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. * * * * *