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Case Study

Garfield County Fire District 1: The Rig Check They Actually Wanted

How a combination district in Pomeroy, Washington replaced paper apparatus checks with a checklist their own people designed.

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Agency

Garfield County Fire District 1, Pomeroy, WA

Service Model

Combination: 30+ volunteers, 3 career staff, 8 part-time staff

Coverage

718 sq mi EMS, 530+ sq mi fire

Module

Apparatus Checks, 18 apparatus, live since 2024

The Challenge

Nobody Knew A Check Was Done Until Someone Walked Out And Looked

Garfield County Fire District 1 covers all of Garfield County with a small career staff and a large volunteer roster. Rig checks were done on paper. Forms lived in binders on the apparatus floor, and deficiencies were written in the margins.

Nobody in the office knew a check had been completed, or missed, until someone walked out and looked. Checks were often missed, paper forms were lost or damaged, and checks were not as thorough as they needed to be, so items were being overlooked.

What paper was costing them

No way to see from the office whether a check was done
Missed checks that nobody caught
Deficiencies written in a margin instead of sent to someone
Forms lost or damaged on the apparatus floor
Checks that skimmed past items that mattered

The Solution

A Checklist Built By The People Who Use It

The district went live on the Apparatus Checks module in 2024. The first step was not loading a canned form. It was sitting down with the district and building their own checklist, section by section, in the Checklist Builder.

Their Sections, Their Order

Sections and items can be added, renamed, reordered and copied between templates, so the check follows the way crews actually walk the rig.

The Right Answer Type

Every item carries the response that fits it: pass/fail, yes/no, a numeric reading, a short note, a longer narrative, or a photo or file upload.

Instructions On The Item

Items can be required or optional and can carry instructions that show up right under the item during the check.

Day-Of-Week Items

Weekly items can be set to appear only on certain days, so the daily check stays short and the weekly work still gets done.

A Template Per Rig Type

Templates can be copied and adjusted for engines, tenders, brush trucks and medic units without starting over each time.

Item-Level Notifications

Any pass/fail, yes/no or list item can email specific roles or addresses when it is answered a certain way.

Built From Their Request

They Wanted To Know When Fluids Went In

Much of the builder's flexibility exists because of Garfield's input. One example: the district wanted to know when fluids were added to a rig, not just when something failed.

That request became the item-level notification feature, and it is now available to every department on the module.

During the check. A member marks “Fluids Added” as yes on the rig.

Automatic email. The Fire Chief, maintenance personnel and admin staff get an email naming the rig, the member and the item.

Before the crew leaves the bay. Follow-up starts the same day instead of when someone finds a note.

The Result

What Changed

Same Day

Deficiencies are captured on the item, with notes, the moment they are found. Fluid additions and other flagged items email the right person, so follow-up starts the same day.

All 18 Rigs

Out-of-service status is tracked with the check, and the status board shows every apparatus at a glance. Missed checks are visible, and overdue check alerts go to admin staff automatically.

Seconds

History and reports are searchable by apparatus, date and member, and can be pulled up in seconds for an inspection, an insurance review or a claim.

“

We told Denny what we needed and it showed up in the product. Our people built the checklist themselves, and now when fluids are added or something is wrong on a rig, the right person knows about it right away instead of finding a note days later. Denny has worked with us on making his program work for what we need for our department.

Shaylyn Roosevelt

Administrative Assistant / EMT, Garfield County Fire District 1

Why It Matters

A Check Nobody Sees Is Just Paperwork

Crews were never the problem at Garfield. The problem was that a check on paper only reached the people who could act on it if someone carried it there.

When the checklist matches the rig and the right answer sends the right email, the check stops being a form to fill out and starts being how the district knows its apparatus is ready.

Build yours the same way

Start from your current paper form. We will build the first checklist with you, section by section, the way we did with Garfield.

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