HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/02/2019 08 2018 Yakima Fire Department Annual ReportITEM TITLE:
SUBMITTED BY:
BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
YAKIMA, WASHINGTON
AGENDA STATEM ENT
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Item No. 8.
For Meeting of: April 2, 2019
2018 Annual Report for the Yakima Fire Department
Aaron Markham, Fire Chief
SUMMARY EXPLANATION:
The Yakima Fire Department has completed its Annual Report and has submitted it for Council's
review.
ITEM BUDGETED: NA
STRATEGIC PRIORITY:
APPROVED FOR
SUBMITTAL:
City Manager
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
BOARD/COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION:
This report was presented at the February 28, 2019, Council Public Safety Committee meeting.
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Upload Date
Annual Report 3/11/2919
Type
Coker Memo
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LETTER FROM THE CHIEF
ORGANIZATIONAL CHART
ALARM STATISTICS
RESPONSE TIME STANDARDS
FIRE PREVENTION & EDUCATION DIVISION
TRAINING DIVISION
FIRE & LIFE SAFETY DIVISION
SUNCOMM
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9-14
Message from the Fire Chief
February 19, 2019
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Honorable Mayor, members of the Yakima City Council and City Manager,
The Yakima Fire Department experienced numerous changes during the course of 2018. As your
Fire Chief, I want you to know we are continuously evaluating the ways in which we provide the
essential delivery of services to the residents of Yakima, in an effort to be as effective and efficient
as possible. The most valuable asset to our department is our members: the men and women who
are our responders, our 911 communications team and our support personnel, a team that
responded to over ten thousand emergency incidents throughout 2018. As a department that is
responsible for the mitigation of all risks and hazards, our members have countless hours invested
in training. This training is required to maintain our operational readiness and also provides safety
to our teams and the residents of our City. The purpose of this annual report is to highlight the
activities of each of the divisions that make up our department and to acknowledge the
achievements they made in 2018.
I would like to highlight for you that the fire department placed into service a new fire engine and a
new ladder truck, replacing apparatus that had over 15 years of service. Placing the new engine
and ladder truck in service allowed for us to transfer the engine being replaced to our sister city of
Morelia, Mexico and the ladder truck we replaced will be transferred to Spokane County Fire District
#4. Another highpoint for the fire department was the number of awards our Fire Prevention Division
received for the programs we delivered to our residents and schools.
On behalf of the entire department, I want to thank you for continued support. It is an honor and
privilege to serve you as the Chief of the Yakima Fire Department.
Respectfully,
Aaron J. Markham, Fire Chief
City of Yakima Fire Department
Organizational Chart — 2019
FIRE CHIEF /
EMERGENCY MGMT DIRECTOR
Aaron Markham
SUNCOMM
COMMUNICATIONS
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DEPUTY CHIEF OPERATIONS
Patrick Reid
SHIFT COMMANDERS
Jennifer Norton
Mitch Cole
Tom Schneider
Captains - 8
Lieutenants - 18
Firefighters - 66
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ADMINISTRATIVE
ASSISTANT
Susan Madrigal
DEPUTY CHIEF SUPPORT
Vacant
MAINTENANCE MECHANICS
Mark Frey
Paul Weeks
TRAINING
CAPTAIN
Alex Langbel
FIRE
INSPECTORS
Tony Doan
Steve Manske
Jay DeLoza
TRAINING
LIEUTENANT
Joe Burbank
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TOTAL ALARMS IN 2018
This includes incidents within the City of Yakima, the City of Union Gap,
Fire District #11 and Mutual Aid Responses
= Fires
Service Call
• Other
0.29%
s Rescue & Emergency Medical Service • Hazardous Condition - No Fire
. Good Intent Call
a False Alarm & Fake Call
Major Incident Type
# of Incidents
% of Total
Fires
591
5.87%
Rescue & Emergency Medical Service
6375
63.35%
Hazardous Condition — No Fire
150
1.49%
Service Call
1021
10.15%
Good Intent Call
1341
13.33%
False Alarm & False
555
5.52%
Other
30
0.29%
Total
10063
100.00%
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Response Time Standards
Fire Suppression
Turnout Time: The City of Yakima Fire
Department has adopted a turnout time standard
of 120 seconds for a fire suppression incident.
The department should meet this standard 90%
of the time.
2018 Average- 105 seconds
Met standard- 68%
Travel Time: The City of Yakima Fire Department
has adopted a travel time standard of 240
seconds for the arrival of the first engine company
to a fire suppression incident. The department
should meet this standard 90% of the time.
2018 Average- 226 seconds
Met standard- 69%
Full First Alarm Assignment: The City of Yakima Fire Department has adopted a response time
standard of 480 seconds for the arrival of the full complement of a first alarm response to a fire
suppression incident. The department should meet this standard 90% of the time.
2018 Average- 489 seconds
Met standard- 66%
Emergency Medical Service (EMS)
Turnout Time: The City of Yakima Fire Department has adopted a turnout time standard of 90 seconds
for an EMS incident. The department should meet this standard 90% of the time.
2018 Average- 88 seconds
Met standard- 59%
Travel Time: The City of Yakima Fire Department has adopted a travel time standard of 240 seconds
for an EMS incident. The department should meet this standard 90% of the time.
2018 Average- 206 seconds
Met standard- 70%
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Special Operations (Hazardous Materials and Technical Rescue)
Turnout Time: The City of Yakima Fire Department has adopted a turnout time standard of 120 seconds
for a technical rescue incident. The department should meet this standard 90% of the time.
2018 Average- 125 seconds
Met standard- 66%
Travel Time: The City of Yakima Fire Department has adopted a travel time standard of 240 seconds
for a special operations incident. The department should meet this standard 90% of the time.
2018 Average- 291 seconds
Met standard- 51 %
Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF)
Turnout Time: The City of Yakima Fire Department has adopted a turnout time standard of 120 seconds
for an ARFF incident. This standard should be met 90% of the time.
Wildland Fire
2018 Average -53 seconds
Met standard- 100%
Travel Time: The City of Yakima Fire Department has adopted
a travel time standard of 240 seconds for an ARFF incident. The
department should meet this standard 90% of the time.
2018 Average- 28 seconds
Met standard- 100%
Turnout Time: The City of Yakima Fire Department has adopted a turnout time standard of 120 seconds
for a wildland fire incident. The department should meet this standard 90% of the time.
2018 Average- 144 seconds
Met standard- 58%
Travel Time: The City of Yakima Fire
Department has adopted a travel time
standard of 240 seconds for a wildland fire
incident. The department should meet this
standard 90% of the time.
2018 Average- 425 seconds
Met standard- 27%
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Fire Prevention & Education Division
The Fire Prevention & Education Division's main focus is to educate residents about the risks from fire, hazards
and injury in our community. Community Risk Reduction is paramount in prevention to keep our community safe
by reducing loss of property and life through education.
In 2018, the Fire Prevention and Public Education Captain worked daily to educate our residents about the risks
of fire, disaster preparedness, escape planning, improving health, and business safety education through safety
messages, social media, local media, training classes and events within the community. Our Fire Prevention and
Public Education Captain, Jeff Pfaff, received the 2018 Washington State Fire Chief's Outstanding Public Fire
Educator of the Year Award and the 2018 Delta Dental of Washington Smile Award for his work in the community
educating our youth and putting a smile on their face.
All Hazards Community Education:
Our Fire Prevention & Education Captain taught fire safety and emergency evacuation skills to all of the 2nd grade
students in Yakima Schools, Union Gap School, West Valley (Apple Valley, Wide Hollow and Summitview)
Schools, St. Joseph Catholic School and Yakima Adventist Christian School. Over 2,000 second graders learned
what to do in case of a fire, how to call 911 to report an emergency and how to make an emergency plan for
home. We also interacted with many of our preschools to show the kids that "firefighters are your friend" and to
not be afraid of us when we are in our gear.
Part of our commitment to Fire Life and Loss Prevention is our Smoke Alarm Program for those that cannot
afford one. Since 2014, our program has been funded solely through a grant from Legends Casino. In 2018 our
crews, with the assistance of the American Red Cross, inspected and replaced 258 smoke alarms and installed
40 batteries in over 130 homes in Yakima and Union Gap.
Media Relations and Events:
Yakima Fire Department's Public Information Officer, continually works with our local media to get the most
timely and accurate information out to our residents. Today everything is accessed in a split second, making his
role with the media a critical component to keeping you informed about emergencies/hazardous conditions that
can affect you and your family. From breaking news to public education announcements, we work hard to keep
you informed.
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YFD
MUM fin YTetNee wane
In 21111:E:, Yakima Fire Departments Traning Division was led by Training Captain Ale..: Langbel1 and Training
Lieutenant Joe Burbank and was overseen by the Deputy chief The Training Division, located adjacent to
'Station 95, utilizes its five story drill tower/burn room, training ar vn ds, classrooms as well as other means to
ensure that the department has the latest training in emergency response delivery
Throughout the year 16,454 training hours were legged, which included structural, midland and Aircraft Fescue
IAFFFI firefighting operations Additional training that occurred includes hazardous materials, a motored jet
boat handling _lass for our technical rescue team emergency medical, driver operator and administrative
training
The Training Division also conducted two E: week recruit academies, with a total of eight recruit participants A
total of twelve firefighters were cn probation during the_ourse of the year, four of which completed the 12 mo nth
probationary r,eric:d in _20IE:
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Fire & Life Safety Division
In 2018 Yakima Fire Department's Fire & Life Safety Division, comprised of three Fire Code Inspectors,
completed a total of 5,766 inspections. Steve Manske, Tony Doan and Jay DeLoza are all certified through
the International Code Council as Fire Code Inspectors.
In the months of October and November the Inspection Division completed all of Union Gap's Annual Fire
Code Inspections for a 4th straight year. Union Gap's Inspections totaled 786, while Yakima totaled 4,980.
The Fire & Life Safety Division was able to complete initial inspections on 48% (2,257) of the 4,708
occupancies located in Yakima.
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Type of Inspections
Total
Inspections
in 2018
Annual Fire Code Inspections
Commercial
2,274
Annual Fire Code Inspections
Residential
441
Compliance Re -Inspections
2,649
Daycare Inspections
18
Fire Inspection Reports
248
Quarterly Inspections
33
Complaint Follow Up
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Events
91
Total
5,766
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sun
911 GoMtMU I:IGATCoHs
One of the Divisions that the City of Yakima Fire Chief oversees is SunComm (Yakima County
911). SunComm is a multi -agency and multi -jurisdictional 9-1-1 and dispatch center that serves
the City of Yakima and Yakima County.
Statistics:
In 2018, SunComm officially began accepting 9-1-1 calls via text. After several media releases
and interviews SunComm slowly began to see an increase in activity via text to 9-1-1. While we
saw several thousand texts incoming to 9-1-1, of those texts only 201 actual incidents were
generated in 2018.
Total 911 Calls: 149,829
Admin. Lines: 146,976
Text -2-911: 201
SunComm dispatched the following number of incidents for the following agencies in 2018:
Yakima Fire: 9,816
Yakima Police:
Incidents — 91,484
Traffic Stops — 28,390
Yakima County Fire Districts: 4,503
Union Gap Police:
Incidents — 6,909
Traffic Stops — 2,402
The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) call answering standard/model
recommendation is that 90% of all 9-1-1 calls are answered during peak hours within 10 seconds.
SunComm does an exceptional job exceeding those standards during all hours, not just during
times of peak call volume.
January: 99.87% in 3.886 Seconds
February: 99.59% in 3.772 Seconds
March: 99.57 in 3.962 Seconds
April: 99.42% in 3.769 Seconds
May: 99.16 in 4.005 Seconds
June: 99.81% in 3.981 Seconds
July: 99.53% in 3.864 Seconds
August: 99.71 % in 4.006 Seconds
September: 99.39% in 3.894 Seconds
October: 99.81 % in 3.872 Seconds
November: 99.78 % in 4.228 Seconds
December: 99.73 % in 4.073 Seconds
Personnel:
SunComm has 36 total personnel positions. Three Administrative positions consisting of a
Director, Assistant Manager and an Office Assistant. Six Supervisors positions, of those, five are
floor Supervisor and one Training Supervisor. Thirteen Dispatcher positions and Fourteen
Calltaker positions.
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Special Teams
Tactical Dispatch:
Since the inception of the Tactical Dispatch team in
2016, there has been much growth. In 2018, the
team began planning with Yakima Fire for the Fire
Coordinator position. Tactical dispatchers provide a
much needed support position for the planning and
coordination of single large incidents, multi -
jurisdictional incidents and scenarios where several
incidents are occurring at the same time. In January,
the tactical dispatchers attended a course for
coordinating several complex incidents, including
acting as a liaison with emergency management in
efforts to ensure proper resource distribution and
documentation.
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Equally so, Tactical Dispatch team members continued training
and deploying with Yakima's Special Weapon And Tactical
(SWAT) Team. Dispatchers attended SWAT's full scale scenario
training, which occurred at Yakima Training Center, deploying
real-life scenarios to test responses. Tactical Dispatchers took
part as scribe and timekeeper, documented the details of the
incident, acted as liaison with the Crisis Negotiation Team and
SWAT Tactical Command in an effort to keep a cohesive scene,
all while keeping Suncomm updated with activity that may impact
the center.
CISM:
SunComm's Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team is made up of four individuals
trained to deal with critical incidents. This group of individuals assists those involved in critical
incidents to share their experiences and emotions, provide education in regards to the reactions
or symptoms of stress and possibly assist with the referral process for higher care if needed. This
process is voluntary, confidential and informal. On average each member conducted 29 one -on -
one's during 2018. We held 2 group sessions and responded to SunComm a handful of times to
allow for adequate reflection time.
TERT:
SunComm is a part of the Washington State Telecommunicator's Emergency Response Team,
otherwise known as TERT. This team deploys to other Communications centers in the event of
large scale emergencies, allowing the employees at that those communications centers the
opportunity to focus on their families, homes and personal matters while our dispatchers work the
imminent threat of the event. Mutually, if SunComm were to face a large scale disaster in their
area, other TERT teams would deploy and provide the same service to them.
While our team did not deploy to any incidents in 2018, they maintained their certifications, held
their annual planning meetings and were prepared throughout 2018 to aid in the event of any
disasters.
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