Chief's Monthly Report
Agenda Topic: Department Monthly Progress Report
Prepared By: Chief Nathan Craig
Date Prepared: April 2,
2024
The
primary purpose of this report is to keep the Board of Fire Commissioners
informed as to the activities and progress on major programs or
objectives. The items listed, as near as
possible, are in priority order. As a
second purpose, this report will be shared with the Officers Management Team
and all fire personnel.
Personnel:
Starting
April, our total on-call Members is 79, 62 operations, and 11 support. We have 5 on leave and 1 on medical. Our total number of personnel is 90.
Operations:
In March there
were a total of 79 alarms in our District, 64 we responded to, 14 ambulance
only calls and 1 YFD covered.
Incidents: YTD Incidents by Zone YTD Zone
Station 51
9 23 21 54 (28%)
Station 52
17 41 26 73 (38%)
Station 53
8 30 12 47 (25%)
Station 54
4 13 5 17 (9%)
Station 50
26 84 191
Yakima
1 5
Ambulance Only
14 (2 Lift) 38
Total 234
Incident Type: Month Type YTD
Fire 9 3 bldg (1 MA), 1 chimney,
3 brush 17
EMS 60 46 EMS, 7 MVC, 5 AMA, 1
lock-in, 1 asst 184
Hazardous Condition 3 1
CO, 2 Elect 7
Service Call 3 3
Lift (2amb) 12
Good Intent 2 Outdoor
Burning 4
False Alarm 2 AFA 10
Action Taken: Month Type YTD
Canceled enroute 4 2 EMS, 2 AMA 20
Extinguishment 9 3
Bldg (1MA), 1 Chimney, 5 Brush 12
Provide BLS 50 160
Assist Invalid 3 13
Investigate 9 2 AFA, 2 MVC, 2 AMA, 2 Outdoor Burning, 1 Elect 24
Other 4 ID
Hzrd, manpower, equipment, traffic 5
Automatic Aid Received (both agencies respond) Automatic Aid Given
From Highland 0 To Highland 0
From Yakima 1 To Yakima 0
From Gleed 0 To BIA 0
YTD 5 YTD 6
Mutual Aid Received 0 Mutual Aid
Given 1
YTD 0 YTD 1
We had $463k in losses from two incidents, one kitchen fire with
extension caused $200k in losses to a $450k home, the other was a total loss of
a home and contents $263k. Additionally
of the brush fires two fires were 2 acres each for a total of 4 acres burned in
March.
Response Times: (Target= within 1 mile of station 8 minutes or less, add 2
minutes every mile after) Qualifying Alarms: 58mo, 159yr, Target met: mo. 43 (75%)
yr. 111 (70%), Target not met: mo. 15 (25%) yr. 48 (30%).
Department
Training and Safety: By DC Jim Johnston
March Drills included: Equipment Check / Station Drill, OTEP Workshop A –
(Stroke, Seizures, and Anaphylaxis), Drafting, Brush Truck Review / Fire
Shelter Video & Throw, and a Truck 51 Training night.
Developed the April Drill Schedule: Equipment Check / Station Drill / 2nd
Quarter SCBA Quarterly, OTEP Module 2 – (Head, Face, Neck & Spine
Injuries), Wildland Pumps, Hoses & Porta Tanks, Annual Wildland Refresher.
Update on current Recruit class….
The Wildland Training concluded on March 28th. A Field Day is scheduled for May 18th,
it will be held at Yakima County Fire District 5 Sawyer Station #7 with Selah
Fire, East Valley Fire, Dist #5 and us.
Lt Pfaff will co-lead this with Captain Munson from District #5.
On March 15th I conducted some Fire Extinguisher training for
Yakima Tieton Irrigation at their weekly safety meeting.
On March 16th Firefighter Chris Payne assisted me with Driver
/ Operator Training for eight of our recruits from 2023. All were issued an Operator Task Book and
were encouraged to get it complete in a six-month timeframe, they were also
encouraged to utilize the Day Crew to get driving time and reps.
Recruitment / Retention: By DC Jim Johnston
Mid-April we will start advertising our application process for the Fall
Recruit Academy. Depending on the
application numbers it might be more beneficial to go back to a once a year
hiring process, time will tell on this.
I will be reaching out to Jed Watters from the West Valley Innovation
Center to schedule a time to visit the school and talk to students about the
Cadet Program. Officer Boisselle and I
have a night scheduled in May to have a Question-and-Answer session with
potential Cadets and their parents. This
is currently scheduled for May 6th @ 18:00 at Station 51.
Fire
Prevention/Public Education: By Officer Boisselle
In
March Cpt Haubrich conducted a preschool visit to Wesley Preschool.
We
have Edith House, WV FFA Farm Day, station tours and our yard clean up emphasis
at Station 54 all coming up in April.
Budget/Finance:
By Officer
Boisselle
The
final Lid Lift Resolution is on the agenda for approval tonight.
Logistics:
The specification for refurbishment of Tender 52 is advertised
with bids due April 23rd. We
put in service 3 new defibrillators and progress continues with Brush 52, the
truck is being fitted with the bed and compartment boxes.
This month we have budgeted for new aid bags,
couplings, EMS equipment and tablets.
Strategic
Plan:
We are finalizing the
citizen survey to be live when newsletters go out this month. Starting a new quarter we have new action
items: criteria-based EMS response, training apps, lid lift, Station 54 bay,
heavy equipment contracts, continue uploading data into Image Trend, wildland
fuel reduction, sawyer certification, training on special emergencies and
planning for the next update.
Grants:
We submitted four grants
this past month: Canned drinking water, AFG SAFER hiring, AFG SAFER Recruitment
& Retention and AFG Fire Prevention/
Good of the
Order:
The Association hosted a successful egg
hunt on March 30th.
Our blood drive last month brought in
29 units of blood for the Red Cross.
I attended the Northwest Leadership
Seminar last month in Portland. It was a
good program that I have been able to bring back information from for our
Officer Development training.
Respectfully,
Nathan Craig
Fire Chief