Chief's Monthly Report
West
Valley Fire Department
Yakima
County Fire District 12
For
the Meeting January 13, 2026
Agenda Topic: Department
Monthly Progress Report
Prepared By: Chief
Nathan Craig
Date
Prepared: January 9, 2026
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
- Retirement: Captain Eric Biddick, we will
celebrate him during the awards banquet.
- Current Staffing: Total personnel 83, with 71 on-call
members (55 operations, 9 support, 2 medical and 4 on leave).
Strategic
Plan
- Plan: The updated plan is in the packet for
adoption.
- Action Plan: In the packet for
discussion/adoption.
Interlocal
- County Radio
System: The date for
proposals is January 15th.
- Residential
Burn Restrictions:County corporate counsel has the final revised version, once
they finish their review the FM will send to the Chiefs for final approval
then to BOCC.
Department Training and Safety Preparedby DC Johnston
December Drills included: Recruit Class Graduation,
Equipment Check / Station Drill, and Pride & Ownership.
Developed the January Drill Schedule: Equipment
Check / Station Drill, Search with SCBA Quarterly, State of the Department, and
Dry Hose Evolutions.
On several dates in December, we conducted the 2026
Training Officer testing and interviews.
On December 23rd we notified Lt Justin Nickolaus that he had been
selected for the position which he accepted.
Due to his contractional obligations as an Educator we decided to move
the start date to July 1, 2026. I would
like to thank Lt Andrew Pfaff for his efforts in participating in the testing
process.
On December 5th I assisted as an Evaluator for
IFSAC Officer 2 testing in East Valley.
On December 17th I proctored the written test for
our Lieutenant and Captain list. There
was an Assessment Center for the Lieutenants list on January 7th.
On December 23rd I proctored an Open IFSAC Written
test for eight firefighters – five from West Valley and three from Selah.
Recruitment & Retention Prepared
by DC Johnston
The Winter Recruit
Academy is scheduled for an Orientation night on February 2nd. There were 18 people that went through the
testing process on December 13th, from that process 14 were offered positions –
11 Firefighters, two Cadets, and one Support Services.
Operations
In
December there were a total of 86 alarms in the district, 30 were ambulance
calls.
Incidents: YTD Incidents by Zone YTD Zone
Station 51 11 96 22 174 (25%)
Station 52 6 136 15 256 (36%)
Station 53 10 116 15 201
(29%)
Station 54 0 51 3 74 (10%)
Station 50 28 306 705
Yakima 1 5
Ambulance Only 30 (10 Lift) 316
Total 1026
Incident Type: Month Type YTD
Fire 8 5 bldg(2AA), 2 vehicle, 1
veg
96
EMS 54 47 EMS, 7 MVC 674
Hazardous Condition 3 Gas
Leak, 2 power 11
Service Call 14 13
Lift, 1 water leak
118
Good Intent 2 Smoke 58
False Alarm 5 AFA 56
Action Taken: Month Type YTD
Canceled enroute 7 1 EMS, 4 AFA, 2 AA 79
Extinguishment 6 3 bldg, 2 vehicle, 1 veg
90
Provide BLS 48 558
Assist Invalid 13
104
Investigate 10 3MVC, 2 EMS, 2 Smoke, 1 AFA, 1 Gas, 1
Power 181
Other 2 remove hazard, water removal 8
Automatic Aid Received (both agencies respond) Automatic
Aid Given
From Highland 0 To
Highland 1
From Yakima 1 To
Yakima 1
From Gleed 0 To
BIA 0
YTD 25 YTD 23
Mutual Aid Received 0 Mutual
Aid Given 0
YTD 1 YTD 17
There was a total of $368,500 in losses last month,
a house fire totaled $275k in damage to the home and contents, a detached
garage resulted in $45k total losses, a shop fire for $35k in loss and vehicle
fires caused $13,500 in total damage.
Response
Times:(Target= within 1 mile of station 8
minutes or less, add 2 minutes every mile after) Qualifying Alarms: 41mo, 469yr,
Target met: mo. 28 (68%) yr. 314 (67%), Target not met: mo. 13 (32%) yr. 155 (33%).
NFPA
1720 Responses for rural areas (6 FFs on scene within 14 minutes, 80% of the
time). Incidents: 3mo, 19yr, target met mo. 2
(67%), yr 13 (69%), target not met: mo. 1 (33%) yr. 6 (31%).
Budget/Finance Prepared
by Officer Boisselle
Our 2022-2024 WA State Audit is closed out, and
Exit Conference was held on December 11th. We had no Findings, just
a couple of recommended policy changes and additions.
We are still working on the Department of
Retirement Systems audit recommendations of reporting Commissioner Borst and
Commissioner Barham. I am working with their representatives to make this
happen, but there seems to be a system glitch on their end they are working to
resolve.
The purchasing schedule based off the 2026 budget
is in the packet for review.
Fire Prevention/Public Education Prepared
by Officer Boisselle
No
Fire Prevention activities in December to report, however we are starting to
pick dates for upcoming events.
Logistics Updates
- Apparatus
Updates:
- Tender
52: Requested
they finish by March.
- Engines: Completion
set for July 2026.
- Tender
53: Work starts
in March.
· In Progress: Exercise Equipment.
· Station 52 & 54 Generators: Project awarded, on order no ship
date yet.
Community Engagement and Events
·
Red Cross Blood Drive: January 12th.
·
State of Department: January 21st,
1900.
·
Association Events:
o
Engine 89 lighted truck participated in two parades and eight other
neighborhood events.
o
We had a good turnout for Christmas dinner December 11th.
Respectfully,
Nathan Craig
Fire Chief