Fremont residents will have the opportunity to share their views on fire department issues on Wednesday and Thursday night.
Fremont Fire Chief Todd Bernt said the city approved an agreement in February with Matrix Consulting Group of San Mateo, Calif., to do a long-range master plan.
“We wanted to see where we need to be short term in three to five years, but also long term 10 years out,” Bernt said. “It is a six-month process and part of that process is having a community input meeting. It gives community members a chance to voice their opinions about the fire department.”
Both meetings for the comprehensive plan are scheduled for 7 p.m. at the City Auditorium, 925 N. Broad St.
Matrix officials were in Fremont for three days in April and met with FFD personnel, Bernt said.
“They also interviewed the mayor, the city administrator, assistant city administrator and interviewed with other department heads such as the planning director, the finance director, building inspections chief and our communications director ” he said. “Those people also play a very important part in what we do. … This is a very in-depth analysis of the fire department and along with that are other departments that play a very intricate role.”
The number of calls for FFD has been increasing. In 2018, there were 2,698 calls — 2,506 medical and 192 for fire. The past two years have seen more than 3,000 calls, including 3,110 in 2020. Last year’s figures included 2,824 medical and 286 for fire.
“The City of Fremont is continuing to grow,” Bernt said. “With that growth and increase in call volume, we need to know where we’re going to be in the future as far as staffing, equipment and stations. We just want to make sure the community has input in some of those decisions.”
The process will seek to to identify:
- How customers prioritize fire and emergency medical services
- Areas of concern about FFD
- Expectations regarding costs to the taxpayers
- Positive/negative attributes of FFD
- How “good service” is measured by the customer
- How FFD can control costs while providing quality service.
“It is probably something that we should’ve done a few years ago, but we’re doing it now,” he said. “They’ll come up with some short-term goals for us to hopefully meet and then they’ll come up with some really big picture things for us in the future.”
Bernt, who oversees three nine-person shifts, said he is eager to hear the feedback from the community.
“We want to hear the negative along with the positive,” he said. “We need to hear the negative and the positive in order for us to improve. The most important thing is we want to make sure we are providing the best service possible to the community.”
