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Orono Fire Needs Assessment <br />48 | Page <br /> <br />POC firefighters or duty crew firefighters with other fire departments in the area while looking <br />for a job with a career department. By combining several duty crew positions at Cities around <br />the region, they can develop what is effectively a full-time job. There would be some savings <br />on existing POC personnel responding from their home since a single duty crew would handle <br />most routine calls without additional staff. <br />Another approach would be to use the model above for day time duty crews and utilize existing <br />POC firefighters to provide evening coverage at a fire station from 1800 – 0600. A crew of 4 <br />would staff the crew between these hours for a flat rate plus the current compensation rate for <br />actual response. This would require some renovations to the existing fire stations for crew <br />quarters. This model would allow the Orono Fire Department achieve the Suburban Area <br />Demand Zone or better on all calls. It would lead to better use of our personnel by having them <br />respond to only the calls they are truly needed. <br />5.3.4 Paid-On-Call (POC) Fire Department <br />This is the current operational model of the Long Lake Fire Department and many other <br />surrounding fire departments. It does not address the issue of availability of daytime <br />responders, especially at Station 2, identified by this assessment nor the issue of response <br />performance. This also doesn’t address the inefficiencies in the use of personnel. All models <br />will require some modifications to the stations. <br />5.4 Thresholds & Triggers – Determining When to Change the Staffing Model <br />There isn’t one single benchmark to use that could suggest a change in the staffing model. <br />Orono and the fire department should understand that while staffing shortages is often is a <br />driving force, it is only one component of a larger operational landscape. Other components <br />are longer response times, call volume, health and wellness of the responders and <br />burnout/disinterest of volunteers. Any one or a combination of these components could be the <br />trigger that leads to changing the response model. <br />A high call volume can lead to burnout for the POC firefighter. They are having to respond to <br />calls at all hours which is putting a strain on their life and leads to burnout. <br />Staffing shortages can be a multitude of items. It is hard to find people who want to become <br />POC firefighters. It is also an even harder task to find POC firefighters who can respond during <br />the day when they are normally at their full-time jobs. <br />The health and wellness of the firefighter is being studied more and more. It is showing that <br />there are huge adverse effects on the firefighter’s health when the pager goes into alert mode. <br />If you are able to limit the amount of time this happens or control how the notification of a call <br />is happening with station alerting makes a big difference. The studies show a huge spike in a