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Spokane Fire Department: recruit academy, CARES referrals reduce 911 contacts; fuel‑mitigation push continues
Summary
Spokane Fire leaders told the Public Safety Committee they will start a March recruit academy, reported reductions in 911 interactions after CARES referrals, described nurse‑navigation impacts, and outlined fuel mitigation projects including roughly 700 acres mitigated and a San Sushi neighborhood kickoff.
Spokane Fire Department leaders told the City Council Public Safety Committee on Jan. 6 that staffing initiatives, behavioral health partnerships and fuel‑mitigation projects are producing measurable results but that resource gaps remain.
Chief O'Bourke said the department’s 2025 recruit academy will begin March 3 to fill 18 vacant full‑time firefighter positions; the academy is 16 weeks plus a five‑week EMT program. The department reported six percent lower uniform overtime in 2024 compared with 2023, though overtime hours remained 22% over the budgeted amount and overall hours fell 19% compared with 2023.
The department highlighted the CARES social‑work program, now staffed with three social workers and one remaining vacancy for the planned expansion. Chief O'Bourke said CARES referrals are associated with a 72% decrease in 911 interactions for referred individuals in the three months after referral versus three months before and that CARES caseworkers spend an average of 73 days connecting clients to services.
“That is significant,” Chief O'Bourke said when presenting the CARES outcomes. He added that the program has recorded only 55 referrals so far, meaning the program is reducing contacts for a small cohort and the city needs to increase referral volume to move larger systemwide numbers.
Chief O'Bourke described nurse navigation — a SHREC dispatch triage that routes some low‑acuity calls to a nurse line — as a mechanism that diverted calls from ambulance or crew responses to mobile urgent clinics, virtual care, rides to the ER, or self‑care guidance. The department said nurse navigation is making an impact but that monthly navigation counts are below targets.
On wildfire risk and mitigation, the fire chief said roughly 700 acres were mitigated in 2024 with about 600 more acres in planning or in progress; a neighborhood fuel mitigation project in the San Sushi area was scheduled to begin the day after the meeting. Chief O'Bourke said the department is aligning mitigation work with the county wildfire‑risk map and coordinating with landowners and neighborhood councils.
Chief Dahl said the department is continuing outreach to BNSF on mitigation along the bluff and railroad right‑of‑way and that negotiations have been slow. “We did do the project out on, out near old trails at the curve there. The last 2 months they've kind of gone quiet as far as contact information and trying to be able to set up,” Dahl said, and council members said they would help by sharing contacts.
The department is also pursuing expansion of a behavioral response unit (currently one 40‑hour‑per‑week unit), working with medical director Dr. Edminster on bridge‑script prescribing to avoid disruptions in medication access, and preparing RFQs for station HVAC and possible station projects funded by ARPA.
Ending: Council members requested additional raw data and heat‑map breakdowns to better identify disproportionate call volumes by small geography; staff said they will continue to refine reports and share maps and underlying data.
