Spokane Fire Operations Offer Insights for SFD

- The Seattle Fire Department (SFD) responds to a significantly higher call volume, handling 206,559 calls in 2023 with 1,111 uniformed personnel, compared to the Spokane Fire Department's 54,000 calls for service in 2024 with approximately 447 career members. - Emergency medical incidents constitute the majority of responses for both departments, accounting for approximately 74% of all calls in Seattle and 82% in Spokane, underscoring the critical role of EMT certification. - To address staffing shortages, the City of Seattle has approved the hiring of 80 new firefighters in both 2025 and 2026. - The upcoming SFD application period for entry-level firefighters runs from October 7 to November 25, 2025; the process includes the FireTEAM video test, a Public Safety Self-Assessment (PSSA1), and an oral board exam for the top 1,500 candidates. - Both departments have developed specialized teams to handle non-traditional calls; Spokane utilizes a Behavioral Response Unit and a CARES team to address the opioid crisis, while Seattle operates Mobile Integrated Health (MIH) programs like Health One. - Candidates preparing for the Seattle academy should note its reputation for being highly demanding both physically and academically, with anecdotal reports suggesting a recruit class washout rate as high as 50%. - While Spokane has a regionalized technical rescue team in partnership with neighboring districts, Seattle maintains its own specialized units for services like water rescue. - In recent years, Seattle firefighters have faced a rise in on-the-job challenges, including an increase in call volume since 2020 and a reported 40 attacks on crews over a four-month period in 2022.