Chief's Monthly Report
West Valley Fire Department
Yakima County Fire District
12
For the Meeting of March 14,
2023
Agenda Topic: Department Monthly Progress Report
Prepared By: Chief Nathan Craig
Date Prepared: March 7,
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 took a leave of absence this past month, otherwise, no personnel
changes.
Starting
March, our total on call Members is 84, 62 operations and 11 support. We have 1 on light duty, 1 on medical and 3
on leave. Out total number of personnel
is 95.
Operations:
In
February there were a total of 74 alarms for our District, 59 we responded to, 2
YFD covered AA, and 13 ambulance only BLS calls (1 Lift).
Incidents: YTD Incidents
by Zone YTD Zone
Station 51 11 17 21 34 (31%)
Station 52 12 19 22
42 (38%)
Station 53 5 16 9 22 (20%)
Station 54 4 10 7 13 (12%)
Station 50 27 49
Yakima 2 2
Ambulance Only 13 (1Lift) 19
Total 132
Incident
Type: Month Type YTD
Fire 5 5
bldg (1AA, 1MA) 7
EMS 63 56 EMS, 5 MVC, 1 Search, 1
AMA 113
Hazardous
Condition 1 1 Electrical 2
Service
Call 2 1 Assist Invalid, 1 Leg
Stuck 4
Good
Intent 2 2 Smoke (1 Duty) 2
False
Alarm 1 1 AFA 4
Action
Taken: Month Type YTD
Canceled enroute 8 5
EMS, 1 MA, 1 AA, 1 Search 13
Extinguishment 3 3
BLDG 4
Provide
BLS 53 97
Assist
Invalid 2 3
Investigate 7 1 AFA, 1 Electrical, 3 MVC, 2 Smoke 7
Other 1 Remove
Pinned 1
Automatic
Aid Received (both agencies respond) Automatic Aid Given
From Highland 0 To
Highland 0
From Yakima 0 To
Yakima 1
From Gleed 0 To BIA 0
YTD 0 YTD 3
Mutual
Aid Received 0 Mutual Aid
Given 1 (Dist 9)
YTD 0 YTD 2
Two separate
fires at the same address resulted in a total of $599k in loss last month. The original fire was a garage fire causing
$149k in loss, the second fire was the home causing $450k in loss.
Response Times: (Target= within
1 mile of station 8 minutes or less, add 2 minutes every mile after) Qualifying
Alarms: 47mo, 89yr, Target met: mo. 31 (66%) yr 56 (63%), Target not met: mo. 16
(34%) yr. 33 (37%).
Interlocal:
The
911 Operations Board hosted a demo of ProQA’s EMD software for future
consideration, next month we have a similar demo scheduled with another
company. Once the demonstrations are
complete and we received feedback from call takers we plan to move forward with
a new EMD system for Yakima County.
DC
Johnston assisted Selah Fire Department on promotional testing for two fulltime
Lieutenants.
Budget/Finance:
By Officer
Boisselle
Work
has started on our 2022 annual State Auditors Financial Report. I am signed up
for an update webinar the end of March.
After getting the changes and templates at the webinar I plan on diving
in and hopefully completing and submitting the beginning of May. The report is
due by May 30th.
Fire
Prevention/Public Education: By Officer Boisselle
We
will have the EDITH House April 24th – 27th. I am making
contact with the schools setting up the 2nd grade class
presentations.
Recruitment and Retention: By DC
Jim Johnston
Chief Craig, Officer Boisselle and I discussed
doing a targeted mailing to the Tampico area seeking members to join our Department
– we plan to do this mid-April.
Department
Training and Safety: By DC Jim Johnston
February Drills included: Equipment Check / Station Drill, OTEP Module 1
(Endocrine & Shock), Search, and Extremity Injuries / Vitals / MIR.
Developed the March Drill Schedule: Equipment Check / Station Drill, OTEP
Workshop A, Water Supply & Engine Company Attack Evolutions, Multi Company
Operations, and Brush Truck Review with Annual Shelter Video and Throw.
On February 15th we held the Lieutenant Assessment testing,
all seven who took the written test also did this testing as well.
Lieutenant Pfaff co-instructed a Wildland Saw class (S-212) on February
25th and 26th, a total of 16 people took the class four
of which were from outside agencies.
On February 28th Chief Craig and myself met with a
representative from VFIS on driver training and building safety related
matters. A report will be made available
to us in a few weeks to see where we can make improvements on.
On March 2nd the Recruits started their Wildland Fire
training, Lieutenant Pfaff is leading the instruction for this class.
On March 8th Lt Pfaff and I met with representatives from DTG
Recycle at their facility to look at a site for this year’s Wildland Field Day
which will be conducted on May 13th.
I will be attending a class at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg,
MD from March 12th to 17th - Command and Control Decision
Making at Multi Alarm Incidents.
Logistics:
The backup generator at Station 51 was serviced last
month, this is an annual service and testing by the manufacturer.
Projects this month are window tinting apparatus and
ordering the backup generator for Station 53.
Strategic
Plan:
Our Strategic
Communication this month externally is in regard to open burning, internally we
are discussing our on-scene firefighter rehab culture.
As we wrap up our first
quarter action plan, we will be able to provide information regarding some of
the items we are tracking on a quarterly basis after all of March is
inputted.
Grants:
We submitted two DNR
grants, one remote monitor grant for $7,000, and we purchased wildland supplies
on the DNR Phase I grant $3,000.
We requested State Capital
Funding of $36,516 for 3 additional remote monitors, as well as on behalf of
the Communications Committee requested $135,000 to replace repeater microwaves.
We received $13,000 from
FEMA for reimbursement of Covid related supplies and hours for the second half
of 2022.
Upcoming we plan to submit
a FEMA SAFER grant.
Legislation:
We had a successful trip
to Olympia meeting with six Legislators to discuss bills related to our
operations. Currently, it appears the
Volunteer Pension bill has cleared the House and is on its way to passage. HB1670 Limit Factor Increase is stuck in House
Rules 2 currently. HB1498 appears to
still be moving, this bill provides funding for fire districts to utilize
aircraft on fires before they become mobilizations.
Good of the
Order:
WSRB has changed the date of our
re-rating to April 4th, staff is currently compiling all the
information required for their visit.
Our next Red Cross Blood Drive is
scheduled for March 13th.
The awards banquet is scheduled for
March 25th.
Respectfully,
Nathan Craig
Fire Chief