Chief's Monthly Report
Agenda Topic: Department Monthly Progress Report
Prepared By: Chief Nathan Craig
Date Prepared: December 8, 2021
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:
Natalie Rivera and Sam Lah have resigned.
Starting December, we have 69 on call members, 57 in service for operations, 10 support, 1 medical leave, and 1 on leave of absence. Our total number of personnel is 80.
Operations:
Last month there were a total of 69 alarms, 60 we responded to.
Incidents: YTD Incidents by Zone YTD Zone
Station 51 11 112 19 198 (25.2%)
Station 52 12 189 19 325 (41.3%)
Station 53 9 107 17 173 (22.0)
Station 54 1 49 5 90 (11.5%)
Station 50 27 (2 duty) 329
Yakima 0 10
Ambulance Only 9 82
Total 878
Incident Type: Month Type YTD
Fire 4 2 building (1AA), 1 vehicle, 1 equipment 106
EMS 46 41 EMS, 5 MVC 592
Hazardous Condition 4 2 electrical, 1 line down, 1 other 21
Service Call 10 10 assist invalid 69
Good Intent 3 2 outdoor burn, 1 smoke (2duty officer) 57
False Alarm 2 2 Automatic Fire Alarm 27
Action Taken: Month Type YTD
Canceled enroute 10 1 Aircraft, 3 MVC, 1 Smoke, 3 EMS, 1 outdoor burn, 1 AFA 73
Extinguishment 4 1 Bldg, 1 AA Bldg, 1 vehicle, 1 equipment 73
Provide BLS 36 515 Assist Invalid 11 65 Investigate 7 1- outdoor burn, 1 AFA, 2 electrical, 2 EMS, 1 138 Other 1 Traffic control 6
Automatic Aid Received (both agencies respond) Automatic Aid Given
From Highland 0 To Highland 1
From Yakima 0 To Yakima 1
From Gleed 0 To BIA 0
YTD 4 YTD 47
Mutual Aid Received 0 Mutual Aid Given 0
YTD 6 YTD 19
A fire inside a barn caused $25,000 in damages, a dozer fire $70,000 in damages and a vehicle fire for $1,000 in damage.
Response Times: (Target= within 1 mile of station 8 minutes or less, add 2 minutes every mile after) Qualifying Alarms: 39mo, 533yr, Target met: mo 25 (64%) yr 379 (71%), Target not met: mo 14 (36%) yr 154 (29%)
Starting November 15th, as a pilot program we have had a BLS ambulance posted at Station 51, last month we had a total of 16 BLS calls in District in which 10 of them fell within our ambulance only boundary. We had an additional 25 medic calls within our District boundary requiring fire and ALS ambulance response. For the pilot program and potential county contract we have started tracking ambulance responses in our District, Highland and Yakima 92’s area, last month in these three areas there were 75 BLS calls and 93 ALS calls. This data will be important in the future as to the feasibility of housing an ambulance in District.
Recruitment and Retention- By DC Jim Johnston
Applications for the next Recruit Class were due on November 30th, with a Physical Testing day that took place on December 4th. Seven potential Recruits took the physical test (1 for 51, 2 for 52, 2 for 53, and 2 for 54) and one person interviewed for the Support Services division.
I received the most recent report on Member Call / Drill percentages, I made face to face contact with one Member that had poor numbers for the last few months, he said he had some things come up and will become more committed, I will continue to monitor his numbers.
A new Retention Plan was developed in November.
Department Training and Safety: By DC Jim Johnston
November Drills included: Equipment Check / Station Drill /, Covid Vs Stress, and Extrication Tools.
Developed the December Drill Schedule: Equipment Check / Station Drill, Recruit Class Graduation, Performance Evaluations, Officer Choice, and Pride & Ownership.
On November 3rd the Safety Committee met with a representative from Washington State Labor & Industry for some Risk Management Training which is a required component of the FIIRE’s (Firefighter Injury & Illness Reduction), later this month I will be filling out an extensive survey for this program as well.
The 2021 Recruit Class had its final class (EVIP) on November 20th.
Strategic Plan:
The 2022 Action Plan is complete, this month we are working on finishing the Strategic Communications Plan, Officer Development for next year and printing complete copies of the plan.
Logistics:
The Station 54 floor project is finished and looks great, all engines were services this past month and our air unit is in production. Truck 51 made significant progress this past month with the replacement of the aerial knuckle which Cascade believes will remedy most of the UL deficiencies with the water way.
US Cellular had an engineering crew on site to bore some holes in preparation of the tower installation, I do not have a timeline of when construction will take place however all the hurdles have been cleared and they are greenlit on the project.
Interlocal:
We are still moving forward with plans to switch dispatch centers April 1st, there may be some issues as Districts 1, 3 and 14 have yet to sign a contract with District 5, seems they are concerned with how auto and mutual aid calls will be billed. Working with District 5 we are planning some contingencies to keep them moving forward on their hiring and training process while still guaranteeing the business will be there for them next year. We would like all UV Districts to be dispatched by the same center however it is possible to move forward without one or all three of these departments. Any split in dispatching could result in splitting up the UV radio system or possibly transferring the entire cost to these three agencies or those that go to District 5.
Many of us were under the impression the ambulance RFP would be back open at the end of November, so far nothing has been released, I contacted Commissioner McKinney on Monday and she is looking in to where they are at and will get back to me.
The County radio study RFP is complete, the County Commissioners have agreed to execute an agreement with Televate to begin the feasibility study over the next few months.
Legislative:
It appears the annual Commissioners and Chiefs Legislative Day will be a virtual event again this year. I have contacted Representative Corry regarding requesting funds to replace the microwaves at our radio towers in the UV, I have not heard back from him on the process for 2022 but will continue to pursue funding for our radio system.
Grants:
The State had a surplus of Covid PPE and were offering it free of charge to medical agencies, we were able to secure a pallet of PPE including face shields, N95, surgical masks and gowns from this program. After evaluating the possibility of requesting nozzles, chainsaws or radios for the AFG grant I have decided to request mobile and portable radios, I believe if awarded we will be able to cover the cost of the radios, we pre-ordered earlier this year to receive a discount. Through State surplus we have secured 30 rolling office chairs, once they release them we will pick them up in Seattle.
Good of the Order:
Retired Lieutenant Lindsey passed away this past month, his service was held December 3rd and we had a good turnout of our Members to honor his 47 years of service.
Captain Haubrich, Counselor Rhine and I met with a potential chaplain this past week, Kevin Quantrelle has previous fire experience, pastoral experience, chaplain experience and works closely with families for funeral planning. We are looking at bringing Kevin on both in the role of Chaplain and Support Services which I think will help keep him connected to our Members and Community.
Respectfully,
Nathan Craig
Fire Chief