Item D28
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
Meeting Date: September 21. 2005
Division: Fire Rescue Services
Bulk Item: Yes X No
Department: Fire Rescue
Staff Contact Person: Darice Hayes
AGENDA ITEM WORDING: An issuance of a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity
(COPCN) to Is1amorada Village of Islands - Fire Rescue for the operation of an ALS transport ambulance
servIce.
ITEM BACKGROUND: Pursuant to the requirement of Chapter 6.5 Monroe County Code, an
application for an issuance ofa COPCN (renewal) has been received from Is1amorada Village of Islands -
Fire Rescue to operate an ALS transport ambulance service from the West end of the Channel Two
Bridge (approximately MM 72.5) to the West end ofthe Tavernier Creek bridge (approximately MM
90.8), including the entire island of Plantation Key, Windley Key, Upper Matecumbe Key, Lower
Matecumbe Key, and Teatab1e Key, and all land filled in between the islands, all connected by US 1,
Overseas Highway, all of which are within Islamorada, Village ofIs1ands, Florida. Upon the authority of
the Monroe County Fire Rescue Fire Chief, the service area will be changed as indicated below under
Contract/Agreement Changes, along with the additional recommendation. *
PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCe ACTION: Chapter 6.5 Monroe County Code allows the issuance of
Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity by the Monroe County Board of County
Commissioners to providers of essential emergency medical services who comply with the requirements
of said Code and Chapter 401 Florida Statutes. Islamorada Village ofIs1ands - Fire Rescue currently has
a COPCN for the period October 01,2003 to September 30,2005.
CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES: The service area for Islamorada Village ofIs1ands - Fire
Rescue on the COPCN for the new period reads: Is1amorada, Village of Islands, Florida or as otherwise
directed by Monroe County Central Dispatch.
STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS: Approval with the addition of recommendation on Attachment 1.*
TOT AL COST: N/ A
BUDGETED: Yes
No
COST TO COUNTY: N/A
SOURCE OF FUNDS:
REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes
APPROVED BY: County Atty N/ A
Ko X AMOUNT PER MONTH
Year
DIVISION DIRECTOR APPROVAL:
DOCUMENTATION:
DISPOSITION:
Included X Not Required_
AGENDA ITEM #
Revised 2/05
Attachment 1
Page 1 of 3
Monroe County Geographic Information Systems (MCGIS) has assisted Monroe County
Fire Rescue (MCFR) with mapping the entire county from Stock Island through Ocean
Reef and delineating the entire county into a series of phantom firebox areas. The
phantom fireboxes define groupings of streets into a single area into which a defined
order of responding emergency vehicles would be expected to arrive at an emergency
call, from first to last, assuming the response would begin from each unit's "home" fire
station.
The process of measuring these boundary lines was a tedious undertaking by MCGIS and
MCFR, resulting in precise measurements for boundary lines between first-, second-,
third-, and fourth-due stations down to the exact foot.
Referring to the attached map, all fireboxes beginning with 21 are in the city limits
Village ofIslamorada, the area that Islamorada Fire Rescue desires to service based on
their application for renewal of their Certificate of Public Convenience and necessity.
However, Firebox 2192 indicates an area within the Village of Islamorada which is
physically closer to Fire Station 22 (Tavernier) than Is1amorada's Fire Station 21 which is
currently sited in the Plaza 88 Shopping Center. Firebox 2191 represents an area that
should currently be serviced by Station 21, however would be more quickly served by
Station 22 once the new Station 21 becomes operational at Founder's Park.
Staff recommends that an interlocal agreement be executed between Monroe County and
the Village ofIslamorada requiring that the closest unit(s) be dispatched to medical
emergencies in each of the jurisdictions. If all units are available at their stations, that
would presently require that Rescue 22 (Tavernier) be dispatched to calls in Firebox
2192.
While this may on the surface appear to be an issue of Islamorada supplying service into
areas where their taxpayers reside, the fact is, unless a closest unit dispatch policy is in
place, these citizens are being denied faster service from a closer resource. This can be a
critical delay when a human life hangs in the balance.
Further exacerbating the issue, once Fire Station 21 moves to Founders' Park, is the fact
that two Monroe County schools, Coral Shores High School and Plantation Key
Elementary School, are situated in Firebox 2191. Many county taxpayers' children
attend these schools, and would likely demand that the closest resource be sent to
emergencies at these schools involving their children.
It should be noted that there are many instances when Rescue 21 is physically not in their
zone. This can be for a number of reasons, including coverage at Station 20 when other
Islamorada units are assigned to calls, or if Rescue 21 is relocated to Station 20 for
training.
Page 2 of 3
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What Is a "Phantom Firebox"?
Phantom fIreboxes were developed as extensions of cities' existing telegraph fIre alarm
box systems. You may have seen in older cities the familiar Gamewell "cottage style"
alarm boxes standing on their own pedestals or hung on convenient utility poles on street
comers. Each fIre alarm box, when the lever was pulled, would send a coded electrical
impulse to the fire alarm office indicating the unique box number for that location. Fire
alarm operators would read the box number from a tape register and then pull a run card
for that box number to determine which companies were due to respond to that location.
As suburban sprawl began to occur from the city centers, it became exceedingly
expensive for fIre departments to expand the fire alarm telegraph cable systems into the
newly developed areas. Coupled with the fact that the telephone was becoming more and
more common in homes and businesses, and callers were now providing actual street
address information as fIres were reported, the presence of fIre alarm boxes in the
suburban areas became unnecessary. However, since the dispatch offrre companies was
based on run cards, the creation of "phantom boxes" enabled areas of a community to be
lumped into a box area for which the running order of all of the fire companies in the city
would be the same. Some cities even went to the formality of picking a utility pole in the
geographic center of a phantom fIrebox area, painting a red band around the pole as
would be the case if an actual alarm box were mounted there, and stenciling the box
number in contrasting numerals on the red band..
Many cities and counties in the nation have adopted a phantom frrebox system on which
to base the running orders and alarm level assignments of their fIre and rescue resources,
even though a telegraph frre alarm system has never been in operation there.