WA Fire Departments Consider Merger

CONCRETE, WA—Two Skagit County fire departments are proposing a merger that would essentially disband the town of Concrete’s fire department.

As a response to what he said are staffing and equipment concerns, Concrete Volunteer Fire Department Chief Darrel Reed earlier this year presented the Concrete Town Council with a proposal that would merge his department with the volunteer-run Skagit County Fire District 10, which has stations in Grassmere and Birdsview.

“It would provide a better service for District 10 and the town of Concrete,” Fire District 10 Chief Rod Coffell said. “We’re all fighting for volunteers. Together, we can have a full house.”

Reed said the merger would help both departments, especially when it comes to personnel.

Like many fire departments throughout the country, both the Concrete department and Fire District 10 are struggling to recruit volunteers, he said.

The Concrete Volunteer Fire Department has about 14 volunteers, Concrete Mayor Jason Miller said.

Many of them do not work within town limits, Reed said, which means they are unavailable to handle calls during the day.

“The hurdle we face is lack of personnel,” he said. “Recruitment has become a challenge. It’s been a challenge for many years. (The merger) will increase our numbers, and by increasing our numbers, when we have an incident, we will have more responders right off the bat.”

Fire District 10 has about 30 volunteers, Miller said.

Some of them work at nearby Janicki Industries, which allows its employees who are firefighters to leave work to respond to an incident, Reed said. That arrangement would mean a faster response for incidents in Concrete.

“If we do have an incident during the day, people are scattered,” Reed said. “If you have a structure fire there’s enough work for people for hours. You can’t have enough people.”

The Concrete Volunteer Fire Department serves one square mile, Reed said. Last year, it responded to about 50 calls, whereas District 10 responded to about 200.

Another issue facing the Concrete department is aging equipment. Its newest engine was purchased in 1991, which makes it about 10 years older than national fire department standards, Reed said.

By merging, the Concrete department could retire its two engines, and instead the town would be serviced by District 10’s engines, which were purchased in 2014, 2017 and 2018, he said.

Under the proposal, Fire District 10 would move the engines it has at the Grassmere station to the Concrete fire station, and stop using the aging Grassmere station, he said.

“And then everything would be compliant,” Reed said.

The Grassmere station would be used for storage or any other fire department need, Reed said.

The merger was proposed to the Town Council in a letter addressed Jan. 16. The council discussed the proposal at its Feb. 10 meeting, Miller said.

“The council was open to more information gathering,” Miller said.

The proposal, he said, is very preliminary. Many questions remain, such as: How would a merger affect the taxes of property owners in town? Would the merger need to be approved by voters? Who would own the station in town where Fire District 10’s engines would be housed?

“We’re directing staff to gather more information at this point,” Miller said.

Personally, he said, he is opposed to the idea.

“I don’t want to do anything that erases any part of the town’s identity, that does anything to remove its autonomy,” Miller said.

All of the reasons for a merger could have other solutions, he said.

For example, he said, if the department’s equipment is too old, the town can look for grants to replace it. If it’s training that’s lacking, the town could hire the person who trains the firefighters in District 10.

Already, both departments participate in a countywide mutual aid agreement, which means that once firefighters arrive on a scene they can request assistance from the next closest agency.

If personnel is an issue, the town could look into having Grassmere firefighters respond to an incident at the same time as Concrete firefighters, rather than wait to request help, Miller said.

“It’s a solution in search of a problem,” he said. “I think all of the problems that were posed in support of merging the two departments can be solved without merging them.”

———

Visit the Skagit Valley Herald (Mount Vernon, Wash.) at www.goskagit.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.