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Quarterly Newsletter

1st Quarter of 2012

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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 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