Editor,
I’ll be casting my vote for Savannah Erickson for fire district commissioner in November and here’s why.
She has tons of emergency management experience and exposure gained from 10 years at FEMA dealing with over 20 national disasters. We need such valuable perspective in light of the accelerating challenges we’ll be facing in coming years with more climate-induced weather events, relocations and emergency services.
In my view, our fire district seems preoccupied with new fire stations and the community is pumping a ton of money into that obsession. In 1990, their revenue was $600k. By 2012 it hit $2.3 million and is now pushing $4 million. The bulk of it goes to new fire stations totaling around $9 million (Saratoga, Langley, Freeland, Clinton remodel and that recent monster in Bayview).
Although I admire the dedication and commitment of our local fire district, this seemingly insatiable appetite for palatial stations defies both common sense and our community needs and priorities. We need some new perspective.
I think Savannah has the background and skills to examine and define future strategic directions based on real community needs. As we move from a volunteer operation to paid staff, this will pay us big dividends.
Let’s face it, fires are uncommon these days due to revised building codes and considerably more efficient heating systems. In fact there are 55% more career firefighters in the U.S. than there were in 1986, according to the National Fire Protection Association. But the number of home structure fires fell 54% over the same time period. To protect public health and safety we need medical facilities, ambulatory services (already provided by our local health department) and emergency services. EMTs are important but they sure don’t need a fleet of those big shiny trucks to get around.
We’re battling a pandemic whose destruction will be eclipsed by climate change in the coming years. It’s quite obvious we need to plan for these challenges and Savannah has the perspective, background and articulate leadership to do just that in a needed transparent manner. Check out her website at ericksonforcommissioner.com.
Dean Enell
Langley
