Public Safety Reports

CAL FIRE RESPONSE MATRIX

CAL FIRE utilizes a multilayered process for deploying apparatus and personnel to its myriad of

calls for service. Morgan Hill Police Dispatch is the primary public safety answering point (PSAP)

for 911 calls originating within city limits. If the call is EMS-related it is immediately transferred to

the Santa Clara 911 Dispatch Center, which screens the call, determines its prioritization, and

dispatches the closest County EMS unit. Simultaneously, the CAL FIRE Dispatch Center is notified

in a pre-alert, which activates the responding CAL FIRE -EMS first responder. In many situations

the pre-alert is received prior to the completion of the County EMS call interrogation and

determination of call severity and prioritization. Subsequently, CAL FIRE will initiate a hot

response. The Santa Clara 911 Dispatch Center utilizes the Medical Priority Dispatch System

(MPDS) software package that allows dispatchers to ask a series of questions in determining the

severity of the call. On the basis of the information received, the dispatcher will then assign an

alphanumeric designation that determines the mode of response. Responses are either “hot,”

which refers to a unit driving while utilizing lights and sirens, or “cold,” which refers to units

responding while not utilizing lights and sirens and while following traffic patterns and

signalization. County EMS units will alter their response depending on the call prioritization;

however, CAL FIRE frequently maintain a hot response on nearly all EMS calls. The system is very

similar in the District except that the Santa Clara 911 Dispatch Center is the PSAP who first

receives the call and then dispatches Santa Clara EMS and notifies the CAL FIRE Dispatch

Center of a call in the District.

CAL FIRE utilizes a standard response plan or response matrix that specifies the number and

types of resources that are sent to calls. For EMS responses the matrix calls for a single engine

responding with a staffing of three and a Santa Clara County EMS unit. As mentioned above,

County EMS will alter its response mode depending on the severity of the call, but CAL FIRE units

always respond hot. CPSM believes that this level of response is unwarranted and in some cases

may heighten the risk of responding apparatus being involved in vehicle accidents.

Recommendation: CAL FIRE should work with County EMS to modify CAL FIRE’s

response protocols for Priority 2 call types (Alpha Designations) in an effort to alter unit

response modes when calls are determined to be nonemergency or minor incidents.

Emergency response units that are responding with lights and sirens are more susceptible to

traffic accidents. Accidents involving fire vehicles responding to emergencies are the second

highest cause for line-of-duty deaths of firefighters.

It is estimated that more than 30,000 fire

apparatus are involved in accidents when responding to emergencies each year in the U.S.

Responding fewer units and having these units respond in a nonemergency mode makes sense

in terms of safety and efficiency.

The current EMS contracts with Morgan Hill and SSCCFD have reduced response time

requirements for Priority 2 calls. CAL FIRE should implement an altered response protocol that

varies unit response on the basis of EMS call prioritizations.

The current response matrix for fire calls assigns four engines, a chief officer, and a safety officer

to a reported structure fire. This assignment provides 14 personnel to a reported residential

structural fire. CPSM believes this level of response is appropriate for the Morgan Hill/SSCCFD

response areas. In those incidents in areas where fire hydrants are unavailable, the assignment

will add a water tender. In those areas that are adjacent to or in proximity of a mutual aid

“Analysis of Firetruck Crashes and Associated Firefighter Injuries in the U.S.” Association for the

Advancement of Automotive Medicine. October-2012.

Ibid.