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Master Plan Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

Figure 73. NFPA 1710 4 and 8-Minute Travel

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(Form scores,

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4 Conservation. Sa"
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Benson
Park

@® Fire Station i AN ' = >
<> 4Minute Travel
@ 8 Minute Travel
7) Nashua Boundary
CI

Fire Districts

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Flints Hill d
123m P . p 4

ang were

aes
zero

Main Street
wildlife ——

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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Master Plan Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

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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Master Plan

Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

Figure 74. ISO 1.5-Mile Engine Company Service Area

\ € Senter

\ Form Estates

Nashua Fire Rescue
412.1 Miles of Roads

Roads within 1.5 miles of
a Fire Station: 203.6 miles

Percentage of Coverage:
49.4%

ot

Fire Station

1.5 Mile Travel Area

Nashua Boundary

Fire Districts

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3 Four Hills
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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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CERTIFICATE OF LIABILITY INSURANCE

12/23/2021

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REPRESENTATIVE OR PRODUCER, AND THE CERTIFICATE HOLDER.

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certificate holder In llau of such endorsemant(s).

PRODUCER CONTACT Karen Stapley
THE ROWLEY AGENCY INC. PHONE — .. (603) 224-2562 LEAe, Noy. (6039224-8012
45 Conatitution Avanue eee kstapley@ rowleyagency. com
P.O. Box 511 INSURER(S) AFFORDING COVERAGE NAIC
Concord NA 03302-0511 INSURERA: Union Insurance Company 25844
py INsURERG :Acadia Insurance Company 31325
Material Handling Sales, Inc. INSURERG:Maine Employers Mutual Ins Co 11149
20 Downeast Dr INSURER D;

INSURER E:
Yarmouth ME 04096 INSURER F :
COVERAGES CERTIFICATE NUMBER: - REVISION NUMBER:

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THE POLICIES OF INSURANCE LISTED BELOW HAVE BEEN ISSUEO TO THE INSURED NAMED ABOVE FOR THE POLICY PERIOD
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INSR JADOL [SUaR POLICYEFF | POLIC
on TYPE OF INSURANCE wp POLICY NUMBER cambonern UimiTs
X | COMMERCIAL GENERAL LIABILITY EACH OCCURRENCE $ 1,000,000
A ] CLAIMS-MADE [x | OCCUR PREMISES (E6 popurenca) $ 300,000
CPAS101636 12/31/2021 | 12/31/2022 | MED EXP (Any one p $ 5,000
+ PERSONAL & ADV INJURY | $ 1,000,000
GEN'L AGGREGATE LIMIT APPLIES PER: GENERAL AGGREGATE $ 2,000,000
POLICY BRS [] Loc PRODUCTS -GOMP/OPAGG | $ 2,000,000
QTHER: §
AUTOMOBILE LIABILITY fe es sea ga ro $ 1,000,000
B XE ANYAUTO BODILY JURY (Per person) | $
ALL Gwen rin CAA5101637 12/31/2021 | 12/31/2022 | BODILY INJURY (Per sccident) | $
; | NON-OWNED ROPERTY DAMAGE
HIRED AUTOS AUTOS fe eocdent) G $
$
| x | UMBRELLA LIAB | | occur CUAS101633 | EACH OCCURRENCE bj 5,000,000
EXCESS LIAB CLAIMS-MADE Per Project Aggregate AGGREGATE $ 5,000,000
B ‘
DED | RETENTION $ capped at $10,000,000 12/31/2021 | 12/31/2022 $
WORKERS COMPENSATION 3A States: ME,WH,CT,MA,VZ,NY, x [eee ure mre
AND EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY YIN
ANY PROPRIETOR/PARTNER/EXECUTIVE nT 5101600377 E.L. EACH ACCIDENT $ 1,000,000
OFFIGEFUMEMBER EXCLUDED? NIA
C [iMandatory in NH) EXCLUDED : WILLIAM 12/31/2021 | 12/31/2022 | E.. DISEASE - EAEMPLOYEE | $ 1,000,000
H yas, describe under
ORSCRIPTION F OPERATIONS below CLIFFORD, ERIC PETERSON E.L. DISEASE -POLICYLIMIT | § 1,000,000
A | Leased/Rented Equip CPAS101636 12/31/2021 | 12/31/2022 | Limit $25,000 9500 Ded
Inetallation Floater Limit: $165,000 $500 Ded
DESCRIPTION OF OPERATIONS / LOCATIONS / VEHICLES (ACORD 101, Additiona! Remarks Schedule, may be atteched if more space Is required)

Covering operations of the insured during the policy period.

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EIR SoD aL Se ACCORDANCE WITH THE POLICY PROVISIONS.

AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE
Karen Stapley/KS K anert hel
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INS025 (201401)

Master Plan Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

Figure 75. ISO 2.5-Mile Ladder Company Service Area
~™ a ™S ? Ao
es . e
eee eS ee : % Nashua Fire Rescue
: ~ - 412.1 Miles of Roads

Roads within 2.5 miles of a
Ladder Company: 268.7 miles

iH 122 - Se

Percentage of Coverage:

Fire Station

~*~,
®
@ 2.5 Mile Travel Area
CI

Nashua Boundary

Fire Districts

NH 122

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

inter,
£orm Estates

Nashua Fire Rescue
412.1 Miles of Roads

Roads within 5 miles of a
Fire Station: 412.1 miles

Rs Conservation ©

i a land —
ae Percentage of Coverage:

100.0%

Fire Station
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
~~ % i X ' Zz. Senter

“ss NH 101A

I

Nashua Fire Rescue
412.1 Miles of Roads

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

Percentage of Coverage:
97.5%

ry

ae

wai Ee

@ Fire Station 6

Ath.

©.— Area within 1,000’ of Hydrant

7 Y Nashua Boundary

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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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Master Plan Nashua Fire Rescue, NH

Figure 78. Effective Response Force

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- Pi ean -Git-«
FFs within 8 Minute .

4-7 811 12-17 18-23 24-29 30-38 ~
oe Go GF & @ €
7) Nashua Boundary
C_] Fire Districts

tonafi

In this figure, an 8-minute travel time extends from each fire station with the minimum staffing of each
station applied to this travel area. Where areas overlap, the minimum staffing totals from each constituent
area are added together to model Nashua Fire Rescue’s deployment and ERF capabilities. In this model, it is
assumed that all units are available and in quarters. As illustrated in this figure, the central core of the city
possesses adequate numbers of firefighters for residential and small commercial fires; however, outside of
this area, Nashua Fire Rescue’s ability to provide sufficient staffing in a timely manner is significantly less,
particularly in the northwest, southwest, and southeast areas of the city. While a balance must be struck
between the desired levels of service within a community and the ability to pay for those services, the
northwestern and southeastern portions of the city experienced both increased incident density and incident
counts, as compared to other less densely staffed areas of Nashua, and have little to no overlap by other
stations. If stations 3, 5, or 6 were unavailable at the time of an incident, first due unit arrival times would be
expected in excess of an 8-minute travel time and also experience prolonged assemblies of the ERF.

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RESOURCE RELIABILITY

In this section, resource reliability is evaluated using several metrics to establish a global perspective on
Nashua’s ability to provide sufficient responding resources to meet service demand within the city. When all
units are available and in quarters, supplying sufficient resources is typically not a problem; however, when
multiple calls occur simultaneously, units are committed to incidents for extended periods of time, or when
insufficient resources exist to mitigate an emergency, further preparation and planning safely and effectively
must be completed.

Call Concurrency

First, call concurrency is evaluated. Call concurrency is a comparison of how often multiple calls are occurring
and placing additional demand on resources. In the next figure, a concurrent call is identified when a second
unit is dispatched to a separate incident prior to the first unit clearing the scene and becoming available.
When two incidents are occurring simultaneously and a third separate incident is dispatched, three
concurrent calls are present, and so on.

Figure 79. Call Concurrency, 2017-2019

Call Concurrency

Single Incident 63.3%
2 25.4%

3 7 .O%

4 or more 3.8%

When units are committed to an incident in Nashua, only one incident is occurring 63.3% of the time.
However, this also indicates that 36.7% of the time that units are committed at two or more separate
incidents and are unavailable to respond to additional calls. When comparing these findings to the ERF
analysis in the previous figure, Nashua’s ability to provide a sufficient number of firefighters to the downtown
area and central core of the city the majority of the time appears to be adequate while the response to
outlying areas, particularly the northwestern and southeastern portions of the city possesses the potential
for delayed responses and insufficient personnel to mitigate medium or high-risk incidents safely and
effectively.

Unit Hour Utilization

Another component that must be considered when evaluating Resource Reliability is Unit Hour Utilization
(UHU). UHU provides an expression of the workload placed on the crew assigned to that unit and can also
describe the amount of time that a unit is not available for response because it is already committed to
another incident. The larger the percentage, the greater its utilization, and the less available it is for
assignment to subsequent calls for service, training, and ancillary duties. UHU rates are expressed as a
percentage of the total hours ina year.

In May 2016, Henrico County (VA) Division of Fire published an article after studying its department’s EMS
workload. As a result of the study, Henrico County Division of Fire developed a general commitment factor
scale for its department. The next figure is a summary of the findings as it relates to commitment factors.

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