BRINNON — The Brinnon Fire District $1.2 million bond has received more than the 60 percent supermajority needed for passage.
Voters approved it by 68.98 percent, with 274 votes in favor and 124 or 31.02 percent, against it, in the initial count of general election ballots Tuesday night. The next count of ballots will be on Friday.
Brinnon Fire Chief Tim Manly estimated the total number of voters in Brinnon to be approximately 1,000.
Manly was at a Jefferson County Emergency Medical Services meeting in Chimacum when he learned the results of the vote.
“I was just getting ready to go home and start searching the results when one of the firefighters stopped me and said ‘have you seen the results yet?’,” Manly said.
“He turned the computer screen so I could see it and I saw that big yellow line on the top — which I knew was going to be the ‘yes’ column — and I just about fell over, I was so happy.”
The plan for the bond is to pay it off over the course of 10 years and cost the average homeowner with an assessed value of $200,000 about 45 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, Manly said.
That breaks down to $7.50 a month, or $90 a year for those 10 years, he added.
“We’re very happy that the citizens recognized our need for equipment,” Manly said. “I have firefighters who are younger than these trucks.
“There’s still a possibility that it could change, but I think the initial result is what it’s going to be.”
The bond would replace both of the department’s water tenders, which hold water supplies of 1,200 gallons and 750 gallons, with a 2,500-gallon water tender as the main response vehicle and a 1,500-gallon water tender for smaller areas.
The bond also would fund replacement of two ambulances and an emergency response vehicle.
The current water tenders can use up their water within 3 minutes and were designed for cities with fire hydrants every few blocks.
The tenders, built in the 1980s, are at “end of life,” Manly said.
The bond also would purchase a 4-inch hose, which would be able to pump a gallon of water per foot of hose.
The department wouldn’t receive the new engines until next year around November at the earliest, Manly said.
More information about what equipment the department will be able to purchase with the bond can be found at www.peninsula dailynews.com/news/fire- district-in-brinnon-seeks- bond.
The vote count will certified on Nov. 26.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.
