City Hall - 455 Main Street Worcester, Massachusetts

Chairperson Councilor Toomey read the item and moved for a roll call vote to adopt the item. Order adopted on a roll call vote of 3 Yeas and 0 Nays

Chairperson Councilor Toomey read the item and spoke concerning the objective of the meeting, the needs for a Community Risk Assessment Master Plan for the Fire Department in order to reduce occupational risks and recognized Worcester firefighters who had died in line of duty.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey recognized the Emergency Services Consulting International Representatives, who provided presentation concerning the community risk assessment of the Fire Department, the master plan and strategic plan for the Fire Department.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey brought forth the following Chairman’s Order: 1) Request City Manager provide City Council with a report listing all recommendations from previous reports concerning line-of-duty deaths and tri-data in order to identify work that has been done and progresses made relative to line-of-duty deaths as they relate to the Fire Department Community Risk Assessment Master Plan for the Worcester Fire Department.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey recognized the Deputy Fire Chief, who discussed the direction concerning hiring non-firefighter positions for the Fire Department and actions taken to improve the Fire Department system, including expanding the capacity of the Fire Department and building a command system and training personnel for the system.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey brought forth the following three Chairman’s Orders: 1) Request City Manager request Fire Chief provide City Council with list of unfilled positions in the Fire Department; 2) Request City Manager request Fire Chief provide City Council with a review of Fire Department operations over the past 30 years, including details relative to what operations have changed and when they were changed and; 3) Request City Manager request Fire Chief provide City Council with a report concerning the history of personnel, facilities, changes and training as a result from incidents, expanding roles of department, city demographic, and current challenges of the Fire Department.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey recognized the Deputy Fire Chief, who discussed the height number of firefighters employed by the Fire Department.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey brought forth the following three Chairman’s Order: 1) Request City Manager request Fire Department works with Police Department and Human Resources collaboratively with regards to the background checks in order to speed up the hiring process and allow firefighters to go on duty; 2) Request City Manager request Fire Department focus on ensuring the department works on national accreditation, including the ongoing focus of renewing the accreditation to ensure compliance with best practices and standards and provide measurable results and; 3) Request City Manager request Fire Chief provide City Council with a progress report relative to actions taken on the Community Risk Assessment Master Plan after three (3) months.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey recognized Councilor Colorio, who discussed the community involvement during the Fire Department community risk assessment process with the Emergency Services Consulting International Representative.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey recognized Councilor Rivera, who discussed the impact and the needs to communicate about challenging topics and issues requiring attention in order to bring about improvement and progress.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey recognized the Deputy Fire Chief, who discussed the challenges met by the Fire Department in the past few years, the effort made by members of the Fire Department to bring about cultural change for the department and the needs for the Fire Department to be able to adapt to changes in the community and the industry by implementing the best strategies for staffing, training and other improvements formulated created by analysis of the community risk assessment report in order to provide the capable services to the community.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey brought forth the following Chairman’s Order: Request City Manager request Fire Chief work with the Commissioner of Inspectional Services to provide City Council with a report concerning the feasibility of collaborating with other agencies, such as Anna Maria College Fire Sciences Department, to find ways to get data and information relative to the city’s existing buildings.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey recognized the Deputy Assistant City Manager, who discussed current plans to perform similar assessment with Inspectional Services and the administration’s effort and commitment to create changes within the Fire Department.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey recognized the Deputy Fire Chief, who discussed the upgrades to the equipment utilized by the department, such as new self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), and investment in different types of training for the department.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey brought forth the following Chairman’s Order: Request City Manager request Fire Chief provide City Council with a report concerning the accomplishments relative to the needs and requirements of the Fire Department.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey recognized the following speaker:
1. Michael Papagni, Worcester resident, spoke concerning the item.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey moved for a roll call vote to recommend the item be filed.

Recommend File on a roll call vote of 3 Yeas and 0 Nays

Request City Manager provide City Council with a report listing all recommendations from previous reports concerning line-of-duty deaths and tri-data in order to identify work that has been done and progresses made relative to line-of-duty deaths as they relate to the Fire Department Community Risk Assessment Master Plan for the Worcester Fire Department.

Request City Manager request Fire Chief provide City Council with list of unfilled positions in the Fire Department.

Request City Manager request Fire Chief provide City Council with a review of Fire Department operations over the past 30 years, including details relative to what operations have changed and when they were changed.

Request City Manager request Fire Chief provide City Council with a report concerning the history of personnel, facilities, changes and training as a result from incidents, expanding roles of department, city demographic, and current challenges of the Fire Department.

Request City Manager request Fire Department works with Police Department and Human Resources collaboratively in regard to background checks, in order to speed up the hiring process and allow firefighters to go on duty.

Request City Manager request Fire Department focus on ensuring the department works on national accreditation, including the ongoing focus of renewing the accreditation to ensure compliance with best practices and standards and provide measurable results.

Request City Manager request Fire Chief provide City Council with a progress report relative to actions taken on the Community Risk Assessment Master Plan after three (3) months.

Request City Manager request Fire Chief work with the Commissioner of Inspectional Services to provide City Council with a report concerning the feasibility of collaborating with other agencies, such as Anna Maria College Fire Sciences Department, to find ways to get data and information relative to the city’s existing buildings.

Request City Manager request Fire Chief provide City Council with a report concerning the accomplishments relative to the needs and requirements of the Fire Department.