While attempting to fill 113 vacancies at the Seattle Fire Department, Chief Harold Scoggins said they're focusing on recruiting more women and people of color. Currently, 93% of Seattle firefighters are men. "The leadership of our organization is overwhelmingly white. That's the fire service in general," said Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins.
- PUB DATE: 6/15/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KING-TV NBC 5 Seattle

The Spokane Water Department is adding security measures to its fire hydrants to ensure the protection of the city’s water supply. The Water Department will begin installing locks in the West Plains area during June, east of the Spokane International Airport and south of Sunset Boulevard. The city is working with the Spokane Fire Department, surrounding fire districts, Spokane International Airport, and public works users to ensure the hydrants are readily available for emergencies.
- PUB DATE: 6/15/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXLY-TV ABC 4 Spokane

A new tool now displays wildfire risk information for homes and communities in the Tri-Cities area. The data shows the majority of houses in Benton County at major risk of being impacted by wildfires over the next several decades. "Here in Washington, our grass per acre, the height and density of it is much higher than what we normally see," Pasco Fire Chief Bob Gear said.
- PUB DATE: 6/15/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KIMA-TV CBS News Yakima

The city of Kennewick hosted a ground breaking ceremony on Monday for a new fire station. Construction will take place on the corner of S. Dayton St. and W. 8th Ave. in the next few weeks. The station will be two-stories high and will cost around $10 million to build. Chief Chad Michael says it was time to get a new building and is very appreciative of all the support he's received from elected officials and the community to make this project happen.
- PUB DATE: 6/15/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KNDO-TV NBC 23 Yakima

Aircraft will be outfitted with Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) configuration kit

Fort Worth, TX (15 June 2022) – Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) company, announced today that CareFlite has signed an agreement to purchase a Bell 407GXi aircraft outfitted with an IFR configuration kit.

“With CareFlite’s new Bell 407GXi and the two IFR certified Bell 429s currently in its fleet, Careflite will continue to facilitate around-the-clock critical care to patients across North and Central Texas,” said Lane Evans, managing director, North America. “Bell is proud to continue to support and provide the CareFlite team with ready and reliable aircraft.”

In addition to the two Bell 429 helicopters in its Helicopter Air Ambulance (HAA) fleet, CareFlite also operates five Bell 407 helicopters that provide critical care transportation to those in need. CareFlite’s aircraft fleet is used for emergency transports in Texas and Oklahoma and long-haul patient transfers throughout the region.

“Bell has been a part of CareFlite’s mission of ‘Making Precious Minutes Count’ since 1979,” said Kevin Reynolds, Interim CEO and COO, CareFlite. “For more than 40 years, CareFlite has utilized Bell aircraft to complete life-saving operations to patients in North and Central Texas, and we are proud to expand our current fleet capabilities with the new Bell 407GXi.”

With this purchase, CareFlite will be the first HAA operator using Bell’s 407GXi IFR kit in North and Central Texas.

Established in 1979 with one helicopter shared between two hospitals, CareFlite now operates seven helicopter bases at Texas Health Fort Worth Hospital, Methodist Dallas Medical Center, North Texas Medical Center Gainesville, McKinney National Airport, Whitney, Granbury Municipal Airport, and Burnet Municipal Airport. Over one million patients have been safely transported by air and ground, since its inception. CareFlite also offers hospital team specialty flights including balloon pump, ECMO, Impella, HROB (High Risk OB) and neonatal transports.

The Bell 407GXi’s new IFR capability will allow all-weather operations while continuing to provide multi-mission capability safely, reliably, and effectively. Bell proves its mature production and sustainment support capability with more than 1,600 Bell 407s globally, and actively performing flight training as well as military and para-public missions. The 407GXi’s Garmin G1000H™ NXi Flight Deck enhances situational awareness and reduces pilot workload by delivering easy-to-read information at a glance.