• Interim Update/Session Preview

  • The Legislature will be convening in Olympia for Committee Assembly Days on November 19 & 20.  Pre-session hearings and work group presentations on interim activities will be made, and session previews from agencies will take place.  This is a grand time to meet with legislators to discuss the upcoming session and any legislative action items we may have, as well as to gather signatures for bills to be prefiled for 2016.
    
    
  • The 2016 Legislative Session will begin January 11 and is scheduled to run for 60 consecutive days.  Most legislators (and lobbyists) are hoping to end on-time, with the focus turning quickly to the 2016 elections.  Plenty of work will need to be done before that can happen, though, with the need for a Supplemental Operating Budget appearing likely as the Legislature will look to tackle not just the education funding issue, but also the massive costs associated with the year’s wildfire season.  Similarly, a Supplemental Capital Budget is also on the table, though some legislators are already indicating that a supplemental may not be necessary.

Pursuant to the Presidential Proclamation released on November 15, 2015, Governor Inslee hereby directs that Washington State and United States flags at all state agency facilities be lowered to half-staff immediately, in honor of the victims of the attack in Paris, France.

Please notify all of your field offices and facilities around the state...

Please see the links to view the announcement of the 2016 Incident Management Team Commanders and the Northwest Area Type 2 configuration & application process. All positions are open for all teams and the Applicant Pool. 

The Washington Fire Chiefs is concerned about the recent announcement of further rate increases by Labor & Industries.  We have expressed our concerns to Director Joel Sacks, through the following letter, and would encourage you to express concern on behalf of your individual agency as well.

The Washington Fire Chiefs has developed a list of their “top ten” Washington businesses for 2015.  They evaluated businesses based on fire service cultural principles including: a strong connection to Washington State, a reputation for positive labor management relations, community involvement and an internal culture demonstrating servant leadership...

The IAFC BOD has unanimously voted to address the issue of their dues structure and has requested a report from their Executive Director with the intention of holding a summit to discuss the issues surrounding the topic to include whether or not IAFC Division dues should remain mandatory as part of the IAFC membership dues. Each IAFC Division enjoys autonomy from the IAFC BOD and the State fire chief associations. One example of IAFC Division autonomy is the amount of Division dues which are set by the Division leadership and its membership. The amount charged varies from Division to Division and the IAFC has no formal say on the Division dues. This disparity creates risk for the IAFC in that an increase in IAFC Division dues could have significant negative consequences for the IAFC in the future. The mandatory IAFC Division dues currently does impact IAFC Section’s in that many members have limited association dollars to spend and the only discretionary spending is at the IAFC Section level... 

2015 brought the West Coast and the State of Washington unusually hot and dry weather conditions that increased the number and severity of fires across our state. Several jurisdictions feared that the use of personal fireworks around the 4th of July would further increase fires and sought to limit or ban the use of fireworks due to extreme fire danger conditions.

Washington’s current fireworks law, RCW 70.77, states that any city or county ordinances that are more restrictive than state law shall have an effective date no sooner than one year after adoption. So the jurisdictions that did not already have a local ordinance in place were left without an option to limit or ban sales and use of fireworks due to the extreme fire danger...

by DAVID DYE | LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Please don’t do this. Last week I spoke with a company executive who said, “People are upset, can you help us with some team-building?”

I replied, “Probably not.”

He looked at me with a combination of shock and amusement – he wasn’t used to trainers or consultants telling him they didn’t want his money.

“Okay, tell me why you won’t help us?”

It’s not that I wasn’t willing to help – of course I would. But if your people are upset, team-building isn’t the solution.

Start Here

Are you in alignment?

Fire and EMS personnel are involved in training activities in one form or another on a daily basis. Some of the types of training utilized are: hands on, computer based, books, coaching, class room, conferences and social media. The benefits of training bring value at multiple levels of any organization. Training for firefighters addresses a variety of areas that reinforce and enhance, as well as, continue the growth and education of Firefighters’ knowledge, skills, abilities, community involvement and confidence.

The training provides crews an opportunity to enhance performance, efficiency and chemistry. It gives agencies the ability to focus on improving safety, reducing liability, adding value of the organization and to meet the desired expectations of their community. As you can see there are many motivating factors that drive our training efforts. For this article I am referencing the sum of these efforts as Quantitative Training.