CHIMACUM — East Jefferson Fire Rescue commissioners unanimously approved a $50,000 budget amendment that allows the department to invest in more training and equipment.
Finance manager Terri Ysseldyke said Wednesday that the budget could accommodate the amount.
“We’re six months in [to the year] and we’re at like 50 percent or less for expenditures and our revenues are still exceeding,” Ysseldyke said. “So I feel that this budget can absorb the extra $50,000 to get rid of some of the things off our needs list.”
With revenues exceeding expenses, the district’s budget committee asked for the funds so that they would be used for live fire training ($20,000), and the purchase of $38,200 in equipment, including K-12 fire rescue saws, irons and battery powered hand tools — all of which had been eliminated from the 2023 budget.
A history of deficit spending and dwindling tax revenue had the department facing a potential deficit of close to $3 million this year. This was averted by deep and drastic cuts across the board in such areas as live fire training, which is necessary for fire fighter instruction and certification purposes.
“We take a methodical approach in how to restore funds for critical things that were cut,” Chief Bret Black said. “Live fire training is one of the most important things that we do.
“We will buy very much needed equipment that will improve the health and safety and efficiency of the crews, whether it’s the new pressure fans that have come online that are battery powered or some forceful entry tools,” he added.
The live fire training would take place in the fall after burn restrictions now in place are expected to have been lifted.
“I think it’s money well spent,” Commissioner Glenn Clemens said.
Commissioner David Seabrook said that when the district asked voters to approve a levy lid lift in the February special election, it had promised that items cut from the budget would slowly be returned as its financial situation stabilized.
“It’s what we told the community,” Seabrook said.
EJFR has joined Jefferson County’s efforts to develop a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) that will address strategies for responding to emergencies, including community preparedness, hazard mitigation and protecting homes and infrastructure from loss.
Black said Jefferson was one of the few counties in the state that lacks such a plan. Clallam County completed its CWPP plan in 2009.
The project will take about a year to complete, Black said.
“It’s been a pretty persistent issue with people not taking care of their properties in general and the Community Wildfire Protection Plan will have some way to deal with that,” Commissioner David Seabrook said.
The district is in the process of renumbering all of its stations and assistant Chief Pete Brummel anticipated the project would be completed by the end of the month or the first week of July.
“We’re waiting for pieces of plastic for the numbers. We need to remove the old placards and put the new ones on,” Brummel said. “We’re ahead of the curve and there’s no hard day when we have to get this done. We’ll give Jeffcom [911 dispatchers] a one-week notice.”
EJFR and Jeffcom 911 have been running practice drills since January using the new numbers to prepare for the start date.
“It will make less of a difference to the public,” Black said of the new numbering system, but will bring consistency across the district which has absorbed Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue and the Port Townsend Fire Department.
Commissioners are prepared to sell a house the district owns on Harrison Street in Port Townsend when the tenant vacates the property at the end of June, but agreed they needed to have it appraised and to check on tax implications before they take action.
“We don’t want to tear down a dwelling and put up a parking lot,” Seabrook said. “You could sit on it, or you could sell it.”
The commissioners had discussed previously the possibility of selling the property and putting the money toward a capital fund for purchasing a badly needed engine.
“The reasons to sell it outweigh the reasons to keep it,” Black said.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached at Paula.Hunt@soundpublishing.com
