<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Thursday, March 28, 2024
March 28, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Fire District 6 will ask to repeat six-year tax

Levy on the August ballot would fund emergency medicine

By John Branton
Published: May 16, 2010, 12:00am

Officials with Fire District 6, which protects Hazel Dell, Salmon Creek, Felida and nearby areas, plan to make sure its residents understand the need for paramedics with advanced life support training.

The district’s emergency medical service levy renewal issue will appear on the August primary ballot.

Five open house meetings on the topic are scheduled in the next few months, all at 7:30 p.m.:

• May 20, July 1, Aug. 12: Hazel Dell station, 8800 N.E. Hazel Dell Ave.

• June 10, July 29: Felida station, 11600 N.W. Lakeshore Ave.

In addition, Chief Jerry Green and his officers are available to give 25-minute PowerPoint presentations and to answer questions.

Tip: you can interact with this map using your fingerscursor (or two fingers on touch screens)cursor. Map

To schedule a presentation, call district spokeswoman Dawn Johnson at 360-213-2191 or e-mail her at dawn.johnson@ccfd6.org.

Officials with Clark County Fire District 6 will ask voters in the Aug. 17 election to renew the district’s levy for emergency medical services, which expires at the end of this year.

Without a renewal, the district might have to lay off 13 to 23 firefighter-paramedics and administrative employees, which would reduce the level of emergency medical care it can provide and increase response times, officials said in a bulletin.

If approved, Proposition 1 will extend the EMS levy for another six years, at the same rate that’s currently charged, 45 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

At that rate, the owner of a home worth $300,000 would pay $135 per year.

“We know the economy is still an issue for many people in our community,” Fire Chief Jerry Green said in the bulletin. “That’s why we’re asking only for what we need to maintain current emergency service levels.”

Fire District 6 protects a large area including Hazel Dell, Lakeshore, Felida, Salmon Creek, Mount Vista and the fairgrounds area.

With nearly 90 percent of the district’s calls made for emergency medical care, it now provides advanced life support, which is given by certified paramedics with 1,500 hours of training, the bulletin said.

Paramedics can give lifesaving medications for critical problems including cardiac arrest, congestive heart failure, dangerously high blood pressure and breathing problems including asthma, said Capt.-Paramedic Scott Johns.

They can insert IV lines and perform tracheal intubations, and establish new airways in the neck of a victim who can’t breathe otherwise.

Paramedics also can diagnose heart rhythms, making it more likely a person can make an early recovery from a heart attack or strokes.

Were the levy to fail, and the district to lay off its paramedics, the emergency medical care would fall from advanced life support to basic life support, which is performed by emergency medical technicians with only 110 hours of training, the bulletin said.

EMTs can’t provide lifesaving medications or establish IVs, and are more limited in what they can do to assist a victim who isn’t breathing.

Officials with Fire District 6, which protects Hazel Dell, Salmon Creek, Felida and nearby areas, plan to make sure its residents understand the need for paramedics with advanced life support training.

The district's emergency medical service levy renewal issue will appear on the August primary ballot.

Five open house meetings on the topic are scheduled in the next few months, all at 7:30 p.m.:

&#8226; May 20, July 1, Aug. 12: Hazel Dell station, 8800 N.E. Hazel Dell Ave.

&#8226; June 10, July 29: Felida station, 11600 N.W. Lakeshore Ave.

In addition, Chief Jerry Green and his officers are available to give 25-minute PowerPoint presentations and to answer questions.

To schedule a presentation, call district spokeswoman Dawn Johnson at 360-213-2191 or e-mail her at <a href="mailto:dawn.johnson@ccfd6.org">dawn.johnson@ccfd6.org</a>.

Last year, the bulletin said, the district’s average emergency response time was four minutes or less.

Officials said the district uses its EMS levy money to keep response times low, provide ongoing training to firefighter-paramedics, and equip all its stations with lifesaving equipment including cardiac monitors and devices that help patients breathe in medical crises.

For more information, visit http://www.ccfd6.org.

John Branton: 360-735-4513 or john.branton@columbian.com.

Loading...