Votes to decide on Spokane County Fire District 3 EMS levy to add more staffing

SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — Spokane County Fire District 3 is asking voters to approve a six-year emergency medical services property tax levy this November, saying they need more staff to keep up with the climb in calls.

Fire Chief Cody Rohrbach, said the district responded to about 1,400 calls annually ten years ago. Since then, that number has grown to about 3,500 calls a year as the population has increased. Fire District 3 covers the largest geographic area of any fire district in Spokane County, stretching from Spokane International Airport to the boundaries of Lincoln and Whitman counties. Rohrbach said it covers roughly 570 square miles, or the southwest one-third part of Spokane.

Only 2 out of the district’s 11 fire stations — in Medical Lake and Four Lakes — are currently fully staffed every day, meaning at least two firefighters are assigned at each of those stations. If voters approve the levy, the district plans to add at least two firefighters at stations in Cheney and Spangle, bringing the number of fully staffed stations in their district to four.

Rohrbach said they evaluated road miles and speed limits to identify which fire stations would need the staffing. He described it as a “four corners model”, strategically placed in Medical Lake, Four Lakes, Cheney, and Spangle to reach every corner of the district, thus, a quicker response time.

The levy funding would pay for 14 additional full-time firefighters and EMTs. The Cheney and Spangle stations would be staffed 24 hours a day.

Fire District 3 also has about 130 volunteer firefighters, the largest volunteer group in the county. Rohrbach said volunteers remain important to the district, but the higher call volume has made their workload more demanding.

“As a volunteer, that’s a lot of calls to get to,” Rohrbach said. “Historically, maybe they had 50 a year to try to respond to. And now, some stations are running in excess of 200 to 300 calls annually.”

If approved, the levy would cost homeowners $4.17 for every $100,000 of assessed property value. To put that in perspective, if you own a home that is valued at $300,000, that would equal about $12.51 a month.