Fire Commission
Regular MeetingBurlington, VT · June 4, 2024
Minutes
BURLINGTON FIRE COMMISSION
Minutes of the Meeting
June 4, 2024
These are the minutes of the June 4, 2024, Meeting of the Burlington Fire Commission. The meeting convened
at 08:37 hours via Zoom and in person with Commissioners Bond, Perkinson, Chapman, Sheehey, and
McLaughlin. Chief LaChance, Deputy Chief Petit, and Administrative Assistant Meghan Sweeney were also
present.
Call to Order
Commissioner Bond called the meeting to order at 08:37.
Motion to Adopt Agenda
Commissioner Bond asked for a motion to adopt the agenda. Motion moved by Commissioner Sheehey,
seconded by Commission Chapman.
Public Comment
No members of the public were present.
Review and Accept Minutes from the April and May Meetings
Commissioner Bond asked if there were any questions or comments on the minutes submitted for the regular
meeting in April and the special meeting in May. With no comments or concerns, she asked for a motion to
accept the minutes as submitted. Motion made by Commissioner Sheehey and seconded by Commission
Perkinson.
Chief’s Oral Report
Chief Lachance’s report (attached) was previously emailed. Additional discussion of topics included:
Personnel—BC Ruggles has begun leading the current recruit class. Different members will assist throughout
the academy, but no members have been reassigned from their current positions. Josh Porter has been promoted
to Lieutenant following Lieutenant Sean Ploof’s retirement. LT Ploof was able to pass along lieutenant bars,
which is a tradition Chief LaChance would like to start.
Responses - As seen in the charts, call volume only risen about 1% from last year. Chief LaChance thinks
outreach efforts have helped prevent the trend from continuing to rise. The department is struggling with
staffing the Community Response Team (CRT) along with the other overtime members are covering. Chief
LaChance is continuing to look at different staffing models for this. BC McCombie is working with another city
department to get access to electric bikes for long-term borrow for optional use while on the CRT.
FY25 Budget—Thanks to the passing of the Public Safety Tax, we are able to increase some budgets that have
needed additional funding. Our Training Budget was significantly cut in the past, and it is back to what it was a
few years ago.
Fleet - The new Ladder 4 is now in service. Capital funding had been planned for some air packs, but the money
wasn’t used for that project. Chief LaChance changed the plan for the money to go to new truck iPads. He is
also using the money towards outfitting the old Ladder 4 so that we can have it as a backup ladder if one of the
others goes out of service, and it allows the Training Division to use it for training without taking an apparatus
out of service. The current wait for purchases of new trucks is so long that Chief LaChance wants to maintain
current vehicles and have a plan for vehicles that go out of service instead of getting a small return on the sale
of current vehicles.
Commissioner Perkinson expressed concern that by keeping the old Ladder 4, the importance of purchasing
new trucks would be minimized, as the excuse would be that we have older trucks available for backup. While
he is happy that there is a plan to help keep the old truck for more use and that it can be used if other trucks are
out of service, he doesn’t want the city to forget the importance of budgeting for the new vehicles. Chief
LaChance would like to see a budget planned for every year for the Fire Chief to identify what vehicle should
be purchased each year. The current turnaround time is about five years, so ideally, having a budget would
allow for the purchase sooner than waiting for a bond to be approved when the truck is already needed and then
having the process for approval to get the opportunity to purchase a truck. Commissioner Perkinson agrees that
it would be more efficient and likely to save money to have a planned budget for truck replacement.
Commissioner McLaughlin expressed concern that having a budget for a truck would also allow the City to
look at that as something they could cut when they are looking for money to fill in the gaps.
Fire Marshal’s Office—The Fire Marshal’s Office hopes to increase community engagement. One item they
have requested to purchase is a fire extinguisher prop for training purposes.
Commissioner Perkinson asked what agency typically handles intoxication calls at this point. Historically, it
was a police response, but now there is no ACT I or Chittenden County Corrections for detox, and it has
transitioned to becoming a medical call. Chief LaChance said that unless the call elevates a person to be a
danger to the public, the police department may not respond. At one point, the department tracked when police
assistance was requested but unavailable. While that is still something Chief LaChance is trying to track, he
thinks our members have requested them less, knowing that it’s likely they will not be available. He has
instructed companies not to respond to encampments for open fire burning if there is a concern for safety and
police are unable to respond. The department is much more involved in city public safety meetings and other
meetings around public safety.
Commissioner Bond thanked Chief LaChance for engaging with different groups and saying what needs to be
said to committees. She acknowledged the positive spin he can even put on negative topics, allowing his voice
to be continuously heard.
Old Business/New Business
The 2024 Recognition Night was rescheduled to Tuesday, June 25 at 6 pm.
Following the tours of the stations, Commissioner Bond would like to draft a letter to the Board of
Finance and Mayor’s Office supporting the capital plan for replacing the flooring at stations 1 and 2 and
support for continued plans to remodel station 3.
Commissioner Perkinson is the only commissioner up for renewal this year. He indicated he reapplied to
continue to be on the board.
Commissioner Bond wanted to recognize the department’s efforts and acknowledge the Roots of
Prevention Award we received.
The new BRYX mobile app for incident alerting is operational. Each commissioner will be set up with
login information for notifications if they request to be.
Commissioner Bond and the rest of the commission want to recognize DC Libby for his service and
dedication to the department.
Commissioner Perkinson would like to add an agenda item to the next meeting to discuss further
bonding versus budgeting for future fleet purchases.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned by motion from Commissioner McLaughlin and seconded by Commissioner
Sheehey at 09:47.
Packet
June 04, 2024
Chief’s Report to the Burlington Fire Commission
Personnel: We currently hold no vacancies. We began recruit classes 24-1 on May 28,
2024, with five new recruits. We would like to welcome Randall Marshall, Tanner
Studlack, Matthieu Cote, Daniel Lohret, and Benjamin Collier.
The members of recruit class 23-1 successfully completed their probationary year.
Congratulations to Alec Johnson, Theodore Epidy, Sam Rathbun, Adam Macaluso, Justin
Cantwell, and Sean O’Connor.
LT. Sean Ploof has retired from the BFD after 23 years of service. His last shift was May
30. 2024.
DC. Derek Libby has been offered and has accepted a Fire Chief’s position in the City of
Montpelier. His anticipated last day with the City of Burlington is Thursday, July 25,
2024.
We had the pleasure of promoting Josh Porter from Senior Firefighter to Lieutenant,
effective June 03, 2024.
Responses: As of May 31, 2024, the fire department had responded to 4,140 calls for
service. During the same period in 2023, we responded to 4,084 calls for service, a 1.37%
increase over the same time last year.
Our response numbers account for several high system utilizers. Three hundred people
accounted for 1389 calls for service, and the top 29 of those 300 accounted for 466 calls
for service. We will work on information-sharing systems and follow-up procedures
outside of emergency response to decrease these high utilization numbers.
FIRE DEPARTMENT RESPONSE TOTALS
CALENDAR YEAR UPDATED THROUGH
05/31/2024
1 yr ago Current YTD Projected EOY
11031
9864 10007
8032 8306 8408
7819 7521
4084
4140
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
2022 - 2024 RESPONSES BY MONTH
1102
1057 1066 1054
937 954 955
924 905 919
866
917 884 879
857 852 837
825 834
695 794 787
762
735 764
724 749
786
615
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC
Overtime: April 01, 2024 – May 31, 2024
• Minimum Staffing Overtime: 1652.25 hrs
• Mandatory Minimum Staffing Overtime: 305.5 hrs
1-year Comparison April 01, 2023 – May 31, 2023
• Minimum Staffing Overtime: 1853 hrs
• Mandatory Minimum Staffing Overtime: 196 hrs
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The above data shows a 12.15% decrease in Minimum Staffing Overtime and a 35.84%
increase in Mandatory Minimum Staffing Overtime during the same period last year.
Overall, the minimum staffing overtime burden on the employees and city budget has
decreased by 4.45%.
Note: The above overtime burden on the staff accounts for Minimum Staffing Overtime,
giving us the 22 people required to meet minimum staffing levels. This does not account
for extra duty jobs, dispatch extra duty or CRT overtime. In the same period, our staff
committed to the following extra duty, dispatch extra duty, and CRT overtime:
• Extra Duty: 335.25 hrs
• Dispatch Extra Duty: 595.34 hrs
• CRT Overtime: 626.5 hrs
FY25 Budget: The Fire Department's FY25 budget was presented to the Board of
Finance on May 29. The presentation can be found on the City’s Civic Clerk system
under FY25 budget presentations for that date. The Department is counting on increased
operational budget lines to support training, EMS services, mental health care of our
responders, tool and equipment purchases, and money to keep our facilities operating.
Fleet: Funding for fleet replacement continues to be a priority for the city’s fleet
committee. Ensuring fleet repair requests are addressed promptly and coordinated with
the shift commanders to reduce response disruptions is a primary concern for the DC of
Operations. The new Ladder 4 has arrived in the city. Factory training and up fit have
been completed. We expect the new L-4 to be in service by June 15. We expect delivery
of two fire apparatuses and one ambulance to the Fire Department in the next three
months. Ambulance 4 has an expected delivery timeline of June 2024. With the three-
year build schedule for new ambulances and a five-year delivery timeline for new fire
trucks, a priority should be placed on a sustainable fleet purchasing plan.
Buildings: The Station 3 bedroom/bathroom project is still in the planning phase. It
appears we will have money in the city’s capital budget for this project, the apparatus
floor repair for Sta.2, and the apparatus floor and stair repair at Sta.1.
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Conversations about the Gateway Block are ongoing. Based on heat maps of calls
responded to by downtown apparatus, Station 1 is currently in a good location. We will
review and update helpful data from the Standards of Cover document, which will help
guide conversations about the fire station's location.
Radio System Upgrade: The radio system upgrade has been delayed by some significant
failures in the current system that need immediate attention. We are tentatively planning
final system testing by September of 2024. With City Place increasing in height, the
antenna currently placed on Burlington Square will need to be relocated to the roof of
City Place. This will happen once the building is completed. The station alerting project
managed by DC Petit is almost complete. Hardware was installed, and mobile
applications were rolled out to the staff. The mobile application will be used to recall off-
duty personnel. The app will also support live streaming of our primary radio channels
once the station alerting installation is complete. Staffing changes at BPD have delayed
progress on the live-streaming function. We are working with an outside vendor to
complete this connection.
Community Response Team Pilot: Between October 16 and May 31, the team has been
staffed with 3327.25 hours of voluntary overtime by our line personnel. This is an
average of 100.8 hours of overtime per week, giving us an average weekly in-service
time for the unit of 50.4 hours. We have received widespread support and appreciation
from the community. A profound thank you goes out to our committed responders doing
this difficult work. Every month since the inception of the CRT shows reduced overdose
responses from the same month of the prior year.
We received approval to continue the CRT through the end of FY24. We have money in
our budget to continue the service into FY25. We plan to staff it with the current
overtime model until September 13, 2024, the one-year point. By that date, we will have
a plan regarding the future of the CRT program.
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BC McCombie is tracking data coming out of the CRT deployment. Below are some
metrics showing the impact of the program. This data shows how many people the team
has touched, the quantity of wound care supplies handed out, comfort care supplies
distributed, Narcan leave-behind kits distributed, the number of referrals, direct phone
requests, and incidents where the team went above and beyond in their duties.
Fire Marshal’s Office: The Fire Marshal’s office is working toward increased
community engagement in FY25. The moderate budget increase in FY25 will allow for
increased outreach and training opportunities availability. This is in addition to their
normal plan reviews, permitting, inspections, and other division responsibilities.
Training Division: Recruit class 24-1 has begun and will be a significant logistical event
for the training division. Quarterly officer training, including outside presenters, is being
planned. The division is working with the state on the possibility of a statewide recruit
training program similar to the police academy. This work is in its early stages.
EMS Division: The EMS division is working toward offering buprenorphine to our
community struggling with OUD. Working with the state, UVM Med, and other outreach
partners, BC McCombie has created City-Link. This will allow a cleaner way to
communicate with our partners and coordinate appropriate services.
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Latest EMS Response Data:
OverdoseTotal:Transported:Not Transported
Data through 05/31/2024
470
357 355
292
265
220
179167 190
163 158148 150 156
135 127
113
27 12 10 40 45 65 90 37
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
1 yr ago OD total OD transported OD not transported
Average Overdose Responses per Month
Data through 05/31/2024
39.2
29.8
25.4
22.1
14.9 15.8
13.6 13.2
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
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Monthly Fire Department Overdoses
Updated through 05/31/2024
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 January
April
July
October
January
April
July
October
January
April
July
October
January
April
July
October
January
April
July
October
January
April
July
October
January
April
July
October
January
April
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Dispatch
Unknown Problem/Person Down
Updated through 05/31/2024
477
344
319
279
251
225 212 211
179
132
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
1 yr ago Current YTD Projected EOY
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Dispatch
Alcohol Intoxication
Updated through 05/31/2024
240
230
205 210 210 213
184
170
105
88
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
1 yr ago Current YTD Projected EOY
Annual
Fire Department EMS Responses to
Homeless/Houseless/Transient/
No Address Population
Updated through 05/31/2024
1600 1507
1400 1269
1200
1000
820
749
800 655
637 620
600 525
441 467
400
200
0
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
1 yr ago Current YTD Projected EOY
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Monthly Fire Department EMS Responses to
Homeless/Houseless/Transient/No Address Population
250
200
150
100
50
0
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Monthly Fire Department EMS Responses to
250
Homeless/Houseless/Transient/No Address Population
Data Through 05/31/2024
200
150
100
50
0
Jan-17 Apr-17 Jul-17 Oct-17 Jan-18 Apr-18 Jul-18 Oct-18 Jan-19 Apr-19 Jul-19 Oct-19 Jan-20 Apr-20 Jul-20 Oct-20 Jan-21 Apr-21 Jul-21 Oct-21 Jan-22 Apr-22 Jul-22 Oct-22 Jan-23 Apr-23 Jul-23 Oct-23 Jan-24 Apr-24
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