After Highland Beach Fire Rescue responded to an accident involving a car and bicyclist, more than eight fire and police officers came to the aid of the cyclist, who was taken to a hospital as a precaution. This was part of a 24-hour shift that began on a recent morning. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Rich Pollack
It was the first call of the day and one that many fire departments might have handed off to a hired locksmith.
This, however, is Highland Beach, so when the call came in about a resident’s keys locked in his truck last month, a Highland Beach Fire Rescue crew was there to help out.
A couple of hours later, fire rescue raced to a crash involving a car and a bicycle that could have been worse than it was. Injuries, if any, were minor, although the bicyclist was taken to the hospital to be checked out.
It was, for the firefighter paramedics working that 24-hour shift, a busy day in Highland Beach, one that exceeded averages when all was said and done, but one that was not totally unexpected.
In the first six months since the town launched its fire department in May — the first new fire rescue department in Palm Beach County in more than 30 years — firefighters and paramedics took on 400 calls, all just about as diverse as the ones handled by the team on duty that November day.
That averages out to just more than two calls a day, but that number doesn’t tell the story.
“We’ve had a couple of days where we had nine calls,” Chief Glenn Joseph said. “We could have as many as 15 calls in a day or we could have none. You never know.”
The number of calls per day is about what Joseph and others had expected, but chances are that number will rise as more part-time residents arrive.
In October, for example, the department responded to 84 calls; a month earlier it worked only 48 calls.
Highland Beach personnel respond to a call of keys locked in a truck. From left are driver/engineer Daniel Rush with a flashlight, Capt. Alex Fernandez, driver/engineer T.J. DiGangi and firefighter/paramedic Rodrigo Landeo. They got the keys out without breaking into the truck but the process took a while because they were hampered by the tinted glass.
On the day last month when The Coastal Star spent several hours with the department, firefighter paramedics handled six total calls: the locked car, the crash, a medical call and three fire alarm calls. One of those alarm calls was just before 4 a.m. and was followed by a medical call after a person fell while evacuating the building. Another alarm was just before the end of the shift, a few minutes before 6:30 a.m.
As expected with Highland Beach having a largely retired population, medical calls have amounted to more than half of the total number of calls, with falls accounting for about 35% of all calls.
One particular medical emergency call, Joseph said, involved a resident who went into cardiac arrest in the elevator while paramedics were taking her to the hospital after she complained of not feeling well. She was brought back from having no pulse within a few seconds and was talking by the time she was wheeled into the emergency room.
In the first six months since it began, the department put out four small fires that were quickly contained. Among those was a fire in an air conditioner unit tucked into a closet, with smoke soon filling the resident’s adjacent apartment. There was also a construction accident in which a worker fell two stories, as well as a handful of minor motor vehicle crashes.
The department has built a strong relationship with residents and has developed a reputation within the industry for being a good place to work.
“From the comments we have received from our residents, I think we have exceeded their expectations,” Joseph said. “Without exception, the interactions with the firefighters have been overwhelmingly positive, and I could not be prouder of our responders.”
Firefighter/paramedic Ricardo Robinson concentrates on the use of a bailout device that is securing him to an open window during a training exercise.
The reaction from the firefighter community also appears to be positive.
Recently, more than 60 applicants applied for one firefighter paramedic position that opened up. The department is in the process of filling that position.
“There’s a buzz out there that Highland Beach is great duty and that people of the town are very appreciative,” said Jason Chudnofsky, who chairs the Highland Beach Police and Fire Foundation. It helps fund items for the police and fire departments not covered in the town’s budget.
Chudnofsky saw the department in action when a water pump in his building in the Coronado community broke, flooding the first floor of the garage and making the sprinkler system inoperable. Fire rescue personnel turned the water off and helped people organize and stay safe.
“I am so impressed,” he said. “What impressed me the most is the response time we’re getting. The response time is just fabulous.”
The department’s average response time, which Joseph says is one of the best in the county, is 4 minutes 47 seconds, with the average time from dispatch to when a truck or rescue vehicle leaves the station being less than one minute.
Joseph said that while Highland Beach has the advantage of being geographically small in area, the department has to take into consideration “vertical response time” — how long it takes for responders to reach an apartment in a high-rise building.
Highland Beach Fire Rescue, which took over fire service after town leaders severed a contract with Delray Beach, operates with seven people on a shift, with each shift working one day on and three days off, which is quickly becoming the industry standard.
With the current staffing, the department has been able to run two rescue units simultaneously — frequently when one is transporting a patient to the hospital — and has the ability to put one of the fire trucks into service should a third call come in.
A source of pride for the department is that it has been able to respond to every call and has not needed to call for mutual aid from neighboring departments.
The workers on the recent shift cook their meals at the station. At the stove is driver/engineer T.J. DiGangi, with (l-r) firefighter/paramedics Rodrigo Landeo, Robinson and Kristian Williams.
In addition to responding to calls, Highland Beach Fire Rescue has an active Community Risk Reduction program, which provides fire inspections as well as plan reviews. The department also instituted Community Connect, which allows residents to provide information that could benefit first responders, including about pets in the home or individuals with special health needs.
Town Manager Marshall Labadie said the department is operating on budget, which is about $5.5 million a year — about the same as it last paid Delray Beach for a full year of service — and a number he believes is less than what the town would be paying if it had continued to contract with Delray Beach since costs continued to increase.
“Financially we’re tracking as expected,” he said. “The budget is where we thought it would be.”
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