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GlossaryResponse performance and resources

Resource availability

Resource availability describes whether suitable crews and equipment are ready for assignment at a particular time.

Resource availability describes whether the people and equipment needed for an assignment are ready to respond at a particular time. It is more specific than how many vehicles an agency owns: the resource must have the appropriate capability, staffing, and operational status for the work being considered.

The U.S. Fire Administration's June 2016 Field Operations Guide distinguishes assigned, available, and out-of-service resources and emphasizes keeping status information current. These incident-management categories provide a useful framework, while local dispatch systems may use additional status codes. USFA Field Operations Guide

Availability depends on the task

An available engine does not necessarily replace an ambulance, and an ambulance without the required crew does not provide the same capacity as a staffed unit. “Three resources available” is therefore incomplete without identifying their types and capabilities.

Availability also changes over time. A unit may finish work at one scene but still be transporting a patient, replenishing equipment, or otherwise unable to accept another assignment. The local status rules determine when it returns to the available pool.

Example

Hypothetical: A service owns four ambulances. At 15:00, two are on assignments, one is undergoing maintenance, and one is staffed and available. Its fleet size is four; its immediately available ambulance count is one.

An engine is also available nearby. That may provide useful medical first-response capability under the local system, but it does not add a second patient-transport ambulance. Counting all available vehicles together would hide the difference.

If one assigned ambulance returns to service at 15:10, availability changes even though fleet ownership has not changed.

Common confusion

Availability is not utilization. Utilization summarizes activity over a period; availability describes readiness at a time or across defined intervals. Two systems with identical average utilization can have different periods when no suitable resources remain free.

It is also not simply distance. The closest vehicle on a map may be committed or unsuitable. A location display without reliable status and capability information cannot establish which resource was available for dispatch.

Reading a report

Look for the counted resource types, staffing assumptions, status definitions, and time basis. A snapshot differs from the percentage of a day with at least one ambulance available. Missing status updates can make a historical reconstruction uncertain.

When a report describes a shortage, identify the required capability and the demand at that time. An inventory total alone cannot show that the service could meet every concurrent request.

Sources