Fire study recommends exploring ideas for firefighter retention

An analysis of Lawton Fire Department by Emergency Services Consulting International includes recommendations ranging from implementing a new station alert system to exploring methods to retain firefighters and upgrade stations.

City Council members said they authorized the study in late 2023 to help them make decisions on firefighter pay and retention; implementing operational efficiencies for the department; and a proposal that would allow the fire department to run an ambulance service.

While council members are critical of the report because they say it doesn’t address the specific information they specifically said they need, firefighters say it contains good data that will help in those decisions, including staffing concerns and pay that is 30 percent behind peer cities.

When Fire Chief Jared Williams was interviewed for the study, he identified seven critical issues: retention of employees, fire station alerting system, competitive pay, outside training, training division staffing level, apparatus & facilities maintenance, and IT support. Some of the issues already are being explored: for example, city administrators allocated $1.3 million in the Capital Improvements Program to install a new station alerting system to replace the outdated two-tone system that has been used for years.

In its final report (released to the public earlier this month, after filing it with the City of Lawton in October), Emergency Services Consulting International said it made recommendations in eight categories, including one directing the department to examine response time objectives and standards for measuring the effectiveness of the fire department services and deployment of its resources. Recommendations also were included on issues to meet current demand and increase services for the future, “based on known and anticipated growth in population and needed services,” analysts said.

The report explored three general findings in detail:

• Age and condition of the department’s fire stations and emergency apparatus, noting previous funding levels showed “a significant lack of dedicated tax dollars for maintenance and capital expenditures.”

• Firefighter retention, with the report noting an examination of Lawton’s peer cities in salary and benefits (Norman, Edmond, Enid, Broken Arrow, Midwest City, Moore) shows Lawton “at the bottom tier. The report stated that as the department’s role in emergency medical services expands, “it will be crucial for employees who are hired into LFD to continue their professional career in Lawton.”

• The rapid rise of call volume for the department. The study stated if the increase continues, it will “place a significant workload challenge on LFD” and Lawton should investigate new programs aimed at community health and reduction on emergency services.

Some of the report’s findings:

Lawton Fire Department is one of only 411 fire departments in the nation and nine in Oklahoma that hold a Class I ISO rating, the highest possible. Higher ratings, a measure of the department’s capabilities, mean lower insurance premiums.

With medical calls continuing to increase, Lawton fire should consider becoming a state-certified transport agency within the next five to 10 years. A demand analysis of calls shows a 32.2 percent increase between 2019 and 2023. Of that total number, 61.1 percent were for rescue and medical medical service. It’s an area council members and city administrators already are interested in, saying Lawton firefighters are almost always the first emergency responders on the scene in any emergency situation, including medical ones, but cannot transport people to hospitals.

In an analysis of the condition of fire stations, only Station 1 in the Lawton Public Safety Complex is rated excellent, while three stations have the next highest rating of “good” (Station 5, Station 7 and Station 8). Lawton’s newest fire station is Station 1, opened in 2021. The oldest response facility is Station 4, at 2409 Cache Road, built in 1956, followed by Station 6 at 312 SE 45th, built in 1969. While Central Fire Station on Southwest D Avenue was built in 1929, it now is an administrative complex. While Station 2 opened in 2020, that facility remains under review because of structural problems.

In an analysis of fire emergency apparatus, seven are rated excellent, one good, five fair and five poor. Most of the “excellent” engines were purchased in 2020 or later; the exceptions are a brush truck purchased in 2015 and a rescue unit purchased in 2018.

When analyzing the locations of Lawton’s eight fire stations: 97 percent of Lawton’s service area is within 5 road miles of a fire station and 65 percent is within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant. Forty-one percent of the service area is within a 4-minute travel response time, while 97 percent is within an 8-minute travel time. In 2023, the department responded to 82.4 percent of its incidents in less than 4 minutes.

In regards to pay, Lawton Fire Department’s pay range for firefighters and administrators is less than peer cities. When administrative staffing levels are compared to total staff, Lawton’s ratio of 12.5 is second only to Norman (with a 14.4 ratio); all other peer cities have a lower administrator-to-staff ratio. The department has 46 funded positions on each of its three shifts, with a minimum staffing of 37 per shift.