Valley Fire moves into Millwood

The town of Millwood needs help.

Less than two weeks ago, nearly all the town’s volunteer firefighters quit to protest Chief Bill Clifford being put on administrative leave.

Millwood council members have decided to ask the Spokane Valley Fire Department to begin responding to medical and fire emergencies within Millwood’s borders.

Valley firefighters will move out of their cramped quarters on Trent Avenue into Millwood’s new brick station next to Town Hall, assuming all the details can be worked out.

According to an agreement the town and the Valley Fire Department have approved, the Valley department will buy the town’s station and equipment and hire its four full-time firefighters, including Clifford and firefighter Tony Perry, who was laid off in December.

“All our volunteers quit on us. What are you going to do? You’ve got to have coverage,” said Millwood Councilman Doug Morton.

On July 16, Millwood intends to have the Valley Fire Department, with its 129 full-time firefighters, take over firefighting and medical emergencies for the town. In the meantime, the Valley department will respond to Millwood calls on nights and weekends, according to an automatic aid agreement signed by the Millwood Town Council at its meeting Monday evening.

The dollar amount of the contract has not been determined, said Valley Fire Chief Mark Grover. Valley Fire Department commissioners approved the agreement at a commissioners’ retreat in Chelan, Wash., on Friday, Grover said.

The agreement stipulates that Millwood will ask voters next year whether they want to annex and permanently become part of the Valley fire district.

A lot of issues still need to be resolved, such as how Millwood’s bond for its new station will be paid, whether the station’s land will be leased or purchased and how the town will settle ongoing labor issues.

“There are still a lot more questions than answers at this point in time. I think we all have (agreed on) a concept and direction it has to take,” Grover said.

Millwood’s Fire Department has been in turmoil since last year when the town council decided to lay off firefighter Tony Perry. The town is currently in the midst of a dispute with Perry that reached the state Public Employment Relations Commission. Perry claims he was fired for his union activities. If Millwood can’t convince PERC that the layoff was for purely financial reasons, the town would be required to re-hire Perry and give him back pay.

The situation further deteriorated on May 25, when 11 of Millwood’s 12 volunteer firefighters quit to show support for Clifford, who remains on paid administrative leave.

Millwood currently has two full-time firefighters during weekdays. The town relied on volunteers to respond to night and weekend calls. When the volunteers quit, the town temporarily brought in Airway Heights volunteer firefighters and Airway Heights Chief John Schoen.

Valley Fire surrounds the town of Millwood on all sides. Millwood is less than 1 square mile while Valley Fire encompasses a large, suburban area and serves nearly all of Spokane Valley.

In 2000, elected Valley Fire commissioners decided to end a long-standing automatic aid and training agreement with the town. The decision put Millwood in a bind.

Millwood officials decided to seek a levy and bond measures, which voters passed in 2001. Millwood hired three full-time firefighters, built the state-of-the-art brick fire station and bought a shiny firetruck.

Millwood councilman Dan Mork said he decided to go with Valley Fire because he thought it would provide the best coverage for residents.

“My opinion, going our own way didn’t go as well as I thought it would,” Mork said.

Town resident Cheryl Nikkola voted in favor of the measures, and said she opposes the transfer to Valley Fire.

“We paid for this not to happen,” Nikkola said of the decision to go with Valley Fire.

She stood outside the council meeting Monday with approximately 15 others. Nikkola said she was particularly angry that the council had gone into an hourlong executive session on a personnel matter without first allowing public comment on the fire issue. The council made the uncharacteristic move of scheduling the public comment period for the very end of the meeting.

Nikkola said she felt the meeting was set up that way because the council didn’t want to hear her opinion on the issue.

“Where’s our vote?” she asked.