Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Boards direct Jackson Hole Fire & EMS to draft local operational standards after ESCI review
Summary
After a year‑long ESCI study, Jackson and Teton County officials unanimously directed Jackson Hole Fire & EMS to develop community‑specific operational performance standards to measure response, staffing and volunteer participation and to report quarterly. The decision follows recommendations to adjust station siting, staffing and data collection.
The Town of Jackson and the Teton County Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously on Dec. 1, 2025, to direct Jackson Hole Fire & EMS to develop community‑specific operational performance standards following presentation of a 2025 Standards of Cover report by Emergency Services Consulting International (ESCI).
The directive follows a presentation by Fire Chief Mike Moyer and ESCI Managing Director Joe Powers, who described a year‑long analysis of five years of incident data, response times and staffing that benchmarked local performance against national guidance (NFPA) and identified service gaps driven by seasonal population swings, geographic isolation and cross‑staffing of apparatus.
ESCI’s report highlighted that Jackson Hole operates as an “emergency resource island,” with mutual‑aid resources distant enough to be inconsistent; that minimal cross‑staffing at Stations 1 and 6 means those stations can typically manage only one call at a time without volunteer support; and that data gaps — missing CAD/RMS timestamps and inconsistent field entries — prevent reliable measurement of turnout and travel times. The consultants recommended adopting a populated response area to focus performance expectations where most incidents occur and producing a quarterly performance “report card.”
Chief Moyer framed the work as a data‑driven next step. “Our mission is prepare, prevent and protect,” he said, and the standards would translate the ESCI findings into measurable benchmarks. Powers told the boards the study’s key drivers were aligning deployment to seasonal and growth patterns, establishing volunteer performance measures to support retention, and building a phased plan for permanent staffing and station placement.
Elected officials pressed presenters on specifics: whether building a new Station 8 or fully staffing Station 7 should be prioritized; how Alta (the remote area) factored into modeling (the study excluded Alta as it has a separate, sustainable model); whether additional EMS‑focused resources should be considered given that most calls are medical; and how to fix the time‑stamp and CAD transfer issues. The consultants and chief said the next step is for Fire & EMS staff to draft operational standards based on the report and the local populated response area, then return them to the boards for consideration.
Commissioners also asked about costs and timing. Chief Moyer said the ESCI contract for the standards review ran about $50,000 and that many implementation costs (staffing, facility changes) would be phased and brought back with cost estimates tied to different adopted standard levels. Several members asked the department to present the likely price tags for alternative service levels so policy makers can choose trade‑offs between staffing, stations and training.
The motion directing Jackson Hole Fire & EMS to develop recommended operational performance standards passed unanimously; staff said the draft standards and associated cost estimates would be presented to the joint bodies at a future meeting for adoption consideration.
