S-1610.1

SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5455


State of Washington	64th Legislature	2015 Regular Session

By Senate Government Operations & Security (originally sponsored by Senators Rivers, Parlette, Hatfield, and Hobbs)

READ FIRST TIME 02/11/15.

AN ACT Relating to delivery of basic firefighter training and testing; and amending RCW 43.43.934.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 43.43.934 and 2012 c 229 s 818 are each amended to read as follows:

The director of fire protection shall:

(1)(a)(i) With the state board for community and technical colleges, provide academic, vocational, and field training programs for the fire service; and (ii) with the state colleges and universities, provide instructional programs requiring advanced training, especially in command and management skills;

(b) Cooperate with the common schools, technical and community colleges, institutions of higher education, and any department or division of the state, or of any county or municipal corporation in establishing and maintaining instruction in fire service training and education in accordance with any act of congress and legislation enacted by the legislature in pursuance thereof and in establishing, building, and operating training and education facilities.

Industrial fire departments and private fire investigators may participate in training and education programs under this chapter for a reasonable fee established by rule;

(c) Develop and adopt a master plan for constructing, equipping, maintaining, and operating necessary fire service training and education facilities subject to the provisions of chapter 43.19 RCW;

(d) Develop and adopt a master plan for the purchase, lease, or other acquisition of real estate necessary for fire service training and education facilities in a manner provided by law; and

(e) Develop and adopt a plan ((with a goal of providing firefighter one and wildland training to all firefighters in the state. Wildland training reimbursement will be provided if a fire protection district or a city fire department has and is fulfilling their interior attack policy or if they do not have an interior attack policy. The plan will include a reimbursement for fire protection districts and city fire departments of not less than three dollars for every hour of firefighter one or wildland training. The Washington state patrol shall not provide reimbursement for more than two hundred hours of firefighter one or wildland training for each firefighter trained)) for the Washington state patrol fire training academy to deliver basic firefighter training and testing up to and including the requirements of firefighter I identified as the national fire protection association standard 1001. The training and testing is for all city fire departments, fire districts, regional fire authorities, or any other municipal fire agencies within the state of Washington. Delivery of the training must be done by the fire training academy either at the academy in North Bend or delivered regionally by the fire training academy at local fire agencies. Fire agencies have the option of seeking reimbursement for their firefighter I training expenses in lieu of obtaining training from the fire training academy. The reimbursement will be according to the process set forth in this subsection.

(i) The priority for providing direct delivery of training or the reimbursement of training expenses to city fire departments, fire districts, and regional fire authorities and other municipal fire agencies is as set forth in (e)(i)(B) of this subsection.

(A) A volunteer department is a fire department with volunteer emergency service personnel comprising eighty-five percent or greater of its department membership. A combination department is a fire department with emergency service personnel comprising less than eighty-five percent of either volunteer or career membership.

(B) The priority for training or reimbursement under this subsection is as follows: (I) Volunteer departments; (II) combination departments; and (III) agencies that use only career firefighters and fire officers.

(ii) The direct delivery of training includes all resources, personnel, and equipment necessary to deliver the training statewide or at the fire training academy in North Bend.

(iii) The amount of reimbursement provided to fire agencies for conducting their own firefighter I training will be calculated on a per capita basis. The per capita amount is equal to the three-year statewide firefighter per capita average for the regional direct delivery of training by the fire training academy. The three-year statewide firefighter per capita average is calculated by dividing the number of firefighters trained using the regional direct delivery program during the three-year period into the total cost for providing regional direct delivery during the same three-year period. The regional direct delivery costs used for the basis of these calculations does not include the costs of the fire training academy employees used to coordinate the direct delivery programs or the state’s indirect costs or any indirect costs.

(iv) The fire training academy facilities and programs are available at no cost to fire service youth programs. The goals are to increase enrollment of volunteer firefighters and to improve gender, cultural, and ethnic diversity within the fire service. Availability of the facility and programs is dependent on the approval of the Washington state patrol, director of fire protection.

(2)(a) Promote mutual aid and disaster planning for fire services in this state;

(b) Assure the dissemination of information concerning the amount of fire damage including that damage caused by arson, and its causes and prevention; and

(c) Implement any legislation enacted by the legislature to meet the requirements of any acts of congress that apply to this section.

(3) In carrying out its statutory duties, the office of the state fire marshal shall give particular consideration to the appropriate roles to be played by the state and by local jurisdictions with fire protection responsibilities. Any determinations on the division of responsibility shall be made in consultation with local fire officials and their representatives.

To the extent possible, the office of the state fire marshal shall encourage development of regional units along compatible geographic, population, economic, and fire risk dimensions. Such regional units may serve to: (a) Reinforce coordination among state and local activities in fire service training, reporting, inspections, and investigations; (b) identify areas of special need, particularly in smaller jurisdictions with inadequate resources; (c) assist the state in its oversight responsibilities; (d) identify funding needs and options at both the state and local levels; and (e) provide models for building local capacity in fire protection programs.