon, while red
hexagons represent incident counts from 250 to 1,200.

Figure 67. Incident Count by 10-Acre Hexagons, 2017-2019

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~~ Senter
= NH 101A Form Estates

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me

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Number of Calls by 10 Acre Hexagons {
1
2-10
11-25
26-50
51-100
101-250
>250

®
@
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@
®
74 Nashua Boundary
Co
a

Fire Districts

Q 1 2

Flints Hill

Four Hills
tondfill

NH 122

pas iy

ope Technical
Park

MA 3A gener

The areas of highest demand cluster between stations 1, 2, and 4 with additional increased demand in the
southeast and northwest areas of Nashua. The areas north of the airport should anticipate increased travel
times due to the location of Station 5 on the southeast corner of the airport. Outside of the areas identified,
most locations across Nashua accounted for lower levels of service demand, with many 10-acre areas
producing 2 to 10 calls for service from 2017 through 2019.

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Master Plan Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

Temporal Variation Analysis

Temporal variations are the patterns of activity occurring within certain periods of time. In this section, these
patterns are displayed by month, day, and hour to provide Nashua Fire Rescue with insights into when
increases and decreases in service demand based on historical patterns are anticipated. In Figure 68, the
temporal variation by month of the year for Nashua is shown.

Figure 68. Service Demand by Month, 2017-2019

10.0%
9.0%
8.0%
7.0%
6.0%
5.0%
4.0%
3.0%
2.0%
1.0%
0.0%

Demand for services increases slightly from April through October, with a decline during late fall and winter
months, November through March. This is most likely due to increased activity coinciding with warmer
weather. In the next figure, service demand patterns are displayed by the day of the week for 2017 through
2019.

Figure 69. Service Demand by Day of the Week, 2017-2019
15.5%
15.0%
14.5%
14.0%
13.5%
13.0%
12.5%
12.0%

11.5% 4

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When demand for service is analyzed by the day of the week, Fridays and Saturdays stand out as the days of
greatest demand while Sundays have the least amount of demand. Monday through Thursdays are relatively
constant with nearly equal levels of demand.

Finally, in Figure 70, the demand by hour of the day is shown.

Figure 70. Service Demand by the Hour of the Day, 2017-2019
10.0%
9.0%
8.0%
7.0%
6.0%
5.0%
4.0%
3.0%
2.0%
1.0%

0.0%
0123 45 6 7 8 9% 10111213 1415 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

While Nashua’s data generally presents the typical pattern observed in fire departments with demand
beginning to rise in the early morning hours, peak around the middle of the day, and decrease in the evening
hours, a significant spike in demand is present from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. This spike is due to how the fire
department issues burn permits. Although burn permits are currently issued online, in the past fire crews
would travel to the location requesting a burn permit and issue it in person at 3 pm each day. These burn
permits requests would receive a NFIRS number, which is why they appear within this figure. Today this is no
longer the practice.

Of note is that while demand is lower in the early morning hours, fatal residential fires occur most frequently
late at night or in the early morning. From 2014 to 2016, fatal residential fires were highest between 1:00 a.m.
to 2:00 a.m. The 8-hour peak period (11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.) accounted for 48% of fatal residential fires.

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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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™ .. NH 101A i \ = Geri Foes
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ot
@ Fire Station - \
Population Density: People per Sq. Mile! la < ~ ere
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SH FH Hg
& AP a oy” vO
SF SF Wf KF
7-\ Nashua Boundary
0 1 2
Maes
3
Pee, &
Hollis ze f
Bragg see
E
NH 3A
NH 122 Z
%
%
5 , NH ITIA %
f
i fechni
— cities a bast ME ark
MA 3A — = =
ee *,

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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Master Plan

Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

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

j 4 ¢ Senter
\ s
™
ar

2 Form Estates
4

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Northwest
Conservation
land

NH 102

et
@ Fire Station

Incident Density: Incidents / Sq Mile

OH 5 no 50% 40 10, ga”
8 7 rth or ar ar ag

i
=

Ferry Street

=o

*

Th Nashua Boundary

0 1

Mites

Hollis
Braga see
é
$
3 Flin : Hill
a 1 f
NH 3A
Four Hills
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= 8
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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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