The Hoh tribe plans to break ground on a new fire station that will serve the reservation and the rest of West Jefferson County this summer, said the tribe’s executive director last week.
“It’s going to mean a lot of things for the tribe,” said Alexis Barry, who added that the tribe’s 133 members have to wait about 45 minutes for an ambulance.
“It’s an opportunity for jobs and training for tribal members.”
Barry said the 6,000-square-foot fire station — which will include three fire trucks, an ambulance, about 20 volunteers and eventually a tsunami evacuation center — will be built on U.S. Highway 101 about 25 miles south of Forks.
She said Hoh representatives will meet with the Jefferson County commissioners today to discuss how to fund the fire station. The Hoh reservation is outside neighboring fire district boundaries.
Barry said funding for construction of the fire station comes from $623,000 in the state’s July 2009-July 2011 capital budget.
But that money pays only for the infrastructure.
The total cost of the facility ranges from $1.5 million to $2 million.
Barry said the tribe is seeking federal grants.
The fire station will be the first structure to be built on 425 acres of land that the tribe has acquired in the last couple of years.
Barry said the tribe plans to move its members onto that land and out of a floodplain after fire and emergency service is established at the station.
The homes on the reservation, which now sits on 640 acres at the mouth of the Hoh River, are at constant risk of being flooded.
“We are very overcrowded and very concerned because the river is encroaching on the housing,” Barry said.
Congressional legislation introduced by Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Freeland, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Mountlake Terrace, this session would add the 425 acres to the reservation, along with 37 acres of Olympic National Park property.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
