Study: Improving response time requires more firefighters

The Eden Prairie Fire Department (EPFD) needs to add more full-time staff to its existing complement of full- and part-time firefighters if it wants to get to fires and other emergencies quicker, according to a consultant hired by the city.

California-based Citygate Associates told city officials this week that low staffing at Eden Prairie’s four fire stations, a growing demand for emergency services, a heavy workload in fire inspections and licensing, and a circuitous street system are combining to slow the fire department’s response times.

A regional and national trend of dwindling interest in part-time firefighting may add to the problem, said Citygate’s Stewart Gary.

The consultant, hired by the city council on Jan. 2 at a cost of $78,873, said Eden Prairie may also need to eventually build a fire station in the northeastern area of town, known as the Golden Triangle because of its concentration of tax-producing industry and its bordering state highways: Interstate 494, Highways 169, and 212. That area is currently served primarily by the fire station on Scenic Heights Road, next to city hall.

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Gary did not share dollar figures for new personnel in his informal, hour-long discussion with city council members on July 16, and city staff cautioned that the report is only the beginning of a multi-year process to address long-range fire protection needs.

“This is just the very first step,” said City Manager Rick Getschow.

Gary, who has done similar work for Bloomington, Shakopee, and Minnetonka, among other cities, called EPFD a “well-managed, squared-away agency” but one that falls short of best practices regarding response times.

He said there are no state or federal regulations on response time, but Eden Prairie would get close to industry best practices if the first fire vehicle leaving the station reached its destination within 5 minutes on almost every call. In 2023, he said, the corresponding travel-time number was 8 minutes, 8 seconds. 

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The consultant said that on 90% of EPFD calls, it took an average of 11 minutes, 48 seconds from the time dispatchers called for help until the first fire unit arrived on the scene. That’s more than four minutes longer than industry best practices, according to Gary.

Consultant urges all stations be staffed 24/7

The Eden Prairie Fire Department, an all-volunteer force when formed in 1967, currently has a hybrid model of personnel: the equivalent of 13 full-time staff along with 94 duty-crew firefighters who receive pay for assigned shift work but typically have other full- or part-time jobs.

That model typically has three firefighters at each of two fire stations at any one time, for a total of six ready to respond, with other firefighters paged as needed.

But Citygate’s Gary is recommending that the ready-to-respond complement of six firefighters be increased to 13, ensuring a crew of at least three firefighters at every station around the clock.

Greatly increasing the number of full-time firefighters over the years would help Eden Prairie get there, he said, ensuring that firefighters are closer to where their help is needed. He said improvements in emergency call dispatching and firefighter “turnout” – the time needed to dress into protective gear – would also reduce EPFD’s response time.

Eden Prairie has used its current duty-crew model since 2012. City officials say Eden Prairie has more success than many other cities in recruiting part-time firefighters. But Gary says the trend in Minnesota and beyond is clear: It’s becoming harder to find people willing to add firefighting to their busy schedule of work and family life.

“If you can recruit enough part-timers … that’s great,” he said. “But you’ve got to fill the slots. Almost inevitably, my clients are telling me, ‘I’m starting to lose part-timers.’”

Mayor Ron Case said the council may need more data showing that adding staff to reduce response times truly achieves the desired results: saved lives and less fire damage.

“It looks like we need to start moving,” Councilmember Kathy Nelson said about the staffing recommendations. “I’m interested in how we get there in a reasonable amount of time.”

But, she added that Eden Prairie needs to keep the part-time firefighters it currently has. “We cannot do without them,” she said.

Last year, EPFD responded to 3,272 calls for service, a drop from 2022 but higher than in 2020 or 2021. The department serves roughly 65,000 residents and more than 2,800 businesses. It also performs public-safety building inspections and, in cooperation with the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), provides fire service to Flying Cloud Airport.