Fire Chief, Mayor Defend New LAFD Staffing Plan

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Fire Chief Brian Cummings Tuesday defended the city’s redeployment of firefighters last summer, which led to the shuttering of a number of fire engine and ambulance companies and increased response times, according to newly released data.

The officials also defended a decision to switch to a new way of reporting response times that made previous years’ data look better than it was.

The department acknowledged last week that it had been inappropriately reporting how often firefighters arrive on the scene of a call in under five minutes. The National Fire Protection Association recommends crews arrive on- scene in under five minutes 90 percent of the time.

Department officials told the mayor’s office and City Council members during budget preparations last year that the LAFD was meeting that goal close to 86 percent of the time for medical emergencies. But department brass told the Los Angeles Times last week that percentage was based on an arrival rate of six minutes or less.

After switching over to a new computer system that measured response times in under five minutes, the rate dropped to 64 percent. Cummings said Tuesday that he should have told the City Council the department was in the process of switching over to the new metric for measuring response times.

“Potentially we should have put down that we changed our method,” Cummings told reporters after a Tuesday morning news conference at a downtown fire station. “We should have done that.”

However, the fire chief maintained that he never presented any inaccurate data.

“I would welcome anyone to audit those response times,” Cummings said.

Villaraigosa said the decision in 2009 to switch to the new computer data system was to create a more stringent assessment of the LAFD. He called the department transparent and said it was one of the few in the nation to publicly release response times.

Villaraigosa called on City Controller Wendy Greuel to conduct an independent analysis to reassure Angelenos that the department’s numbers are accurate.

The mayor also revealed that the department’s new emergency dispatch center experienced a 90-second failure last week, during which two calls were not responded to “promptly.” Villaraigosa called the communication breakdown “brief but significant,” but stressed that it did not lead to loss of life.
Cummings said the department has a series of back-up communications in place that include printouts, a ringing fire phone and alert lights at fire stations.

United Firefighters of Los Angeles City President Pat McOsker said the department “unnecessarily and dishonestly” put the city in danger.

“Full fire and emergency medical staffing must be restored immediately,” McOsker said.

He said the department needs to have enough firefighters and vehicles to reach every part of the city within the recommended time, then add resources “where fires happen more frequently.”