Each year, starting with the Martin Luther King holiday, fire departments around the nation support a weeklong campaign to educate communities about...
SVFD News
Recent Articles
Call for Pro and Con Committee to Review Levy
Pro and Con Committees Spokane Valley Fire Department is placing before the voters on the February 14, 2023 ballot a proposition authorizing a maintenance and operations excess levy.
The 2023 M&O Levy; Everything You Need to Know
The M&O deadline to vote on the M&O Levy is coming up quick! This page is your one stop shop for everything levy related. If you go through...
From the Chief: EMS and Risk Reduction
During a recent national symposium, our Division Chief of Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Rich Llewellyn was a featured speaker on the topic of SVFD’s “Integrated Medical Services” program. He spoke about the integrated strategies we’ve launched here in SVFD and introduced to other Spokane County first responders to improve cardiac arrest survival rates.
Chief Llewellyn focused on cardiac arrest survival rates here in the greater Spokane Valley from 2011-2017. In 2011, our cardiac arrest survival rate was 23%. In 2017, our cardiac survival rate improved to 50%. This drastic improvement is the result of our integrated approach which leverages data analysis, citizen CPR, high school CPR, efficiencies in the way SVFD firefighters perform CPR (called “Pit Crew CPR”) and the introduction of “PulsePoint” a free app which enlists citizens trained in CPR to respond to a cardiac arrest if close by.
This success exemplifies our overall Community Risk Reduction Initiative. On a daily basis, SVFD staff members are studying and analyzing data from the different divisions and emergency responses in an effort to craft improvements like those above to lead to better outcomes. Efforts like this are the future direction for Fire and Emergency Response agencies, and as time goes by we will likely see similar results, not only with emergency medical services (EMS), but also the prevention of fires and other preventable risks.
As SVFD implements various initiatives in the coming months and years, and we measure the outcomes, I will be sure to share them with you as I am confident that we will see similar remarkable improvements that lead to reduced risk and a safer, and healthier community.
I look forward to sharing more with you as the year progresses. Thank you for your continued support!
~ Bryan Collins, Fire Chief
Did you Know?
- You can sign up for a station tour. Great for small groups.
- You should replace the batteries in your smoke alarms twice a year.
- Creating a defensible space with regards to wildfires could just save your home or property.
- We have Friends & Family CPR classes every month.