PORT TOWNSEND — Emergency calls earlier this week taxed the resources of East Jefferson Fire Rescue, the department said.
A surge in 911 calls “left us at status zero for too long,” Chief Bret Black said in a press release.
“We need more firefighters and paramedics.”
Status zero is a 911 industry term used by emergency dispatchers that means that all available fire and emergency medical service units are committed and there is nothing left for the next emergency call.
Voters in Port Ludlow have approved, in unofficial general election results, a merger with East Jefferson Fire Rescue (EJFR).
Black, who is chief of both Port Ludlow Fire Rescue and EJFR, has said the merger will save money, but more funds will be needed.
“Our revenue does not come close to equal our expenses every year, so we’ve been spending reserves at a significant level,” Black has said.
A levy lid lift is under consideration for the Feb. 14 special election ballot. The board will discuss it in December.
The crunch was on Tuesday evening. It began with a fully involved structure fire on Lillian Street in Port Hadlock.
The first firefighters to arrive found a well-developed fire in a detached shop. The fire threatened the house and adjacent travel trailer.
Battalion Chief Jason MacDonald, in an attempt to protect the house, directed the firefighters to extend a supply line from Rhody Drive down Lillian Street.
Crews controlled the fire within 12 minutes of arrival and kept most of the damage confined to the shop, EJFR said in a press release.
“It’s pretty impressive that we got water on the fire within three minutes of arrival,” Black said.
He called the firefight “well-coordinated.”
“The integration of volunteers and mutual-aid partners was seamless,” Black said.
At virtually the same time as the house fire, firefighters and emergency medical technicians were called to other problems.
Station 16 in Port Townsend had a medical call, then a rollover vehicle wreck occurred on Beaver Valley Road, requiring additional chief officers, ambulances and fire engines.
The single-vehicle rollover at Egg and I and Beaver Valley roads necessitated a full complement of first responders to extricate a woman from the car and send her to Jefferson Healthcare hospital, Black said.
Both East Jefferson and Port Ludlow are seeing a dramatic increase in 911 calls. Many of those are simultaneous. They occur more than a third of the time.
“It’s pretty dramatic,” Black said Thursday. “Ludlow lately has really seen an increase. The weekend before last, we had a CPR call, another medical call and a structure fire, all in Ludlow” at about the same time.
Port Ludlow is experiencing a 20 percent increase in 911 calls over the year-to-date in 2021, Black said.
“We are at full staffing. All vacancies are filled. Our staffing and funding levels have not grown to keep up with the demand,” he said in the release.
On Thursday, he said, “the minimum staffing per day is 13, which is not enough. We could easily use another crew, which is another six people.”
EJFR currently has a full-time staff of 47 with 36 volunteer personnel that serve in various roles, according to its website at ejfr.org.
The need is for more than people, Black said. The department also needs to have available people highly trained in specialized skills for such emergencies as those needing water rescues or search and rescue.
“It’s not just about the people,” he said. “We need to have more capacity.”
The year-to-date call volume as of Sept. 1 was 3,370 alarms, consisting of 65 fires, 2,467 emergency medical service calls, 409 service calls and 429 other, the website said.
EJFR is comprised of the incorporated city of Port Townsend and the unincorporated Jefferson County communities of Cape George, Chimacum, Irondale, Kala Point, Marrowstone Island and Port Hadlock.
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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at lleach@soundpublishing.com.
