PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Fire Department and Clallam County Fire District No. 2 have chosen a name for a proposed combined fire department — Port Angeles Fire and Rescue.
The name and a patch design were both approved by the two fire department’s staff and volunteers at a joint awards banquet on Saturday at the Eagles Club in Port Angeles.
‘Identity is important’
Port Angeles Fire Chief Dan McKeen said that choosing a name gives the efforts of the two fire departments to consolidate their fire and medical services an identity.
“Identity is important to each fire fighter, and it is important to us that we came up with a new name early on that could be agreed upon by both departments,” McKeen said.
Fire District No. 2 Chief Jon Bugher said Port Angeles is included in the name to give the proposed fire department name recognition.
“We wanted something that is readily recognizable by the community,” he said.
The Port Angeles department covers the incorporated municipality, while Fire District 2, an all-volunteer fire district that extends over 85 square miles, surrounds Port Angeles on three sides.
Consolidation of the fire departments is just a proposal under consideration, both chiefs say. It could come before the voters who live within the boundaries of the two fire districts some time next year.
If voters approved the consolidation, it could be completed within three months because of the planning currently occurring, McKean said.
But it may never get that far.
Before the issue is brought to voters, a proposal now being developed by an ad hoc committee — made up of 11 people representing the Port Angeles Fire Department and City Council, fire district and its commission, Firefighters Local No. 656, and Port Angeles residents — would have to be approved by the City Council and fire district commission.
McKeen said the committee’s goal is to have its recommendation completed by the end of the year. But that recommendation could involve rejecting consolidation.
As Bugher put it: “We have been dating. Now we need to find out if we need to get married.”
Better management
Bugher and McKeen both said that the fire departments want to consolidate their fire and medical services into one entity to resolve issues with jurisdictional boundaries and to better manage their limited funding by combining resources.
The fire departments have taken several steps toward consolidation by combining their administrative offices in the Port Angeles fire station at 102 E. Fifth St. in December 2007, consolidating their volunteer fire fighters in 2007, and by enacting mutual aid agreements.
Both departments also share a reserve fire truck, which allowed the city of Port Angeles to declare its reserve engine surplus about a year ago.
McKeen said that saved the Fire Department maintenance costs, and provides for more efficient use of resources — one of the main goals of combining the two fire departments.
“If consolidation happens, it will reduce the response times with the city and the [fire] district so we can have better outcomes,” he said.
McKeen and Bugher both said that combining their fire departments would help resolve funding issues.
Bugher said the fire district needs career firefighters because its call load averages four a day, but it can’t afford them.
The volunteer fire fighters “have full time jobs and families,” he said. “It takes a toll.”
Funding
Before the ad hoc committee makes a recommendation, it must resolve how both fire department’s facilities would be used and how a combined fire department would be funded.
The fire district is funded completely by property taxes, and the city uses property, sales and utility taxes to fund the Fire Department.
Bugher and McKeen said combining the fire departments would involve adjusting responsibilities of the current administrative staff, but it would not result in any firings.
“We certainly don’t need four chiefs,” Bugher said, referring to McKeen, himself, and their deputy chiefs.
Both Bugher and McKeen have agreed that McKeen would act as fire chief of the combined fire district, if approved, and Bugher would be deputy fire chief.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
