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Chief's Monthly Report

Chief's Monthly Report

West Valley Fire Department

Yakima County Fire District 12

For the Meeting May 13, 2025

 

Agenda Topic:           Department Monthly Progress Report

Prepared By:            Chief Nathan Craig

Date Prepared:         May 9, 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

  • FF Fate resigned his position on the duty crew, position filled by Travis Schlaman off our current eligibility list.
  • Current Staffing: Total personnel stand at 90, with 79 on-call members (58 operations, 14 support, and 7 on leave). 

Operations 

In April there were a total of 93 alarms in the District, 38 were ambulance only calls.

Incidents:                                                   YTD               Incidents by Zone      YTD Zone            

Station 51                    5                     25                                12                    52 (23%)

Station 52                    7                     46                                19                    86 (38%)

Station 53                    10                   36                                16                    69 (30%)

Station 54                    7                     17                                8                      21 (9%)

Station 50                    26 (1 Duty)  104                               228

Yakima                         0                     1                                 

Ambulance Only          38 (3 Lift)   106                             

Total                                                335

 

Incident Type:          Month          Type                                                                      YTD

            Fire                              6                      4 bldg (1MA), 1 veg, 1 trash                19

            EMS                             72                    59 EMS, 7 MVC, 6 AMA                       229

            Hazardous Condition   0                                                                                     5

            Service Call                  6                      6 lift                                                         27

            Good Intent                 6                      6 Smoke                                                  17

            False Alarm                  3                      1 AFA, 2 AMA                                        25

           

 

Action Taken:           Month          Type                                                                      YTD

          Canceled enroute        5          1 AFA, 2 EMS, 2 AMA                                       30

            Extinguishment           6          4 building, 1 vegetation, 1 trash                   18

            Provide BLS                 57                                                                                  191

            Assist Invalid                6                                                                                     24

            Investigate                  18        4 MVC, 4 AMA, 4 EMS, 6 smoke                                   67

            Other                           0                                                                                        2


Automatic Aid Received (both agencies respond)     Automatic Aid Given                               

From Highland 0                                              To Highland                 0

From Yakima               2                                  To Yakima                    0

From Gleed                 0                                  To BIA                          0

YTD              9                                      YTD              3       

 

Mutual Aid Received            1                            Mutual Aid Given      1

          YTD                        1                                      YTD              1       

 

There were $556,000 in losses from two fires last month, a kitchen fire caused $20k in damage and a second alarm house fire caused $536k in losses.  Additionally, 2 acres of wildland burned.

 

The Nurse Navigator line is in service, during the first week there were 26 calls triaged to the navigator, and of those 18 were returned to AMR for dispatch.  As of this week, the numbers continue to trend around 60% comebacks compared to the National average, however the system is reducing unnecessary EMS responses in our system and only one call returned resulted in an ALS response.

 

At a recent 911 Operations meeting it was thought that funding for Pulse Point was lost due to federal cuts.  This funding was supposed to come from the EMS levy; the 911 Director is following up and hopefully we will have the program running in Yakima County soon.

 

Response Times: (Target= within 1 mile of station 8 minutes or less, add 2 minutes every mile after) Qualifying Alarms: 45mo, 127yr, Target met: mo. 29 (64%) yr. 86 (68%), Target not met: mo. 16 (36%) yr. 41 (32%).

NFPA 1720 Responses for rural areas (6 FFs on scene within 14 minutes, 80% of the time).             Incidents: 3mo, 9yr, target met mo. 1 (33%), yr 5 (56%), target not met: mo. 2 (66%) yr. 4 (44%).

Recruitment/Retention Prepared by DC Johnston

We are recruiting for our upcoming Fall Recruit Academy with applications due by May 31st.  I have targeted the areas around Station 53 and 54 as that is where we have the greatest demand for personnel.  I also have a flyer that I dropped off at the High School for Cadet recruitment.

Currently our Cadet program onboards Cadets for the Fall academy, we are thinking about extending this to the Winter academy as well.

Department Training and Safety Prepared by DC Johnston

April Drills included: Equipment Check / Station Drill / SCBA Quarterly, OTEP Module 2 (Cardiac, Toxicology, & HazMat), Wildland Refresher, Wildland Pumps & Porta Tanks, and Water Supply & Hose Deploy.

Developed the May Drill Schedule: Equipment Check / Station Drill, Natural Gas Emergencies, OTEP Workshop B (Cardiac, Toxicology, & HazMat), and Drafting.  There is also a Wildland Refresher for the Sawyers.

On April 12th we hosted Selah Fire with their recruits Live Fire training.

On April 17th & 18th we hosted the Spring Mechanics conference at Station 51.

On April 18th we hosted the Nile Fire Department with their IFSAC Live Fire testing.

On April 26th we hosted Sunnyside Fire Department with Live Fire training as well as Search evolutions.

On May 2nd we hosted East Valley Fire with their IFSAC Live Fire testing, two of our members also tested with them. 

On May 3rd & 4th I instructed a 2-Day National Fire Academy class (Incident Safety Officer) four of our members attended the training along with 16 other firefighters from the valley.

On May 8th through 10th, we hosted a 16-hour wildland class - S-200 (Initial Attack Incident Commander), three of our members attended this class, Lt Pfaff assisted Chief Woodall with the instruction.  This class is for individuals working on their Incident Commander Type IV credentials.

On May 10th the current recruits in the Wildland class conducted their final training – a joint wildland field day at Yakima County District #5 Sawyer Station.  Other participants were City of Yakima, Gleed, Selah, East Valley, District #5, and Sunnyside.

Fire Prevention/Public Education Prepared by Officer Boisselle

EDITH house visited Ahtanum, Cottonwood and Mt View elementary school’s 2nd grade classes. Two hundred and sixty kids went through the house to receive and practice fire safety skills.

Cpt Haubrich, along with YSO and AMR, presented to a group of 35 preschoolers from Learning Together Preschool.

The Yard Waste event at Station 51 was a success. Filled two 40-yard dumpsters with chips and yard debris.

The second edition of the 2025 newsletter is being prepared and will be in mailboxes soon.

Interlocal Coordination

  • Wildland Fire Cooperators:We held our pre-season meeting amongst fire departments, federal, and state agencies to prepare for the upcoming season.  At this time Yakima will not be base to any fixed wing aircraft as we have been in the past.

Logistics Updates

  • Apparatus Updates:
    • Brush 51: Under construction.
    • Engine 54: Found a suitable apparatus to replace Engine 54, finalizing specifications.

·        Carports:

o   Plans submitted to the county for permits; the carports are in the District waiting for permits to be erected.

·       PPE: The PPE order we placed early this year has arrived and gear issued in service.

·        Purchasing Schedule:

o   This month we are re-decking our trailer, installing remote nozzles on Tender 51 and 53, replacing all booster nozzles, and purchasing equipment to print ID badges.

Strategic Plan –

  • Action Plan: Report included in packet.
  • Operational Assessment: With part of our data in the old system, it has taken longer than anticipated to generate the necessary information for the consultants.  At this time, they have all they have requested, and we are waiting for technical review 2. 
  • Public Forum: Two forums scheduled for June 4th 12:00 and 18:00.

Grants

  • Local Community Project State Request: Awarded $295k to install generators at Stations 52 & 54.
  • Anheuser Busch: Awarded a pallet of water.
  • NVFC: Awarded 5 laptops, and a training stipend.
  • DNR: Awarded 2025 PPE/Communications Grant- Purchased gloves and King radios.
  • Applied for: Ecology grant for EV fire blankets, DNR Ops, $100k for Brush 51 build, IAFC fuel reduction $5k for dump trailer.

Community Engagement and Events

  • Association Events:
    • Community Easter Egg Hunt held April 19th in conjunction with Wildfire Ready Neighbors Event.
    • Flea Market Training Grounds May 31st.

·        Wildfire Ready Events:

o   The Chip it Don’t Burn it yard waste event held at Station 51 April 26th 0900-1300 took in 40 yards of chipped material and another 40 yards of debris

o   Next event is Station 52 May 31st.

Good of the Order

·        YCFCA Meeting:

o   Training Center May 15th 18:00.

·        Drone Program:

o   One certified pilot.

o   Drone registered with FAA.

o   Developing policy/SOG for program.

 

Respectfully,

 

Nathan Craig

Fire Chief