STATION
161
By Rich Huntling
Station 161 along Arrow Route and Second Ave. is the oldest
firehouse in Upland, built in 1969 just across from the city’s first-
ever station, which itself was completed in 1915 and still stands.
With its current staffing level of a three-member paramedic engine
crew and three-member ladder truck, 161’s serves as County Fire’s
Battalion 1 headquarters, housing the area’s administrative and pre-
vention staff; meanwhile, the crews there protect the mid-to-south
portion of the city, running automatic aid calls with
the surrounding cities of Montclair, Ontario and
Rancho Cucamonga.
Since the city’s transition to San Ber-
nardino County Fire in July of last year,
the crews have been working hard to
improve the living quarters and bring
things to department stan dards. This
past quarter a major portion of the
renovations was completed, which
included a full tear-down of the
dorm-style quarters and installation
of individual bedrooms. Currently, the
kitchen is being doubled in size, a large
bathroom is being converted into three
and the day room and chief’s quarters are
being remodeled.
To better understand the current state of things at 161,
where crews typically run 12-16 calls daily, it’s helpful to gather
some of the history of where things started in the city over 100
years ago.
Initially named North Ontario, the City of Upland was incorporated
in 1906. However, it wasn’t until 1911 that the citizens recognized
the need for formal fire services. F.H. Manker, tasked with being the
first fire chief, called for the purchase of a hose cart that would be
pulled by the first volunteer personnel to arrive where the cart was
stored. Two years later the city experienced its first major fire when
all of the businesses on the east side of Second Ave., south of Ninth
8
FIREWIRE • Spring 2018
DATA-DRIVEN DECISION MAKING
By Dan Munsey
“Without data you’re just another
person with an opinion.”
—W. Edwards Deming
Street, were destroyed. In 1915, the year the original station was
built, an American LaFrance chemical pumper was delivered. Public safety agencies and the public have come
to see data as integral in evaluating progress,
often with performance measures tied into
funding of staffing, apparatus and programs. of the week, time of day, shift, event locations) and
determine how well the department is meeting its call
response performance goals.
Over time, the firefighters garnered such support that the depart-
ment remained staffed by volunteers until 1963 when the
first paid member was hired; eventually the depart-
ment evolved, becoming the fully-professional
outfit which served the city proudly until last
year’s transition. The Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE), the
major fire service accrediting agency, believes that
agencies should be data-driven and outcome-focused.
Likewise, the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA)
is data-driven. For example, the NFPA 1710 guidelines
are full of response benchmarks believed to be fire
service best practices. The area of the city that Station 161
serves has many homes that were built
in the 1940s, and some even earlier.
This can sometimes create challeng-
es for engine and truck companies
during suppression operations due to
many of these homes having various
additions built through the years. This
can be especially tricky for truck oper-
ations due to different roof constructions
on the same roof. Target hazards of the
area include: San Antonio Regional Hospital,
numerous skilled nursing facilities, the Interstate 10
freeway and numerous strip-mall shopping areas. All this information comes from many sources,
some reliable, some less so. The adage “garbage in,
garbage out” really applies to a lot of our collection
of data; every “pencil-whipped” RMS report skews
data to produce “garbage.” Thankfully, one of the
most reliable methods of data collection is through
computer aided dispatch (CAD) systems. Second, Deccan provides theoretical modeling
through its Apparatus Deployment Analysis Module
(ADAM). This modeling provides a “What if?” predic-
tive modeling tool that uses historical CAD data, GIS
map info and a rigorous projection algorithm to project
the impact of deployment changes on response times
and availability. An ADAM software user can ask the
predictive software to choose the best location of
a new fire station or determine where a new fire
engine or squad should be placed to best respond
to incidents in a jurisdiction. The software can also
accept future inputs, such as the growth of a com-
mercial area or the construction of new single-family
residences. It can then use these theoretical inputs to
predict demand for services in a given area and even
provide how much of an impact the growth will place
on current or proposed new apparatus. Simply put,
fire management can use the software to understand
the impact (positive or negative) that deployment will
have prior to growth occurring, building a fire station
or placing a new apparatus into service.
The crews of station 161 remain heavily involved within the
community, participating in numerous public education events and
holiday festivities throughout the year. Rest assured, no matter the
workload of the crews of the station, they constantly stand ready to
deliver premiere fire services to the citizens with integrity, compas-
sion, professionalism and service.
Tower 5 grad Rich Huntling is a regular contributor to FIREWIRE with his station
profiles. He is a firefighter/paramedic currently assigned to Station 78.
Several years ago, making usable sense from CAD
data would be impossible for the average chief officer.
Most such systems have always produced hundreds of
thousands of lines of information—quantity wasn’t the
problem. But accessing and interpreting the data was,
and reams of numbers are meaningless unless they
are interpreted to provide information in context.
Deccan is one of the CAD data interpretation systems
the fire service relies on to produce information. The
company’s website defines its products as “deci-
sion-support software applications designed to assist
departments in improving their response times,
optimize their resources and defend their budgets.”
First, Deccan is a CAD analyzer. It looks into a past
range of time and provides information on when,
where and how often calls are occurring—and how
the department responded. With the software we
can look at response times and then filter (by day
Deccan is being utilized within San Bernardino County
Fire routinely. Recently, it analyzed the City of
Fontana to recommend two new fire station locations
and suggested a relocation for a Hesperia fire station.
Further, it is utilized in the City of San Bernardino to
make several key decisions on fire station relocations
as well as locations for additional paramedic squads.
Assistant Chief Dan Munsey currently heads
Divisi on 2 in San Bernardino. Previously assigned
to Division 6 in Victorville, he is a regular
contributor to FIREWIRE, including a series of
articles on County Fire’s budgeting system and a
detailed analysis of the North Fire in 2015.
Spring 2018 • FIREWIRE
9