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Our state of Washington fire services have seen many changes in the last 50 years. Fire codes, prevention and 911 emergency dispatch reduced the number of fires and paid fire departments picked up Emergency Medical Service services to provide additional purpose for their staff. Now most of the emergency calls are EMS.
Our junior taxing fire districts are created to respond to fires. Ambulances don’t put out fires. The legal way to spend property tax revenues on EMS is for the treatment of firefighters and people injured in the process of firefighting and rescue. Most Washington fire departments have EMS tax levies to legally spend taxes on non-firefighting medical operations. This requires an EMS junior taxing district and passing a separate EMS levy by a 60% vote.
The Washington State Survey and Rating Bureau rates fire departments (1-10) for insurance companies that insure your property. The lower the rating number, the lower your fire insurance premiums.
Other factors are the proximity of a fire hydrant and distance to the nearest fire station from your property.
Some rating credit is given to fire departments that staff with combination firefighters who are also paramedics. An ambulance and a fire apparatus respond together to perform both firefighting and EMS. Fire department ratings are based on: * Fire department, including distribution of stations, staffing levels, equipment, and personnel training. (40%) * Water supply including water flow capacity, fire hydrant location, and maintenance. (35%) * Emergency communications system including dispatching system, staffing, and training. (16%) * Fire safety control including fire code and building code enforcement, fire investigations, and public fire education programs. (9%) Providing EMS services is not included in the rating evaluation as property and life are separate insurance risks. Also, health insurance isn’t a factor. Installing a public water supply with fire hydrants is the most effective means to increase a community’s fire rating and lower insurance premiums.
Most fire departments in Washington provide EMS response with private company ambulance transport. Since Pend Oreille County doesn’t have a private ambulance company to transport patients, the Pend Oreille County fire departments currently provide ambulance transportation. Our firefighters, EMTs and paramedics deserve much credit for their work in our community. It’s amazing how well they perform.
This most significant issue is providing tax revenue to support both Fire and EMS services. Pend Oreille County’s low population and limited taxable real estate properties make it a challenge to equip and staff those services.
The fire service has a long history of being political that began with fire companies racing each other to the scene of the fire for payment. Later fire departments were organized as sole providers for a community. Now the battle is between fire chiefs and commissioners over how EMS is provided. It doesn’t matter who gets to the scene first.
*PETE SCOBBY IS A FORMER PAID ASSISTANT FIRE CHIEF, FIRE INSPECTOR AND FIRE SCIENCE COLLEGE INSTRUCTOR.
