SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — The Spokane Valley Fire Department said it's seeing the increased growth in the area in the increased incident calls.
"The trajectory of our department is only getting bigger and busier in regards to our demand for service," Deputy Chief Zack Bond said.
The department reported in 2022 that crews responded to nearly 23,240 incidents. Those incidents varied from structure fires to water rescues to car accidents, but nearly 19,000 incidents were for emergency medical services.
"The biggest group of calls by classification or call type is calls for advance life support or ALS and we call that an EMS call or emergency medical services," Bond explained.
Bond said meeting the demand for service can put a strain on supplies and crews.
"It's the amount of work that we're able to put into that 24-hour period that is being affected," Bond said. "Clearly we're using more diesel fuel. Clearly we're using more supplies to be able to do what we need to do, but in terms of personnel, we're just working our firefighters harder and harder."
The department said the number of calls and cost of diesel fuel has taken a toll on the annual budget.
The department projects fuel costs will put them 40% over budget for 2022.
The department said 2021 fuel costs caused the department to go 14% over budget and 2020, the department was on budget.
This is all while having less equipment in service.
"We're actually running one less heavy piece of equipment than we were back in 2013," Bond began. "But for comparison's sake, back in 2013, this department ran about 13,000 calls. So, we've increased service by 10,000 calls per year with one less heavy piece of equipment to provide that service."
Despite the added pressure of increased calls, Bond says firefighters will continue to respond wherever and whenever needed.
"The way that firefighters are is that we're going to take it head on and do the work that needs to be done," Bond shared.
To help meet rising demand, SVFD is asking Spokane Valley voters to renew the Maintenance and Operations levy on February 14.
The department said the levy keeps stations open, replaces old equipment and hires more firefighters.
The vote would secure funding for the next four years.
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