Battle Ground resident Gary McPeak shares his concern that Fire District 3 won’t be able to respond in the case of wildland fires
I read about Larch Corrections Center closing and am concerned about my fire district’s ability to respond in case of wildland fires. There was a big one a few years ago and more are coming. I live in Clark County Fire District 3 and we don’t have enough people to replace those wildland fire crews that have left.
I worked in the fire service for 34 years. When I started back in 1960 the fire department that employed me had 3- and 4-person engine crews. Fire District 3 has only 2-person engine crews and it’s 2024!
That’s not enough people to enter a burning building. By law you need three which means our firefighters have to wait for another engine to arrive. We can’t even staff all our fire stations full-time. This is unsafe for our community.
Fire District 3 is asking our community to approve a fire levy lid lift to hire more firefighters. I know all of us are paying more for everything. But I think the most important public service funded by tax dollars is fire/EMS.
This is not because I was a firefighter. It’s because it saves lives.
Gary McPeak
Battle Ground
Also read:
- Vancouver bowlers make their marks at HBCU Alabama A&M
Fort Vancouver and Hudson’s Bay grads helped Alabama A&M win its first conference bowling title in 12 years. - Letter: ‘Don’t take the deal’
Camas resident Tony Teso calls Nancy Churchill’s column a partisan recruitment pitch disguised as personal awakening. - Letter: ‘We need more WSP visibility and aggressive driving patrols’
Bob Zak urges WSP to deploy more unmarked patrol units on I-5 and I-205 in Southwest Washington. - Letter: ‘IBR I-5 Bridge space allocation grossly unfair’
Camas resident Douglas Tweet argues IBR allocates half the bridge to modes used by just 2.3% of travelers. - Opinion: $2 trillion and no one aboard
Randal O’Toole argues $2.1 trillion in federal transit subsidies has produced fewer riders per capita than 60 years ago.
