9/17/19: City Wins ‘Best of California Award’ for Fire Departments Use of Data and Analytics

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 17, 2019

NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:

Keith Brooks, Chief Information Officer

CITY OF OXNARD WINS ‘BEST OF CALIFORNIA AWARD’ FOR FIRE DEPARTMENT’S USE OF DATA AND ANALYTICS TO IMPROVE RESPONSE TIME

OXNARD, Calif. – The City of Oxnard has been recognized by the Center for Digital Government’s “Best of California Awards” program for its innovative use of data and analytics within the Oxnard Fire Department.

Each year the Center highlights California state and local government and education organizations for their contributions in information technology. This year the City won the 2019 “Most Innovative Use of Data and Analytics” award.

“I’m very proud of the creative work of our Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Division. Mike Shaffer, the GIS Manager, and his team consisting of Ryan Bosley and Helen Johnson, are developing and building customized technology that positively impacts our Fire Department’s level of service,” said Chief Information Officer Keith Brooks. “It’s an honor for staff to be recognized for their innovative contributions that improve technology and service within our City.”

In 2019, the City’s GIS Division was tasked with creating digital performance dashboards for the Oxnard Fire Department that focused on National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1710 compliance. The NFPA created the 1710 standard to specify a quantifiable method of measuring the quality of a fire department’s response time. The 1710 standard sets goals for turnout time (the amount of time from when a fire station receives a call to the fire truck leaving the station) and travel time (the amount of time from leaving the station to arriving on scene to the incident). Medical calls and structure fire calls each have their own 1710 goal.

GIS staff created the performance dashboard system by accessing existing Ventura County dispatch data and using a custom algorithm to create Oxnard’s fire services reports. The new dashboard system provides Fire Department leadership the ability to review performance metrics in real-time and allocate resources to best serve the community.

The performance dashboards also increase transparency to the public regarding the level of service they receive. The Oxnard community can view the Fire Department’s performance dashboards at www.oxnard.org/fire-department/oxnard-fire-statistics/.

“This project was a great example of collaboration between City Departments, with exceptional public service as the driving force. Oxnard Fire leadership, including Fire Chief Darwin Base and Assistant Fire Chief Alexander Hamilton, had a clear vision from the beginning on getting the most use out of available data. The GIS Division was honored to work on this project, knowing that the results would directly help the residents of Oxnard.”

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