City of Morgan Hill Public Safety Master Plan

availability/reliability, department capability, and operational effectiveness. 3 These elements can be further defined as:

Resource availability/reliability: The degree to which the resources are ready and available to respond.

Department capability: The ability of the resources deployed to manage an incident.

Operational effectiveness: The product of availability and capability. It is the outcome achieved by the deployed resources or a measure of the ability to match resources deployed to the risk level to which they are responding. 4

Recommendation: CAL FIRE should conduct a formal fire risk analysis that concentrates on strip commercial establishments, big-box occupancies, high-rise structures, and processing and institutional properties.

Target Hazards The process of identifying target hazards and preplanning suppression and rescue efforts are basic preparedness efforts that have been key functions in the fire service for many years. In this process, critical structures are identified on the basis of the risk they pose. Then, tactical considerations are established for fires in these structures. Consideration is given to the activities that take place (manufacturing, processing, etc.), the number and types of occupants (elderly, youth, handicapped, imprisoned, etc.), and other specific aspects relating to the construction of the facility or any hazardous or flammable materials that are regularly found in the building. Target hazards are those occupancies or structures that are unusually dangerous when considering the potential for loss of life or the potential for property damage. Typically, these occupancies include hospitals, nursing homes, high-rise, and other large structures. Also included are arenas and theaters, industrial and manufacturing plants, and other buildings or large complexes. The Morgan Hill and South Santa Clara County service areas have a limited number of target hazards. There are a number of area nursing or adult care facilities (Centennial Senior Center, Pacific Hills Manor, Hillview Convalescent Hospital, Valley Pines Senior Assisted Living, Westmont of Morgan Hill, Morgan Hill Villa, St. Joseph Care Home, and South County Retirement Home). The San Martin Airport and the James Boys Ranch Juvenile Detention Facility would also be included. There are a number of big-box retail centers (Walmart, Home Depot, Safeway, Target, Trader Joes, Ace Lumber, Staples, and TJ Maxx). The city has a number of large assembly buildings, including schools, hotels, theaters, and churches. The presence of Highway 101 presents the potential for transportation accidents and the dispersal of product that requires specific tactical considerations and preparation.

3 Fire Service Deployment, Assessing Community Vulnerability: From http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/pdf/urbanfirevulnerability.pdf. 4 National Fire Service Data Summit Proceedings, U.S. Department of Commerce, NIST Tech Note 1698, May 2011.

22