COUPEVILLE, Wash. — Central Whidbey Island Fire and Rescue said it’s inviting the community to learn more about a fire levy lid lift that’s meant to improve emergency services.
Fire Chief Jerry Helm will be doing a short presentation and answering questions on two days:
- Thursday, October 19 at 6 p.m. at Station 54, 3253 Day Road in Greenbank.
- Saturday, October 28 at 10 a.m. at Station 51, 109 N. Main St. in Coupeville.
“The fire district is asking voters to change the fire levy from $0.86 to $1.18 per $1,000 of assessed property value. The $0.32-cent lid lift would cost an additional $160 per year or $13.34 per month for the owner of a $500,000 home,” said Central Whidbey Fire.
Central Whidbey Fire said call volumes have gone up by 50% since 2012 but staffing levels haven’t kept up. That means response times have been increasing.
“Additionally, the fire district cannot guarantee personnel will be available to respond when a second, third, or fourth call happens at the same time – which is occurring more frequently. Overlapping calls account for 28% of all calls,” said Central Whidbey Fire.
Central Whidbey Fire said 60% of calls are for emergency medical services and that the fire district relies on volunteers, but that volunteers aren’t always available.
“This then leads to longer response times that can seriously affect survival rates,” said Central Whidbey Fire.
The levy lid lift would fund more firefighters and EMTs. More staff would allow the fire district to send out a fire engine and a Basic Life Support medical unit at the same time, instead of one or the other. It would also allow the fire district to rescue people faster without having to wait for another fire engine to arrive.
“These improvements will help reduce response times and improve service reliability across the district,” said Central Whidbey Fire
You can learn more at www.cwfire.org.
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