As Redwood City analyzes its financial woes, it plans to add a two-person squad truck to its fire department early next year. The unit would respond to minor emergencies as part of a strategy to use the city’s resources effectively.
City council members unanimously approved the fire department’s recommendations and several policy changes during the meeting on Monday, Nov. 27, following a presentation by Chief Ray Iverson, who spoke about the many emergency services calls the fire department receives at all hours of the day and night, many of which are around the county’s Navigation Center, a homeless shelter.
“Based on the call data and the assumptions, even outreach teams working Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., could respond to these types of calls they would only be available for 25% to 35% of them,” Iverson said. “To reduce the call volume of the fire department responses to emergency medical service calls to assist unsheltered residents, an alternative 24/7 response option would need to be developed.”
The Redwood City Fire Department receives around 13,000 calls yearly for emergencies. Data from standards of cover and community risk assessment report provided by CityGate Services LLC, a public service consultant used by the city, showed that response times are above the department's standard.
However, Iverson said that the department plans on implementing a pilot program to expedite response times.
Iverson said Squad 409 implementation plan will be a two-person truck that would respond to lower-level structure fires in San Carlos and Redwood Shores and the rising number of minor medical emergencies in the downtown area and at the San Mateo County’s Navigation Center, a homeless shelter that opened in April.
"(Squad 409) will keep our regular service engines and trucks available for other calls," Iverson said. "It's a quick response unit; it can get through traffic quicker."
This year, according to a city staff report, the department received 596 calls, from January to August, for service at homeless shelter facilities, nearly double what it received in 2021. Of those reported calls for homeless individuals, 80% were emergency medical service calls.
San Mateo County’s one-day homeless count on Feb. 23, 2022, and the survey found that 1,808 were experiencing homelessness, a 21% increase from the previous year. Of those persons accounted for, 245 persons were found in Redwood City, which had the largest homeless population in the county, according to the county’s website.
Redwood City conducted its one-day count in March and the city found 205 homeless people in the city, the year before it found 245, the same as the county’s count, according to the city’s website.
The city has made housing and homelessness a priority in recent years and has said it plans to enact policies and create more affordable housing to address economic inequities in the city, including unfair distribution of housing.
Iverson said that medical emergencies have occurred around the clock and daily in the areas.
The city should consider hiring or extending the hours that mental health professionals are available because, after 5 p.m., only the fire and police departments can assist people in a health crisis, he said.
"Our calls are typically after hours for this population regularly," Iverson said.
He added the uptick in calls at the Navigation Center, is due to individuals still transitioning from the shelter after being unhoused.
"We anticipate once they get into permanent housing, those calls are showing to be less," Iverson said. "During that transitional phase from unhoused to sheltered homeless, we see those calls are peaking."
However, adding personnel or a fire station is outside the city's financial scope as it plans to deliver services on a reduced budget, according to the report.
On Friday, County Executive Mike Callagy said the standards and coverage report allows the county to better understand the types of emergencies and services needed at the shelters.
"I think we are learning every day; this is a phenomenon we never dealt with before the unhoused were spread out on the street, and we had fire and medics responding all over the county, and now it is more concentrated," Callagy said.
Callagy said there will be an opportunity to sit down and speak with the city officials about the support it needs to keep the services effective. He added that triaging patients on-site and increasing medical staff personnel and hours at the homeless shelters could help alleviate the calls to the fire department.
Iverson said that the city and fire department are still working on how much Squad 409 would cost the department to deploy.
