CENTRAL WHIDBEY: New Chief’s Message (CWIFR)

The Central Whidbey Island Fire and Rescue District published their Summer 2023 newsletter on June 26, 2023. The article below is from the newsletter.

It’s an honor to communicate with you as the new Fire Chief for Central Whidbey Island Fire & Rescue. I’ve lived on Whidbey Island since 1980 and been a firefighter with the district since 1999. I served as Interim Chief while the Board of Fire Commissioners conducted a search and then appointed me to the position in May.

We believe in transparency and accountability to our taxpayers and there are some challenges I need to share. Emergency call volumes have increased just over 50% since our last levy lid lift. Overlapping calls — or more than two emergencies at the same time — account for 28% of all incidents. This can impact positive outcomes for fire and EMS responses.

For example, we current run either a fire engine OR BLS ambulance. This delays our ability to do interior search and rescue operations in cases of fire. Four firefighters are required by state law and we can only afford 2-3 person crews. It can also delay EMS response times if our crews are on an overlapping call and have to return to the station to change apparatus.

The Board approved a resolution to place a levy lid lift on the November 7, 2023, general election ballot to resolve this problem. The lid lift will fund four additional firefighters/EMTs to meet state requirements and allow the fire district to put BOTH a fire engine and BLS ambulance in service at the same time. This will reduce response times and improve service reliability across the district.

The lid lift is $0.32 per $1,000 of assessed property value costing an additional $13.33 per month or $160 per year for the owner of a $500,000 home. The maximum a fire district can request is $1.50. This would lift our fire levy from $0.86 to $1.18 per $1,000.

More information about the lid lift can be found at www.cwfire.org. I always welcome your questions at jhelm@cwfire.org and 360-678-3602.

On the Ballot in 2023