So if they meet their goal 75% of the time but miss it 15% of the time... are the other 10% false alarms or something?

Ha - missed that. Good point, tk.

I was going to say - missing the goal 15% of the time could also indicate that it's a good target. If they hit it 100% of the time, the bar would probably have been set too low.

@tk. Any data-based goal metric has to allow for the times when failure will happen. Asking for a 100% compliance rate is unrealistic. According to the data in the report, the PF&R reaches their destination within 6:42 90% of the time.

So this report looks like Randy Leonard looking to get his foot in the door in taking over the Portland Traffic Bureau with the recomendation that the Fire Commisioner and the Fire Chief having direct involvment with the planning of traffic calming measures.

What else? I enjoyed the responses at the end of the report where a whole bunch of bullshit was called on PF&R trying to reclassify and reconfigure how their metrics were being recorded. Good job Amanda Fritz and Lisa Turley.

@Graham - Naw, I think you misunderstood TK. The article says they are on-time 75% of the time and late 10% of the time. That doesn't add up to 100%. What happens the other 15% of the time?

He's not saying they need to be on time 100% of the time, just asking about the missing figures.

@Reymont: Right. So... if 75% of the time they hit the 5:20 mark and 90% of the time they hit 6:42, wouldn't that mean they are actually late (by their own metric) 25% of the time?

@reymont, re-reading what tk. said and the language of the report; I'm guessing that PF&R was actually late 25% of the time. But 10% of the time when they're late is considered an acceptable lateness so isn't technically a late arrival. Does that make any sense?

I really wish they'd release the raw data from this report. I'm very very familiar with how to hide or show specific performance metrics with how you talk about the numbers (it's an important part of what I do for a living).

@tk. Quit saying what I'm going to say before I say it. It makes me go HULK! RAGE! SMASH! SMASH!

@Graham: I'll... try?

@tk and @reymont,

They're only shooting to arrive at the 5:20 mark 90 percent of the time because, according to the audit, getting to 100% of emergencies on time is impossible due to contingencies like traffic. The national standard for response noted in the audit is getting to 90 percent of emergencies within five minutes, so our goal is slow by 20 seconds.

As we reconsider 9/11 from the safe harbor of history, our collective aesthetic concern should include these reactionary pint-sized homoerotic / patriotic artworks which dot the nation. Snake=Al Qaeda, or perhaps some other pent up desire? Kerosene lamp? Accuracy is not an issue. This one is by local artist Rip Caswell.

@smirk @graham: Okay, that makes more sense.

Aaaa! More intellectual analysis of the sculpture, please. I was just debating what the snake meant, and someone noted the eagle/snake image is reminiscent of the Mexican flag.

@Smirk - Well, the Mexican flag also has an eagle and a rock, right? And that flag is clearly painted like an American flag, so if anything, I'd think more along the lines of "Don't tread on me."

But they probably meant it as an allusion to the Star of Life, the symbol for emergency medical responders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_Life