CLARK COUNTY, Wash — Clark County Fire District 6 is asking residents to spend a little more money to keep up with increased demand and improve service. It will ask voters to lift the lid on its current levy to keep the district on track.
Fire District 6 serves about 80,000 residents in parts of Clark County, north of Vancouver, including Hazel Dell, Salmon Creek, and Felida. Fire crews responded to approximately 12,000 emergency calls last year, about 80% of them for medical reasons. However, the call volume is up drastically. In the past five years, the call volume has surged 33%.
KGW talked with Fire Chief Kristen Mauer about what the district needs to keep up with growth and inflation. She explained that the district keeps rolling, thanks to funding from local levies. But as property values increase, levy amounts decrease, to keep funding about the same.
District 6 is down to $1.15 per thousand dollars of assessed property value. Chief Mauer said the fire district is asking voters to "lift the lid, back to the original $1.50 per thousand. It would cost a homeowner with a $400,000 house, roughly 10 dollars more a month.
“But with that $10 increase a month, we can provide more staffing in the fire department, and we can get different and more response units on the road. So that just ensures that if your family has an emergency, we’re there faster with the right amount of people and we can alleviate that emergency in a safe and effective manner."
The challenging part of the equation, Chief Mauer said is that Washington state law restricts fire districts from requesting funding increases more than 1% per year, which is being outpaced by inflation.
KGW caught up with both engine crews from Station 6 that were practicing knocking down a structure fire at the district's relatively new training center, at the rebuilt Station 63 in Salmon Creek. This, the chief said, is an example of residents increasing support in the past and it being a good investment.
Chief Mauer is asking them to do it again.
“It is a big ask and we understand we're asking for a lot, but what I can say about District 6 is we deliver on our promises,” said Mauer.
Now, the need is for more crew members, to meet increased demands.
The chief's priorities, "increased staffing and to put more units on the road; we can't put more people on the road without an apparatus to get them around."
Clark County Fire District 6 residents will vote on the levy lift in the August 6 primary election.
Fire District 3 is also asking voters to approve a levy lid lift in the August 6th primary, citing similar reasons. District 3 provides fire and life safety services to 46,000 people in east Clark County, including the City of Battle Ground.