Vote ‘yes’ on the EJFR ballot measures | Letter to the editor

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As secretary of the Marrowstone Island Foundation for the past 3 1/2 years, I’ve worked closely with EJFR and I urge you to join me in voting YES for the levy lifts. Why?

• Their last lift was in 2011 and call volume is up 50 percent since then. Typically levy lifts happen every four to five years.

• 70 to 75 percent of East Jefferson Fire Rescue’s calls are for medical emergencies, 1.5 percent to 2 percent are for fires, and plus/minus 25 percent calls are “low to no acuity” calls like someone falling out of bed who needs help getting up.

• Why mostly medical emergency calls? We’re old. The median age of persons living in Washington in 2022 was 38.6. Jefferson County’s median age is 60.7; 41.6 percent of us are 65 or older.

• Of roughly 30,000 fire departments nationwide in 2018, 38 percent of them provided no emergency medical services, 45 percent provided basic life support, and 17 percent provided advanced life support. EJFR provides both basic and advanced life support. This is a rare gift.

• Even though fires comprise only 1.5 percent to 2 percent of calls they present a large danger. Our area is often at high risk for wildfires in the dry season. Marrowstone Island is attached to the mainland with a single, two-lane highway and is not the only location with bottlenecks.   Look at a map and imagine having to quickly evacuate Port Townsend. I personally want a robust, well-trained team of firefighters in my community.

• EJFR showed creativity and fiscal responsibility in its recent implementation of the CARES program, a brilliant solution to handle “low and no acuity” calls. Funded entirely by grants, it frees up resources for critical emergencies.

I’m voting to support EJFR because I know, first-hand, that they need it and deserve it.

Cheryl Brunette
NORDLAND