Agenda

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C.3

To:	Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Board of Directors
From:	Lewis T. Broschard III, Chief, Contra Costa Fire Protection District
Date:	March 9, 2021

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

REACH Contract Amendment

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 03/09/2021

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, Director
Candace Andersen, Director
Diane Burgis, Director
Karen Mitchoff, Director
Federal D. Glover, Director

Contact:

Lewis T. Broschard III, Fire Chief (925) 941-3300

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: March 9, 2021
Monica Nino, County Administrator

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

Authorize the Fire Chief, or designee, to execute Amendment One to the Air Ambulance Agreement with REACH Air Medical Services, LLC which includes a provision to compensate REACH for responses to certain reimbursable Cal OES and Cal Fire incidents, a provision to reimburse REACH for certain fire and rescue responses when an annual maximum amount of flight time is reached, a provision for REACH to reimburse the District for costs of providing a Medical Director for the program, and a provision for REACH to reimburse the District for additional training hours of District personnel.

FISCAL IMPACT:

The amendment is cost neutral. The goal of this program is to provide air ambulance, aerial firefighting, and hoist rescue services in a cost-neutral manner to the District. The provisions of this agreement continue to support a reimbursement of direct expenses incurred by the District. The amendment includes a provision for compensating REACH for exceeding certain additional flight time hours, however it is anticipated those limits will not be reached on an annual basis and costs will not be incurred as a result.

BACKGROUND:

In March 2019, the District entered into an agreement with REACH Air Medical Services, LLC (“REACH”) to work cooperatively to establish a fire and air ambulance program to provide emergency and inter-facility air medical transportation to the residents of Contra Costa County and adjacent areas.

Operations began in September 2019, and much work has been done to increase staffing from one air ambulance to a two-air ambulance operation at Buchanan Field in Concord. Aerial firefighting capacity was introduced in October 2020, and hoist rescue operations will commence in spring 2021.

As a result of the first full year of joint operations of this unique public-private partnership, many lessons were learned and subsequent changes were made as we entered the second year of providing service together.

As a result, the original agreement between the parties needs to be amended to recognize the contractual and financial obligations that have resulted from necessary operational, training, and logistical changes.

The amendment, as proposed, outlines specific operational, staffing, and training responsibilities of both parties for air ambulance, aerial firefighting, and rescue operations.

The amendment includes language for the District to provide medical oversight and direction for the program through the District's Medical Director. REACH will compensate the District $193.50 per hour for services provided under this section.

The amendment adds a new provision for additional training capacity and reimbursement from REACH to the District for personnel in the amount of $13,282 per month.

The aerial firefighting helicopter was assigned in 2020 to Cal OES-funded pre-positioning incidents. In addition, Cal Fire may choose to hire the District's helicopter for active fire incidents or to provide coverage for the Santa Clara Unit due to their helicopters being unavailable or committed on large incidents. These assignments provide funding of personnel and equipment and this amendment provides a mechanism for the District to reimburse REACH based on actual funds received from Cal OES or directly from Cal Fire for state-funded missions. Additionally, the roles and responsibilities of REACH and the District in support of both Cal OES and Cal Fire is specified within the amended agreement.

A provision for the District to pay REACH for certain non-reimbursable or non-revenue generating flight time is included in this agreement. Excluding flight time attributable to training, such non-reimbursable flight time would generally fall under a search mission where the helicopter was used to assist in locating a stranded person with no medical need, the use of the helicopter for aerial observation of an incident, or the use of the helicopter on local firefighting missions where there is no reimbursement. Up to 90 hours of related flight time on an annual basis is allowed before this provision would apply or costs would be incurred by the District. If the annual threshold was met, the District would pay REACH $1,750 per hour for each additional hour of aircraft flight time. It is not anticipated the use of the helicopters on such incidents will exceed 90 hours per year.

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

Certain necessary operational, logistical, and staffing changes will not be able to be implemented to the District’s helicopter program.