Jackson officials direct Fire & EMS to develop local operational performance standards after ESCI study

Jackson Hole Fire & EMS presented the findings of a yearlong standards‑of‑cover study to the town and county on Dec. 1, and the joint boards voted unanimously to direct the department to develop draft operational performance standards.

Chief Mike Moyer opened the presentation by asking elected officials for direction to translate the consultant report into measurable local benchmarks. “These standards will provide clear measurable benchmarks that we can all work toward achieving together,” he said.

Joe Powers of Emergency Services Consulting International (ESCI), who led the study, told the boards the work combined five years of incident data, a community risk assessment and national benchmarks to identify service gaps and options. Key findings he highlighted included the community’s large seasonal population swings, limitations created by the current cross‑staffing model, data‑quality problems in CAD and records systems that impede response‑time measurement, and the county’s geographic isolation for mutual aid. Powers said the firm recommends formalizing a “populated response area” to focus performance expectations where demand is concentrated and developing community‑specific response time targets drawn from NFPA guidance.

Among ESCI’s operational recommendations were evaluating staffing at Station 7 (including options to keep or relocate it), creating a volunteer‑residency program north of town to build capacity, phasing toward permanent staffing to reduce reliance on cross‑staffing, adding a training or division chief position, and considering an additional medical transport resource seasonally for Teton Village.

Commissioners and councilors pressed staff and the consultant about how the analysis used growth data (Powers said the team used county address‑point density and incident history rather than building permits), the feasibility of EMS‑focused stations (the consultant said national practice favors fire‑based EMS but local choices can vary), and data limitations that make some timing measures unreliable. Powers explained that inconsistent human input and data flows between the 911 CAD system and the state ImageTrend records system leave important timestamps missing, undermining accurate turnout and alarm‑handling time measures.

Commissioners also raised concerns about sustaining volunteer participation and about how any adopted standards would translate into budget choices. Chief Moyer and Powers said the proposed standards would create a report card — quarterly performance reporting to both governing bodies — and that the standards would be used to frame tradeoffs among station builds, staffing and training.

After discussion, Commissioner Karlman moved to “direct Jackson Hole Fire EMS to develop recommended operational performance standards for consideration of adoption by the board at a future meeting.” The motion was seconded and carried unanimously. Staff said the standards would be developed in‑house, using ESCI’s report as a basis, and returned to the joint meeting for consideration with cost estimates and implementation options.

Next steps: Fire EMS will draft the recommended operational performance standards, assemble performance metrics and quarterly reporting formats, and return to the boards for adoption and budgeting discussions.