Shakopee Snapshot: Summer 2024

Continued from page 3 “It was clear from the first time we met Chief Nelson during the inter view process that he was ready to invest in the future of our commu nity’s fire service,” Giddings added. “I’m excited to see what we can accomplish together.” STAFFING THE FIRE STATION 24/7 For much of its 140-year history, the Shakopee Fire Department oper ated with a staffing model that relied on paid on-call firefighters to respond to calls as their availability allowed. As the field of fire ser vice changed along with the demands and pace of society, most fire departments began to find volunteer and on-call models unsustain able in the 21st century. In recent years, the Shakopee Fire Department has slowly transi tioned away from a paid on-call model to one with a few full-time firefighters staffing one fire station during weekday hours and paid part-time firefighters volunteering for shifts to cover one of the City’s two stations overnight during the week and on weekends. The fire services evaluation completed by Citygate Associates rec ommended the City transition to a 24-hour full-time staffing model to keep pace with call demand, ensure a predictable and consistent response to calls, and support the health and well-being of the City’s overburdened part-time firefighters. Fortunately, Nelson has direct experience handling a staffing transition of this magnitude and is looking forward to the opportunity it presents. “Shakopee has a very long history and tradition that we want to rec ognize and maintain,” Nelson said, “This is an opportunity to build something new with a group of great people already in place.” As of May 29, Nelson, Giddings, and Simon are in the process of hiring three full-time captains, which are newly created positions, and two full-time firefighters, who will join the four full-timers already on staff. These new hires will allow the department to transition Fire Station 1 to a 24-hour full-time staffing model this summer. Under the new staffing model, Fire Station 1 will be staffed 24 hours a day by one full-time captain and two full-time firefighters, with one part-time firefighter working a 12-hour day shift and another part time firefighter working a 12-hour night shift. This will ensure 24-hour coverage with a minimum of four people available to respond to calls. “Having four firefighters at the station ready to respond really pro vides us with a solid foundation for a quick response,” Giddings said. “Twenty-four-hour coverage benefits the entire community and helps us do our jobs better.” Being that part-time firefighters often have full-time jobs, the new staffing model will alleviate the pressure on part-time staff to cover such a large number of shifts each week. “Part-time staff is critical to everything we are trying to do now and well into the future,” Nelson said. “We were burdening them in the

past to ensure we had adequate coverage, and this approach should help us strike a better balance for all our staff.” As someone who has been with the department through several changes over 17 years, Simon said that of all the initiatives the department is embarking on, he is most looking forward to the new staffing model. “The 24-hour shifts are common in the fire service,” Simon said. “We’ve had a confusing organizational chart and ranking structure, and it really led to a lot of misunderstanding. We have a really clear structure now, and, with Chief Scott’s help, we’ve really fostered a sense of pro fessionalism and accountability. It’s a major step in the right direction.” WHERE ARE ALL THE FIRE CALLS COMING FROM? Though fire departments sometimes encounter made-for-TV moments like saving a duckling stuck in a storm sewer or responding to an intense building fire, the largest portion of calls are for rescue and emergency medical services (EMS). In 2023, rescue and EMS incidents accounted for 46%, or 801, of the calls to which the Shakopee Fire Department responded. “We’re there 24 hours a day and doing things all day long that are impacting the community,” Nelson said. “But fighting fires is a fairly small part of it.” According to Nelson, a cardiac arrest call can easily occupy six people, if that many are available. And with EMS being overwhelmed with the ratio of calls to staffing levels—not just in Shakopee but across the country—it’s not uncommon for a first responder to wait on scene for 20–30 minutes for an available ambulance to safely transport a patient. With firefighters required to be trained as emergency medical techni cians (EMTs), they can provide a high level of medical intervention, and they have access to resources like airway interventions, automatic exter nal defibrillation, LUCAS devices for chest compressions, and more. “That’s a significant value the fire department provides,”Nelson explained. “If you’re waiting a half hour for the ambulance, the fire department can provide a higher level of care and usually with more people.” Nelson noted the system as a whole has to function well to deliver an effective response, with each department or organization playing a critical role in the quality of the local public safety and EMS response. “Police can get to a scene fast to start the care, the fire department brings additional resources and can support the scene for a longer period of time, and we need Allina to transport people to the hospital,” Nelson said. “The systems overlap and support each other, and we all provide value that alone one part of the system cannot fully provide.” WHAT DOES THE LONG-TERM FUTURE HOLD? The 24-hour staffing model transition at Fire Station 1 this summer is the first in a series of proposed improvements to the structure and operations of the Shakopee Fire Department. The City has applied for a federal SAFER grant, which would provide funding for the department to hire three more full-time captains and six more full-time firefighters in 2025. That round of hires would allow the City to fully staff Fire Station 2 for 24 hours a day, as well. Eventually, the department hopes to bring on three battalion chiefs, with each one supervising one of the three shifts for both fire sta tions. This is another structural change recommended by the fire ser vice evaluation to clarify the chain of command, build in systems of accountability, and guarantee the availability of a ranking officer-on duty when captains are unavailable on calls. “There’s just a ton of opportunity here,” Nelson said. “Mike (Scott) and Joe (Simon) and Dave (Giddings) have done a tremendous amount of work, and I’m ready to continue that work and build on it. I’m really excited to see where we are five years from now.”

Fire Station 1, pictured here, will be operating under a 24-hour full-time staffing model by the end of summer 2024.

8 Shakopee Snapshot