Becca Most
The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)
(TNS)

Oct. 2—Lakewood, University Place and Steilacoom residents will see decreases in their property taxes if voters approve a new way to fund the fire department in November.

West Pierce Fire & Rescue is asking voters to consider a new funding mechanism with Proposition 1. Currently the department is funded through an EMS Levy, a regular levy and a maintenance and operations levy. The department proposes to keep the EMS Levy, reduce the regular levy rate by 33% and eliminate the maintenance and operations levy that was approved by voters in 2023, replacing it with a new Fire Benefit Charge.

• Watch video of West Pierce Fire & Rescue Chief Jim Sharp explaining the proposal

Rather than taxing property owners by assessed value, under the Fire Benefit Charge property owners would pay a fee based on their structure’s size, use and fire risk.

The change would reduce property taxes overall and make the cost for fire services more equitable, Fire Chief Jim Sharp told the Lakewood City Council on Sept. 23. Homeowners would pay less and larger commercial and industrial properties would generally pay more under the change.

Larger buildings or structures have greater fire risks and costs associated with extinguishing fires compared to smaller buildings and single-family homes, Sharp said. Under the current taxation model a residential home and commercial building with the same assessed value but different square footage pay the same amount, which is inequitable, he said. Residential homes with the same square footage but different assessed values also don’t pay the same rates, despite the cost and resources to put out a fire likely being the same, he said.

A Fire Benefit Charge would more fairly distribute costs for fire protection services based on the building’s size, its use and risk of fire, Sharp said. It does not apply to vacant land.

Examples Sharp shared included two residential homes, both 2,594 square feet but with different assessed values of $479,600 and $1,500,100. Currently the $1,500,100 homeowner pays over three times as much as the first home to the fire department in taxes. Under the Fire Benefit Charge both property owners would pay the same amount and less than they’re currently paying, he said.

Under the current tax levies, a 2,594-square-foot home valued at $1,500,100 pays the same amount to the fire department as a 13,600-square-foot commercial building with an assessed value of $1,504,100, Sharp said. With a Fire Benefit Charge, the homeowner would pay less and the commercial building owner would pay more based on the building’s size, use and fire risk.

In Pierce County, Central Pierce Fire & Rescue, Graham Fire & Rescue and Orting Valley Fire & Rescue all use a Fire Benefit Charge, according to an online FAQ about the measure. More than 35 cities and fire districts across the state use a Fire Benefit Charge to fund emergency services.

If 60% of voters approve Proposition 1 on Nov. 5, the Fire Benefit Charge would be in place for six years. Voters would decide whether to extend it in 2030.

If it’s not approved, the current regular fire levy would continue with no reduction and the maintenance and operations levy would continue through 2027, according to the FAQ. No statement was submitted against the measure in the county voters’ pamphlet.

“What we’re proposing is a shift from what has been really a fundamental way of funding our fire department for some 50 years,” Sharp said Sept. 23 in a presentation to the council. “A lot of this is driven by what we are

Axes, oxygen tanks, and hoses are just some of the equipment needed by fire companies in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina devastated by Hurricane Helene, cbsnews.com reported.

Flooding from what was Helene dropped over two feet of rain in some places across the south. In some locations, like Butler, Tennessee, raging rapids washed away an entire firehouse with its tanker.

The Fire Department Relief Mission of Western PA is now mobilizing to assist those first responders affected by the disaster, the report said.

The FD Relief Mission of Western PA made the following Facebook post Tuesday, Oct. 1:

A 53-foot enclosed trailer from Export Fuel Service has been donated for a relief effort to help fire departments in North Carolina. It will be located in the parking lot at Barnes Street & 9th Street in downtown New Kensington by Tuesday evening September 30. This is for the relief effort for fire departments in North Carolina.

Whole fire stations were wiped out including equipment and apparatus, and there’s even a video of one, being washed away.

We are asking for your generous donation of unused surplus equipment that you are willing to donate to this relief effort.

For right now, full turnout gear, SCBAs, medical equipment, tools, water rescue equipment, hose, fire apparatus, etc. Nothing Fire or EMS related is out of the question. Muck buckets, five-gallon buckets, chimney fire bins, all requested.

Please go through your inventory of what you have to help this relief effort to get these departments back up and into service. Any questions, please get in touch with me.

Call or text me in advance to schedule a drop off at the trailer before you leave.

— Ed Saliba, Fire Chief New Kensington Bureau of Fire, call or text 724-664-1144.

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Submit Video, Audio, and Articles HERE

Flooding from Hurricane Helene dropped over two feet of rain in some places across the south. In some locations, like Butler, Tennessee, raging rapids washed away an entire firehouse along with its tanker, cbsnews.com reported.

The Elk Mills Poga Volunteer Fire Department in Butler, Tennessee, posted on its Facebook page Sept. 28: “Our station is completely gone. Our little community needs your prayers.”

Two days later, on Sept. 30, the volunteer fire department posted the following:

“Our community has been devastated. The amount of damage and destruction is catastrophic and truly hard to fathom. Unfortunately, our fire department building is sitting somewhere in the Watauga lake, along with our tanker but we aren’t just a building, we’re people. We’re people who believe in our community and have been called to serve those in it.

“So many of us have been out from sun up to well after sundown finding out what people need and making sure they’re OK. This is not a quick fix situation, and our community will forever be changed by this event. We are forever grateful for the support and assistance of the Carter County Rescue Squad, the National Guard, Red Cross, Nashville Fire, and Mayor Woodby, all of whom have hand delivered supplies.

“We are also grateful to all of you who have reached out and brought supplies in. In the coming days we will be making specific posts for people who have lost everything and are looking for donations, and we’re going to need you then more than ever. We’re also going to be posting for specific resources for those in need. Please check in on your neighbors, even if you’re not in this community. So many people are gonna need a hand up after this.”

Submit Video, Audio, and Articles HERE

The Fairview (Buncombe County) Volunteer Fire Department made the following Facebook post Tuesday, Oct. 1:

It is with the deepest regret and sorrow that the Fairview Fire Department announces that a Fairview firefighter was killed in the line of duty on Friday, September 27, 2024 while conducting rescue operations in the Hurricane Helene response.

The record-breaking flooding from Hurricane Helene has destroyed many communities in our area and forever changed lives and the landscape. Many people in the community have lost everything they own. Our thoughts and prayers are also with the many people who have lost their lives in this disaster. Chief Scott Jones expresses his sincere thanks to everyone who has reached out in support of the department. We ask that everyone to pray for our firefighters family.

The name is being withheld pending notification of all of the next of kin. A special thank you goes to all of the hundreds of emergency responders and support people who have traveled to support.

We will continue to update the community on the situation.

This situation is still an active emergency response. We ask that everyone please stay off the roadways. —Chief Scott Jones

One of the things that the Fire Truck Training Conference fosters is real-time, live communication between vendors and technicians where those responsible for keeping fire apparatus and ambulances in service—not the ones spec’ing them, necessarily—can engage with the people designing and engineering the components that make our rigs run vs. engaging with those you would buy the component from. In any class covering components, students are sharing their challenges when it comes to servicing the components, installing the components, or replacing one part of an overall system. It give the instructors a chance to recommend solutions but also gives them a chance to go “back to the lab” and potentially reengineer the product so it will work better on a fire truck. Firefighters can be rough on the rigs, and simply changing a connector to something more robust to resist the rigors of fire department use could be all that’s necessary. It also reinforces the idea that when assembling your apparatus purchasing committee, inviting a representative from the shop is critical. As we design rigs from the operational side, we often design them to help us be more efficient at our jobs, more ergonomic, easier to get in and out of, easier to operate. But what we may not remember is that how we design these rigs might be impacting how we service them, which will affect how long they are out of service.

Fire Truck Training Conference History

Speaking of out-of-service time and communication, I was part of a conversation at breakfast with a tech who was describing the size of his fire department fleet. He is at the conference to test for a new level of certification. He has an aerial that has been out of service for a week, and the shop is starting to get an earful from the chief to get it back in service. The problem? The rig came to shop for one reason, but once the techs went over the rig, they came up with a list of several items that needed to be addressed that has kept it out of service longer—items that could have been taken care of earlier had the shop been notified about them. For the shop to be efficient, we need to let them know the minute we think something isn’t right with the rigs. It reminded me of an occurrence many years ago where I was bringing one of our pumpers up for fuel. After I turned off the ramp, I was heading up the road, and the truck felt like it was hesitating a little bit. But, I didn’t think it was a huge deal, so I kept going. I got it into the township yard, but before I could get it to the fuel pump, it cut out, and I could not restart it. It ended up we had to have it towed. I mentioned to the Chief Engineer how it felt like it was hesitating when I left, and he said, “Do me a favor: the next time that happens, turn it around and bring it back!”

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