As the Quilcene Fire Rescue Commissioners continue to discuss the 2019 budget, their priorities are to ensure adequate funding to purchase new radios and computers, as well as necessary training for emergency personnel. 

The 2019 draft budget currently is set at $1,114,855 for fire service and $463,300 for emergency medical services, administrative assistant Jean Morris said. 

The three commissioners are slated to vote on the budget during their meeting on Nov. 12. The budget must be passed and forwarded to Jefferson County by Nov. 30, Morris said.

The budget will cover Jan. 1, 2019, through Jan. 1, 2020.

Radios

During a public hearing of the proposed budget on Oct. 24 at the Quilcene Fire Station, the three commissioners spoke of the importance of purchasing new radios so firefighters and emergency medical technicians have access to essential communications while in the field. 

“Radios are as important as a vehicle,” said Art Frank, chairman of the board. “They are as important as fire hoses. Being in a rural area, radios are very important, and before you know it, they are 10 or 15 years old. It is all about the safety equipment.”

Quilcene Fire Rescue has about 24 mobile radios and about 35 handheld units, many of which are failing due to age. 

The draft budget includes $2,500 for radios used by firefighters and another $2,500 used by EMTs, the same as the 2018 budget. New radios can cost nearly $2,000 each.

Frank suggested using the same funding level for now, although he requested staff to determine the cost of purchasing new radios. Once that purchase price is known, it could be brought before the commissioners at a future meeting for approval. 

“We leave the budget at the 2018 level, and we come up with a plan,” Frank said. “We want to do it all in one lump sum. Those other radios should be good for five or six years before we do anything to it.”

While the investment likely will be costly, Frank said it will be worth it. 

“Let’s come up with a plan to (purchase new radios) and get rid of some of the antique equipment,” he said. “We can do it in three months. We have money for capital outlay to replace equipment, if that is what we’d like to do.”

New computers

The three commissioners also spoke about the importance of replacing aging computers used by emergency personnel.

Commissioner Herb Beck said the $3,000 set aside for computer maintenance in the draft budget won’t be enough to purchase new computers. The commissioners asked staff to put together a replacement plan and to return to them at a later date for consideration. Any funds allocated to new computer purchases would be considered supplemental to the 2019 budget. 

Training

The three commissioners also spoke of the importance of providing emergency personnel any funding to pay for needed training. 

“We do anticipate four new EMTs this year going through (the academy), hopefully starting in January,” Frank said, noting the cost of attending the academy has gone up in recent years.  

The four new EMTs will help staff a new ambulance, which is expected to be delivered in the near future. 

“We have a new ambulance starting construction Nov. 1,” Beck noted. 

The ambulance will help provide additional resources for ever-increasing calls for service. 

Quilcene Fire Rescue currently has a staff that includes a full-time chief, part-time deputy chief, a part-time administrative assistant, three career firefighters and more than 20 volunteers, its website states. The district, which serves a population of about 2,500 residents, responds to an average of 48 monthly calls, and more than 500 annually. That number has increased dramatically when compared with five years ago, when the annual calls for service were only about 300 per month.

And the calls for service generally require traveling distances of more than 20 miles, which means excess mileage is beginning to build up on the existing ambulances and fire trucks. 

“The new equipment, the mileage is just racking up,” Frank said. “A piece of equipment that used to last 10 or 12 years is not going to last that long anymore.”

One 2016 model ambulance currently in service has 40,000 miles on the odometer, while an older ambulance in service since the mid-1990s has about 118,000 miles. The older ambulance, which is powered by a diesel engine, also has been rife with maintenance problems throughout the years and is in desperate need of replacement, Frank said.