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Chief's Monthly Report

Chief's Monthly Report

West Valley Fire Department

Yakima County Fire District 12

For the Meeting July 9th, 2024

 

Agenda Topic:            Department Monthly Progress Report

Prepared By:              Chief Nathan Craig

Date Prepared:           July 3, 2024

 

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’s job relocated him to Ellensburg, and he resigned and moved out of District.

Starting July our total on-call Members is 75, 59 operations, and 13 support.  We have 2 on leave and 1 medical leave.  Our total number of personnel is 86.

Operations: 

In June there were a total of 86 alarms in District, 10 were ambulance only calls.

Incidents:                                                  YTD                   Incidents by Zone       YTD Zone               

Station 51                   11                   53                                22                    118 (29%)

Station 52                   27                   95                                38                    165 (41%)

Station 53                   8                    59                                12                    90 (22%)

Station 54                   2                     21                                4                       29 (8%)

Station 50                   28 (3-Duty)     174                                                        402

Yakima                        0                     5

Ambulance Only         10 (1 Lift)        66

Total                                                473

 

Incident Type:                        Month            Type                                                                YTD

            Fire                              16                    1 vehicle, 12 brush, 2 buildings, 1 cooking           53

            EMS                             47                    43 EMS, 4 MVC                                               333

            Hazardous Condition       1                      Electrical                                                         12

            Service Call                    6                      Lift (1amb)                                                      25

            Good Intent                  13                    2 Outdoor Burning, 4 Smoke, 7 cancel                32

            False Alarm                   3                      AFA                                                                 17

           

 

Action Taken:                         Month            Type                                                                YTD Through March

            Canceled enroute       10                                                                                            30

            Extinguishment          16                                                                                            28

            Provide BLS               42                                                                                            202

            Assist Invalid             6                                                                                              19

            Investigate               11                                                                                            35

            Other                        1                                                                                              6

 

Automatic Aid Received (both agencies respond)    Automatic Aid Given                                    

From Highland            0                                  To Highland                0

From Yakima               3                                  To Yakima                   3

From Gleed                 1                                  To BIA                         0

YTD                 9                                              YTD                 11       

 

Mutual Aid Received             0                                  Mutual Aid Given       10 (Dist 4, 5)

            YTD                             0                                              YTD                 15       

 

We had $10k in losses and 3 acres burned in the District last month.

 

 

Response Times: (Target= within 1 mile of station 8 minutes or less, add 2 minutes every mile after) Qualifying Alarms: 52mo, 314yr, Target met: mo. 41 (79%) yr. 228 (73%), Target not met: mo. 11 (21%) yr. 86 (27%).

On June 18th Deputy Chief Johnston and a couple other Chiefs attended a presentation from PP&L on their new policy to shut power on their grid in areas that are dealing with wildland fires.  The members from the Fire Service were able to share their concerns about this new blanket policy, however it is unknown if PP&L will make any changes.

Department Training and Safety: By DC Jim Johnston

June Drills included: Equipment Check / Station Drill, EVIP Rodeo / FIT Test, EVIP Road Course, and Special Emergencies (Energy Storage Systems).

Developed the July Drill Schedule: Equipment Check / Station Drill, OTEP Module 3 (Burns & Medical Legal), Highland Fruit (51 & 53) & Gilbert Fruit (52 & 54) Tour, Search w/ 3rd Quarter SCBA Quarterly, and Multi Company Ops.

On June 21st I participated as an Evaluator for IFSAC Instructor 2 practical testing.

Recruitment / Retention: by DC Jim Johnston

On June 8th physical testing and interviews were conducted for the Fall Recruit Academy, after the process one firefighter and four cadets were offered positions.

Since our discussion at the Commissioner and Admin retreat a schedule has been created for the countywide recruit class which would start in January.  To ease the burden of travel to the classroom sessions a Zoom style of presentation is planned where Recruits from West Valley area would attend class at Station 51, and Recruits from East Valley and District 5 would attend at their respective classroom sites, then on Saturdays we would all train together at rotating sites.  If we shift to this approach the application deadline will need to change to accommodate a January start date, I have included the proposed schedule.

Fire Prevention/Public Education: By Officer Boisselle

We participated in several end-of-the-school-year field days with spray downs, Mt. View, Ahtanum and Cottonwood Elementaries.

On July 15th, Station 52 participated in WV Walmart’s Children’s Miracle Network event with a truck and stickers.

Station 52 participated in Wiley Union Church’s carnival event on June 22nd with a truck and stickers.

The Yard Clean-up Event on June 22nd at Station 54 was a great event. Four dumpsters for chipped yard waste, tires, scrap metal and general garbage. Next event will be at Station 53 on September 21st.

On July 26th the Day Crew conducted a tour for a special needs’ kiddo, showing off the trucks and station.

 

Budget/Finance: By Officer Boisselle

Mid-year budget review will be ready in August.  Will start the 2025 budget process in July, having the Officers assess their stations for needed budget items.

Interlocal:

The YCIC radio project group is shifting some focus to the November election holding meetings outside of work hours for the election committee.

We have been meeting with a group CAFÉ’ regarding utilizing YV-Tech students for wildfire ready projects as well as other general projects in District.

Logistics: 

The Expedition on order will be delayed, hopefully it will arrive in August, the emergency lights and radios have all been ordered and will be ready for installation when it arrives.  Brush 52 is still at SeaWestern in Yakima being completed.  This month we are replacing tires on a couple apparatus due for replacement.

This past month we had an opportunity to view a demo fire engine built on a commercial chassis, biggest takeaway was the price between a commercial cab and a custom has nearly tripled, the next time we are specifying a pumper we will need to look closer at commercial cabs and determine if we can engineer more safety features into the cab.  District 5 has several pumpers on order like Engine 54.  When their first arrives, this fall we plan to examine it to determine if it will be a suitable replacement for Engine 54 and if so, we can piggy-back on their bid if we choose.

Strategic Plan:

 

The planning committee met last month and reviewed all materials and made adjustment sot priorities and goals, this month the committee will work on objectives and actions to meet the goals.

 

 

Good of the Order:

 

I have been in contact with Nile regarding the Van Pelt pumper we sold them years back, they are ready to part with it, however, they are looking for a small District that may need a first out pumper, if they don’t find anyone, they will sell the pumper back to us for use as a reserve at Station 54 and parade truck.

We are hosting a Red Cross blood drive on July 8th.  The Association Flea Market was a successful fundraiser.

Respectfully,

 

Nathan Craig

Fire Chief