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Manassas Fire & Rescue reports staffing progress, new DEA licensing and improved EMS metrics
Summary
Fire Chief Mills reported fewer vacancies, expanded training hours, improved EMS performance on stroke and sepsis alerts, and completion of a DEA licensing process that enabled the department’s in-house pharmacy and medication accountability system.
Chief Mills told the council that 2024 brought measurable operational changes for Manassas Fire & Rescue: the department reduced vacancies (to four as of the report), hired 12 personnel and retained volunteers who filled critical gaps. He said training hours rose, school-safety visits are expected to increase in spring, and the department’s overall city response time averaged five minutes and four seconds.
The department highlighted emergency medical performance indicators: 100% compliance for sepsis alerts and stroke notifications, 96% compliance for respiratory protocols and 79% compliance for cardiac chest-pain protocol in instances deemed cardiac in nature. Mills said cardiac-arrest termination rates in the field were 45%, and that about 80% of cases where resuscitation was not continued involved do-not-resuscitate orders.
A significant operational change was completion of DEA licensing and the establishment of an in-house pharmacy so ambulances and crews could carry and account for controlled medications. That step required new documentation, disposal and chain-of-custody procedures; Mills said his EMS supervisors led that effort and that the department was the first in the Northern Virginia region to stand up an in-house pharmacy under the new process.
Awards and safety programs were also reported. The department received a 2024 EMS Agency of the Year award and a Virginia Fire Chiefs Association health-and-safety award tied to a protective-hood exchange program intended to reduce cancer risk for firefighters. Chief Mills also described community safety work: the department and volunteers installed more than 300 smoke detectors in a neighborhood, with an upcoming March 22 detector day planned.
Councilmembers commented on the department’s data collection, praised the return-on-investment from training and praised the department’s use of data to guide deployment and capital planning. Chief Mills said Station 1 relocations and previous analysis indicate the department should meet a five-minute response target citywide once planned station moves are complete.
