Placentia fire chief outlines rising call volumes, equipment costs and staffing lessons in biennial report

The Placentia City Council on Oct. 21 heard a detailed biennial report from the city’s Fire & Life Safety Department covering July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2025, during which the department logged 10,645 calls for service and reported both operational gains and growing budget pressures.

Fire Chief Dobyn told the council the department responded to roughly 2,924 calls requiring engine or truck response and 7,721 emergency medical service calls over the two-year period, with average response times of 6 minutes, 56 seconds for fire-related calls and 4 minutes, 54 seconds for EMS calls. "We have a fine group of firefighters that are here to serve their community," Dobyn said, praising staff professionalism and mutual-aid deployments.

City analysts and department leaders highlighted several trends: overall call volume rose about 8% since the prior report; falls produced a 15% increase in EMS calls; mutual-aid requests into neighboring jurisdictions jumped sharply; and the city has begun to both provide and receive mutual aid more frequently. Chief Dobyn said mutual-aid deployments produced reimbursable revenue and training opportunities, and the department collected more than $272,000 last fiscal year in reimbursements for vehicle use and personnel overtime, "which helped offset overtime, supplies, travel, and fleet expenses," he said, noting the department netted over $100,000 when costs were accounted for.

Senior Management Analyst Crystal Adams reviewed recruitment and retention challenges for part-time and reserve firefighters. Adams said the city spent approximately $236,000 onboarding reserve firefighters and experienced a 76% attrition rate among reserves, with many using reserve roles as stepping stones to full-time jobs elsewhere. "We ran under a lot of assumptions that we were already having things available to us, and we just didn't," Adams said, explaining why the department placed a moratorium on hiring additional part-time firefighters and shifted to a full-time staffing model.

Fire Marshal Amanda Horner outlined community risk reduction work, telling the council the CRR division completed more than 1,000 inspections in the period, performed roughly 280 new construction inspections and over 800 routine compliance inspections, and generated about $220,000 in plan-review and inspection-related revenue. "By effectively breaking the CRR duties into manageable workload with dedicated staff, we're able to provide a high level of service to the community," Horner said.

City Administrator Lampman reviewed cost comparisons the council considered in 2019 when the city chose to transition from a contract with the Orange County Fire Authority to an in-house department. Lampman said updated financial modeling narrowed originally projected savings but still showed annual savings ranging from about $1 million to $2 million depending on assumptions and one-time equipment investments. "So what we really wanted to say ... is that we're not saving as much as was originally forecasted. But there still is a good amount of savings every year by making the decision to go to an in‑house department," Lampman said.

Council members and staff flagged urgent capital needs. The chief warned that a ladder truck facing significant issues will require either repair or replacement and estimated a new ladder truck could cost about $2 million with a four-year lead time. Leaders also noted that turnouts and other equipment have regulatory shelf lives and replacement costs are imminent — Dobyn said turnouts must be replaced every 10 years by code — and that living-quarters and station upgrades are needed at aging facilities.

Councilmembers praised the department’s performance while acknowledging the fiscal trade-offs of running a local department. Councilmember Smith said the reduced EMS response times were "a big thing" for the community, while others encouraged continued pursuit of revenue-generating deployments and state reimbursements to maintain sustainability.

No formal council vote on policy or budget changes occurred during the presentation; staff recommended creating a standards-of-cover document and a strategic plan to clarify future equipment, staffing and service-level needs and suggested the council consider contracting a consultant to develop those planning documents.

What’s next: staff signaled they will return with follow-up information on capital-replacement options, potential timing for a ladder-truck decision, and planning scopes to develop a standards-of-cover and strategic plan.