Chief's Monthly Report
West Valley Fire Department
Yakima County Fire District
12
For the Meeting May 9, 2023
Agenda Topic: Department Monthly Progress Report
Prepared By: Chief Nathan Craig
Date Prepared: May 2, 2023
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:
One Member of Station 52 resigned. The vacant Duty Crew Firefighter position
closed April 28th with 6 applicants, testing takes place May 10th.
Starting May, our total on-call Members
is 82, 65 operations and 11 support. We
have 2 on light duty, and 4 on leave. Our
total number of personnel is 92.
Recruitment
and Retention: By DC
Jim Johnston
We are
advertising for the June hiring period, applications are due May 31st. We sent out a targeted mailing to the Tampico
area residents, this was also addressed in our most recent District Newsletter.
As part of
our Second Quarter Action Plan items, I sent an email to 41 members that have
served between one and six years to form a Focus Group on Retention. Four members replied back, we will be meeting
on May 18th at 18:00.
Department
Training and Safety: By DC Jim Johnston
April Drills included: Equipment
Check / Station Drill /SCBA Quarterly, OTEP Module 2 (Environmental and
Behavioral Emergencies), Annual Wildland Refresher, and Wildland Pumps &
Porta Tanks.
Developed the May Drill Schedule:
Equipment Check / Station Drill, OTEP Workshop B (Environmental and Behavioral
Emergencies), De-Escalation Training, Drafting, Water Supply & Hose
Handling.
Mike Parrish and Andrew Pfaff
attended a 3-day Wildland Strike Team leader class that was hosted here in the
Training Center from April 11-13.
Four Members attended a 2-day
National Fire Academy class STICO (Strategies & Tactics for Initial Company
Operations) over the weekend of April 22 & 23.
On May 6th I worked with
the Training Officer from Yakima County Fire District #5 to get their recruits
checked off in Live Fire Training.
The 2023 Winter Recruits will finish
their Wildland Training with a Field Day on May 13th.
Operations:
In April there
were a total of 62 alarms for our District, 54 we responded to, 1 YFD covered
AA, and 7 ambulance only calls (2 Lift).
Incidents: YTD Incidents by Zone YTD Zone
Station 51
10 32 17 71 (31%)
Station 52
7 40 20 93 (40%)
Station 53
6 26 11 42 (18%)
Station 54
2 14 6 26
(11%)
Station 50
29 (1duty, 1 sb) 120
Yakima
1 5
Ambulance Only
7 (2 Lift) 45
Total 282
Incident Type: Month Type YTD
Fire 8 6 bldg (2AA, 1MA), 2 veg
(1AA) 20
EMS 43 39 EMS, 3 MVC (1AA), 1 AMA 221
Hazardous Condition 2 1
Electrical, 1 Gas 6
Service Call 4 3
Assist Invalid, 1 Other 18
Good Intent 3 1
Smoke (Duty), 2 Outdoor Burn 8
False Alarm 2 2
AFA 9
Action Taken: Month Type YTD
Canceled enroute 4 2 EMS, 1 AMA, 1 AA BLDG 24
Extinguishment 8 3
BLDG, 1 Veg, 1 Elect, 2 MA, 1 AA 16
Provide BLS 40 190
Assist Invalid 3 17
Investigate 4 1
AFA, 1 Smoke, 2 Outdoor Burns 22
Other 3 1
Shut Off Gas, 1 Restore AFA, 1 LEO Standby 6
Automatic Aid Received (both agencies respond) Automatic Aid Given
From Highland 0 To Highland 1
From Yakima 1 To Yakima 2
From Gleed 0 To BIA 0
YTD 2 YTD 7
Mutual Aid Received 1 Mutual Aid
Given 2 (Dist 5)
YTD 1 YTD 4
Three incidents resulted in reportable loss last month. A roof fire on a residence caused $11,000 in
damage, a shop fire $73,000 in damages and a kitchen fire out on arrival caused
$25,000 in loss for a month total of $109,000.
Response Times: (Target= within
1 mile of station 8 minutes or less, add 2 minutes every mile after) Qualifying
Alarms: 41mo, 175yr, Target met: mo. 30 (73%) yr 118 (67%), Target not met: mo.
11 (27%) yr. 57 (33%).
I have no new
information regarding the fire at DTG Recycling.
Budget/Finance: By Officer Boisselle
The
Chief and I met with our insurance agent, Shane Heston, to review our policy
for renewal in July. We have requested a
separate quote to increase our excess liability limits from $6 million to $9
million, which is an industry standard.
Fire
Prevention/Public Education: By Officer Boisselle
On
April 13th Cpt Haubrich and the Day Crew conducted a station safety
presentation for Mt. View Preschool, 15 students and 10 adults were on the
tour.
April
25th and April 26th the EDITH House was presented to
second graders at Ahtanum, Cottonwood and Mt. View Elementary schools. Eight classes for a total of 208 students
received the hands-on Exit Drills In The Home training. Thanks to the seven members and the day crew
that assisted in the presentations.
Logistics:
The repairs to Engine 54 were
delayed then not correct at the original shop we towed it to. We then had it
towed to another shop, repaired and sent the bill to the first shop.
This month we are
completing the rock projects at Station 53 and 54 as well as finishing up the
A/V upgrades in the Training Center.
The four remote nozzles
for our brush trucks have been ordered and we requested shop time for
installation based on their ship date.
The chassis for Brush 52
should arrive in the next 60 days, we decided to write full specifications for
the truck rather than piggyback on another bid.
We plan to go out to bid next month before the chassis arrives so we can
hopefully have it built before the end of wildland season.
Strategic
Plan:
Our Strategic
Communication this month externally advertises recruitment, wildfire risk
reduction, RV safety, campfire safety and fire safety while staying in
hotels. Internally we are focusing on updating the
Strategic Plan.
The second quarter Action
Plan items are well underway, the next progress report will be May 23rd.
The citizen survey will
remain open until May 15th, we have developed the Members survey for
the update and will be soliciting feedback during drills this month.
As part of our Action Plan
and recruiting efforts we will hold our first ever Media Day on May 17th,
invites have been sent to media outlets as well as other agencies to
participate in the Q&A during the event.
Grants:
We were notified that the
grant we submitted to Multi-Care for emergency generators at Station 52 and 54
will not be awarded, however, they offered to write a letter of support for the
project to request funding from the legislature next year.
Interlocal:
The County Fire radio
system users have determined the YCIC county wide radio project has too many
hurdles regarding funding, governance, frequencies and operations to delay any
work on our systems and plans to pull back from the group to allow law
enforcement to improve their system. Should
a sales tax be enacted in the County we will need to develop a fair funding
matrix.
We held a joint meeting
with the DNR regarding forest health in Tampico and Wildfire Ready Neighbors on
April 16th, our focus this year for wildfire readiness is in the
Tampico area.
The 911 Board held an in-person
demo of the APCO Emergency Medical Dispatching software, this is the second
product demo we have completed. I expect at our May meeting we will select a
company to move forward with by 2024.
At the request of District
3 I attended a BOCC workshop to discuss no-man’s land issues for emergency
response, the general idea was to develop an agreement with the county for fire
districts to cover EMS calls in no man’s land.
The meeting brought about more questions regarding the need for an
agreement, research will need to be completed before any MOU can be developed.
Legislative:
House Bill 1336 passed,
this bill will enact the Board of Volunteers pension enhancements from a couple
years ago, the biggest improvement is increasing the monthly pension from $300
to $350.
Good of the
Order:
WSRB was in the District April 11th
for our review, we have not received the report back yet.
The Chiefs Association met with
Commissioner Curtis last month and has scheduled meetings monthly with one of
the Commissioners. The meeting generated
more questions and interest from Commissioner Curtis, I will have some follow
up meetings with him regarding outdoor burning, ambulance service and no man’s
land.
The Association egg hunt on April 8th,
was a great community event with a lot of participants and many Members helping
to make it successful.
On April 28th the West
Valley High School held a Fire Responder appreciation day, it was nice to meet
with administrators not under emergency situations.
Respectfully,
Nathan Craig
Fire Chief