City Of Overland Park Fire Department

Annual Report 2023

"We exist to help people"

Our Mission: The Overland Park Fire Department is a value driven team of dedicated professionals committed to providing emergency, educational and specialized services for the purpose of saving lives and reducing property loss for the community we serve.

Welcome

"As the Chief of the Overland Park Fire Department, I am honored to work alongside some of the most professional, capable and compassionate individuals in the industry."

- Fire Chief Alan Long

Our History

Established in 1919, the Overland Park Fire Department began as a band of volunteers and has evolved into a professional, metropolitan fire department serving the second largest city in Kansas and surrounding areas.

Picture of fire helmets illustrating progression of mergers. With text, Overland Park Fire Department Established 1919. Elmhurst Fire Department joined 1967, South Park Fire Department joined 1967. Stanley Fire Department joined 1991. Merriam Fire Department joined 2015. Johnson County Fire District #2 joined 2021.

"OPFD 100 Years Of Service" is a window into our origins and evolution. We're proud of our history and mindful that we stand on the shoulders of the men and women who came before us.

The Overland Park Fire Department is accredited by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International and holds the highest possible rating from the Insurance Services Office, ISO 1 .

2023 Re-Accreditation

This year we appeared before the Commission on Fire Accreditation International to defend our application for re-accreditation. After a thorough review of documentation, an indepth site visit and an oral defense, the Board unanimously approved OPFD's re-accreditation.

"Tip Of The Spear"

As our re-accreditation site visit wrapped up, Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE) Peer Assessor Forrest Taylor sat down with us for an interview about the process and how the OPFD stacks up.

Who We Serve

Service Jurisdictions

The Overland Park Fire Department serves the cities of Overland Park, KS, Merriam, KS. as well as portions of Southern Johnson County and Northern Miami County All of these jurisdictions are all located in Northeastern Kansas.

Service areas

The City of Overland Park has a landmass of 75.6 square miles. Merriam's landmass is 4.32 square miles. The area of Southern Johnson County we service is approximately 37.5 square miles. The Northern Miami County area we service is roughly nine square miles. Add it all up and we're providing fire and EMS service to more than 125 square miles of territory!

Service populations

Overland Park's population of 203,780 makes it the second largest city in the state. Merriam's population is 11,300. The newly added portion of Johnson County we cover is home to 7,483 people. In total, we protect more than 222,000 people!

Quality Of Life (Overland Park)

Overland Park's 13.566 Mill Levy Rate is the lowest in Johnson County, yet this First Class City enjoys a AAA Bond Rating.

The average home value in Overland Park is $469,791 and the median household income is $100,876. Overland Park is an award winning city. In 2023 it was rated as one of the "Best Cities For Jobs" and one of the "Safest Cities In America."

Hazards & Protection

Overland Park contains suburban areas, high-density urban areas and rural areas. This mix of densities and hazards requires us to be proficient in a variety of mitigation skill sets. For a comprehensive look at how we access the hazards in our community and plan for protection, take a look at our OPFD Community Risk & Standards Of Cover document.

We operate nine traditional fire stations, two squad houses and a training center, which also houses our Administration. These facilities vary in size, staffing and equipment. Scroll through the directory below to learn more about the station nearest you!

Fire Station Rebuild

In March of 2023, we began a rebuilding process for our oldest fire station, Fire Station #41 at 7550 W.75th Street. The new Fire Station #41 is slated to open in mid 2024. It will employ the latest in design evolution and technology and will serve our community for the next 50 years! Rendering courtesy SFS Architecture

Check out this timelapse as the old Marty Memorial Fire Station is razed in preparation for the re-build.

Our Team

The Overland Park Fire Department's most prized resource is our people. They respond with professionalism and compassion to make someone's worst day better. They're some of the best in the business.

Here's our makeup for 2023:

Firefighters, Firemedics & Paramedics 134
Battalion Chiefs 9
Captains 27
Fire and EMS Lieutenants 22
Administrative Staff 26.75
Volunteers 3

Total Paid Employees 219

OPFD Senior Staff

Left to right: Jason Rhodes, John Heffernon, Angela Caruso-Yahne, Eric Gifford, Mike Lafferty, Scott Finazzo, Andrew Grove, Chris Palmer, Alan Long, Paul Fountain, Brad Cusick, Chris Roberts, Mike Casey, Jason Houghton, Theron Hawley, Grant Wernicke, Shayna Hurst (Not pictured: Brian Redelsheimer)

Fiscally Responsible

Our pledge to guard the public trust includes our fiscal stewardship. We operate efficiently and effectively and use data-driven analytics to ensure we're making the most productive and cost effective decisions. Our 2023 Fire Department Budget was just under 30-million dollars. (This includes our contracts with Merriam and Johnson County, KS.)

Our 2023 per capita cost was $147. That means that for less than $150 per resident we provided Fire & Emergency Medical Services, including Advanced Life Support (ALS) First Response. Additionally, we provided Wildland Fire response, Hazardous Materials response, Technical Rescue response and Fire Prevention and Public Education services, all aimed at improving life safety for residents, businesses and visitors to our jurisdictions.

For a deeper dive into our finances, check out the City of Overland Park, Kansas 2023 Budget.

Noteworthy Numbers

We serve the second largest city in the state and several adjoining areas. We also respond to more calls each year than any other fire department in Johnson County. Here's this year's breakdown.

2023 Total Calls For Service 24,414

EMS Calls 19,357 (4.63% increase from previous year)

Fire Calls 5,057 (1.72% increase from previous year)

(That's an average of more than 66 calls per day!)

Response time:

If you called 9-1-1 for a fire or medical emergency (code 1 call) in 2023, the first responding unit from our station got to your door in 4 minutes and 34 seconds, on average. That's well below the 5 minute gold standard for the industry!

Resource Placement

We work to place our resources in the most strategic locations. As our city grows and response densities change, we adapt. We're constantly analyzing the most efficient ways to respond to your emergency quickly. This map illustrates call volumes for 2023 by areas of our city.

How many calls did we run each month and for what problems did people call 9-1-1?

We're Effective

One way we can evaluate our fire suppression effectiveness is to examine how much property we are able to save when extinguishing a fire. We make these calculations by estimating the value of the property and contents involed in the fire and then subtracting the fire damage estimate. We can then determine the percentage of property saved by our efforts. If 90% is an A grade, then it looks like we earned an A+ in 2023. But don't take our word for it...we'll show our work!

Overland Park

Residential: Estimated property/contents value involved - $137,601,062

Estimated property/contents dollar loss from fire - $5,707,315

Percentage of property/contents saved - 95.85%

Commercial: Estimated property/contents value involved - $170,265,580

Estimated property/contents dollar loss from fire - $1,161,300

Percentage of property/contents saved - 99.31%

Merriam

Residential: Estimated property/contents value involved - $24,322,411

Estimated property/contents dollar loss from fire - $114,668

Percentage of property/contents saved -99.53%

Commercial: Estimated property/contents value involved - $1,631,253

Estimated property/contents dollar loss from fire - $18,700

Percentage of property/contents saved -98.85%

Southeastern Johnson County

Residential: Estimated property/contents value involved - $5,019,864

Estimated property/contents dollar loss from fire - $39,396

Percentage of property/contents saved - 99.22%

Commercial: Estimated property/contents value involved - $0

Estimated property/contents dollar loss from fire - $0

Percentage of property/contents saved - $0

Giving 100% For The 80%

About 80% of our calls are for Emergency Medical Services. We pride ourselves on excellent patient care. All of our responders are certified by the Kansas Board of EMS as emergency medical technicians (EMTs) or paramedics and operate under the guidance of the Johnson County Medical Director.

Overland Park is one of the best places TO LIVE!

Our sudden cardiac arrest save rates are among the best in the nation. Many departments simply count the number of people for whom they are able to return a pulse. OPFD uses the Utstein Survival Score, which includes patient viability, return of circulation and (here's the biggie) successful hospital discharge with little or no deficit. In other words, we're looking at patient final outcomes.

According to the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES), the national Utstien save rate for 2022 (most recent report available) was 25%. Our sudden cardiac arrest save rate for 2023 was over 61% and over 63% when bystander CPR was performed!

Our success comes from investing in all aspects of the chain of survival. We work with the Johnson County EMS system to adopt the highest standards for EMS care and delivery. We train intensely, work with our dispatch agency to ensure recognition and coaching consistency and work to increase awareness and training for bystander CPR and AED usage. In fact, we trained more than 900 people in CPR during 2023!

Bottom line: In 2023, we helped 18 sudden cardiac arrest victims resume a normal life. Laure Zwifel is one of them.

Bystander CPR

We're always looking for opportunities to educate and train more people in bystander CPR, which is one of the most crucial links in the "chain of survival." That's why, after NFL player Damar Hamlin collapsed during a Monday Night Football game, Training Officer Bobka partnered with WDAF-TV to raise awareness for bystander CPR and promote our trainings!

An Ounce Of Prevention

We know that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, which is why we invest heavily in efforts to prevent emergencies. OPFD's Prevention Division ensures fire code compliance, investigates cause and origin of fires and promotes public safety education.

Inspections

Our fire inspectors encourage businesses along the path to compliance. In 2023 our team conducted 4,620 inspections and issued 5,899 citations.

We can't know the number of fires prevented by these efforts, but we can tell you Overland Park's total fire loss for 2023 was under 7-million dollars. (For reference, the total assessed valuation of the property we protect in Overland Park is almost 5-billion dollars.)

Here's a more detailed breakdown of the 2023 fire losses in the jurisdictions we serve.

Overland Park Residential fire loss: $5,707,015.00 (Dollar loss percentage of assessed residential valuation 0.1641%) Commercial fire loss: $1,161,300.00 (Dollar loss percentage of assessed commercial valuation 0.0775%)

Merriam Residential fire loss: $114,468.00 (Dollar loss percentage of assessed commercial valuation 0.0905%) Commercial fire loss: $16,000.00 (Dollar loss percentage of assessed commercial valuation 0.0112%)

Southeastern Johnson County Residential fire loss: $41,896.00 (Dollar loss percentage of assessed commercial valuation 0.0230%) Commercial fire loss: $0

Investigations

Our fire investigators partner with specially trained police detectives to find and convict persons involved in the crime of arson. We investigated 82 fires in 2023 and determined 8 were intentionally set. We also work with the Johnson County District Attorney's Office to obtain convictions for persons involved in the crime of arson.

Education

Most of the fires we respond to are the result of human behavior. Here are the top 3 causes of fire in Overland Park for 2023:

Unattended Cooking: 52
Careless Discard Of Smoking Material: 24
Electrical: 21

We engage in aggressive public education to try and change risky behaviors. For example, our public education specialist designed and delivered a smoking safety class for apartment residents after several large apartment fires attributed to careless smoking in 2022. Thanks in part to those efforts, our 2023 residential fire loss was down by 8.6 million dollars.

We used a mix of in-person and online programs to deliver over 246 safety programs in 2023, reaching more than 37-thousand people! We also worked with our media partners and generated our own social media to share safety messages with hundreds of thousands of people. (See our "Stories to tell" section to learn more.)

Fortunately, we had 0 fire fatalities in Overland Park in the 2023! We did, however, conduct a smoke alarm canvas in January after a fatality fire in the last days of 2022. We canvased the surrounding neighborhood to be sure everyone had working smoke alarms and even installed them for those needing assistance.

Train Like You Work

To ensure the highest level of safety for reponders and those we serve, our responders are always training. Our Training Division is dedicated to continous learning and advancement of our skills, abilities and standards.

Culture Of Learning

We like to say we "never stop learning" and our numbers bear this out. In 2023, each of our responders averaged 236 hours of training. (As reference, the requirement for an ISO 1 rated agency is 192 hours.) In fact, our Training Division delivered more than 7,000 instructional hours over the course of 2023!

Training Tools

We're blessed with a state of the art Fire Training Center. From classrooms to training props, we have the ability to learn and hone our skills in controlled environments. Check out this video of our propane tank prop in action!

Operations Drives Training

Our training division assesses operational needs to drive our training focus. For instance, when the county medical director wanted to implement a new protocol for resuscitation efforts, our Training Division took the lead role. Working with media services, they developed a county-wide training module for "Pit Crew Resuscitation." This module uses classroom and video to walk responders through multiple scenarios, explaining the formal and dynamic roles responders fill as additional resources arrive during sudden cardiac arrest incidents.

This exerpt shows the creative approach they employed to help responders coordinate these complex and changing multi-agency responses.

BVSD Partnership

Our Training Division works with the Blue Valley School District to design the curriculum for the Blue Valley Fire Science program. We also teach this program. One of the district's Career Ready Programs, its aim is to produce employment-ready first responders right out of high school! To learn more about this uniqe partnership, watch the "Blue Valley Fire Science Story."

Responder Wellness

We recognize that our people need to be physically, mentally and emotionally healthy to best serve others. Because we are relied on to field a team, we must take seriously the charge of personnel wellness.

Physical Wellness

We expect our tactical athletes to maintain fitness levels commensurate with the requirements of our profession. All front-line responders must pass an annual fit-for-duty physical each year. We base our annual exam on a nationally recognized standard from the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA 1582). Not only does this confirm their ability to perform, but also aids in early identification of addressable health concerns.

Additionally, we continue to implement cancer reduction measures. We issue each responder two sets of firefigting gear so that contaminated gear can be pulled from service until cleaned. As we build facilities and remodel older facilities, we build in red, yellow and green zones. These zones help us isolate contaminates and keep them out of our living spaces. All of these measures and more are aimed at reducing the likelihood of cancer from long term exposure to the carcinogens produced by fire.

Enhancement Opportunity

In 2023, we partnered with O2X for a Tactical Athletes Workshop. This three day course addressed everything from stretching and exercise to nutrition and stress relief. The course was accompanied by a one year subscription to the O2X mobile application, which provides ongoing fitness support and accountability.

Mental Wellness

According to the US Fire Administration, "Public Safety Personnel are 5 times more likely to experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression than their civilian counterparts." Additionally,"more first responders die of suicide than in the line of duty each year." Recognizing this, the OPFD invests significantly in mental resiliency.

In 2023, our Peer Support team members completed a combined 766 hours of training, including certifying 17 members in Advanced Crisis Intervention. Our Peer Support Team recorded 61 internal interactions in 2023, connecting those in need with appropriate resources. Additionally, we partner with Johnson County Mental Health to ensure our efforts are appropriate and fruitful. Also this year, our team served as part of an interdisciplinary effort with Fire, EMS, Law Enforcement and Emergency Dispatchers to provide 21 post-event debriefings for critical events throughout Johnson County.

Peer Support Team 2023

OPFD Peer Support Poster .jpg

Stories To Tell

Whether telling stories on our own or with our media partners, we strive to provide transparency and share some of the amazing interactions we have with our community! These stories help to inform, educate and ultimately further our mission. Here are just some of our stories from 2023.

"Friends of First Responders Day"

Each year we host a Day for kids with special needs/developmental disabilities and their families at our Fire Training Center. This year we combined forces with our police department to expand the day's activities and resources. Check out this year's video and thanks to everyone who helped make this day possible.

"Smoke Alarm Canvas"

We work to maintain strong relationships with our media partners. We're also able to leverage these relationship to help us get important stories told. For instance, after a fatal fire, KMBC-9-News helped us inform the community of our smoke alarm canvas and the importance of working smoke alarms. Their story was seen by 83-thousand people!

"Electric Battery Fires"

Additionally, our media partners often call on us to act as subject matter experts for safety related stories. KMBC-9's Len Jennings requested our help with a story about electric battery fires. It provided us a great opportunity to share safety tips with our community. Thanks to KMBC, Captain Schnichels' safety tips reached more than 76-thousand viewers!

"Unusual Extrication"

In addition to working with our media partners, we also produce our own media. We even have our own OverlandParkFD Youtube channel. This channel helps us share content directly with the public. We produce education and informational videos and even share some of the things we're doing to keep our community safe! Check out what crews were confronted with one Sunday afternoon.

"Recruitment Profile"

We also produce media to address specific challenges. For instance, recruitment has become challenging for almost all public service careers. That's why we're finding creative ways to attract tactical athletes to careers in the fire service. We've started a recrutiment team and built a Recruitment micro-site called "Join OPFD." Additionally, we're producing video vignettes to reach younger audiences who live in the online world. Meet Lieutenant Penrod.

"Pigs On The Highway"

We also use our OverlandParkFD X (Twitter) channel to alert citizens to important information. We'll share some of our interesting and unusual calls. For instance, when a semi-trailer full of piglets broke down on a hot August day, we got the call to wet down the livestock so they wouldn't perish. As the driver of the stalled truck exclaimed, "you guys saved 1,368 lives today!"

Check out more safety and emergency response videos on our OverlandParkFD YouTube channel!

CPR Smoke Alarms Home Escape Smoking Safety Replace Alarms Carbon Monoxide

Additions To Our Family

Each year, we welcome new members to the Overland Park Fire family. These new family members typically go through a Recruit Academy to learn the OPFD way. Upon completion, they not only understand our protocols and operational philosophy, but also our culture. We invest significantly in these tactical athletes expecting that they may spend a 20 year career with us! In 2023 we held Spring and Fall Fire Academies. Check out their "Academies Video" to learn more about our new family members!

We added 2 additional faces to our family this year. Help us welcome:

Brett Lafferty

Paramedic

Darren Riley

Support Services Technician

We're always looking for amazing people to join our team and help serve our mission. If you want to know more about employment opportunities with the Overland Park Fire Department, visit us at JoinOPFD .

Fond Farewells

First responders will tell you it's not a job, but a calling. Because of this, many enjoy long careers with the OPFD. In 2023, we said goodbye to 4 family members, including our long time fire chief. Combined, these men represent 132 years of service! It would be impossible to calculate the number of lives they impacted in the course of their duties. We owe each of them a debt of gratitude.

Before departing, three of our retirees shared their stories along with some words of wisdom for the next generation. Watch their interviews to get an idea of the caliber of people who wear the the Overland Park Fire Department patch.

Additional Retirement

James Woolley

Captain 38 yrs. service

Last Alarm

This annual report is dedicated to the memory of retired Firefighter George Acinger Jr., who passed on April 9th, 2023 (Easter morning).

George retired from the OPFD in 1999 after 21 years of service. We owe Firefighter Acinger a debt of gratitude for his service and friendship. May God richly bless the Acinger family.