PORT TOWNSEND — Port Ludlow-area residents urged Monday that the county’s emergency dispatch system — JeffCom — always have two 9-1-1 dispatchers on duty.
Citing a December arson fire that destroyed four Admiralty II condominium complex units and a fire two weeks ago that damaged a Port Ludlow Beach Club sauna, resident Dave Wheeler said both fires came during other emergency calls.
This underscores the need for more than one dispatcher on duty to handle more than one emergency calls, he said.
“It is my opinion that with only one dispatcher there’s a risk of public safety,” said Wheeler, a fire commissioner for Jefferson County Fire District No. 3 (Port Ludlow).
Wheeler, who told the county commissioners that he was speaking as a concerned resident, is also vice president of the Teal Lake Village Homeowners Association and is the Teal Lake representative on the Port Ludlow Village Council.
His comments were supported by Mike Porter, who is also on the Port Ludlow fire board, and Dave Woodruff, a Port Ludlow resident.
Porter also said he, too, was speaking on his own behalf.
‘Backing away’
Wheeler said in a statement to the county commissioners that he believed County Administrator John Fischbach, chairman of the JeffCom Board, “is possibly backing away from the previous commitment to have two 9-1-1 dispatchers on duty 24/7 at the Jefferson 9-1-1 Communication Center.”
Wheeler said an unwritten agreement existed between former Administrator David Goldsmith and the former Board of County Commissioners.
Fischbach, after the commissioners meeting Monday, said he investigated and found no such agreement existed.
“There never was a commitment by the former county commissioners to add two new positions,” he said.
Fischbach, however, said the one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax passed by voters in November, even though it was specified for JeffCom equipment, could also be used for new dispatchers.