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Record of Proceedings

June 9, 2026 Public Safety Committee: HFD Work Demand Analysis Presentation

Committees and Commissions — Tuesday, June 9, 2026
BodyHouston, Texas
SessionCommittees and Commissions
DateTuesday, June 9, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:13:54

Transcript — VerbatimClick a line to jump · ⧉ to share it
0:22

Ahead and start our June public safety meeting.

0:25

Thank you everyone for being here today.

0:26

I'm Amy Peck, Chair of this committee.

0:28

We are joined today by Council Members Ramirez, Martinez, Davis, and Alcorn, and online council members Carter and Jackson.

0:38

And we are joined today in chambers by staff from Vice Chair Jackson's office, Councilmember Thomas's office, Mayor Pro Tem Cassatum's office, Councilman Carter's office, and Councilmember Castillo's office.

0:52

I think I got everybody.

0:53

Today we have one presentation.

0:55

It will be from the Houston Professional Firefighters Association.

0:58

Now their work demands analysis, and this is the analysis from the Professional Firefighters Association.

1:07

So whenever you are ready.

1:18

Thank you all so much for having us.

1:19

My name is Marty Langton.

1:20

I'm the proud president of the Houston Professional Firefighters Association.

1:42

I have with me to my right Jeremy Berman, who is one of our data analysts at the International Association of Firefighters in Washington, DC.

1:51

Also Marshall Cloud, who is an EMS data specialist from Washington, DC, who made the trek down to present this.

1:58

And I know this week is going to be a long week, so we will give you the abbreviated versions of the report, but also wanted to leave time to ask questions at the end because this is very critical because what we were trying to do is build the foundation in which to address the issues.

2:12

And as the Mayor Whitmeyer has always said, we cannot fix a problem if we don't identify what the problem is or say there is a problem, and then work towards a solution together.

2:22

And so, real quick, a brief background the International Association of Firefighters represents nearly 360,000 professional firefighters from the United States and Canada.

2:34

Our data analyst team from Washington DC is second to none.

2:38

We pulled the best and the brightest.

2:40

And what it is meant to do is to help uh collaborate with cities and with fire departments in order to look at the data, not a slanted version of the data, the real data, and then to identify where we can find uh efficiencies, but also where we need to focus on for the demand of the Houston Fire Department.

2:59

And so very proud uh here to be here with them.

3:03

Also, the team back in DC.

3:05

Uh, there's about uh 10, 12 data analysts that do this full time uh for us at no cost to the city.

3:12

I will say though that this is an unprecedented collaboration, as in uh all of this data came straight from the Houston Fire Department CAD data system.

3:21

Uh so it took us about a year, and I think that the cost of this study, if we were in uh the private sector would be a million plus dollars.

3:28

And so this is not only a snapshot and executive summary, but we have an even more in-depth uh presentation that is online interactive.

3:38

And what we did for this presentation, before I turn it over to my team, was we went a step further into identify every single council district and to show you where the calls are, what the need is, what the call times are, not just arbitrarily making up things to sound like we need more.

3:56

We obviously know that the city commissioned a study back in 2015.

4:00

Uh they paid about a half a million dollars to the facets report.

4:04

Uh the city commissioned it.

4:05

It was presented in 2016, and at that point in time, the need was there.

4:10

We're talking about nearly 10 years later.

4:13

Uh spoiler alert, it has not gotten better.

4:16

Uh, but really, this is about the service delivery model to uh the citizens that we serve, and a little bit different than some of the departments.

4:23

Uh, we are a demand service, meaning when uh the residents and citizens call 911, they expect to have their fire EMS rescue uh department showing up.

4:34

And what we're seeing is something that has to be addressed, and we want to be great partners who work together to do that.

4:42

Uh so the data acquired and analysts performed, uh obviously, like I said, is in collaboration with the Houston Fire Department uh and with our international firefighters.

4:50

It is a data-driven study.

4:52

Uh, uh informs resource management to meet the incident demands in the city of Houston.

4:56

Uh the study examined CAD PCR out-of-service data uh from 2018 to 2024.

5:03

Seven years study seven years worth of calls uh when the Facet study was presented, it was one year.

5:10

Uh every call that had run the Houston Fire Department from January 115 to December 31st.

5:15

Uh we did an analysis uh back in 2017 based on this information and when we went further.

5:22

This study covers seven years of every single call that has ever been run.

5:26

So any questions that you all uh the council, the committee, or the staff have, um, we can pinpoint the specific uh piece of the data and get any follow-up that you may need.

5:38

And we look forward to meeting with your offices afterwards to show you the interactive portion, which we are not gonna have time to get into today, that allows you to take out units based on every single call that we've run and what that does to the response times, the demand for service, and also it uses real-time data traffic modeling based on those days.

5:59

So a lot of work went into this, and like I said, it took about uh over a year.

6:04

Um it also contains the recommendations uh for each individual council district that would meet uh the standards.

6:11

Uh the standards for the National Fire Service and for EMS response are covered under the National Fire Protection Association.

6:18

I'm honored to sit on one of the technical committees on the staffing committee.

6:22

But uh this is about uh the depth of the need, and the fourth about to be the third largest city in the nation and the third largest fire department, we're much different than any other major city because the scale that we have is 650 plus square miles, and we've got about 10, 15, 20 downtowns, depends on how you look at it.

6:45

Uh obviously the zoning is an issue, so much different than even say New York and Chicago.

6:51

Uh everything is a little bit more compact, and the need that they have uh is not as multi-dimensional as the Houston Fire Department, and traffic is a huge issue within uh the city of Houston, and when we go through the data, you will uh I'm sure better understand.

7:08

But everything here is a domino effect.

7:10

So the minute that somebody calls for a fire truck or an ambulance, uh it is now pulling resources from different council districts.

7:17

Uh, and the problem that you see within the data is that when you're doing that so many times a day, and you're in fire EMS resource management, which means you have less than 20% capabilities within the Houston Fire Department, uh, it becomes a bigger problem.

7:34

I did I forgot to mention I want to thank uh assistant fire chief James Campbell, uh emergency operations for being here.

7:40

And uh don't see the fire chief yet, but um uh we appreciate the time.

7:45

Uh, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Jeremy.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Public Safety█████████████████████████████████████████████89%
Engineering And Infrastructure███6%
Personnel Matters██3%
Fiscal Sustainability█1%
Public Engagement█1%
Summary of Proceedings

June 9, 2026 Public Safety Committee: HFD Work Demand Analysis Presentation

The Houston City Council Public Safety Committee, chaired by Council Member Amy Peck, met on June 9, 2026, to receive a presentation from the Houston Professional Firefighters Association (HPFFA) on a comprehensive work demand analysis of the Houston Fire Department (HFD). The study, conducted by International Association of Firefighters data analysts over a year at no cost to the city, examined seven years of CAD data (2018–2024) to assess resource needs and service delivery. Key findings included a 34% increase in fire incidents per day and a 21% increase in EMS incidents per day over the study period, with call volume growth outpacing resource additions. The analysis recommended adding 65 EMS units (30 24-hour and 35 peak-hour ambulances) and constructing 10 new fire stations to improve response times and reduce system strain.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Doug Smith: Expressed support for increasing ambulance availability and noted the importance of the Ethan program (low-acuity transport alternative), expressing concern about its low utilization (0.7% of transports). Asked for clarification on definitions of EMS unit types (medics vs. squads) and sought data on airport-reimbursed overtime for fire department personnel. Also noted a discrepancy in incident counts between pages 10 and 13 of the report.

Discussion Items

  • Presentation by Marty Langton (HPFFA President), Jeremy Berman (IAFF data analyst), and Marshall Cloud (EMS data specialist):
    • Overview: The study was a collaborative, data-driven analysis of HFD operations from 2018–2024, including all CAD, PCR, and out-of-service data, with interactive tools for each council district. It aimed to identify systemic issues and efficiency opportunities.
    • Call Volume Trends: Fire incidents per day increased 34%; EMS incidents per day increased 21%. Population growth (estimated 300,000 new residents since 2010) is a primary driver, but aging infrastructure and development patterns also contribute.
    • Time on Task (Utilization): The industry-recommended utilization target is 0.3 (30% of unit hours spent on direct patient care). In 2018, 31% of EMS units exceeded this during off-peak hours; by 2024, 86% exceeded it. During peak hours, 86% exceeded the target in 2018 and 96% in 2024. Over the last 200 days of the study, 56% of medic units and 65% of ambulances were busy or out of service during the median incident, leading to 211 incidents where all medics were unavailable and 63 where all ambulances were unavailable.
    • Recommended Additions: To return to 2018 workload levels, the report recommends 65 additional ambulances (30 24-hour, 35 peak-hour). This would bring peak-hour time on task from ~0.6 to below 0.4. Ten new fire stations were recommended based on a value-added analysis (at least three additional incidents per day expected to receive a four-minute response).
    • Dispatch Options: Changing ALS dispatch to send only one medic and a fire apparatus could reduce overall workload but would increase medic unit workload, already a constrained resource.
    • Travel Time: Current engines meet the four-minute travel time standard for only 29% of incidents within their own response area; the new stations target high-impact areas.
    • Ethan Program: In 2024, only 0.7% of patient transports used Ethan (low-acuity alternative transport). HPFFA supports the program and believes education and consistency will improve utilization, potentially saving an average of 50 minutes per transport.
    • Staffing: HFD has added paramedic classes (previously under 25, now up to 150 in training) thanks to council funding. The department achieved a net gain of 100 firefighters in eight months, overcoming prior attrition trends. Full paramedic staffing will take time due to the nine-month training requirement.
    • Cost Estimates: Initial ambulance cost ~$325,000, with annual operating cost ~$1 million per unit (net ~$700,000–$800,000 after cost recovery).
  • Council Member Questions and Comments:
    • Council Member Alcorn: Asked about the 34% fire incident increase, attributing it to growth; clarified time on task calculation and value-added station metric. Noted the contrast with the 2016 Facets study recommendation (70 ambulances) vs. only 5 added.
    • Council Member Martinez: Inquired about breakdown of fire vs. EMS calls, noting ~87% EMS incidents. Discussed prioritizing ambulance addition over apparatus, and learned that adding ambulances reduces fire truck usage for medical calls, lowering overall system strain. Also asked about paramedic count (~400+ currently) and Ethan program low utilization.
    • Council Member Huffman: Raised traffic impediments at specific intersections (e.g., Woodway/Chimney Rock) and suggested PSAs to improve public awareness of yielding to emergency vehicles. HPFFA agreed to model specific locations and supported re-education efforts.
    • Council Member Ramirez: Questioned population growth assumptions, citing data from Bill King showing domestic outmigration and slower future growth. Discussed staffing models—HPFFA stated cross-training paramedics as firefighters is required by Texas law and integral to system efficiency. Also inquired about stationing ambulances without full fire stations; HPFFA explained that 24-hour units require infrastructure for crew rest, and co-location is most cost-effective.
    • Council Member Davis: Asked about transport times to hospitals and the impact of hospital bed availability on unit out-of-service time. HPFFA noted no standard governs transport times but data can be modeled. Also discussed workload distribution by unit and district.
    • Council Member Flickinger: Noted population growth from 2018–2024 was only 2.7% (65,000), implying other factors drive call volume increases. Asked about ambulance-only stations; HPFFA stated such stations are being considered but co-location remains most efficient. Also asked about mutual aid (e.g., Kingwood) and confirmed incidents data includes mutual aid calls. Expressed support for PSAs and increasing ambulance fleet, sharing a personal anecdote about a fire truck response without transport capability.
    • Staff from Council Member Panzarella's Office: Clarified reasons for fire trucks responding to medical calls (shortages of ambulances and need for multiple personnel). Asked about paramedic training pipeline (from 25 to 150 trainees) and steps to improve Ethan utilization; HPFFA emphasized collaboration with city leadership and dispatch protocol adjustments.
    • Staff from Mayor Pro Tem Castatum's Office: Asked about hospital selection criteria (closest appropriate facility based on trauma level) and crew assignment consistency (affected by previous staffing shortages, now improving). HPFFA noted hodgepodge assignments are being addressed.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal votes were taken; the meeting was informational.
  • The committee will request an update from HFD on the Ethan program within the next few months.
  • HPFFA will provide follow-up data on specific questions raised (e.g., average travel times, airport overtime reimbursement, breakdown of mutual aid, discrepancy in incident counts, and details on squad vs. medic units).
  • Council members expressed support for increasing ambulance capacity and exploring public education campaigns on yielding to emergency vehicles.
  • The next Public Safety Committee meeting is scheduled for July 14, 2026.

Meeting Transcript

Ahead and start our June public safety meeting. Thank you everyone for being here today. I'm Amy Peck, Chair of this committee. We are joined today by Council Members Ramirez, Martinez, Davis, and Alcorn, and online council members Carter and Jackson. And we are joined today in chambers by staff from Vice Chair Jackson's office, Councilmember Thomas's office, Mayor Pro Tem Cassatum's office, Councilman Carter's office, and Councilmember Castillo's office. I think I got everybody. Today we have one presentation. It will be from the Houston Professional Firefighters Association. Now their work demands analysis, and this is the analysis from the Professional Firefighters Association. So whenever you are ready. Thank you all so much for having us. My name is Marty Langton. I'm the proud president of the Houston Professional Firefighters Association. I have with me to my right Jeremy Berman, who is one of our data analysts at the International Association of Firefighters in Washington, DC. Also Marshall Cloud, who is an EMS data specialist from Washington, DC, who made the trek down to present this. And I know this week is going to be a long week, so we will give you the abbreviated versions of the report, but also wanted to leave time to ask questions at the end because this is very critical because what we were trying to do is build the foundation in which to address the issues. And as the Mayor Whitmeyer has always said, we cannot fix a problem if we don't identify what the problem is or say there is a problem, and then work towards a solution together. And so, real quick, a brief background the International Association of Firefighters represents nearly 360,000 professional firefighters from the United States and Canada. Our data analyst team from Washington DC is second to none. We pulled the best and the brightest. And what it is meant to do is to help uh collaborate with cities and with fire departments in order to look at the data, not a slanted version of the data, the real data, and then to identify where we can find uh efficiencies, but also where we need to focus on for the demand of the Houston Fire Department. And so very proud uh here to be here with them. Also, the team back in DC. Uh, there's about uh 10, 12 data analysts that do this full time uh for us at no cost to the city. I will say though that this is an unprecedented collaboration, as in uh all of this data came straight from the Houston Fire Department CAD data system. Uh so it took us about a year, and I think that the cost of this study, if we were in uh the private sector would be a million plus dollars. And so this is not only a snapshot and executive summary, but we have an even more in-depth uh presentation that is online interactive. And what we did for this presentation, before I turn it over to my team, was we went a step further into identify every single council district and to show you where the calls are, what the need is, what the call times are, not just arbitrarily making up things to sound like we need more. We obviously know that the city commissioned a study back in 2015. Uh they paid about a half a million dollars to the facets report. Uh the city commissioned it. It was presented in 2016, and at that point in time, the need was there. We're talking about nearly 10 years later. Uh spoiler alert, it has not gotten better. Uh, but really, this is about the service delivery model to uh the citizens that we serve, and a little bit different than some of the departments. Uh, we are a demand service, meaning when uh the residents and citizens call 911, they expect to have their fire EMS rescue uh department showing up. And what we're seeing is something that has to be addressed, and we want to be great partners who work together to do that. Uh so the data acquired and analysts performed, uh obviously, like I said, is in collaboration with the Houston Fire Department uh and with our international firefighters. It is a data-driven study. Uh, uh informs resource management to meet the incident demands in the city of Houston. Uh the study examined CAD PCR out-of-service data uh from 2018 to 2024. Seven years study seven years worth of calls uh when the Facet study was presented, it was one year. Uh every call that had run the Houston Fire Department from January 115 to December 31st. Uh we did an analysis uh back in 2017 based on this information and when we went further. This study covers seven years of every single call that has ever been run. So any questions that you all uh the council, the committee, or the staff have, um, we can pinpoint the specific uh piece of the data and get any follow-up that you may need. And we look forward to meeting with your offices afterwards to show you the interactive portion, which we are not gonna have time to get into today, that allows you to take out units based on every single call that we've run and what that does to the response times, the demand for service, and also it uses real-time data traffic modeling based on those days. So a lot of work went into this, and like I said, it took about uh over a year. Um it also contains the recommendations uh for each individual council district that would meet uh the standards. Uh the standards for the National Fire Service and for EMS response are covered under the National Fire Protection Association.

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