PORT TOWNSEND — City Council members agreed Monday night to keep alive a proposal to consolidate the city Fire Department with Jefferson County Fire District No. 6.
Councilman Geoff Masci called for a public forum on the consolidation idea that was likened to the engagement leading up to a marriage.
Formal merger of the two firefighting and emergency medical services agencies would require a vote of city residents to be annexed into the fire district.
In Clallam County, a similar merger was accomplished between the Sequim Fire Department and Clallam County Fire District No. 3 in the late 1980s as a cost-cutting move.
Interim Port Townsend Fire Chief Dan Smith, who is also in the administration of North Kitsap Fire & Rescue in the Kingston area, said the consolidation would give the residents of the city and the fire district “the most bang for their buck.”
Smith urged the council not to drag its feet about the consolidation if it supports such a move.
