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Committee notes LAFD HazMat report and asks department to include staffing plan in future budgets
Summary
The committee noted and filed a Los Angeles Fire Department report that found three of four HazMat teams operate with "flex" staffing and recommended adding permanent staffing to reduce response times; the committee instructed LAFD to include a staffing plan in upcoming budget requests.
The Public Safety Committee on Wednesday noted a report from the Los Angeles Fire Department detailing the department's hazardous materials (HazMat) team locations, staffing model and a rising call load that the department says requires additional permanent staffing.
Captain Richard (Scott) Thompson, LAFD program manager for HazMat and joint hazard assessment, told the committee the city has four strategically stationed HazMat teams. HazMat 21 in South Los Angeles is fully staffed; three other units (HazMat 48 in San Pedro, HazMat 87 in Granada Hills, and HazMat 95 at the airport) are "flex-staffed," meaning the apparatus sits in quarters but is not routinely staffed and requires another fire apparatus to shut down and reassign personnel when a HazMat incident occurs.
Thompson said state and mutual-aid typing standards require a minimum of eight personnel for a Type 1 HazMat response and that flex staffing has lengthened response times. "HAZMAT 21, which is the fully staffed ... on an average between 2023 and 2024 meets that standard," Thompson said; the flex stations, he said, can average substantially longer response times, at times more than 20 to 28 minutes. He reported a 39% increase in confirmed HazMat incidents from 521 in 2023 to 726 in 2024 and said the number of dispatch algorithms requiring a HazMat response has grown.
Equipment and funding: Thompson said most HazMat equipment is acquired via grants (Cal OES, UASI, Secure the Cities programs) and that frontline HazMat apparatus are nearly 20 years old with some reserves older than 30 years. The department has one replacement apparatus arriving and two more on order; a fourth required apparatus has no identified funding source.
Recommendation and committee action: Thompson recommended staffing the three flex HazMat apparatus with one captain, one engineer and two firefighters each, beginning as a phased increment in future budgets (he referenced starting in the 26-27 budget cycle). The committee voted to note and file the report and instructed the Fire Department to include the proposed HazMat apparatus staffing plan in its future budget requests. The recorded roll call for this action showed three ayes (Councilmember Lee; Councilmember McOsker; Councilmember Soto Martinez) with Councilmember Price and Councilmember Park absent.
Why it matters: The report says Los Angeles' geography, port activity, airport operations, growth in ion-battery and alternative-fuel vehicles, and the volume of businesses with hazardous-material permits all increase the city's HazMat risk and create a need for reliable, on-call HazMat resources. Committee members said the report should inform budget discussions so the city can reduce response times and ensure appropriate equipment and personnel are available for major incidents.
