PORT ANGELES – More volunteer firefighters will be available to the city and they will be eligible for civil service credit under a volunteer firefighter consolidation agreement unanimously approved by the City Council.
“This will more than double our available pool of volunteers,” Port Angeles Fire Chief Dan McKeen told the council at its Tuesday night meeting.
The agreement will make Clallam County Fire District No. 2 volunteers members of the city’s fire department and the city’s volunteers members of Fire District 2 with existing members having the option to opt out, he said.
Fire District 2’s board of directors approved the agreement at its Dec. 5 board meeting.
Each agency will maintain the current number of approved volunteers, which is 24 for the city and 60 for Fire District 2, about 30 each at its Gales and Dry Creek stations, he said.
McKeen said volunteer firefighters often join Fire District 2 to get more experience and join the city’s fire department to get civil service “preference credit” toward becoming a career firefighter.
Now that “preference credit” will be given to both city and Fire District 2 volunteers, he said.
The pay rate will be the fire district’s, which will be adjusted during the budget process, McKeen said.
Command will be based upon the incident’s location, McKeen said.
