Chief's Monthly Report
West Valley Fire
Department
Yakima County Fire
District 12
For the Meeting April
8th, 2025
Agenda
Topic: Department Monthly
Progress Report
Prepared
By: Chief Nathan Craig
Date Prepared: April 3rd, 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.
Operations
In March there
were a total of 92 alarms in the District, 25 were ambulance only calls.
Incidents: YTD Incidents by Zone YTD Zone
Station 51
8 20 19 40 (23%)
Station 52
15 39 23 67 (39%)
Station 53
13 26 19 53
(31%)
Station 54
4 10 6 13 (7%)
Station 50
27 (4 Duty) 78
173
Yakima
0 1
Ambulance Only
25 (0 Lift) 68
Total 242
Incident Type: Month Type YTD
Fire 5 1 bldg, 2 veg, 1 chimney,
1 RV 13
EMS 60 50 EMS, 6 MVC, 3 AMA, 1
assist
161
Hazardous Condition 3 1
gas leak, 2 CO 5
Service Call 6 5
lift, 1 Lock Out 21
Good Intent 0 11
False Alarm 9 7
AFA, 2 AMA 22
Action Taken: Month Type YTD
Canceled enroute 8 5 AFA, 1 MVC, 2 AMA 25
Extinguishment 5 1
building, 2 vegetation, 1 Chimney, 1 RV
12
Provide BLS 49 134
Assist Invalid 5 18
Investigate 23 2 AFA, 1 gas, 1 MVC, 3 AMA, 6 EMS, 2 CO, 2 burning, 4
smoke 49
Other 0 2
Automatic Aid Received (both agencies respond) Automatic Aid Given
From Highland 0 To Highland 0
From Yakima 3 To Yakima 0
From Gleed 0 To BIA 0
YTD 7 YTD 3
Mutual Aid Received 0 Mutual Aid
Given 0
YTD 0 YTD 0
A barn fire caused $50k in damages last month.
Response Times: (Target= within 1 mile of station 8
minutes or less, add 2 minutes every mile after) Qualifying Alarms: 46mo, 82yr,
Target met: mo. 34 (69%) yr. 57 (70%), Target not met: mo. 15 (31%) yr. 25 (30%).
NFPA 1720
Responses for rural areas (6 FF’s on scene within 14 minutes, 80% of the
time). Incidents: 1mo, 6yr, target met: mo. 1
(100%), yr 4 (67%), target not met: mo. 0 (0%) yr. 2 (33%).
Personnel
- Current
Staffing: Total personnel stand at 89, with 79 on-call members (57 operations,
13 support, and 6 on leave). One
resignation of Station 52 FF.
Recruitment/Retention
Prepared by DC Johnston
The
recruits have completed all their classroom sessions for Wildland
Training. We will culminate with a joint
field day on May 10th with Districts 2, 4, 5, 6, and 12 at District
5’s Station #7 in Sawyer.
We will be
advertising in the months of April and May for Recruitment for the upcoming
Fall Recruit class. Officer Boisselle
will be ordering some new roadway recruitment signs, I will focus on Station 53
and 54 areas, as that is where our primary needs of responders are. Additionally, we will advertise at the High
School for Cadets, historically we have brought Cadets on in the Fall, recently
there has been a concept of bringing them on in Winter as well.
Department
Training and Safety Prepared by DC Johnston
March Drills included: Equipment
Check / Station Drill, OTEP Workshop A (Mass Casualty Incident Triaging &
Orthopedics), Multi Company Operations, and Brush Truck Review / Fire Shelter
Video & Throw.
Developed the April Drill Schedule:
Equipment Check / Station Drill / SCBA Quarterly, OTEP Module 2 (Cardiac,
Toxicology, & HazMat), Wildland Refresher, Wildland Pumps & Porta
Tanks, and Water Supply & Hose Deploy.
On March 15th and 16th
we hosted a 2-day National Fire Academy class – Preparing for Initial
Company Operations (PICO), the class had 30 students.
On March 15th I conducted
a Driver / Operator class for seven of the Fall recruits, all were given a
Driver / Operator Task Book to start working on.
On March 25th I proctored
eight firefighters with IFSAC Testing, six from West Valley and two from Selah.
On March 26 & 27 Lt Pfaff and FF
Fate attended a 2-day Truck Training class at Yakima Fire. The first day was 8 hours of classroom
training and discussion followed by day two that included a full day of
drilling on various Aerial apparatus skills.
On March 29th we hosted a
full day Energy Systems class taught by Retired Seattle Fire Captain Chris
Green. The course covered Photovoltaic
systems, Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), and Lithium-Ion batteries. I
attended the class along with a couple other members of the department, the
class was very informative.
Budget/Finance Prepared by
Officer Boisselle
Due to vacation time planned and our bill paying
schedule we may have a second run of bills April 30th, there are
some utility bills that didn’t make the cutoff for this meeting.
Fire Prevention/Public Education Prepared by Officer Boisselle
We will be
conducting EDITH House presentations on April 22nd and 23rd
at Ahtanum, Cottonwood, and Mountainview Elementaries.
Interlocal
Coordination
- 911 Nurse
Navigator:The nurse navigator program is scheduled to begin April 22nd.
- Pacific
Power:Pacific Power held a virtual meeting for responders in regards to their
wildfire prevention plans this season, additionally their area
representative attended last month’s county chiefs meeting. April 30th for our pre-season
wildland cooperators meeting PP&L will have another presentation.
Logistics Updates
- Apparatus Updates:
- Brush 51: Under construction, chassis painted.
- Engine 54: Continue to work with manufacturers to develop an
apparatus that best suits our needs.
·
Carports:
o
On order with engineered plans to
satisfy permit requirements, DC Johnston is developing the site plan to submit
for permits.
·
Purchasing
Schedule:
o
Computers and PPE are on order, all
other items have been purchased with exception of updating our Mission posters.
Strategic Plan –
- Action Plan: Report in packet, wrapped up first quarter items and
have started on 2nd quarter.
- Operational Assessment: We have reviewed draft technical data #1,
draft #2 is upcoming and will include finance & service delivery,
draft #3 will be findings and recommendations. The review is to ensure accuracy with
statements made to ensure nothing was misunderstood by the
consultants.
Grants
Legends Casino:
Submitted a request to purchase the carport at Station 52.
NVFC/Anheuser Busch-
Submitted a request for a pallet of drinking water.
NVFC/State Farm-
Submitted a request for laptop computers.
Legislation
·
Budget
Request:
o Both the House and Senate Capital Budgets include funding
for emergency generators at Stations 52 and 53. The Governor has recently stated
he will not sign the budgets as they were passed because they propose too much
in taxes.
·
Bill Tracker:
o In the packet.
Community Engagement and Events
- Association Events:
- Community
Easter Egg Hunt, April 19th.
·
Wildfire
Ready Events:
o Chip it Don’t Burn it yard waste event planned at
Station 51 April 26th 0900-1300.
Good
of the Order
·
Awards banquet:
o
Firefighter of the Year: Eddie Smith, EMS
Provider of the Year: Josie Gohl, Bulldog: Shauna & Jason Tupy, Retirement:
Frank Woodin. 10 members received
service pins and 12 new EMT’s recognized.
Respectfully,
Nathan
Craig
Fire
Chief