Improving Fire Department Productivity: Merging Fire and Emergency Medical Units in New Haven

Arthur J. Swersey, Louis Goldring and Earl D. Geyer
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Arthur J. Swersey: Yale School of Management, Box 1A, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
Louis Goldring: Soros Fund Management, 888 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10106
Earl D. Geyer: Department of Fire Service, PO Box 374, New Haven, Connecticut 06502

Interfaces, 1993, vol. 23, issue 1, 109-129

Abstract: In September 1991, the New Haven Fire Department implemented an innovative reorganization plan having dual-trained fire medics responding to medical emergencies or fire incidents. The plan was the culmination of a 10-month problem-solving process that required redefining the original problem by shifting attention from closing fire stations to reorganizing the deployment of fire department services. The work made use of both a new spatial queuing model and the existing firehouse siting model, and required timely analysis under constraints of the budgetary process. In a matter of weeks and at times, days, we had to win the approval of the chief administrative officer, the board of finance, and the board of aldermen. The plan increased productivity by both reducing cost and improving public safety. Yearly savings are $1.4 million and amount to nearly 10 percent of the fire suppression budget, while small reductions in fire protection are more than offset by substantial improvements in emergency medical response time.

Keywords: government: services; fire; queues: applications (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1993
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