I’ve just returned from fighting a major wildfire in Chelan that was nearly all fought using city and county fire department resources from around the state. In years past when I got started in 1994, the majority of these fires in the state never saw a county or city fire truck after the first attack of the fire; it was typically a state and federal fire fight. As the state cuts back (Dept. of Natural Resources) and the feds cut back too, the responsibility is being left more frequently at the feet of the local residents and their fire departments.
It wasn’t long ago that the building out at Marvin Road and Martin Way (now Costco and Home Depot) at the old Department of Natural Resources compound in Lacey that were built by the Citizen Conservation Corps (CCC) were bustling with fire engines, fire crews, and more that even lived or slept on site. That’s all gone now as forestry practices have changed, we replaced seasonal fire fighters with inmates for a while (they’ve been cut too), and we’ve relied on air power (helicopters) and more modern initial attack techniques to get the job done. Essentially doing more with less through science and at times luck.
What happens now? What happens when the state and federal resources are heavily taxed and a local fire breaks out? What happens when small town volunteer departments who may only have a few people around in the day all of sudden have a few acres burning and homes threatened? Will that volunteer fire department at 2 O’clock on workday have people who are qualified to state and federal standards of proficiency or will they just go out and randomly squirt water?
The answer in the short term is that many departments are helping each other out by responding to each other’s calls. For example, Lacey has been in Yelm several times in July simply because Yelm/Rainier fire districts are getting their butts kicked by multiple alarms. Its not just big fires but its been other things such as routine EMS calls, smoke investigations, or even coverage for additional alarms. And it’s not just Yelm/Rainier its everywhere, and for the record were not complaining we’re happy to go wherever and whenever.
Recently, we participated in a drill in which we simulated with Olympia, Tumwater, McClane/Black Lake, and East Olympia fire departments, a commercial warehouse fire at the old brewery in Tumwater. We found out that it took all of those departments to conduct just the initial attack and that we would draw resources from the entire county for the ongoing attack and likely would go out of county for resources…I mean really, we were dealing with an empty warehouse, what if our warehouse was filled with chemicals like in East Olympia, or paper products like Lacey and Olympia have, or any number issues in commercial buildings in the county. When the five o’clock news reports on a big King County fire that “50 fire fighters are battling a blaze in Tukwila…” that would be everything in our county!
This is a wake up call that most residents need to know, that the county fire fighting resources are a “mile wide and an inch deep”. We are aware of major fires in the county (for example) taking 24 minutes to get a fire engine to, or patients having heart attacks waiting, because the nearest resources are busy running calls and no close back up exists.
The decision to cut the emergency services levy lid lift measure in Tumwater is indirectly dangerous to every citizen in our county. And it highlights the fact that so many of the fire departments are understaffed is the tip of the iceberg to a much bigger problem countywide. City and town managers has become dependant on their neighbor for solving their own staffing and budget issue especially in emergency service. Here’s a question: what happens if politicians of one jurisdiction decides to start cutting off adjacent agencies for services in times of need? Here’s that answer, because the public isn’t informed and seemingly doesn’t care, it’s a matter of time before politicians make operational decisions regarding public safety (see Thurston County Sheriff or the Lacey Lacey City Council), and there isn’t a plan B other than screwing over the citizen. Of course, you don’t figure that out until you keep dialing 911 and asking, “what’s taking so long?”