SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. — Snohomish County is growing: the U.S. Census Bureau reports that it has added more than 100,000 people since a decade ago.
Now, however, some firefighters say it's affecting how fast they can respond. One Snohomish fire station's chief says staffing cannot keep up with higher call volumes and overlapping calls.
"There's only three people here," said Fire Chief Don Waller from Snohomish County Fire District 4. "And they man the ambulance, the engine, the tender and a brush rig -- even though we can only take basically one at a time."
"That's one of those calls that has a little bit of everything. So if somebody's hurt, there's a medical problem. But a car accident, a spill, if somebody's trapped or if they started a fire, that's considered a fire, so that can bring both skillsets to need," said Waller.
He said icy roads are keeping firefighters busy lately.
"Weather like this, our car accidents increase," he said.
Even prior to this winter weather, they were being spread thin, according to Waller. The fire district responded to about 4,590 calls last year -- a 34% uptick since a decade prior.
This is something he attributes to both a bigger population and an older one: he said about 60% of the calls are for emergency medical service (EMS).
"As our population in our district ages, then the demand on our services increases," said Waller.
He added that 28% of the time, two calls come in at the same time and they're forced to prioritize based on urgency -- or they'll call for help from other stations. Either way, he said it is impacting response times.
Their goal is to get a unit on scene within eight minutes, due to data showing "the body starts to have problems if we haven't gotten there, depending on what kind of medical call," said Waller.
He said they are only achieving that goal about 60% of the time, but Waller is waiting for an important decision from the Board of Fire Commissioners.
"If the commissioners decide that they're gonna ask the citizens for levy lift -- that would go on the ballot sometime this fall, either August or November," said Waller.
Then, the voters would be asked if they want to increase their levy back to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
The rate recently dropped to $1.14 per $1,000 of assessed property value due to what's called "levy compression." Each year, the fire district is allowed to collect a set amount of revenue, Waller said. State law limits the fire district to that amount plus 1% more per year.
Even if property values double, the fire district can only collect 1% more. This means that the levy rate falls as property values rise, he said.
Because of this, Waller is hoping voters get informed.
"Just evaluate the need, and the facts, and make a good decision," said Waller.
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