VOTERS IN LEWIS COUNTY, WASHINGTON, have chosen to reduce their paramedic coverage by not passing a needed EMS levy by the 60% super-majority needed to raise taxes.
Unlike nearby Clark County where we reported HERE and HERE on a similar initiative that passed by a comfortable 65%, the measure for the fire district served by the Riverside Fire Dept. only garnered just over 58%. The Clark County levy question was vigorously backed by a well-organized and aggressive public information campaign by the local firefighters.
Currently the Riverside FD has a paramedic-staffed ambulance in each of its two stations. With the failure of this measure, they will be taking one of the two ambs. out of service with a resultant longer response time for some areas. In addition, the station that is losing the paramedic, who was also a firefighter, will sometimes be running with only two people on the fire engine. Since state law prohibits FF’s from entering a burning structure with less than 3 people on the scene, there will be scenarios where the 1st-arriving engine will become two more spectators until the next-in company arrives.
Riverside’s fire chief says that he expects the department to go back to the voters and try an EMS levy again.
Read the full story in today’s Chronicle HERE.
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