Chief's Monthly Report
West
Valley Fire Department
Yakima
County Fire District 12
For
the Meeting December 9, 2025
Agenda Topic: Department
Monthly Progress Report
Prepared By: Chief
Nathan Craig
Date
Prepared: December 3, 2025
The purpose of
this report is to update the Board of Fire Commissioners, Officers Management
Team, and fire personnel on recent department activities and progress on
strategic objectives.
Personnel
- Current Staffing: Total personnel stand at 85, with 74
on-call members (56 operations, 10 support, 2 medical and 4 on
leave). One Member on leave moved
out of the district and resigned.
Department Training and Safety Preparedby DC Johnston
November
Drills included: Equipment Check / Station Drill, Multi-Company Operations, and
Hazardous Materials Refresher.
Developed
the December Drill Schedule: Recruit Class Graduation, Equipment Check /
Station Drill, and Pride & Ownership.
On
November 18th the Safety and Training Committee met for our 4th
Quarter Meeting. At this meeting we had
a SCOTT Airpack representative attend, he did a sales demonstration for the
group to see. We are in the process of
demoing SCBA for our scheduled replacement in 2027.
November
21st was the closing date for the Training Captain position; we
received two applications. Both
applicants will move on to the Physical testing day followed by Assessment
testing on December 10th.
On
November 25th we hosted Highland Fire at our Live Fire training
facility, they had about 10 people attend the training.
Recruitment & Retention Prepared
by DC Johnston
Applications for the next
hiring period were due November 28th. We received a total of 18 applications. There will be a “Meet & Greet” event at
each of the stations on December 10th and Physical Ability testing with
interviews on December 13th.
Orientation is scheduled for February 2nd.
Operations
In
November there were a total of 86 alarms in the district, 29 were ambulance
calls.
Incidents: YTD Incidents by Zone YTD Zone
Station 51 9 85 13 152 (23%)
Station 52 12 130 21 241 (37%)
Station 53 8 106 12 186
(29%)
Station 54 8 51 11 71 (11%)
Station 50 20 (1 Duty) 278 650
Yakima
0 4
Ambulance Only 29 (7 Lift) 286
Total 940
Incident Type: Month Type YTD
Fire 6 5 bldg(1AA), 1 AA Chimney 88
EMS 66 59 EMS, 7 MVC 620
Hazardous Condition 1 Gas
Leak
8
Service Call 8 Lift
104
Good Intent 3 Smoke 56
False Alarm 3 AFA 51
Action Taken: Month Type YTD
Canceled enroute 6 4
EMS, 2 AFA 72
Extinguishment 6 5
bldg (1AA), 1 AA Chimney 84
Provide BLS 56 510
Assist Invalid 8
91
Investigate 11 3MVC, 3 EMS, 3 Smoke, 1 AFA, 1 Gas
171
Other 0
6
Automatic Aid Received (both agencies respond) Automatic
Aid Given
From Highland 0 To Highland 2
From Yakima 1 To
Yakima 0
From Gleed 0 To
BIA 0
YTD 24 YTD 21
Mutual Aid Received 0 Mutual Aid
Given 0
YTD 1 YTD 17
There were a total of $354,800 in losses last month,
a house fire totaled $330k in damage to the home and contents, two chimney
fires resulted in $23k lost, and a lawnmower fire cause $1800 in damage.
Response
Times:(Target= within 1 mile of station 8
minutes or less, add 2 minutes every mile after) Qualifying Alarms: 43mo, 428yr,
Target met: mo. 28 (65%) yr. 286 (67%), Target not met: mo. 15 (35%) yr. 142 (33%).
NFPA
1720 Responses for rural areas (6 FFs on scene within 14 minutes, 80% of the
time). Incidents: 3mo, 16yr, target met mo. 3
(100%), yr 11 (69%), target not met: mo. 0 (0%) yr. 5 (31%).
Budget/Finance Prepared
by Officer Boisselle
The Audit is
wrapping up. An Exit Conference will be
held this coming Thursday. We will have no findings or management letters,
however, they did recommend the following: A payroll policy, a clothing/
uniform policy and an EFT policy.
The BOCC has
tentatively approved our 2026 budget levy request, their final approval meeting
is December 9th.
Fire Prevention/Public Education Prepared
by Officer Boisselle
The
last edition of the 2025 District newsletter was mailed out in November.
Logistics Updates
- Apparatus
Updates:
- Tender
52: Still at
General Fire, waiting on emergency lights to ship.
- Engines: Completion
set for July 2026.
- Tender
53: Work
order signed to replace tank.
· In Progress: Security cameras.
· Station 52 & 54 Generators: Project awarded, on order no ship
date yet.
Strategic Plan
- Action
Plan: completed
for the year. 2026 plan being
developed.
- Update: A
draft of the updated plan is in the packet, this update removed 2025 items
completed and added new plans for suggestions in the operational
assessment.
Interlocal
- Consolidated
Dispatch: The
BOCC would like to study consolidating Fire, EMS, and Law dispatch centers
in Yakima County, they requested to use 911 funds
to pay for the study, as the Chair of the 911 Operations Board I advised
against using 911 funds to study dispatching as they are two separate
functions.
- County
Radio System: The
date for proposals has moved to January 15th.
- Residential
Burn Restrictions: Waiting for the BOCC to hold
public hearings.
Community Engagement and Events
·
Red Cross Blood Drive: November 10th,
27 units donated.
·
Association Events:
o
November 8th Food Drive with Wray’s, provided 50 holiday meals
for Ram Landing.
o
November 15th hosted the Fall Bazaar.
o
Engine 89 decorated for lighted truck, 10 scheduled nights for December.
o
December 11th Holly Jolly Christmas Dinner
Respectfully,
Nathan
Craig Fire Chief