SEQUIM — Clallam County Fire District 3 will sell two unused parcels of land to help gain capital for a new Carlsborg fire station or new fire engines.
Fire district commissioners unanimously agreed following an Aug. 15 executive session to list the parcels with Mark McHugh Real Estate.
When the listings go live and how much they’ll be sold for hasn’t been set yet, interim fire chief Dan Orr said in an interview.
The first parcel, on 1.91 acres near Marine Drive, sits along the 1000 block of East Anderson Road in Dungeness and was originally targeted to be a replacement site for Dungeness Station 31.
The second parcel is 5.1 acres on the 100 block of Sieberts Creek Road just north of the Conestoga Quarters RV Park. Fire officials said it was at one time considered to be a replacement site for Station 32 on U.S. Highway 101.
“We’ve had them for years, and they’re not in spots that we’re going to do anything,” fire commissioner chair Bill Miano said in an interview.
He added that district staff are analyzing the district’s fleet and facilities to see if they can help create capital to fund three new fire engines, valued at about $1.2 million each, and a new Carlsborg Station 33.
The proposed station could move from 70 Carlsborg Road to the district’s Operations and Training Center at 255 Carlsborg Road as the current facility has space and structural issues, district staff said.
McHugh is also doing a market analysis of all the district’s properties “really just to see where we are,” Miano said.
“We’re not looking to sell any fully staffed buildings,” he added.
Station 37 in Blyn is owned by Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, so it’s not being analyzed, fire officials said.
“We’ve done some significant data and analytics, and (the two parcels) are not the greatest place to be,” Orr said.
“We’re looking at an area for a new Dungeness station where the travel times and road miles would serve the area better.”
Costs continue to rise exponentially, Miano said, and fire engine costs were higher than the district was planning for. The conversation on pursuing fire trucks was tabled for now, he said, as staff was asked to pursue more options.
Orr said estimates for a new fire station put costs at about $1,000 per square foot, and they’re considering an 8,000-square-foot new Carlsborg station for about $8 million.
“(Commissioners) are trying to use the resources they have,” Orr said.
“If they’re sitting on something they may or may not use, then they want to liquidate these things and put those proceeds towards a new fire station.”
The size of future, outlying, fully-staffed fire stations also continues to be a point of conversation for fire commissioners, Orr said, with smaller stations and larger garages a possibility.
Miano said they continue to consider a neighborhood model to spread out resources while decreasing service call times as the population grows, one of their goals of the district’s long-term strategic plan.
Fire chief search
Last week, Issaquah recruitment firm Prothman finished its in-house interviews with fire commissioners and some staff, union leaders and other stakeholders to build a profile for a future fire chief job listing.
Fire commissioners agreed in July to a $17,500 contract with Prothman to find and vet candidates for the district’s top administrator position.
Orr said his hope is that the consulting firm advertises the position the first week of September, and applications will close in mid-October.
Prothman will then screen eight to 15 applicants and bring five finalists to Sequim for interviews tentatively in mid-November.
For more about Clallam County Fire District 3, visit ccfd3.org.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
