KEY PENINSULA, Wash. — A Key Peninsula fire station had to close for about 24 hours last week because the department did not have the money to pay the necessary overtime costs required to staff it. Department leaders say temporary closures could happen more frequently.
The department closed the Longbranch station Friday morning and reopened it Saturday morning. The nearest station is more than four miles away from the Longbranch location.
Assistant Fire Chief, Chris Beswick, told KIRO 7 that too many people had called out sick or been on leave. While the department had enough people to fill those spots, they would have had to pay overtime they couldn’t afford.
The closure comes after voters rejected the renewal of a levy that helped pay for staffing costs earlier this year.
Because that levy was rejected, the department has had to make budget cuts. Beswick said it puts the department in a “new reality.”
“We’ve done some projections, and we’re estimating that we’ll probably have to close that that station once, possibly twice per month on average,” he said.
The Longbranch station was chosen as the site of the closure because it has the lowest call volume, Beswick said.
Still, response times are affected when the station is closed.
“The response times for the nearest engine or Medic Unit have probably close to doubled when that when that station closes,” Beswick said. “In the event that we have a large incident, help is a long ways away.”
In August, voters rejected the renewal of a property tax levy that helped fund the department. The request was not for a new tax levy, simply to continue an existing levy the department was required to renew every four years.
The levy had been generating around $800,000 each year for the department for staffing, facilities and maintenance.
“Everybody hates paying taxes, but when you dial 911, you’re going to hate it worse when nobody shows up,” said resident Darren Hammond, who voted for the levy.
“I’m not going to vote for you to waste my money,” said resident J.R. Euwing, who voted against it. “Every government agency is sticking their hand in my pocket. Why would I keep giving you money?”
This summer, after ballots were counted, Key Peninsula’s fire chief told KIRO 7 cuts might be unavoidable.
Beswick said the department has not had to make any cuts to positions at this time, but has had to reduce minimum staffing levels to reduce overtime costs.
The department did send two firefighters down to California to assist with the fight against wildfires. Beswick said that did not contribute to the closure because overtime costs required to fill their spots were reimbursed.
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