Port Angeles Fire Chief Ken Dubuc tells Port Angeles Business Association members Tuesday the city is at risk of its fire insurance rating being downgraded if more firefighters aren’t hired by July. (Jesse Major/Peninsula Daily News)

Port Angeles Fire Chief Ken Dubuc tells Port Angeles Business Association members Tuesday the city is at risk of its fire insurance rating being downgraded if more firefighters aren’t hired by July. (Jesse Major/Peninsula Daily News)

Port Angeles fire chief tells of need for more firefighters to avoid insurance hike

PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Fire Department needs to hire more firefighters or the city risks a downgrade in its fire insurance rating, Chief Ken Dubuc told the Port Angeles Business Association on Tuesday.

A downgrade could mean up to 90 percent of residents and businesses in Port Angeles would see anywhere from a 5 percent to a 10 percent increase in insurance costs, Dubuc has said.

“We need help, quite frankly,” he told a couple dozen people at PABA’s weekly meeting. “We’ve kicked the can down the road for a long time, and we can’t afford to do that anymore.”

Because a Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau inspection in late 2015 determined the city’s fire insurance rating should be downgraded from 4 to 5 out of 10, the Port Angeles Fire Department has been working to ensure that doesn’t happen, the fire chief said.

To keep its current rating of 4 — a good rating, according to Dubuc, since only a handful of departments across the state are rated higher — the department has committed to having five firefighters working at all times.

Last year, the department averaged 4.5 firefighters each day.

For now, the department is meeting the requirement through mandatory overtime.

“We can do that for the short term but not for the long term,” Dubuc said. “We’re going to need to hire some people.”

The Port Angeles City Council approved the overtime to have five personnel staffed at the fire department at all times through July.

Council members also agreed to hold a Feb. 28 work session — a month earlier than planned — to discuss options for funding at least two full-time positions that Dubuc said are needed to reduce individual firefighters’ call-volume workloads but which would only be employing a bandage approach to the issue.

Dubuc’s intention is to hire two more firefighters by July, he has said, but four or more are actually needed, which would cost about $300,000.

The department hasn’t hired additional firefighters for 26 years but has seen a 240 percent increase in call volume, he said.

Last year, it responded to an average of about 13 calls per day.

“Out of any portion of the day, you can roll the dice and we’re already out on a call,” Dubuc said.

To hire the new firefighters, the department will look at increasing the Medic 1 portion on residents’ utility bills.

If the city’s rating is downgraded, those additional insurance fees residents would pay would go to insurance companies and not provide any additional services for the city, Dubuc said.

________

Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.

More in News

Judy Willman, daughter of University of Washington rowing team member Joe Rantz, signs a movie poster for the movie “The Boys in the Boat,” a tribute to the team’s rise to winning a gold medal in the 1936 Olympics. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Spotlight on ‘The Boys in the Boat’

Story with Sequim tie has advance screening

A two-bedroom, 800-swuare-foot home is among the free plans offered by the City of Port Angeles.
Port Angeles offers free pre-approved stock plans

City hopes to reduce time, costs of housing construction

Port Angeles aims to spur development

City waives certain building permit fees for 15 housing types

Man involved in Thursday wreck dies in Silverdale

The 79-year-old Sequim man involved in Thursday’s two-vehicle wreck… Continue reading

Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News

James Kingland enjoying his favorite place in Port Townsend along the waterfront on Friday morning. Kingland goes there often to reflect on his life and for the inner peace he extr
Home Fund helps man get back on his feet

‘It allowed me to move forward without feeling like I was just lost’

EYE ON THE PENINSULA: Parks fees, public health before county board

Government meetings across the North Olympic Peninsula

Sequim High School Interact Club students pose in front of Seattle's SIFF Cinema Downtown before a screening of  "The Boys in the Boat" on Thursday.
Sequim students attend Seattle screening of “The Boys in the Boat’

Forty-five members of the Sequim High School Interact Club attended… Continue reading

Traffic backs up on Monroe Road because of an automobile wreck near the intersection with U.S. Highway 101 on Thursday. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
One wreck, two locations in East Port Angeles

Crash backs up traffic for miles Thursday morning

Golf course lease to be considered

Port Townsend City Council on verge of new pact

Clallam County adopts construction program

Twenty projects total $8.8 million in 2024

State lawmakers begin to drop bills ahead of upcoming session

Insulin, public defense funds, gift cards topics featured so far