Chief's Monthly Report
West Valley Fire Department
Yakima County Fire District
12
For the Meeting July 9th,
2024
Agenda Topic: Department Monthly Progress Report
Prepared By: Chief Nathan Craig
Date Prepared: July 3,
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:
One
Member of Station 52’s job relocated him to Ellensburg, and he resigned and
moved out of District.
Starting
July our total on-call Members is 75, 59 operations, and 13 support. We have 2 on leave and 1 medical leave. Our total number of personnel is 86.
Operations:
In June there
were a total of 86 alarms in District, 10 were ambulance only calls.
Incidents: YTD Incidents by Zone YTD Zone
Station 51
11 53 22 118 (29%)
Station 52
27 95 38 165 (41%)
Station 53
8 59 12 90 (22%)
Station 54
2 21 4 29 (8%)
Station 50
28 (3-Duty) 174
402
Yakima
0 5
Ambulance Only
10 (1 Lift) 66
Total 473
Incident Type: Month Type YTD
Fire 16 1 vehicle, 12 brush, 2
buildings, 1 cooking 53
EMS 47 43 EMS, 4 MVC 333
Hazardous Condition 1 Electrical 12
Service Call 6 Lift
(1amb) 25
Good Intent 13 2
Outdoor Burning, 4 Smoke, 7 cancel 32
False Alarm 3 AFA 17
Action Taken: Month Type YTD Through March
Canceled enroute 10 30
Extinguishment 16 28
Provide BLS 42 202
Assist Invalid 6 19
Investigate 11 35
Other 1 6
Automatic Aid Received (both agencies respond) Automatic Aid Given
From Highland 0 To Highland 0
From Yakima 3 To Yakima 3
From Gleed 1 To BIA 0
YTD 9 YTD 11
Mutual Aid Received 0 Mutual Aid
Given 10 (Dist 4, 5)
YTD 0 YTD 15
We had $10k in losses and 3 acres burned in the District last month.
Response Times: (Target= within 1 mile of station 8 minutes or less, add 2
minutes every mile after) Qualifying Alarms: 52mo, 314yr, Target met: mo. 41 (79%)
yr. 228 (73%), Target not met: mo. 11 (21%) yr. 86 (27%).
On June 18th Deputy
Chief Johnston and a couple other Chiefs attended a presentation from PP&L
on their new policy to shut power on their grid in areas that are dealing with
wildland fires. The members from the
Fire Service were able to share their concerns about this new blanket policy,
however it is unknown if PP&L will make any changes.
Department
Training and Safety: By DC Jim Johnston
June Drills included: Equipment Check / Station Drill, EVIP Rodeo / FIT
Test, EVIP Road Course, and Special Emergencies (Energy Storage Systems).
Developed the July Drill Schedule: Equipment Check / Station Drill, OTEP
Module 3 (Burns & Medical Legal), Highland Fruit (51 & 53) &
Gilbert Fruit (52 & 54) Tour, Search w/ 3rd Quarter SCBA Quarterly, and
Multi Company Ops.
On June 21st I participated as an Evaluator for IFSAC Instructor 2
practical testing.
Recruitment / Retention: by DC Jim Johnston
On June 8th physical testing and interviews were
conducted for the Fall Recruit Academy, after the process one firefighter and
four cadets were offered positions.
Since our discussion at the Commissioner and Admin
retreat a schedule has been created for the countywide recruit class which
would start in January. To ease the
burden of travel to the classroom sessions a Zoom style of presentation is
planned where Recruits from West Valley area would attend class at Station 51,
and Recruits from East Valley and District 5 would attend at their respective
classroom sites, then on Saturdays we would all train together at rotating sites. If we shift to this approach the application
deadline will need to change to accommodate a January start date, I have
included the proposed schedule.
Fire
Prevention/Public Education: By Officer Boisselle
We participated in several end-of-the-school-year
field days with spray downs, Mt. View, Ahtanum and Cottonwood Elementaries.
On July 15th, Station 52 participated in WV Walmart’s
Children’s Miracle Network event with a truck and stickers.
Station 52 participated in Wiley Union Church’s
carnival event on June 22nd with a truck and stickers.
The Yard Clean-up Event on June 22nd at Station 54 was
a great event. Four dumpsters for chipped yard waste, tires, scrap metal and
general garbage. Next event will be at Station 53 on September 21st.
On July 26th the Day Crew conducted a tour for a
special needs’ kiddo, showing off the trucks and station.
Budget/Finance:
By Officer
Boisselle
Mid-year budget review will
be ready in August. Will start the 2025
budget process in July, having the Officers assess their stations for needed
budget items.
Interlocal:
The
YCIC radio project group is shifting some focus to the November election
holding meetings outside of work hours for the election committee.
We
have been meeting with a group CAFÉ’ regarding utilizing YV-Tech students for
wildfire ready projects as well as other general projects in District.
Logistics:
The Expedition on order will be delayed, hopefully
it will arrive in August, the emergency lights and radios have all been ordered
and will be ready for installation when it arrives. Brush 52 is still at SeaWestern in Yakima
being completed. This month we are
replacing tires on a couple apparatus due for replacement.
This past month we had an opportunity to view a demo
fire engine built on a commercial chassis, biggest takeaway was the price
between a commercial cab and a custom has nearly tripled, the next time we are
specifying a pumper we will need to look closer at commercial cabs and
determine if we can engineer more safety features into the cab. District 5 has several pumpers on order like
Engine 54. When their first arrives,
this fall we plan to examine it to determine if it will be a suitable
replacement for Engine 54 and if so, we can piggy-back on their bid if we
choose.
Strategic
Plan:
The planning committee met
last month and reviewed all materials and made adjustment sot priorities and
goals, this month the committee will work on objectives and actions to meet the
goals.
Good of the
Order:
I have been in contact with Nile
regarding the Van Pelt pumper we sold them years back, they are ready to part
with it, however, they are looking for a small District that may need a first
out pumper, if they don’t find anyone, they will sell the pumper back to us for
use as a reserve at Station 54 and parade truck.
We are hosting a Red Cross blood drive
on July 8th. The Association
Flea Market was a successful fundraiser.
Respectfully,
Nathan Craig
Fire Chief