Wednesday, September 23, 2026, 12:45 p.m. (Denver time), Parr-Widener Community Room, Room 389
This Budget Hearings meeting of the Denver City Council covered the Denver Fire Department's proposed 2027 budget, presented by Deputy Chief Kathleen Fredenberg. She described a general fund budget of roughly $165 million supporting about 959 firefighter FTEs, with no added or deleted positions but reallocations aimed at reducing overtime, a new 18-person recruit academy with split funding with Denver International Airport, an increase in permit fees that took effect in July, and a continued commitment to four-person apparatus staffing and fully open firehouses. Council members questioned the department on the DIA funding split for firefighters, the realignment of EMS response time standards away from the NFPA 1710 model, elevator/convenience device permitting and enforcement gaps, arson investigation staffing, wildfire deployment and reimbursement funding, and a carbon monoxide/smoke detector distribution initiative funded by a Disney grant. The deputy chief committed to follow up on several data requests, including trapped elevator call statistics and response times broken out by council district.
0:30 Pretty funny yesterday that
0:32 afternoon and welcome 3 of our
0:34 budget hearings this
0:37 afternoon. We having runs from
0:40 Denver fire department as well
0:41 Denver Sheriff's Department
0:43 offer something for fire
0:44 department. But before we roll
0:47 into the presentations on
0:47 mining Sarah Watson, I'm
0:48 honored to serve as the chair
0:49 of the Safety Committee as
0:51 well as a facilitator for
0:53 today's discussion. Tom and I
0:55 wonder serve on the road. The
0:57 in the fine District 9 was
0:58 over. Brief introductions from
0:59 folks are on the table. And
1:00 and folks online starting
1:04 right. Emily Garnet chief
1:05 operating officer morning's
1:09 Dan First Perfect 10. Think it
1:10 district 7 afternoon, Kevin
1:17 Southwest numbers District.
1:24 Just 6 and a part Union fight
1:25 Florida. This is not a Amanda
1:29 Sawyer District. I Nats and
1:31 funding to a standard district
1:32 cultivating chief financial
1:37 officer. I just the Mayor it's
1:42 like to run that. Doing a
1:44 teacher pause because anyone
1:46 online by chance because Paul
1:47 Kashmann South Denver district
1:52 6. Councilmember Cashman
1:53 hello, Diana Romero, Campbell,
1:55 Southeast Denver District
1:56 Court. All right. Thank you
2:02 all so much for being here.
2:02 Thank you so much for being
2:02 prepared Denver Fire
2:05 Department. We have your
2:07 presentation from 45 on till
2:07 above to one 30 on. So the
2:12 floor is yours. One. 45
2:16 actually have to for And
2:21 second myself to time as so
2:22 good afternoon, everybody.
2:24 First of all, city council
2:24 members, thank you very much
2:26 allowing me to be here to
2:28 present the 2027 proposed
2:29 budget for Denver Fire
2:31 Department. Looking forward to
2:34 it. My name is Kathleen
2:34 Fredenberg on the deputy chief
2:38 of Denver. Fire Department. So
2:39 jump right into it. I want to
2:42 back just a little bit. So
2:43 that everybody is clear about
2:44 where the Denver Fire
2:46 Department stands in priority.
2:47 And that's through our mission
2:49 and through our vision. And
2:50 it's very simply in our
2:51 mission, desire to serve
2:53 courage, to act, ability to
2:54 perform. And we make our
2:55 decisions based off of of
2:58 that, base model. You're going
2:59 to see consistent theme
3:01 throughout this presentation
3:05 and that's going to be around
3:08 3 things. One, is there a
3:09 prioritization of emergency
3:10 response to our communities,
3:12 making sure it's fully
3:13 resourced and being fully
3:16 resourced. That means fully
3:17 staffed and our firehouse is
3:20 staffed. 24 hours a day. And
3:22 also public safety oversight,
3:24 which is about ensuring safety
3:24 related to the buildings are
3:28 public goes in and that's your
3:30 permitting and inspection
3:31 programs and and bolstering
3:36 that for 2027. So for
3:38 strategic priorities for
3:39 Twenty-twenty 7. Right now
3:41 we're going through our 5 5
3:44 year review through insurance
3:46 services offices. I s o this
3:50 is an entity that evaluate
3:50 some reviews, fire departments
3:54 for their capability
3:55 preparedness for response, the
3:59 things they look at relate to
4:00 where our fire hydrants. Do we
4:01 have enough water going to the
4:02 fire hydrants? Do we have high
4:03 rises? Do we do we follow code
4:05 enforcement around that? Do
4:06 are we prepared with our
4:09 training? Do we have proper
4:10 apparatus? The proper amount
4:13 of people going to and
4:14 incidents to create what they
4:16 call an effective response
4:17 force for us. We're currently
4:18 iso one. That's the highest
4:21 rating that you can get. We
4:24 also happen to be one of the
4:26 133 fire departments in the
4:28 U.S. That are also nationally
4:29 accredited. And so to me that
4:32 evidence is our commitment to
4:36 commitment towards continued
4:36 excellence. But then also our
4:39 progress and improvement.
4:39 Which brings me to the second
4:40 one, which is a realignment
4:41 for response time models. I
4:44 think that we've realized that
4:45 we need to stay progressive,
4:46 more looking holistically,
4:51 especially rent, ems response.
4:53 With we're giving complete and
4:54 holistic response to someone's
4:57 needs when they call for an
4:58 ems emergency recognizing that
5:00 we partnered with. And then
5:02 when Communications Department
5:04 of Safety, Denver, Health,
5:05 paramedics division so that we
5:07 are encompassing all a lesson
5:08 bls resources and it's down to
5:12 the line of right resource,
5:13 right time, making sure that
5:13 we have proper resources for
5:16 the highest acuity type
5:19 emergencies in the ems world.
5:20 You all as city council
5:22 members will be getting
5:23 individual meetings with Xi
5:24 Fulton and also Chief Harper
5:26 with Denver Health to talk
5:28 with you about it. More as
5:31 it's in process. It is being
5:35 created right now. We're
5:35 working through the
5:36 technological part of that,
5:37 which has its challenges.
5:38 We're hopeful to pilot it in
5:40 the end of this year and hopes
5:44 to put it into into action
5:47 activated in 2027 once we've
5:48 had a chance to test it and
5:48 make sure that it's safe and
5:50 where fully prepared to
5:54 execute it. Also during our
5:55 pilot for clarity, we're going
5:57 to be doing the pilot and
5:58 simultaneously continuing to
5:59 track our data based current
6:03 response time goals. And last
6:04 want to continue to prioritize
6:08 our member wellness that we
6:09 have new technology that
6:10 allows us to have anonymous
6:13 collection of information and
6:15 that over alleged to tunnel.
6:17 Access will tell us some of
6:18 the things that causing our
6:20 members to be Knecht. You all.
6:22 You all know because I've
6:25 heard she tell you the
6:26 occupation of firefighting is
6:28 amongst the highest for injury
6:29 ratings. So we're trying to
6:33 find ways that we can utilize
6:33 the information we gather so
6:36 that we're cutting down on
6:38 lost work, calling in sick and
6:45 retention. So again, as I said
6:46 earlier, our budget philosophy
6:49 or 3 core things, one is
6:50 keeping high-quality emergency
6:51 response to all areas of the
6:54 city. Focusing on our
6:55 permitting and compliance or
6:57 permitting programming in
6:58 compliance so that we are
7:00 making sure our buildings are
7:02 safe and then maintaining our
7:02 employee wellness so that
7:04 we're fully prepared and
7:07 responsive to the community's
7:12 Our equity considerations
7:13 obviously maintaining response
7:13 times through data. We're
7:14 going to be confirming that
7:16 we're doing that in an
7:17 equitable way consistently
7:19 throughout all of the areas of
7:21 our city will continue our
7:22 recruitment efforts to make
7:25 sure that we have a diverse
7:26 workforce that mirrors the
7:28 community that we're serving.
7:31 Some examples of that station
7:33 This is Councilmember
7:35 Gilmore's area. We're building
7:36 a new station there and it
7:37 will hopefully done by the end
7:41 of the year. It is one that
7:43 will fill that gap in an area
7:49 that is otherwise underserved.
7:52 This is our current agency
7:53 structure, green and blue. Our
7:54 current command staff. If you
7:57 recall last year, we blended
7:59 one of our divisions to be
8:00 administration and training.
8:00 So we're 5 divisions instead
8:04 6. Now. Our performance
8:09 metrics. So there's 2 things
8:10 that we're looking at here.
8:11 One is your turn out time,
8:12 which is the time in which
8:14 takes a firefighter from the
8:15 time they received a call in
8:17 the vocal arm in the firehouse
8:19 to get on the get their stuff
8:20 together and get out the door.
8:24 That's a 60nd standard. We've
8:25 pretty consistently stayed at
8:27 about 90% compliance, which is
8:30 great and also I compared it
8:33 with the Times in which were
8:34 being judged when we're
8:35 responding to what's called an
8:35 ideal age environment in
8:38 immediately dangerous to life
8:39 and health. We're allowed 80
8:40 seconds for that. And that
8:43 would be things that are
8:44 hazmat structure, fires,
8:44 things where we have to put
8:46 are bunking here on before we
8:48 leave and we are about the
8:49 same 90% compliant in that as
8:53 well. The second part is the
8:53 drive time. It's the time from
8:54 when we leave from the
8:55 firehouse to the time that we
8:59 arrive on scene and right now
9:02 we are steady at about 63%
9:11 compliance and that metric. So
9:12 2027 funding sources. So for
9:14 the general fund, we are
9:16 between operations and
9:17 administration at about
9:21 165 Million. That's for 959.
9:25 Ft ease firefighters. We have
9:26 a wild Land Special Revenue
9:28 Fund which is a fee for
9:30 services fund that funding
9:34 about 15 ft. Ease. And then we
9:36 of course, ended an internal
9:38 billings for our PRESIDENT,
9:39 sat down for about 137 fte is
9:41 at 26 Million. And then our
9:47 fire pension fund so I would
9:48 imagine you're hearing the
9:49 same thing from all of us that
9:52 our primary cause. Does people
9:55 salary and benefits. And that
9:58 is about 97% of our budget.
9:59 What you see below that is the
10:01 4 million for services and
10:03 supplies. I guess I'm giving
10:05 fair warning. That will be
10:06 something want to talk about
10:10 more because that has dwindled
10:11 lower over the last few years.
10:12 But we're finding that the
10:13 things we use it for like
10:16 urban can gear our fire hose
10:17 cb Azar medical supplies are
10:19 the gloves we wear is rising
10:21 in cost. So the way we're
10:24 going to talk to you about
10:25 that personnel changes were
10:28 not going to be adding or
10:31 deleting people. We will be
10:31 reallocating people. We're
10:32 going to change their
10:34 assignments. So they'll be 11
10:39 people who will be moving from
10:39 support assignments to
10:40 operation supine assignments.
10:41 Nats with the goal of lowering
10:43 over time. Also, they'll be
10:44 one reallocation of an
10:46 operations position that's
10:46 already within wild land that
10:48 we're moving to an admin
10:49 position totaling one 65.0 1
10:55 million. All right. So here's
10:57 the comparison of the General
11:01 Fund versus our staffing. You
11:02 will see that our staffing
11:03 will stay primarily the same
11:04 this year and next year at
11:08 about 959 for authorized
11:09 strength and that our csa
11:12 staffing is at 41, which is
11:13 has gone down a little bit
11:16 from 2025. The reasoning. And
11:17 that has to do with the fact
11:19 that we have re allocated some
11:22 of the csa employees from like
11:23 the department, our finance
11:25 department over underneath the
11:28 director of safety's office
11:32 and also revenue collection
11:33 position is now under under
11:38 the Wild Land Budget. So
11:39 addressing City Council
11:47 priorities. 3 things. Ensuring
11:48 that we're going to be giving
11:51 you the highest quality of
11:51 emergency response with the
11:53 highest quality staffing that
11:55 we can. And that's for us. And
11:58 for Dan, it's for continuing
12:01 to bolster Wild land program.
12:02 Believe it or not, there is
12:04 some well then interface
12:05 between Denver. We've got a
12:08 very robust wildland team.
12:10 It's good for us to be looking
12:10 at how we can be utilizing
12:13 that here in our city as well
12:14 and continuing that program.
12:15 So we'll keep that about as it
12:18 relates to community safety.
12:20 And also as they spoke about
12:21 before with permitting and
12:22 inspections. And that's
12:23 keeping our buildings, people
12:25 healthy within buildings,
12:29 making sure that we have
12:33 compliance around the areas we
12:34 can control prior to it
12:38 becoming an actual incident.
12:39 So what is staying the same
12:43 and what is changing?
12:44 Obviously, our core protection
12:45 services to the community
12:46 community are staying the
12:47 same. We're not reducing any
12:50 budgeting. No ft ease. I'm
12:51 sorry. No budget uniform fte
12:56 is from Dan. We're going to be
12:56 staffing for firefighters on
12:57 every apparatus as we have
13:00 done that will remain. The
13:04 mayor has committed to that
13:05 mayor with the director of
13:08 leadership see the importance
13:08 safety, our union in our
13:11 of a foreperson staffing in
13:14 order to be as effective as we
13:16 as we can be for our
13:19 communities. And then again,
13:19 Oliver fired course. Houses
13:20 are going to remain fully
13:24 open. 24 hours a day with no
13:28 closed ranks. What's changing?
13:30 So there's going to be there
13:30 was a proposed revenue
13:32 increase for permits that
13:35 actually took place in JULY.
13:37 We haven't. It just basically
13:38 began, but they'll be an
13:40 increase in those. And then
13:42 projected increase in volume.
13:44 We're working on keeping that
13:47 area fully staffed. And we've
13:49 added in instead of just
13:52 relying on civilian staffer,
13:54 professional staff. We're now
13:55 allocating so sworn staff. So
13:58 we have overlap in our
13:59 permitting areas. So we make
14:00 sure that we remain staffed
14:02 and we don't have any legs.
14:02 That was a challenge that we
14:08 had in the last year.
14:09 Additionally typically we
14:10 would have to academies per
14:13 year to make up for recidivism
14:14 this year. It's going to be a
14:15 little bit different. We will
14:19 be hosting an 18 person fire
14:20 recruit Academy in 2027 and it
14:21 will be a split funding
14:33 between Dan and for services.
14:36 So as it relates to fire
14:37 Suppression Administration
14:39 services, which is our support
14:42 units and down the first top 3
14:46 are all related to
14:48 reallocations to fill the 26
14:49 27 collective bargaining
14:52 agreement. And then the last
14:55 wild land fires reimbursement
14:57 fee program. That is a
14:58 reallocation of wild, an
15:03 eligible funding that would go
15:04 from the general fund to are
15:07 Wild Land Fund because while
15:08 planned related basically
15:10 staffing over time. Those type
15:19 of items. Then moving on to
15:19 General Fund budget change
15:23 summary. They'll be a 1.1
15:25 million dollar expansion.
15:26 That's for Dan to cover the 26
15:29 27 collective bargaining
15:31 agreement. Then the
15:34 reallocation of that's for
15:35 personal expenditures. And
15:36 that's going from the general
15:40 fund to wild land. Then
15:42 revenue. We are projecting an
15:42 increase 7, it revenue around
15:46 permitting and licensing
15:48 inspections because we have
15:50 we're going to increase our
15:51 staffing. But then also we're