Consultant: Fire Department 'Marginally Staffed’

Tulare - A consultant has analyzed the city's risk for fires, medical aids and other hazards and concluded the Tulare Fire Department is only “marginally staffed” to contend with what could happen.

Ronny J. Coleman, senior vice president for Emergency Services Consulting Inc. (ESCi) and a retired chief deputy director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, evaluated the Fire Department's stations, resources and staffing deployment as part of the process to develop what is called a Standards of Cover (SOC), which looks at existing and future community needs.

The findings did not surprise Fire Chief Michael Threlkeld, who said he has long been aware of the International City Managers Association's recommended staffing levels and that money is an issue.

The SOC and the Fire Department's first master plan were adopted by the City Council April 15. The documents are important because they set the stage for the city to take a systematic approach to evaluating services and determining when to add more staff and/or stations as Tulare grows.

“We're trying to put science behind these decisions, instead of opinions,” Coleman told the City Council.

The SOC reports the Fire Department can provide a maximum of 10 firefighters to a single-family residential fire without outside assistance, while 15 is the standard.

“While it is recognized that this department is an aggressive firefighting organization and has actually handled fires with this staffing configuration, ESCi is compelled by best management practices to note that this is marginal for dealing with a well-involved, moderate-risk structural fire,” the report said.

The consultant considered the growing number of medical aid calls the department handles and said the possibility exists the city will start to see more concurrent calls for service.

Luck or Effectiveness?

“The most likely consequence of this level of staffing is the occurrence of two medical aids, followed by a structure fire or other event, which will result in delayed response,” the report said.

The statement does not mean the department has not been able to control the vast majority of incidents, but is an assessment of what could happen, the report noted.
“This is not an alarmist statement either,” the report continued. “It is merely a declaration that improvements can and should be considered for adoption that will, over time, bring about a better match of the community [risk] profile and the fire department's capacity to perform.”

A few pages later, the consultant notes there does not appear to be a significant number of fires destroying structures because of a delayed action due to staffing, but then adds: “The issue is whether this is luck or effectiveness.”

He noted the Fire Department is subject to the “two-in, two-out” Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirement that two firefighters can enter a burning building or other atmosphere that poses an immediate danger to life and health only when two others are outside the structure. (This does not pertain to rescues.)

Since Tulare has three people on each engine, this limits the company arriving first on the scene for about the first eight minutes of a structure fire, he said.

The staffing issue can be addressed either through adding new stations or adding to the existing staffing, the report said.

15 Recommendations

Regardless of whether the city adds two new fire stations soon, the consultant recommended the city consider adding a fourth position—which would take 3.3 people to fill round-the-clock—to the West Tulare station.

This would allow that station—the only one west of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks -- to operate independently without waiting for a backup company to meet the “two-in, two-out” requirement at structure fires.

Adding the fourth position would cost the city between $144,142 and $175,215 in salaries and an additional amount in benefits.

Threlkeld said he plans to speak with the union and with City Manager Darrel Pyle about a possible temporary measure to put an additional firefighter at the Westside station on an over-time basis.

“If they later say we can't afford this, we'll just cut down on over-time withouthaving to lay anyone off,” he said.

Among the other 14 recommendations in the SOC, the consultant called for:

· The Tulare Police Department's Communications Center, which dispatches both fire and police, to set a goal of dispatching 911 calls for the Fire Department in 60 seconds.

Because of equipment limitations it is not known now exactly how long it is taking to process the calls. Threlkeld said he will ask the City Council May 6 for funds to purchase software for the Tulare Police Department's Communications Center that can remedy the situation.

· Adoption of a 60-second turnout goal for the Tulare Fire Department for daytime calls and a 90-second goal for nighttime dispatches.

· The council to formally adopt a goal stating that in 90 percent of all fire and medical incidents, the fire company responsible for the area will arrive within seven minutes of the initial call and be able to advance a 1 ¾ to 1 ½-inch hose line for fire control or initiate a rescue when a life is threatened or provide basic life support for medical incidents.

· The council to set a goal that in 90 percent of moderate-risk calls, an effective number of firefighters will be on the scene within 12 minutes of the original call and be able to provide 1,250 gallons of water per minute for fire control or handle a three-person medical emergency.

· The council to authorize relocation of Station 2 on E Street to improve response time to the city's western portion. The city has recognized the need to do this for many years and already has a new site selected.

· Restoration of the Fire Department's focus on conducting pre-fire plans for all buildings in the city that have a fire flow in excess of 2,000 gallons of water per minute.

In the master plan study, the consultant noted the city's economic infrastructure is “highly dependent” upon preventing major fire losses at industries such as Land O' Lakes, which in 2006 represented 7.17 percent of the city's total taxable assessed value, and Kraft Food Global, which represented 7.83 percent.

· The city to continue to install Opticom devices, which allow the Fire Department to control traffic signals, eliminating bottlenecks and other situations that could slow response time.

· The city to prepare for the construction and opening of Station 4 in the city's upper northeastern quadrant and Station 5 in the lower southeastern quadrant, when certain triggers and thresholds occur.

· The city to eventually relocate the Fire Department administration, including fire prevention, code enforcement and the on-duty battalion chief, to a stand-alone building in or near the downtown area.

Having the battalion chief in a center location will become even more important after construction of a fifth station, because that person is key to having an effective number of people on a fire scene, the report said.

The master plan includes additional recommendations and is available for viewing at City Hall, the Tulare Public Library and at the Fire Department's headquarters at 800 South Blackstone St.

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German Woman Keeps Promise Made to Grandfather

Tulare - Before her grandfather Willi Gaertner died in Germany in 1996, Katja Gaertner promised him she would travel to Tulare County and visit the Tipton farm where he worked as a prisoner of war.

Gaertner, 28, fulfilled her promise last week, nearly 1 ½ years after city officials learned she was trying to identify the farmer and turned over her request for information to the genealogy staff at the Tulare Public Library.

The genealogy staff, in turn, researched old newspaper accounts and contacted the Tulare Advance-Register, which published a story about Gaertner's quest to fulfill her promise.

Manuel Toledo, whose military collection is at the Tulare Historical Museum, Kristen Pires, who studied in Germany and speaks that language fluently, and others helped to narrow down the possibilities to what was then the Lemos farm.

“He worked on a farm and picked cotton and oranges,” Katja Gaertner said. “He often said it was his best time in life to stay in California.”

Louie and Frank Lemos say they are 99 percent certain Gaertner's grandfather worked on their father's farm, which has since been sold. The brothers took time Wednesday to show Gaertner and her boyfriend, Peter Herbst, the farm and also where the prisoner of war camp had been. That POW site is a just a bare piece of scrapped ground to the west of the Lower Tule River Irrigation District building.

They also visited the Tulare museum with her. Toledo's daughter Annette Eckert said her father believes Willi Gaertner's uniform was among those donated to the museum, but officials said they did not have enough time to learn whether any of those belonged to Gaertner. They noted several German uniforms were in the collection, but without the original owner's name.

One mystery Gaertner was unable to solve during her visit was the identity of a couple whose photograph her grandfather had. The Tulare Voice is publishing it in hopes a reader might be able to help her.

While her grandfather wanted to stay in California after the war, Gaertner said he had to return to Germany to work on the family farm because his two brothers had died in Russia during the war.

He lived in Oberlichtenau, near Dresden, which was in East Germany, which was isolated from the rest of the world until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, she said. Her grandfather lost his land to the communist government there and worked as a railroad switchman.

By the time East Germany was opened to the rest of the world, her grandfather was too old to return to California as he had always wanted to thank the farmer for whom he had worked.

Her grandfather was captured in April 1944 in Normandy and brought to Camp Cook, a U.S. training center where Vandenberg Air Force Base is. He was released in August 1946.

Tulare County newspapers reported in the mid-1940s that German POWs were paid the prevailing wage of $2.25 an hour, of which they kept 80 cents, while the rest went to the government. Hundreds of prisoners harvested the county's 73,000 acres of cotton, the Lindsay Gazette reported in November 1944.

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Oak Valley Celebrates 50 Years with 'Awesome Event’

Tulare - When Oak Valley Union Elementary School began planning its 50th anniversary celebration months ago, Superintendent Kerry Beauchaine said he figured if 200 people attended it would be “an awesome event.”

Was he ever in for a surprise. More than 650 dinner tickets were sold and on Sunday former and current superintendents, teachers, employees, students and their parents gathered in the school's auditorium to share memories, renew friendships and pay tribute to a former superintendent—Doug Henderson—who died in January.

“What does that say about Oak Valley?” Beauchaine asked the crowd.

Melissa Hill-Stanfield, who has taught at Oak Valley for 35 years, has a lot of good things to say about the school, which opened its doors in 1958, nearly four years after Enterprise, Laurel, Walnut Grove and Linder schools voted to merge into one district.

“It's wonderful here; that's why I haven't retired,” Hill-Stanfield said, adding she enjoys the “home-grown, country feeling” and the caring people have for each other.
“If someone is in need, we're there for them,” she said. “If someone is celebrating something, we're there too.”

Eunice Benz

That caring is underscored in the scrapbooks former kindergarten teacher Eunice Benz—who previously taught at Walnut Grove School—kept long after her retirement. Those scrapbooks are filled with newspaper clippings about former students—their achievements, marriages, birth of their children and even their struggles in the face of adversity.

Benz' scrapbooks were among many photographs, yearbooks and other memorabilia on display on the auditorium stage.

Lisa Morris Turner of Fresno and her mother Bernice Morris were among those reminiscing about the school's early days.

“It was very exciting, because everything was new,” said Turner, who attended Enterprise School until Oak Valley was ready to open its doors.

“It was a wonderful place to go to school,” she said. “There was a core group of 15 to 20 kids who lived in the area…it was like having another family because you knew each other so well. You learned how to dance together, how to read together…”

Bernice Morris was president of the Oak Valley Community Club in May 1961 when four bells—one for each of the four schools that had joined together three years earlier—were erected and dedicated.

Jane Avila, who served eight years on the Oak Valley school board, seven of them as its first woman chair, was also looking through the memorabilia.

She recalled the trip she and other board members made when they visited the Earlimart School District to find out more about Doug Henderson, whom they wanted to hire as Oak Valley's superintendent.

'Cool Reception'

“We kind of got a cool reception, because they did not want to lose their superintendent,” Avila said. She maintains hiring Henderson was the board's “greatest accomplishment.” she said.

David Bixler, who served more than 25 years on the school board and whose father, Elmer Bixler, was the district's first board chairman, agreed.

Under Henderson tenure, Oak Valley was named a Distinguished School in the first year the title was awarded, Bixler said.

He and Beauchaine said it was only because Henderson went to Sacramento to lobby that Oak Valley School buses became the first in the state to use strobe lights in the fog.

“He performed a great service for the state,” Bixler said. “He had the kid's interest at heart.”

Henderson, superintendent for 17 years, also was instrumental in getting the new multi-purpose room built.

“We're in this building today because Mr. Henderson had a vision,” Beauchaine said. The building, which has been in use for four years, was dedicated Sunday to Henderson, whose wife and children attended the event.

In addition to naming the building in his honor, the school is also creating a Doug Henderson scholarship, which will be awarded for the first time in 2009 to a graduating eighth grader who wants to study music in college, Beauchaine announced.

Vice Principal Callie Tripp, who herself attended Oak Valley, said Henderson was her mentor, encouraging her while she was working as an instructional aide to get her teaching credential.

Tripp has been at the school 17 years. “I've done everything here but drive the bus,” she said. “It's a great place to work and a great place to send your kids to learn.”

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Get Ready for Popular Cinco de Mayo Fiesta

Tulare - Support for Tulare's annual Cinco de Mayo celebration continues to grow as the city of Tulare becomes the latest sponsor of the popular downtown event, which includes food, music, entertainment, a fashion show, arts and crafts, contests and other activities.

This year's fiesta will take place from 1 to 9:30 p.m., Saturday, May 3, in Zumwalt Park at the corner of East Tulare Avenue and M Street.

The city joins the Tulare Improvement Program (TIP), Hispanic Alliance for Culture, Education and Recognition (HACER) and the Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency in putting on the family-oriented event.

The Department of Recreation, Parks and Library will takes is Rolling Rec van to the event and offer children a variety of opportunities to have fun, including making their way through an obstacle course.

“The children are always attracted to that,” said Pat Benitiz, Recreation and Community Services superintendent. “It helps us promote the active lifestyle.”

The county health department will return for a second year to the celebration, again putting on a health and safety fair from 1 to 6 p.m.

Rachel Rodriguez, chairwoman for the event, is excited about this year's entertainment.

“I think the entertainment lineup is the best we've ever had,” Rodriguez said. “We have something for everybody—children, young adults and older. It's truly family-oriented entertainment.”

Among the groups returning for repeat performances at this year's fiesta is the always popular Tulare band August, which will wrap up the event with a three-hour concert beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Fiesta-goers will also get to hear Natalie Maribojoc, a 13-year-old Corcoran singer who performed last year and is “a very talented young lady,” who sings opera as well as a variety of other types of music in English and Spanish, Rodriguez said.

TIP Coordinator Jerry Magoon said there is still room for more food, craft and information vendors and sponsor. Those wanting to participate or needing information should call the TIP office at 685-2350.

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