ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: May 22, 1997
CC File: 1306-8/3651-1
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: General Manager, Fire and Rescue Services
SUBJECT: Fire Department Purchase of Second HazMat Vehicle
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council approve the purchase and deployment of a second
HazMat vehicle for Vancouver Fire & Rescue Services, at a one
time cost not to exceed $100,000, to satisfy agreements with
the University of British Columbia and associated facilities
for hazardous materials services; source of funds to be the
supplementary service contracts with these organizations that
were previously approved by Council.
B. THAT the new vehicle be managed in the City's Plant Account
with the balance of the Fire Services fleet and the Department
provide for annual replacement cost from the service agreement
recoveries.
C. THAT the additional ongoing operating costs, of the new HazMat
vehicle, estimated at $25,000 be funded from the recoveries
associated with the supplementary service agreements with the
University of British Columbia and associated facilities.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager RECOMMENDS approval of A, B and C.
COUNCIL POLICY
Since 1991, it has been Council policy to require departments to
identify offsetting revenue or recovery increases or expenditures
reductions when new programs or staffing are proposed.
On January 17, 1995, Council approved the provision of fire protection
and related services by Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services to the
University of British Columbia and the University Endowment Lands.
On May 28, 1996, Council approved a continuation of the UBC Supplemental
Service Agreements which had been provided by the University Endowment
Lands Fire Department.
PURPOSE
This report requests approval to purchase a second HazMat vehicle at a
cost not to exceed $100,000 to be operated out of #10 Firehall located
within the University Endowment Lands. The purchase of this vehicle
from external funding sources would fulfill obligations entered into by
the City of Vancouver and the University of British Columbia. Services
were previously provided by the University Endowment Lands Fire
Department. With the purchase of this vehicle the Vancouver Fire and
Rescue Services will maintain the minimum required HazMat support as
required under current Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services standard.
BACKGROUND
On October 16, 1995, Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services and the
University Endowment Lands Fire Department amalgamated. At that time,
the responsibilities for delivery of fire protection and related
services to the University Endowment Lands (UEL) and the University of
British Columbia (UBC) were assumed by the City of Vancouver. A
supplemental agreement with UBC stated that "UBC and its associated
facilities (i.e., Vancouver Hospital at UBC, Triumf Research Project and
the Pulp and Paper Research Facility) are prepared to fund all hazardous
material equipment and cleanup costs, provide a suitable vehicle,
together with required training" on an ongoing basis. The Vancouver
Fire and Rescue Services now provides a Hazardous Materials Technician
Team at #10 Firehall to cover this supplemental agreement.
DISCUSSION
The Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services presently has a HazMat Response
Team in place at #17 Firehall (57th and Knight Street). In 1996 the
Hazardous Materials Response Team answered to 454 HazMat incidents.
Each incident requires one to three hours to bring the situation under
control due to response protocols. HazMat incidents have taken as long
as 72 hours to mitigate (i.e., Cyanide spill at Centennial Pier).
Presently the HazMat Team stationed at #10 Firehall utilizes a vehicle
that has been borrowed from another UBC program. This vehicle is
grossly undersize and is unable to carry all the equipment necessary to
contain, control and clean-up hazardous material incident. This vehicle
must be returned to its rightful position leaving the HazMat Response
Team with few viable alternatives to carry necessary equipment.
The proposed new vehicle to be stationed at #10 Firehall will be smaller
than the HazMat vehicle presently in place at #17 Firehall but will be
large enough to carry the minimum equipment necessary to mitigate any
hazardous materials incident encountered. This vehicle will provide the
same level of service and operational procedures as provided currently
in the City of Vancouver.
There are a large number of scientific laboratories and research
facilities located in the University Endowment Lands area. The number
of hazardous materials incidents within these facilities is increasing,
therefore, a quick response to any incident where hazardous materials
are present is important to reduce the threat of injuries to personnel
and damage to property and the environment. The level of service
provided by the UEL Fire Department before the amalgamation did not meet
the Vancouver Fire and Rescue standards. The Vancouver Fire and Rescue
Services under a Administrative Report to Council (April 30, 1996), and
with Council's approval (May 28, 1996), agreed to provide HazMat service
to the UBC area.
The large amounts of flammable liquids and the wide range of hazardous
materials used on campus, combined with the distance that the Hazardous
Materials Unit from #17 Firehall must travel to get to UBC, makes it
important that a quick response be maintained in this area. Reaction to
a hazardous materials incident must be immediate. Delays due to traffic
congestion and any other delays due to great distances being travelled
will result in further complications with any incident encountered.
These complications ultimately result in further hazards to life and
increased environmental damage all of which are unacceptable by todays
standards. In addition, the educational opportunities available to the
crews at #10 Firehall when working and training with the various
agencies, who requested the supplementary agreement, will improve
overall response capabilities not only for the crews at #10 Firehall but
also have the additional benefit to the crews at #17 Firehall who
interact with #10 Firehall frequently. This interaction has proved to
be beneficial to the education of all members who respond to hazardous
material incidents within the City of Vancouver.
By placing another fully equipped HazMat vehicle at #10 Firehall the
Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services greatly enhances its capability to
respond to any incident involving hazardous materials in a acceptable
time frame. This additional vehicle will also eliminate dangerous
emergency responses across great distances of the City by HazMat #17
while at the same time giving the added benefit of reduced noise
pollution from the sirens of those vehicles having to travel those
distances. The City of Vancouver also receives the added benefit of
having a second HazMat team responding as a back-up to HazMat #17 or on
their own with the capability to mitigate any incident encountered.
The increased incidents within Vancouver proper of hazardous materials
responses since the inception of the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Hazardous
Materials Response Team in October 1989 makes it prudent that a second
fully equipped team be established. In 1990, the Vancouver Fire and
Rescue Services responded to 186 HazMat incidents. In 1996, the
Department responded to 454 incidents. The number of high hazard
chemical incidents in the UBC area alone (20 in 1996)dictates the need
for a proactive approach to this problem. Mutual aid has been discussed
and rejected by the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services as a viable
option at this time.
ALTERNATIVES
A. Remain status quo. The advantage to remain status quo is evident:
money would not be allocated for this vehicle and may be spent improving
other services. The disadvantages of this position are numerous. Crews
stationed at #10 Firehall are unable to supply immediate response with
the required equipment necessary to mitigate any type of HazMat
incident. HazMat #17 would be responding great distances across the
City under dangerous emergency conditions. The Vancouver Fire and
Resuce Services would not be supplying the service as required by the
supplemental agreements to Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services current
standard of delivery.
B. Move HazMat #17 closer to UBC. This would install much needed
equipment closer to the problem source. The disadvantages are the lack
of a Firehall with the ability to house HazMat #17 and related equipment
and that the City of Vancouver may be left without a HazMat response
capability as the number of HazMat responses to the UBC area increases.
Mutual aid would not provide the immediate response required for these
type of incidents.
C. Purchasing of a new HazMat vehicle to be located at #10 Firehall.
Advantages are immediate responses to the problem source and fulfilling
of agreements with UBC and associated facilities. The City of Vancouver
would be receiving a second fully equipped HazMat Team capable of
dealing with any emergency situation.
Finally funding is not an issue as the funds are provided for through
agreement. There have been no disadvantages identified.
D. Contract for services. In a recent survey looking into the
possibility of contracting out for chemical expertise in relation to Haz
Mat incidents, contracting for services in this particular field was
found to be to expensive. Retainer costs on a 24-hour basis was
considered to be extravagant and the required immediate response to a
incident was not guaranteed. The number of companies willing to
perform this type of work was also limited leaving the Vancouver Fire
and Rescue Services as the only company able to provide immediate
assistance on a 24-hour basis.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
The addition of a second Hazardous Materials Response Vehicle would
provide a rapid response capable of neutralizing and cleaning up any
hazardous material thus having minimal effect on the environment.
Environmental noise pollution related to emergency responses will be
reduced to minimum acceptable levels. This team will also provide
additional support to the City of Vancouver in the event of a major
emergency.
PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS
Training of personnel is taking place at this time. Personnel now
stationed at #10 Firehall are trained to Vancouver Fire and Rescue
Services standard of HaZmat response. This training is taught to NFPA
472 Hazardous Material Technician Standards and is undertaken by the
Training Staff of the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services with the help
of external expertise at no cost to the Vancouver Fire and Rescue
Services. These personnel have been trained to take the place of
personnel at #10 Firehall not familiar with hazardous materials response
techniques and who are not certified HazMat Technicians.
All personnel trained as HazMat Technicians are also capable of fire
suppression duties.
Training of members of the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Service is ongoing
and required to maintain current qualifications and certification to
work as part of the Hazardous Materials Response Team.
There is no addition to present staff levels associated with the
purchase of this vehicle.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Under the agreement with the University of British Columbia and the
associated facilities, Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services will receive
$35,000 annually to provide hazardous materials services. In addition,
funding of $102,000 is currently available from the UBC Fire
Extinguisher Program related to services provided by the Departments in
1996.
The proposal in this report is to utilize these available recoveries to
purchase fully equipped HazMat Vehicle to provide services to UBC at a
cost not ot exceed $100,000. Once purchased, the vehicle will be managed
in the Plant Account with the balance of fire equipment, with a portion
of the annual recovery from the services agreement (approximately
$10,000) going to provide for the eventual replacement of the vehicle.
The balance of the recovery will be allocated to vehicle operation and
maintenance ($10,000) and to hazardous materials supplies ($15,000).
There is no net cost to the City as a result of this proposal.
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
This program has continued unchanged since the UEL amalgamation.
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