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...

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.

James R. Blankenship II, 61, of Corvallis, passed away Friday, July 3, 2015 at his home. He was born Aug. 25, 1953 in Los Angeles, California, the son of the late James R. and Noline D. Blankenship.

Jim grew up in California, where his father was a California Highway Patrolman; after moving several times during his childhood Jim graduated from Enterprise High School in Redding, California in 1971. During the following two summers Jim worked for the California Division of Forestry.

Jim moved to Pullman, Washington where he attended Washington State University. While in Pullman, Jim worked for the Whitman County Sheriff's Office. While attending Washington State University, Jim started as a resident firefighter with the Pullman Fire Department.
In 1976, Jim moved to Wenatchee, Washington to join the Wenatchee Fire Department, where he obtained the rank of Battalion Chief. On June 23, 1979 he married Rhea L. Delaney in Wenatchee, Washington.

Accountability became a management fad in the early 2000s. Unfortunately, in most organizations, accountability has become a hollow and empty slogan that evokes cynicism and sarcasm. People often wave the “A” word around when they want others to get things done or, more commonly, when they are frustrated with others for not getting things done.

The intention behind the concept of accountability has always been to create an environment that allows people to be clear and honest about what they will deliver, rise above challenging circumstances to overcome obstacles, and substitute excuses with relentless action that achieves great results...

 

HISTORY

East Jefferson Fire Rescue (EJFR) partnered with a number of local, state and federal agencies to conduct a joint training exercise in Port Townsend on Saturday, May 2.  The training consisted of a Multiple Casualty Incident (MCI) drill on board the Washington State Ferry Kennewick.

By: Keith Wright Fire Chief, Central Pierce Fire & Rescue Vice President, Washington Fire Chiefs

Ground Emergency Medical Transport (GEMT) is a program that allows fire departments to recover costs of treating and transporting Medicaid patients.  Currently, when a fire department responds and treats a Medicaid patient, the department only recovers a small portion of the actual costs of the response.   GEMT is a federally-funded, entitled program that has no impact to the local taxpayer or to the state.  Why are fire departments being allowed to do this?  These federal programs have been operating for 50 years and, in the past, it was never considered that a fire department could participate.  With GEMT in place in Washington, fire departments will be using the same programs that public hospitals and public health care clinics have had in place for decades.  This program is established for public agencies (fire departments) but doesn’t have a negative impact to private ambulance companies.  Public fire departments that contract with private ambulance companies within their jurisdiction may collect reimbursement for Medicaid transports within their jurisdiction performed by private ambulance which helps the fire department maintain the contract at a reasonable price.