Coming off a year that saw most of our training come to a halt, it was clear from the outset that our personnel were itching to get out and practice some skills. As such, ARFF/ Class “B” SMEs from each shift got together with their respective crews and went to work practicing some of our tactics. These tactics were broken down into our 2 main methods of fighting these Class B fires, water and foam. As groups, we demonstrated and practiced our “Percy Shuffle,” our “water sweeping,” and our foam application techniques. With our new apparatus (most of which don’t carry class B foam anymore), it was invaluable to get out and hone these skills that require teamwork and coordination, while using only water as our firefighting agent. This training was well received by the troops and served as a good refresher for this hazard we face in all our districts.
The year 2021 has been a year that to keep a six-feet distance between has had a different feel for the Los Al- one another. As the year progressed, amos County Fire Department which the COVID-19 mandates evolved, so is a direct correlation to the ongoing did the training of the TRT. The first a ermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. quarterly training of the year was As a nation, we are all battling the the only training that was affected social challenges of adapting to life by the COVID mandates and limited as we once knew it and setting forth our exposure of large group gather- procedures for change in our daily ings. A live feed Teams meeting was life activities. The LAFD is no differ- utilized to disperse the training and ent and has struggled to find differ- was recorded and sent out on Vector ent avenues to provide, disperse and Solutions for members to view. The relay information such as trainings, other three quarterly trainings were meetings, conferences, etc. Distance back to normal, and we were able learning and online meetings on Mi- to go back to business as usual. The croso Teams and Zoom have be- area of training that was affected by come the majority form of our com- the TRT was the out of county train- munication and has been challenging ings that the team normally partici- for the department to adapt to as we pates in. In years past, subject matter have been accustomed to “In person” experts and instructors were able to in the past. Despite these ongoing attend out of county trainings from challenges, LAFD has been successful accredited rescue institutions and with adapting and overcoming these bring back the skills and knowledge social challenges. that they learned. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, not being able to travel to The LAFD was able to get back to a attend this highly necessary training semi normal face to face trainings that we the TRT rely on has affected with other members as the year pro- our team’s knowledge and experi- gressed. At the beginning of the year ence. Without the constant interac- the COVID-19 pandemic limited our tion of these very important tactics contact with other members from and techniques, a member’s skill lev- other stations and we were limited el begins to deteriorate. We look for- to only allowing ten individuals to do ward to participating in future out of in person trainings at Station 2. The county training opportunities soon. ten individuals including the instruc- tors had to wear face masks and had
The LAFD Technical Rescue Team (TRT) was successful in responding to, and mitigating all rescue responses within Los Alamos County, and neighbor- ing mutual aid areas. 2021 Challenges Other challenges that the TRT amount of overtime that a train- Additionally, there were a va- has been affected by is the lack of ing of a large group might create. riety of other rescue related minimum staffing and the over- In 2021, TRT had to postpone the calls, including mutual aid re- whelming amount of mandatory 80-hour TRT technician course sponses out of county. Taos overtime that is required on op- due to the number of individu- County Sheriff’s office request- erations personnel. Los Alamos als that are needed to facilitate a ed our help on several occa- County decided not to hire new class of that magnitude. There- sion in 2021 for various body recruits and have an academy in fore, new TRT members that were recoveries at the Taos Gorge 2020 during the COVID-19 pan- successful through the testing and requested our assistance demic. The a ermath of these process are stuck on a list wait- on a residential confined space decisions has come to fruition ing to be trained to the technician rescue of an individual who fell in 2021 as the rate of mandatory level. We are currently short six in a water well. Taos County overtime on operations have paid members and are waiting for and Rio Arriba County are the been at an all-time high. Many the mandatory overtime to slow two counties that continue trainings had to be cancelled or down to hold the 80-hour TRT to utilize our technical rescue postponed due to the lack of in- technician course. specialties skills when they structors, lack of interest and the cannot mitigate the situations on their own. We as the TRT 2021 Social Challenges embrace challenges and con- tinue to welcome these mutual Although there were many social rest of the members of Los Ala- aide responses from Taos and challenges in 2021, the LAFD TRT mos County Fire Department will Rio Arriba and any other coun- was successful in responding with continue to provide the best cus- ty that require our help. the utmost professionalism and tomer service to the citizens and mitigating all rescue responses visitors of Los Alamos County and within the County of Los Alamos the Los Alamos National Labs and its neighboring mutual aid 24/7/365. areas. The TRT along with the
The Accreditation process of self-assessment is an 1. Governance and Administration international recognition through the Commission on Fire 2. Assessment and Planning Accreditation International (CFAI) of achievement that shows 3. Goals and Objectives to the community that the agency is performing to industry 4. Financial Resources best practices and is holding itself accountable through an 5. Community Risk Reduction Program external peer review. 5A: Prevention Program 5B: Public Education Program Accreditation benefits LAFD internally by fostering pride 5C: Fire Investigation, Origin and Cause Program and confidence in the service delivery amongst members, 5D: Domestic Preparedness Program community leaders, and citizens. The department also ben- 5E: Fire Suppression Program efits externally through the support of and networking with 5F: Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Program other accredited agencies. 5G: Technical Rescue Program 5H: Hazmat Document review and on-site assessment for validation 5I: Aviation Rescue and Firefighting and verification by CFAI peer assessors is very thorough. 5K: Wildland Firefighting Accreditation reports o en include peer recommendations for 6. Physical Resources improvement beyond those the agency may have considered. 7. Human Resources 8. Training and Competency Accredited agencies are known to be community-focused, 9. Essential Resources data-driven, outcome-focused, strategic-minded, well organ- 10. External Systems Relationships ized, properly equipped, and properly staffed and trained. 11. Health and Safety This, in part is due to the holistic scope of the CFAI model. It includes ten categories that cover the span of fire and emer- gency service operations:
Accreditation is a comprehensive self-assessment and In August of 1997, LAFD became one of the first five fire evaluation model that enables organizations to examine past, departments in the world to achieve Internationally Accredited current, and future service levels and internal performance Agency status and was re-accredited in 2002, 2010 and 2015. and compares them to industry best practices. This process In December 2020, the department once again appeared leads to improved service delivery. before the 11-member Commission and received an affirm- ative nod for accreditation. LAFD is among only 291 depart- • Determine community risk and safety needs and ments in the world and remains the only department serving develop Community Risk Assessment Standards of Cover; a Department of Energy facility and the only department in New Mexico to achieve this honor. • Evaluate program performance through Annual Program Appraisals; and The department encourages pursuit of professional credentialing through CPSE Commission on Professional • Establish a method for achieving continuous organ- Credentialing. izational improvement. Local government executives face increasing pressure to “do more with less” and justify their expenditures by demonstrating a direct link to improved or expanded ser- vices. Particularly for emergency services, local officials need criteria to assess professional performance and efficiency. The CFAI accreditation process provides a well-defined, inter- nationally recognized benchmark system for measuring the quality of fire and emergency services. CFAI is dedicated to assisting the fire and emergency ser- vice agencies throughout the world in achieving excellence through self-assessment and accreditation to provide con- tinuous quality improvement and the enhancement of ser- vice delivery to their communities. The CFAI process is vol- untary and provides an agency with an improved model for assessing their service delivery and performance internally and then works with a team of peers from other agencies to evaluate their completed self-assessment.
Equipment: • The department accomplished their 2021 goal to standardize fire nozzles for attack lines on all engines and trucks. • All ambulance gurneys were replaced and placed on a replacement program through GSA. • The department purchased new MSA Altair 5 detectors and developed a replacement plan for the Ultra Radiacs. • To coincide with NFPA 1981, the department replaced the fleet of Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus packs, harnesses, bottles, and masks. The cost of the project was $1.2 million. SCBA cylinder sleeves were ordered and expected in early 2022 and all SCBAs will be placed in service then. • Traeger Ironwood 885 grills with accessories were purchased; one of which was do- nated by David Jolly with Metzgers. Fire Administration: The Fire Administrative offices located at 999 Central Avenue; Suite 200 is in year 9 of a 5-year lease agreement ending on June 30, 2022. There have not been any structural upgrades to Fire Administration. Dish Network was installed at admin to allow the option to set up a tactical operations center if needed or use it to monitor current events. Fire Station 1: (DOE - owned) Built in 1952 is in need of replacement. The Los Alamos Na- tional Laboratory has tentatively approved funds to begin the process for Station 1 once Station 5 is underway. Fire Station 2- Training (owned by LAC): There were no structural upgrades to Fire Sta- tion 2. A Peloton was purchased and placed in station. Upgrades to the Practical Learning Center burn building are being considered to increase the size of the burn rooms.
Fire Station 3 (owned by LAC): In 2021, an Air Vac System was installed. There have not been any structural changes to the station. Fire Station 4 (owned by LAC): Built in 1964 is being evaluated for replacement in 2024. In early 2022, the department will begin a station location study and develop a plan for replacement. ire Station 5 (DOE-owned): Built in 1952 are in need of replacement. Fire Station 5 station design contracts will be awarded in early 2022. Fire Station 6 (owned by LAC): There were no structural upgrades to Fire Station 6. The station did receive a One Dual Action Hiking Elliptical.
Vehicle Fleet: • In accordance with the Vehicle Replacement Schedule, three International Navistar HV507 Tenders were purchased and received in February 2021. Delivery of three additional tenders are expected in March 2022. In addition, ten GSA leased sup- port vehicles were replaced (6 utility trucks and 4 administrative staff vehicles). Two Battalion support vehicles are in the queue for replacement; however due to the COVID pandemic, there are significant manufacturer delays and delivery is expected in early 2022. • In March 2021, Fire Chief Hughes submitted a recommendation to the DOE to change the Vehicle Replacement Plan to delay the ordering of two pumpers and substitute the order of two ladder trucks. Trucks 1 and 3, the two newest ladder trucks in the LAFD fleet have had numerous mechanical issues. The recommenda- tion was accepted and the VRP changed. The replacement process is in process and delivery is expected in late 2022. A committee is being formed to collect feed- back from department members and develop specifications. • Two apparatus were acquired (federal vehicle transfer) from the Sandia National Laboratory. Rescue 2 and Hazmat 5 were added to fleet as reserve units. Res- cue 2 will be used to augment current LAFD technical rescue responses at LANL and within Los Alamos County. This vehicle is recommended for deployment at the current Fire Station 2. Upon completion of the new training facility, which is anticipated to be attached to the new station 2 on East Jemez Road, this unit will be housed there. The vehicle would be outfitted similar to the current LAFD Heavy Rescue vehicle and would provide back-up to the current vehicle and be used by the LAFD Training Division. In the latter capacity, this would allow the front-line Heavy Rescue vehicle to remain ready for response while the new unit was engaged in training operations. In addition, the new vehicle would be the unit deployed to requested off-the-hill responses for assisting neighboring jurisdictions with rescue and recovery operations, allowing the current Heavy Rescue vehicle ready to respond to LANL and Los Alamos County events. The current LAFD Heavy Rescue vehicle is located at Fire Station 1. New 2021 Brush Trucks
To provide consistency throughout personnel were required to complete the Analyst. Twenty-nine new hires joined LAFD, the current Cooperative Agreement two mandatory annual LANL courses and the Department. (CA) identified security and safeguard then in September all personnel reported requirements that are to be met by the to the LANL Badge Office to renew their Labor Relations Services department. The responsibility of over- LANL badge for the next year. The Collective Bargaining Agreement seeing these requirements was assigned (CBA) requires quarterly Labor to the Security & Administrative Services The communication of Security & Management Committee (LMC) meet- Manager. This program is in the ninth year Administrative Services Tidbits are dis- ings. The LMC actually meets every other of implementation with the major focus seminated as appropriate. These are dis- month. The purpose of the LMC is not to being: seminated through e-mails to all LAFD per- alter the CBA, but to provide for clarifi- sonnel regarding various security topics. cation and implementation and address • Identification of annual security train- The topics are determined by either recent issues that arise outside of the CBA. The ing opportunities for department person- incidents and/or points from the trainings. LMC discusses and develops solutions to nel; • Facilitation of the annual security any items that are discussed. With the trainings and badge renewals for depart- An Anti-Harassment Training for all intent of building and strengthening strong ment personnel; • Facilitation of the Q supervisors was conducted in November. labor management relations, the commit- Clearance process, including initial inves- This training focused on the concept of tee attempts to meet alternating months tigation and five-year reinvestigation’s; • bystander intervention specifically for with additional meetings as necessary. Address any security infractions identified supervisors. During 2021, 6 regular meetings were by the Los Alamos National Laboratory held with an additional 3 special meet- (LANL); • Facilitation of technology needs Additional Security and Safeguards ings requested by the Union. and/or improvements for the department; Data, Including Staffing Changes: Twenty- • Management of Asset Management pro- nine new LANL badges were requested. gram of Federal property; and, • Serve as Twenty-one LANL badges were turned the Business Official for the CA with NNSA/ in due to retirements and termina- DOE. tions. Twelve Q clearance applications were initiated for the new hires with no The Annual Security Refresher and pending applications from the previous Annual Information Security Refresher year. No security incident/ notification are courses that are an annual mandatory occurred. Twenty-nine new hires joined requirement. If these are not completed, the Department. A total of twenty-five LANL access may be denied. In order to personnel exited employment (21 ter- address this department wide, LAFD spon- minations, 1 transfer, and 3 retirements). sors a “Security Blitz” prior to the expira- Ten promotions occurred to include one tion of all LANL Badges. In August all LAFD to Chief, three to Captain, five to Driver Engineer, and one to Management Chief Joseph Baca’s Retirement
Joseph Baca Division Chief Joseph Baca joined the LAFD on August 4, 1997. During his career, he held the ranks of Firefighter, Driver Engineer, Captain, Training Captain and Safety Division Chief. He became a Paramedic in 2003. Chief Baca was a member of the Public Fire Education/Community Outreach Team for the majority of his career and was also on TRT and Haz-Mat teams. He retired with 25 years of service on December 30, 2021. “I have been blessed and fortunate to work for such a fine department with such great people. It’s been a great career and I hope that I’ve con- tributed at least a little to making LAFD a better organization. I know that I leave you in good hands.” - Joseph Baca Daniel DeVall Captain Daniel DeVall joined LAFD on January 9, 2006. He promoted to the rank of Captain on February 5, 2012. Daniel was a member of the Wildland, and HazMat specialty teams. He served his county in the United States [list the branch of the military he served in] before becoming a Firefight- er. He retired with 16 years of service to Los Alamos County on Novem- ber 25, 2021. “Thank you all for a wonderful career. I will miss you.”- Daniel DeVall Rick Gonzales Driver Engineer Rick T. Gonzales joined the Los Alamos Fire Department on August 4, 1997. He promoted to Driver Engineer on September 4, 2011. He served as a Fire Investigator and a member of the Public Fire Education/Com- munity Outreach Team. Rick retired with 25 years of service to Los Ala- mos County on December 23, 2021. “The people who work here are second to none, and I know that as my future is one where my family and I will still spend a big part of our life in Los Alamos, if we ever need help or care, I know there is a great group here ready to answer the call. Thank you for everything. I wish you all the best. It has been an honor to serve beside all of you.”- Rick Gonzales
LOS ALAMOS COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT 999 CENTRAL AVENUE, SUITE 200 LOS ALAMOS, NM 87544 (505) 662-8301
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