Spokane County Fire District 3 adding 11 paid positions paid for by grant
More big changes are coming to Spokane County Fire District 3 in southwest Spokane County after the district annexed Medical Lake into its boundaries in August.
The district has used paid command staff and volunteer firefighters in the past but recently announced it was taking applications for career firefighters and additional battalion chiefs. The 11 new positions are being paid for by a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The grant, which lasts for three years, pays for 75% of the costs during the first and second years and 35% of the costs in the third year. Fire Chief Cody Rohrbach said the district will not have any problems paying for the new positions once the grant ends.
“We’ve ensured that they’re fully funded at the end of the grant,” he said.
The new positions will open the doors to more changes at the district that covers 570 square miles. Currently the volunteers are paid a small amount for each call they respond to, but the addition of new firefighters will allow volunteers to sign up for a few shifts a month instead of being on call constantly. “That’s how we’re ensuring those stations with high call volume are fully staffed 24 hours a day,” Rohrbach said.
The station in Medical Lake and Station 33 located next to Interstate 90 in Four Lakes have the highest volume of calls, about 600 a year each. Together the stations account for 51% of the calls in the district.
It was the high call volume in Medical Lake that overwhelmed the volunteer department there and led to the annexation, Rohrbach said. There simply weren’t enough volunteers in Medical Lake and 26% of calls went unanswered.
“The call volume had become overwhelming for an all-volunteer force,” Rohrbach said. “One in 4 calls in Medical Lake, no one showed up. Since Aug. 20, not one call has been missed.”
The same thing was in danger of happening at Station 33, with volunteers responding from that station tasked with responding to about 600 calls a year. It just wasn’t sustainable, Rohrbach said. “Almost all of them have day jobs,” he said.
Coupled with the rising number of calls in District 3 before the annexation of Medical Lake, Rohrbach said it was time to add career firefighters. “Our call volume in the last two years is up 23%, not counting the addition of Medical Lake,” he said. “We needed to provide appropriate service levels.”
The district is also going to use the new hires to provide Advanced Life Support services. Paramedics have special training that allows them to use a wider array of drugs when treating someone, Rohrbach said. Up until now the district has not had any paramedics of its own and has relied on the AMR ambulance paramedics. Rohrbach said the district plans to hire or train at least five paramedics as part of the career firefighters hired.
“We’re going to save lives,” he said. “It just gives us more capabilities.”
Rohrbach said the eight new firefighters will be split between the Medical Lake station and Station 33, the stations with the highest volume of calls. But neither had the living quarters required for full-time firefighters to work out of the station 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Living quarters were just added to the back of Station 33 and plans are underway to remodel the Medical Lake station to add living quarters. The project is expected to go out to bid within the next month. “We are finalizing the plans with the architect right now,” he said.
The hiring process for the new firefighters will begin soon. “We’ve over 100 applications,” Rohrbach said. “Those positions are really sought after, which is a good problem.”
The new firefighters will start in April, and those without experience will go through a four-month fire academy before they begin responding to calls. Rohrbach said he’s looking forward to the new additions.
“Career people are going to work hand in hand with our volunteers to complete our mission,” he said. “It’s just a really exciting time.”