South King Fire outlines services for Des Moines: 27,000 calls, new fireboat and rescue-swimmer program

Brad Cheney, community affairs officer for South King Fire, presented an overview of the district’s operations, equipment and community programs to the committee.

Cheney said South King Fire serves about 41 square miles including Federal Way and Des Moines and reported 27,264 calls district-wide last year, with roughly 78% classified as emergency medical services calls. "We are first responders and do a lot of medical work," Cheney said, describing aid cars and engines used to keep fire engines available for larger incidents. He said the district currently maintains seven responding stations, four aid cars, six engines and one ladder truck, and that daily staffing averages roughly 29 personnel per shift with about 61 total firefighters in the organization.

Cheney described specialty capabilities: a regional training consortium (Zone 3), technical rescue teams (trench, confined-space, structural collapse), hazardous-materials response, a marine team and a 38-person rescue-swimmer program for rapid water rescues. He said the district secured $750,000 from commerce toward a new fireboat that cost about $1,200,000 total. Cheney also shared a rescue story in which trained rescue swimmers removed a person from a submerged vehicle and the patient later recovered, emphasizing the district’s lifesaving work. He said the Des Moines-specific call volume last year was 5,146 calls.