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911 accreditation, firefighter health screenings and new EV fire policy highlighted in public-safety update
Summary
Emergency communications earned national accreditation; the city will host National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week events, the fire department launched expanded cancer screenings and new electric-vehicle fire protocols and plans another ALS assignment to improve cardiac-event response.
A city emergency communications staff member told the council the department’s professional development team achieved national accreditation, making the department the 103rd organization in the nation and ninth in Colorado to earn the credential. Staff said the city will mark National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week with a proclamation and announced an academy class of eight new telecommunicators starting April 21 that will push staffing to allocation levels.
Separately, a fire department representative said the department obtained a grant to provide free, enhanced cancer screenings for firefighters that include testing beyond standard physicals. The department is also distributing single‑layer turnout gear for certain non-structural incidents to reduce exposure to PFAS in traditional bunker gear and will continue to use full bunker gear for fire suppression.
The fire representative said Aurora plans to add an additional ALS unit (an advanced life-support rig) to improve cardiac-event response and will dynamically assign ALS resources on cold-weather calls or calls where initial information suggests higher acuity.
The fire department also described a new electric-vehicle (EV) fire policy and training. At one EV fire, staff said they limited water use to avoid contaminating local waterways and allowed a vehicle to burn rather than apply tens of thousands of gallons of water; the representative said that on that incident crews were on scene about four hours. The department said foam and blankets are limited in effectiveness for EV battery fires and noted those incidents can require specialized techniques and international technology under review.
Staff said responders who attended the EV incident had contaminated gear that required professional cleaning, and that the department is evaluating additional equipment and techniques for safer, more-effective EV fire response.
No formal votes were taken; the items were informational updates to the council.
