Chief's Monthly Report

Chief's Monthly Report

Agenda Topic:       Department Monthly Progress Report

Prepared By:         Chief Nathan Craig

Date Prepared:      January 6, 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

• The open office assistant position has been filled and will start at part-time hours. 
• A couple Members on leave returned to duty January 1^st.
• Current Staffing: Total personnel stand at 90, with 79 on-call members (62 operations, 13 support) and 4 on leave.

Budget/Finance Prepared by Officer Boisselle

·       The payroll overpayment issue has been resolved.  Reimbursed funds were either deducted from their December paychecks or paid directly from the Member to the Department.

Fire Prevention/Public Education Prepared by Officer Boisselle

·       Due to the holidays. No public education activities were scheduled in December.

Operations 

In December there were a total of 102 alarms in District, 32 were ambulance only calls.

Incidents:                                        YTD          Incidents by Zone          YTD Zone              

Station 51               14               103                         13                200 (26%)

Station 52               12               183                         24                308 (40%)

Station 53               13               139                         16                187 (25%)

Station 54               1                 44                          6                     68     (9%)

Station 50               30 (1 Duty)  364                                                        763

Yakima                   0                 9

Ambulance Only      32 (7 Lift)     175

Total                                           1017

Incident Type:       Month                    Type                                                    YTD

          Fire                        3                  3 bldg                                                   114

          EMS                       76                60 EMS, 15 MVC, 1 AMA                      683

          Hazardous Condition         0                                                                    16

          Service Call             10                Lift                                                        65

          Good Intent            11                10 cancel, 1 smoke                               100

          False Alarm            2                  AFA                                                      38

Action Taken:                  Month                    Type                                           YTD

          Canceled enroute    10      5 AFA, 1 False, 1 MVC, 3 EMS                        90

          Extinguishment       2        building                                                           72

          Provide BLS            66                                                                            524

          Assist Invalid           10                                                                            57

          Investigate              12      1 bldg, 3 AFA, 1 smoke, 6 MVC, 1 EMS           104

          Other                      2        traffic                                                              13

Automatic Aid Received (both agencies respond)     Automatic Aid Given                                       

From Highland         0                            To Highland            1

From Yakima          0                            To Yakima              0

From Gleed             0                            To BIA                    0

YTD             14                                    YTD             26     

Mutual Aid Received        0                            Mutual Aid Given   2

          YTD                       3                                      YTD             28 (Yak, Dist 6)         

No reportable losses in District last month.

Response Times: (Target= within 1 mile of station 8 minutes or less, add 2 minutes every mile after) Qualifying Alarms: 51mo, 605yr, Target met: mo. 36 (71%) yr. 431 (71%), Target not met: mo. 15 (29%) yr. 174 (29%).

Recruitment/Retention Prepared by DC Johnston

The next Recruit Class will start on February 1^st, the last testing process (December 14^th) had five people test and interview, they are now on to the medical physicals. 

Department Training and Safety Prepared by DC Johnston

December Drills included: Recruit Graduation, Equipment Check / Station Drill / Meet & Greet, and Pride & Ownership

Developed the January Drill Schedule: Equipment Check / Station Drill, SCBA Confidence & SCBA Quarterly, Hose Evolutions, and State of the Department

I self-studied at home for IFSAC Officer II and tested on December 6^th.  In 2024 I tested for and received the following IFSAC certifications: HazMat Awareness, HazMat Operations, Firefighter I, Firefighter II, and Officer I & II. 

On December 20^th I participated in a Teams Meeting on a product made by OneTest which helps detect Cancers.  The process uses a self-administered blood collection system that is done at home then shipped back to their company where the blood is screened for proteins that are found in cancers.  The company has two different tests, the Standard which looks for 5 cancer biomarkers ($199) and the Premium which looks for 12 cancer biomarkers ($345).

Interlocal Coordination

• Yakima County Fire Chiefs Association: In December I was re-elected to serve another two-year term as the Association President.
• WFC/WSRB:Following the meetings between the WFC, WSRB, and OIC we have agreed to re-open the rating schedule to modernize and update areas of the schedule the Chiefs think are outdated.  As the Chair of the WFC committee I have put together a subgroup of chiefs from across the state to work with WSRB on updating the schedule with a deadline of the Chiefs conference in May to have a solid draft available for comment.  Meetings start January 13^th. 

Logistics Updates

• Apparatus Updates:
• Battalion 50: Complete and in-service.  I have reached out to Jeff Griffin to see if he still wants to purchase the old Tahoe for his insurance company to make available to subscribers.
• Tender 52: Scheduled to be picked up by General Fire by January 10^th for refurbishment.
• Brush 51: The chassis arrived near the end of December, during the review of specifications to refurbish current Brush 51 I determined due to the small amount of equipment capable of being transferred after going from diesel to gas it is more cost effective to outright replace with a new apparatus and maintain the old B51 as reserve.  Specifications have been written and emailed out to three vendors and will be advertised in the January 12^th newspaper with bids due January 31^st.
• Engine 54: Have looked at several options for replacement of E-54, currently considering creating a basic specification with needed parameters and allowing bidders to develop an engine based on our needs.

·        2025 Purchasing

o   Schedule: We have developed the purchasing schedule for the 2025 budget with January items already on order which include new gas meters, shop tools and updating our Mission posters.

Strategic Plan –

• Action Plan: This quarter we will set up our mentor program for new recruits, update our application to a fillable form, review recruitment methods, monitor legislation effecting our taxing authority, establish a program for group purchasing EMS supplies, develop a tracking system for equipment, develop a quarterly newsletter and create and review our annual operations report.
• Standards of Cover: I created a schedule of actions for developing the plan by October, I then spoke with Jon Stouffer about assisting/consulting with our plan, our timeline is appropriate. However, after discussing what we are trying to accomplish Jon is suggesting we develop an Operational Assessment that contains many of the elements of a SOC.  I have a proposal to review, once we determine all the elements we are interested in we can determine cost and determine if we can select a consultant of our choosing or if we must go out to bid.  Once we set a final timeline, we will identify citizens and Members to assist with the process.
• Wellness: Last month as our Alli-Connect contract was concluding I met with Alli-Connect to advise them we had discussed our use of the program during budget creation and do not plan to renew the contract, they understood and agreed there were several missed opportunities and it didn’t work out as planned, they advised they have made significant improvements and offered a discount to maintain our business.  I then met with our Captains and our Wellness Group to determine if they felt at a discounted price was worth another shot, the answer was a resounding no.  The Wellness Group and I met regarding the future and have again created plans to improve our Department including creating a “Wellness Manual”.  To get the group out to stations during drill we decided to move the Support Services drills from the first and second week of each month to the second and third, this will allow our wellness members to be in stations during the first Wednesday drill which is usually equipment check/station drill and offers plenty of time for them to meet with Members without disrupting training.

Grants

• WA Trauma Grant: Submitted the required paperwork for the annual trauma grant to purchase supplies, grant is $778.
• Community Wildfire Defense Grant: This month we are meeting with OEM, Districts 1 and 4 about the fuel reduction grant we worked on in anticipation of the Community Wildfire Protection Plan being approved in time for us to submit.  The CWPP is approved, and we are ready to move forward with our grant request.
• Local Community Project State Request: Representative Chris Corry’s assistant Gale Sackman sent me a copy of the 2025 request form for local projects, I have contacted our electrician for an updated quote to install generators at Stations 52 and 54, once I receive the update I plan to submit for funding.

Community Engagement and Events

• Association Events:
• Dinner with Santa was a great event for families, we are hoping to grow the event in the future.

·        Downtown Yakima Rotary:

o   I have been invited as a guest speaker at their January 23^rd meeting on behalf of the Fire Chiefs Association. I have chosen to discuss wildland urban interface, wildfire ready, fuel reduction and the need for residential burn restrictions.

·        Falcon Ridge Access: With the neighborhood now being recognized as a Firewise community there is some micro grants they may be eligible for. I have reached out to their project coordinator to find out where they are on the project and advise of the funding opportunity.

Good of the Order

·        State of the Department Drill: January 29^th 19:00 we will hold our annual state of the department with all Members, Commissioners are invited to attend.

·        WFCA/WSRB Legislative Day: Scheduled for February 6^th.

Respectfully,

Nathan Craig

Fire Chief