Voters support fire department
The levy lid lift that will funnel $2 million into Spokane Valley Fire Department’s coffers each year for the next six years passed with 52.7 percent voter approval. Although Joe Dawson, chairman of Valley Fire’s board of commissioners, acknowledged the approval was marginal, he also states he understands the minds of the voters.
“It’s about the only place where people can control inflation. I can’t blame people especially when they’re on a fixed income like I am,” he said.
Last year, a special levy of $37.7 million was granted allowing the department to hire nine firefighters and add several new trucks to their aging fleet. “We had a 70 percent voter approval on that levy,” said Chief Mike Thompson of the Spokane Valley Fire Department.
Fire commissioners plan to put the recently passed levy lid lift to good use by building and upgrading a number of fire stations within the department’s 75-square-mile radius.
In a prior Spokesman-Review story it was noted that residents will see an increase in taxes from $1.23 to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value, meaning an additional $54 will be paid annually in taxes on a $200,000 house.
While other levies have mixed results at the polls, Spokane Valley residents remain steadfast in their support of their fire department.
“The community has always supported the fire department,” Dawson said. He’s quick to point out that “with the blessings of our voters allowing the levy lift, we won’t have interest on this because it’s not a bond. All money will be going into capital improvement.”
That capital improvement will begin in spring 2008 when the department will put Spokane Valley’s tax dollars to work breaking new ground at 32nd Avenue and Whipple Road. Station 9, currently on 16th Avenue near Bowdish Road and originally slated as only a paramedic facility, will have new digs to park their Class A pumper and paramedic unit. “We’ll have three people on duty 24 hours a day to begin with,” Thompson said.
“The house on 16th will be sold. It served its purpose for what we needed in the interim,” Dawson said.
Both Thompson and Dawson cite the department’s longer response time for the 32nd Avenue and Whipple Road area making it prime for a new stationhouse. Station 10, now a double-wide trailer on Sprague Avenue by Sullivan Road, will see the beginnings of a new facility in 2009.
“We’re taking it year by year,” Thompson said. Six facilities, including an administrative building and training center on Sullivan Road, will be upgraded or built to accommodate the growth of Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, Otis Orchards, Millwood and surrounding unincorporated areas.
“Last on the list is the future Station 11 that will be in Liberty Lake depending on the growth,” Thompson said.
What might come as a surprise is that the fire department isn’t just for fires. Approximately 80 percent of the calls are medical related.
“We have five paramedic engines and 38 people trained as paramedics,” Thompson said. “This year alone we’re looking at over 10,000 emergency calls. In fact, our calls were up 21.6 percent this year as compared to the same period last year through October.”
Thompson notes that there are 157 fire department employees including administrative staff, shop personnel, fire investigators, paramedics and firefighters and “each one is grateful to the Spokane Valley community.”
“We certainly appreciate their ongoing support. Even though this wasn’t a big success as the other levies, we feel very fortunate they voted for this and we won’t let them down,” Thompson said. “We’ll meet the goals we’ve outlined.”