Aviation Support Units. Some state agencies and local governments have aviation support units that are used to assist the state in emergencies, such as firefighting and search and rescue. These include the Washington Air National Guard in Spokane, Camp Murray, and Joint Base Lewis McChord; the Department of Natural Resources in Olympia, Yakima, and additional bases during fire season; the King County Sheriff's Office; and the Pierce County Air Unit.
The Washington State Patrol (WSP) has an Aviation Section which uses aircraft and equipment for enforcement, incident assessment, transportation, and surveillance. Operations supported by these aircraft include transportation and search and rescue. The WSP Aviation Section is based in Olympia.
Rotary wing aircraft include helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles. Aviation support units may use rotary wing aircraft as well as fixed wing aircraft.
Search and Rescue. The Military Department administers the comprehensive emergency management program in Washington. One of the emergency management functions is to support search and rescue operations. The adjutant general appoints a state coordinator of search and rescue operations to coordinate state resources, services, and facilities requested by political subdivisions in support of search and rescue operations. A political subdivision is a county, city, or town.
The chief law enforcement officer of each political subdivision is responsible for local search and rescue activities that are land based. The Department of Transportation, Aviation Division, is responsible for air searches for downed or missing civil aircraft. Search and rescue activities must be in accordance with state and local operations plans adopted by the governing body of the political subdivision. The Military Department estimates that there are 900 to 1000 search and rescue missions each year, staffed primarily by more than 5000 citizen volunteers.
Emergency or Disaster Response. During an emergency, when a local jurisdiction needs assistance beyond the capabilities of local resources and mutual aid agreements, a request may be made for a state fire service mobilization (Mobilization). Mobilization means that all risk resources regularly provided by fire departments, fire districts, and regional fire protection service authorities beyond those available through existing agreements will be requested, and, when available, sent in response to an emergency or disaster situation that has exceeded the capabilities of available local resources. During a large-scale emergency, Mobilization includes the redistribution of regional or statewide risk resources to either direct emergency incident assignments or to assignments in communities where resources are needed.
The chief of the WSP has the authority to mobilize jurisdictions under the Washington State Fire Services Mobilization Plan (Mobilization Plan). The purpose of the Mobilization Plan is to provide a mechanism and process to quickly notify, assemble, and deploy fire service personnel and equipment to any local fire jurisdiction in Washington that has expended or will expend all available local and mutual aid resources in attempting to manage fires, disasters, or other events that jeopardize the ability of a jurisdiction to provide for the protection of life and property. The state fire marshal in the WSP serves as the state fire resources coordinator when a Mobilization Plan is initiated.
Aerial Wildland Fire Fighting. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) uses suppression funding to assist local and tribal fire departments with aerial fire response capabilities during the initial attack phase of fighting a wildland fire. To use suppression funding, the fire department must have an agreement with DNR, the aviation asset must come from an approved list, and the requesting fire department must make a request to a coordination center. Each year, DNR is required to consult with the state Fire Defense Committee, fire service representatives, and the State Fire Marshal's Office to review aviation program performance and aviation needs for the next year.
DNR provides an annual report to the Legislature on wildfires. The report must include an appendix on aviation usage by local fire departments, including the cost of initial attack aviation, identification of local fire departments that used the funding, identification of fires when suppression funding was used, and recommendations for improvements to the wildland fire response process.
Keep Washington Working Act. In 2019, the Washington State Legislature passed the Keep Washington Working Act (KWW), which sets forth restrictions for agencies including law enforcement from assisting in the investigation or enforcement of any federal registration or surveillance programs or any other laws, rules, or policies that target Washington residents solely on the basis of race, religion, immigration, citizenship status, or national or ethnic origin. The KWW sets forth several restrictions for law enforcement agencies, including:
Financial Assistance to Local Law Enforcement Rotary Wing Aviation Support Units. The Military Department is required to develop and implement a Law Enforcement Aviation Support Grant Program (Aviation Program) to provide financial assistance to local law enforcement rotary wing aviation support units (Support Units). The Aviation Program will provide aviation support to a jurisdiction when an aircraft is available, without cost to the requesting jurisdiction. To qualify for the grant program, a local law enforcement rotary wing aviation support unit must have issued and implemented policies and procedures consistent with KWW.
The Military Department will distribute half of the appropriated funds to the Support Units. Support Units will be identified by the Military Department and a statewide association of law enforcement executives. The distributed funds are required to be used for maintenance and operation of the Support Units, including: pilot and crew costs, aircraft maintenance, upgrades, acquisition, insurance, fuel, training, and other expenses associated with operating an aviation support unit.
The Military Department is required to make the remaining appropriated funds available for Support Units for search and rescue costs, including training. The costs that may be reimbursed are fuel, maintenance, and pilot and crew expenses. Depreciation costs are not reimbursable.
Any remaining appropriated funds are required to be awarded to the WSP's Aviation Section. All funds awarded for the Aviation Program are required to be used to supplement, not supplant, existing local funding for Support Units.
Wildland Fire Suppression. Sheriff's offices are identified as frontline responders to wildland fires, including the need for rapid decisions and access to aviation resources to provide fire retardants or water. Sheriff's offices are eligible for DNR funds used to assist local fire departments with aerial fire response for wildland fire fighting. The aviation asset must be owned or leased by the sheriff's office to be eligible for suppression funding. DNR is required to include usage by sheriff's offices in its appendix on aviation usage in its annual wildfire report. DNR's wildland fire suppression funding statutes will expire on July 1, 2027.
The committee recommended a different version of the bill than what was heard. PRO: For years, King, Snohomish, Chelan and Spokane county sheriff's offices have made their air support units available at no cost whatsoever, except maybe fuel to get home. Helicopters are an incredibly expensive operation to maintain, so this bill allows for funding to be distributed to those four counties to help them keep those units available. The taxpayers of those four counties have subsidized the rest of the state for safety operations for years and we want to make sure they are able to keep those units operational. One thing that is unique about sheriff's offices is that by law, they are responsible for all search and rescue operations, but 85 percent of Chelan county is not accessible by roads or highways, and many areas are difficult terrain to travel by foot. Having aerial support can make all the difference in these operations.
OTHER: There is a possible error in the versions of this legislation as they exist. Currently, the Department of Natural Resources has concerns with the changes to RCW 76.04. Due to the demand of the missions on the airframes as it relates to wildfire, all DNR owned, operated, and contracted aircraft must be certified which requires year-round involvement with all partners and is specifically tailored to aerial firefighting. DNR and our federal partners require these standards as a minimum to operate and ensure safety of all involved, minimizing the liability against the state in the case of an accident and ensuring payments only go to departments that meet minimum standards of operation. This bill would require the DNR to ensure all sheriffs departments meet federal, state, interagency standards for aircraft, equipment, pilots, and mechanics. Currently, none of those departments meet the standards for aircraft maintenance and pilot qualifications.
PRO: Senator John Lovick, Prime Sponsor; Susanna Johnson, Snohomish County Sheriff; David Ellis, Spokane County Sheriff's Office; Rob Martin, Snohomish County Sheriff's Office; Patricia Cole-Tindall, King County Sheriff's Office; Mike Morrison, Chelan County Sheriff's Office; Mayor Sean Kelly, City of Maple Valley; James McMahan, WA Assoc Sheriffs & Police Chiefs; Einar Espeland, snohomish county sheriffs office.