A History of the SeaTac Fire Department & The Role of Fire Chief Jim Adsley

Historically, King County Fire District 23 was formed on October 1944. King County Fire District 24 was formed in May of 1945 and activated in 1947. The Airport started a fire department out of an abandoned hanger in 1955. It was called airport district 23. Most of the first firefighters were hired from fire districts 23 and 24 volunteers. The Fire District 23 Fire chief was hired as the first chief for the airport crew and years later appointed administrator of all airport operations. The fire district 23 station was about 6 blocks east of the airport. We responded to incidents on the airport including events when a plane would have trouble, such as with landing gear, and we provided the EMS for an event when a plane with braking issues crashed into a satellite building at the airport. Medic units were locked out by port police, however, we were there in time get to get through and treated several injured patients on the tarmac. 

In 1966 I signed up as a volunteer for all volunteer King County Fire District 23 . At that time the district included many businesses, including a 12 story unsprinklered Holiday Inn hotel with a 300 person restaurant on the 12 th floor, and numerous 3 story wood frame multifamily apartments and condos. Our tallest ladder was 30 feet. In my early years I was also volunteering as a General Manger for 5 little league baseball  teams, coaching the oldest group. I Later also coached older groups and little league football. I worked as a field engineer for an electrical control company. I installed controls for many interesting programs, including the first DC powered setworks system at Roseberg Lumber (Oregon). This was the first sawmill equipment which would cut to about 2 thousands of an inch accuracy. Due to this I was destined to install these in many areas requiring even more travel. I had a great job, however, it became obvious it would interfere with my interest in the fire department and youth programs, as well as raising a family. Recognizing there were serious challenges in our fire service community I decided to go back to college to obtain a fire command and administration degree.

In 1970 I was appointed to Captain and training officer for district 23.

In 1972 I was appointed part paid fire chief for KCFD 23.

In 1973 I was appointed from 75 applicants to join the King County Fire Marshall’ office. My work there was code inspections and starting a fire investigation program. I was assigned to inspect many of the larger buildings in the county and my jurisdiction. I discovered the KC building inspections were being poorly performed by a single family residential inspector.

In 1976 A significant house fIre occurred just over the KCFD 23 and 24 boundary that was much closer to our station and we were not called. About that time another 14 story hotel was about to begin construction in fire district 24. The Fire Commissioners from both districts decided to hire me as full- time fire chief for both districts. I had received my  fire administration degree by that time. The six Commissioners had planned to look at the effect of the joint operations and decide whether to merge in about two years. It actually took 4 years to get to that point and being the only common denominator it just about did me in. The assistant chief and I would alternate as night duty officers on a daily basis for 4 years.

When I took over both departments there were 5 total paid employees,  including myself as fire chief, Assistant Chief, two firefighters and a secretary.

My Mission was to improve fire and ems services to a community that never sleeps due to having an international airport in our midst.  Before the state Convention center was constructed in Seattle we had more hotel/motel rooms than any other jurisdiction in the state. Revenue was short so I needed to create a rapid response and work towards better built in protection in highly populated buildings to prevent or control potentially big problems. My first issue was the beginning of construction on a 14 story new building in the Red Lion complex about a block from 7 Million gallons of jet fuel in above ground tanks. In 1976 the state/county building code did not require automatic sprinklers in that building. I called the principals of the Red Lion for a meeting to explain the limited resources we had at the time. They not only agreed to install auto sprinklers but also bought a system for receiving auto alarms from the property in our alarm center. We ultimately monitored every A/S system and high rise properties throughout the two jurisdictions. This is not done by most departments in this state and was a great improvement in our response time. We were now on our way forward. They also built a fire control room to our standards which was not outlined in the code and I helped McKinstry design a air handling system to keep positive pressure in hall ways in the fire node. This property was occupied in 1978 with answers to all the problems that happened two years later at the Los Vegas MGM. The Red Lion was the largest convention center north of San Francisco and provided  sit down dinners that would serve the entire population of the neighboring city of Tukwila at that time. KIRO TV did a special on the life safety systems with walk through with me at the property after the MGM fire. I have a copy of the interview with KIRO anchor Susan Hutchinson. 

In 1980 the MGM fire killed many. The International Conference of Building Officials set up a five person blue ribbon committee to review the problems with the fire and look for code solutions. One member represented ICBO, one the office building association, one from the national hotel association and two from fire service being the fire marshal from San Francisco and myself. I was sent sent down by the WA Fire Chiefs. We met in Hunington Beach for several days.  

Having one existing hotel unsprinklered, I was offering high rise amendments to the fire code for existing buildings at the WA fire chiefs annual code meetings and also the Western Fire Chiefs code conferences where the fire code was reviewed and modified every year. It took three years but an appendix (L) was established in the fire code with retroactive requirements . I spent many days lobbying the King County Council and State legislature for more comprehensive A/S requirements we enjoy today in multi-family residential and large buildings. This not only makes citizens safer but also reduces risk to firefighters. 

In 1980 I was elected President of the King County Fire Chiefs Association and Governor Booth Gardiner was guest speaker. I was able to recognize his significant support for fire service issues. When the fire service had issues with Legislation Booth would come out and actually look at the issues and in two cases vetoed some problematic items out of legislation that had passed. 

In 1982 we successfully passed a bond issue designed to allow us to improve service and also our Survey and Rating Bureau numbers. When I took over the district 23 rating was class 6 and district 24 was class 5. When I left office the rating was class 3. We were one of only six districts out of 412 across the state with that high rating. As promised, insurance rates were lowered  for many larger properties in the jurisdiction. A few of the improvements were going to 5 inch quick connect supply lines on apparatus and hydrants, new engines including a mini pumper for difficult accesses, new aid cars, a video editing system for developing training modules, and a mini computer system that allowed us to install the first computer aided dispatch system in the state, desk top  Honeywell computers linked into the main frame that could be disconnected and go with the duty officer at all times.  We broke out data automatically on 8 square block fire zones and with a time in motion program I could identify what our manpower was doing for reports to commissioners. We modified the District 23 station with a second floor for sleepers and paid crew. picked up a fire pole that had been in the old Seattle fire station that dated back to horse drawn days and a major remodel and new 16,000 square foot addition to the headquarters station.I picked up a fire pole that had been in the old Seattle fire station that dated back to horse drawn days.

In our headquarters remodel we included a large meeting room in our headquarters with one wall of screen and dish so we could use it for training and observing big fires in progress anywhere in the country. We provided King County Medic one with office space and the WA state code advisory board with a meeting place. We added a main frame for our dispatch programs and general operations. 

In the early 1980 ‘s the Marriott Corporation sent me and my public information officer to observe and video a beta test of life safety polybutylene sprinkler systems in a high rise property in Fort Lauderdale they were going to demolish for a new hotel. A year later they sent us to a beta test of CPVC and fast acting sprinklers in another high rise they were replacing in San Franciso. In 1985 the RS Sloan Company, during our headquarters station remodel addition,  donated CPVC piping for a life safety fast acting system throughout our new headquarters station. My assistant chief or I would lead a crew of firefighters installing the system every day which helped them be able to effectively inspect A/S systems in the future. This was the fist CPVC system in a commercial building in the region. In 1986 we hosted the annual Western Fire Chiefs Conference at the Red Lion (the only time they met in an unincorporated area). We developed a video presentation on the installation of the CPVC system for that conference. We also developed a video presentation that promoted auto sprinklers in multi family buildings and included footage and interviews with a family who lost several children in a multi-fatality apartment fire in neighboring Burien. I was able to use it to lobby King County and the state Legislature for A/S in all multi family housing.

 In 1985 myself and attorney Clark Snure moved a bill through the Legislature that gave the fire districts a 50% increase in levy authority. Immediately after I asked one of my House members, ex Mayor Hines from DesMoines, to submit a title only bill to allow fire districts to collect any part of the EMS levy authority not being collected by the county. At the time counties and jurisdictions with over 50,000 population had exclusive authority to collect the levy and King County was not collecting the entire $.25 levy. I had to debate King County’s chief lobbyist all the way through the Legislature but in the end the measure passed unanimously.

 Like many departments we evolved with the significant improvements in EMS delivery systems. The county set up three medic units and I was the first chairman of the board for the Highline Medic unit. I also certified in EMT defibrillation, primarily to determine the amount of liability associated with the procedure. By that time we had enough personnel that I no longer personally treated anyone, however I supervised many incidents where EMT defib was successfully used. We video taped many incidents and one of the first programs we developed included a video on the virtues of EMT defibrillation. I used it in a presentation to the Western Fire chiefs in 1983 at Billings Montana. It included an incident and interview with a fellow from Missouri we saved in a hotel. He took a copy to show doctors when he got home. We saved one fellow three times in a senior housing area.

 According to King County EMS records in my possesion we maintained the fastest response time to EMS emergencies in the county. It was 3.8 minutes, and our computer system started the clock at the minute our dispatchers took the 911 call unlike most centers which measure from the tone out. We had some talented EMT’s and dispatchers that also helped with CPR instructions. We also were fast because we monitored the 911 calls over speaker networks in stations. This give crews knowledge about what and where they were going to which was very helpful at night when reflex times are typically slower.

 At Mike Copas’s request I joined the UW Visiting committee for Harborview Hospital for about 20 years, including after I retired. I was able to help lobby for the new research tower at Harborview and state support for all the uninsured patients sent to Harborview. I was the only representative from the fire services. I also served on various state Chiefs and county committees over time during my career.

 One advantage of a small but growing personnel base is it is easier to make changes in equipment and techniques. Since I was managing two departments for four years I started a time in motion system to verify I was providing equal service to each jurisdiction. Over the last 16 years of my career, I averaged 12 hours a day on district or area business. That does not include night or weekend responses. I never asked for a dollar of overtime, however accomplishing my original missions was most rewarding.  After we computerized, I put all employees on daily activity reports for planning purposes and demonstrating response, fire prevention, and EMS as a percentage of our total activities. We had accurate info on problem traffic, or drug use areas.

 In 1988 I joined a small group attempting to incorporate the SeaTac communities. There were many reasons for this such as crime, including the largest serial murder case in the Nations history. At one point Seattle got tough on the prostitution problem and it moved to SeaTac since we had so many hotel/motels. The county was not doing much about this even though it received a significant amount of taxes from the community.

 The last year of my career I was the first fire chief for the new City of SeaTac which I had helped incorporate. I learned operating a city department can be innovatively challenging in relation to running a fire district where the total focus is on fire/EMS. After I retired many of the above mentioned innovative approaches were dropped, including the rating for a time, response time, EMS aid cars and so on. One of the hazards of incorporating an area is the council and administration is not established until after the incorporation. Instead of hiring a professional manager as the charter included they hired a politician and about 50% of the new council were opposed to the incorporation.

 After retiring and joining the RFFOW I testified several times before state legislative committees when pension plan mergers came up. I also served for several years on the campaign committee for our district 10 representative who later became a senator and was a leader for years on the Select Committee for Pension Policy. I have been a member of the RFFOW for over a decade, was elected a board member in 2015 and served as Vice President to support Dick Warbrouck’s mission after we lost the VP services of Jim Fossos.

 That is a snapshot of about twenty years as a fire chief. One of the items on my bucket list is to write a book more clearly illustrating how to develop a good fire/EMS service on a limited budget. There are many areas across the country experiencing growth problems and economies of scale may cause budget reductions in the future. Thinking smarter and out of the box can be an effective counter measure.