Camas and Washougal city officials this week agreed to extend the decade-long interlocal agreement — which merged the two cities’ fire departments into the Camas-Washougal Fire Department in 2013 — and to place a regional fire authority proposal before voters in 2025.
The city councils met separately Monday to review and approve the updated interlocal agreement, which will now expire Dec. 31, 2026. Both councils also agreed to present a regional fire authority proposal to voters in April 2025 and/or November 2025.
In anticipation of the agreement’s expiration, Camas and Washougal officials and fire department leaders spent more than a year discussing how the cities would maintain a joint fire department and provide the same level of fire and emergency medical services to which Camas and Washougal residents are accustomed, without straining Washougal’s more limited revenues.
Under the original agreement, the cities split the fire department’s costs 60-40, with Camas paying around 60 percent. Camas City Administrator Doug Quinn said Camas expects to pay roughly 64 percent of the costs going forward.
