Five Minutes: Fire Chief Christopher Sellers

Christopher Sellers began his firefighting career as a cadet in the Ventura County Fire Department 30 years ago.  He later moved to the Culver City Fire Department, where he has ascended the ranks  as a paramedic, EMS (Emergency Medical Services) coordinator and, since December, as the acting fire chief. The job became permanent June 7,  when Sellers was  sworn in as Culver City's newest fire chief, succeeding Jeffrey Eastman.

At a time of fiscal crisis, Sellers faces significant challenges to his mandate to ensure quality service.  Culver City Patch's Matthew Erikson recently checked in with the new chief.

Culver City Patch: How do you plan to improve the response time for fires? 

Christopher Sellers: We set the standard that we want to be on the scene five minutes or less 90 percent of the time.  Currently we are meeting that 92 percent of the time. 

Do we want to improve?  Absolutely.  Currently we're putting in MDCs (mobile data computers) in our vehicles, so our hope is that we will improve. 

The technology has been around a long time.  Information, such as the type of incident, map page, cross streets, building data, is displayed on a computer screen.  

The other thing is that we're well aware of traffic in the city so we can avoid congestion.  

Patch: What access do you need to a home in order to respond to an emergency quickly? 

Sellers: The best thing someone can do is to make sure that the address is in a very visible place.  We know what side of the street a location is on, so if someone has the address visible, that's going to make it easy.

Secondly, if it's evening time, when people meet us, it helps if the porch light is on. Typically, we're pulling into the front of an occupancy, based on the fire call.  Sometimes it might actually be best to use the side or rear door.

Patch: Given the recent proposed budget cuts, what do you plan to do in order to improve the fire department?

Sellers: Currently we're working on a budget transition plan and figuring how are we going to provide the highest number of services with fewer employees. 

We're looking at the available technology.  For instance, a scanning program for the EMS (Emergency Medical Services) report that will help people on the field and those who work in administration. 

Also, we're looking at bringing some services online--such as licensing--that are normally done at the counter.  We're looking at automating and streamlining them in order to facilitate personnel and so that people won't have to come to City Hall. 

We'll continue to look at other opportunities, such as partnering up with other agencies and cities, as well as grant opportunities to sustain our services to the community.

Patch: Fourth of July is coming up, and fireworks are illegal in Culver City. What would you like residents to do if they see someone lighting fireworks? What are the safest places close to here to see them?

Sellers: We do a lot in making the public aware that fireworks are illegal.  And I have to say that since we have been doing the community outreach, fewer people are violating the law.

Besides educating, we also provide a place for people to go in their community.  They put on a nice show at the high school, which is centrally located just a couple of miles west of City Hall.

As a fire department, we do go out if there's an illegal bottle rocket. We would respond to that, to see that the problem is addressed and to make sure that there's no fire danger. For those who see a violation, typically a call to the police department is sufficient.

Patch: How do you plan on communicating fire safety to children in our community? 

Sellers: We haven't had a public education officer within our department.  Any education we do has been from members of the Fire Prevention Bureau. We try any opportunity at the local schools, such as career days. And we try to tailor to age.  Mostly we explain what we do--fire safety fundamentals, do's and don'ts, CPR and emergency preparedness.  We try to educate them in those areas. 

At this point that's the extent of our education program. We're a small city fire department with limited resources, but when requests come in, we always meet them.

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