Olympia Fire Department presents community risk and response study

The Olympia Fire Department presented its newly completed Community Risk Assessment and Standards of Cover report, a data-driven document that outlines current performance, identifies gaps, and guides long-range planning for emergency response across the city.

At an Olympia City Council study session on Tuesday, March 10, Fire Chief Matt Morris and Deputy Chief Hillory Flowers discussed findings of the report, which is the result of an 18-month effort.

The data examined demographic trends, service demand, emergency response performance, as well as the location of the city’s four fire stations.

Morris said the department’s analysis begins by identifying its core services, including fire suppression, emergency medical response, wildland firefighting, technical rescue calls and marine shipboard fire suppression.

He said the services are defined not only by how often incidents occur, but also by the potential consequences for the community and number of firefighters required to respond.

Morris said national standards guide how many firefighters are needed for certain emergencies. Using the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) guidance, Morris pointed out that a medium-risk residential structure fire typically requires 17 firefighters and the initial arrival goal aims for about seven minutes to safely perform tasks.

He illustrated the importance of effective deployment by citing a January fire at Landis Point apartments, in which the timely arrival of units limited the damage to roughly $800,000 and prevented the fire from spreading to nearby buildings.

The report also includes a detailed risk analysis of Olympia’s population and geography, identifying patterns that impact emergency response needs.

For example, about 30 percent of residents in the district served by Station 3 in southeast Olympia are over age 60, which can influence the frequency of medical calls.

Station districts also vary significantly in size. Station 2 on Olympia’s west side covers the largest service area, about 7.7 square miles. Station 4 serves 2.2 square miles.

Those differences affect response times, according to Flowers.

“Station 4 is really what we would ask of a station,” Flowers said. “It has a small district, it’s located where call volume is highest, and it’s able to respond quickly.”

Station 2 faces longer travel times due to the larger area it covers and high call volume near Capital Medical Center and nearby assisted living facilities.

Station 4, the newest and smallest district, meets many benchmarks for reliability and response time, while Station 3 was identified as slower and more frequently used to cover city core needs for training and workload balance. The department reported about 30 percent of a day has concurrent calls that can affect coverage and response times.

The NFPA standard aims for the first fire unit to arrive within 7:06 minutes of a call 90 percent of the time.

According to the analysis, Olympia’s stations vary in meeting that benchmark.

Station 1 meets the standard about 67 percent of the time, while Station 2 meets it about 36 percent of the time.

Officials said response times depend on multiple factors, including dispatch processing time, firefighter turnout time, and travel time influenced by traffic and road design.

Darkhorse analytics

To improve analysis and planning, the department recently implemented the Darkhorse analytics platform, procured regionally with Lacey. The system is used to review historical response data and model potential changes in deployment.

The platform can simulate adjustments, such as adding a new fire station, relocating equipment or upgrading alerting systems, to see how the changes might affect response times.

For example, Flowers noted Station 2’s older analog alerting system going to digital alerting could reduce response times by 20-25 seconds.

Darkhorse is being used for monthly performance reviews to inform planning and annual reporting.

Emerging risks

The report also identified emerging risks facing the department, including increasing wildfire danger in western Washington.

Morris said climate conditions are creating fire risks that were rarely seen in the region decades ago.

“A brush fire on Interstate 5 today is a big event. Thirty years ago, it would not have gone anywhere," he said.

The department currently trains firefighters to handle local wildfire incidents, but is not equipped to deploy crews to large regional wildfires without additional investment and training.

Morris said the new analysis is intended to help the city plan for long-term needs, such as additional stations, staffing and equipment.

“We should never sit in this room and be surprised that we need to add resources. You should hear from the fire department years in advance,” he said.