A Plan Of Action Fire District Maps Out Strategy To Better Fight Fires And Save Lives

The Spokane Valley Fire District’s five-year action plan reads like a business proposal and the fire district’s business is providing faster, better service to Valley residents.

During the next five years, residents of Valley Fire’s protection district — which includes most of the Spokane Valley — should see response times decrease and an increase in cooperation among neighboring fire districts and within individual crews.

“We are no longer an entity unto ourselves,” said Valley Fire Chief Pat Humphries.

Area fire departments have already begun working together on training grant requests and training facilities, Humphries said.

In the future, fire districts will probably share more technical equipment and personnel.

Valley Fire plans to create a technical rescue team, which would specialize in rescuing people from tall bridges or cliffs or digging someone out of a trench or confined space.

Area fire districts have agreements to share expensive equipment. For example, District 9 has made available a $50,000 trailer and an aluminum shoring system for use in collapsed trenches.

The equipment is available to any fire district in Spokane County that needs it, Humphries said.

Besides sharing equipment, new federal regulations will mean more sharing of personnel.

New federal laws require that two firefighters stay out of the building for each two that enter to fight a fire.

Leading the list of long-term priorities for Valley Fire is a decrease in response times.

The five-year plan sets a goal of responding to 80 percent of emergency calls within five minutes.

Right now, most areas served by Valley Fire have a response time between four and six minutes.

Delays in response to emergencies can be critical, said Chris Deflorio, a Valley Fire paramedic.

“If you’re having a heart attack, three minutes means the difference between living and dying,” he said.

Increased response times have come with the Valley’s sprawl and traffic problems.

Firetrucks have to dodge more cars and travel farther to get to the scene of an emergency now than in the past, Humphries said.

Valley Fire, which now operates seven stations, will propose adding a new station in the Barker Road corridor, which extends from approximately one mile south of Sprague Avenue to Trent Avenue.

Average response times in that area inched above the seven-minute mark last year.

Humphries would like to see a new station built by 2002.

A Barker Road area station would be the first of several planned station changes.

Valley Fire will eventually consider relocating or remodeling the three stations in the western end of its service area.

Station 1, at Sprague and University, might need to be relocated after the Valley Couplet is completed and Sprague Avenue becomes a one-way street.

Station 2, at Trent and Park, eventually will need to be remodeled.

Station 6, located next to the Yardley industrial area, will also need to be remodeled or relocated if the city of Spokane goes ahead with plans to annex the area.

Annexation, which could happen in the next five years, would mean a loss of $200,000 to $400,000 in tax revenue to Valley fire.

Humphries said he expects one of two scenarios: either the city of Spokane will pay the department to continue serving Yardley or the city and county will have a combined department in the area.

Ongoing union negotiations have left a few things on hold. This year’s budget is expected to total about $13 million, but some specifics won’t be known until Valley Fire reaches a contract agreement with the firefighters union.

A key component in the fire district’s five-year plan is improved crew consistency. Both management and labor stress the value of keeping teams of firefighters consistently working together. But achieving that improved consistency could require tinkering with sick leave and vacation policies or even hiring additional firefighters.

This year, Valley Fire will spend $265,000 to add 60 new breathing apparatuses in February. The new masks will have better air flow than the masks crews now use.

Commissoners will not begin talks to approve plans for new stations until they have a budget for next year and know the exact effects of Initiative 695, said commissioner Joe Dawson.

The district had planned to buy a new ladder truck this year, but decided against it due to budget cuts related to Initiative 695. The district expects the cuts to be around $400,000, the approximate price of a new truck.

“We had to adjust based on other obligations for the year,” he said.

The basic goal of the district will remain unchanged during the next five years, Dawson said.

“Our basic goal will be to provide the best possible service,” he said.