News News From NK Fire & Rescue
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Levy – North Kitsap Fire & Rescue (NKF&R) is asking voters this fall to renew our Emergency Medical Services (EMS) property tax levy at the current rate of $0.50/$1,000 of assessed property valuation. This is not a new tax, but a simple continuation of an existing tax that voters have reauthorized on a regular basis for nearly thirty years. Medical responses are the majority of calls at NKF&R. Last year, our crews responded to 1,768 EMS calls. That’s 67% of the 2,628 total responses for 2012. Fire districts receive no on-going county, state or federal funding. Nearly 90% of NKF&R’s budget comes from local property taxes. The EMS levy provides about one-quarter of NKF&R’s operating budget, so renewal of the levy is vital to continued high-quality emergency medical services. Ballots will be mailed out to voters in mid-October, and must be postmarked or deposited into a ballot drop-box no later than November 5. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Fire Prevention Week - October 6-12, we are joining forces with the nonprofit National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) to remind local residents to ‘Prevent Kitchen Fires.’ During this year’s fire safety campaign, fire departments will be spreading the word about the dangers of kitchen fires--most of which result from unattended cooking—and teaching local residents how to prevent kitchen fires from starting in the first place. According to the latest NFPA research, cooking is the leading cause of home fires. Two of every five home fires begin in the kitchen—more than any other place in the home. Cooking fires are also the leading cause of home fire-related injuries. Often when we’re called to a fire that started in the kitchen, the residents tell us that they only left the kitchen for a few minutes. Sadly, that’s all it takes for a dangerous fire to start. We hope that Fire Prevention Week will help us reach folks in the community before they’ve suffered a damaging lesson. To avoid cooking fires, we offer the following tips: 1. Stay in the kitchen when you are frying, grilling, broiling, or boiling food; 2. If you must leave the room, even for a short period of time, turn off the stove; 3. When you are simmering, baking, or roasting food, check it regularly, stay in the home, and use a timer to remind you; 4. If you have young children, use the stove’s back burners whenever possible. Keep children and pets at least three away from the stove; 5. When you cook, wear clothing with tight-fitting sleeves; 5. Keep potholders, oven mitts, wooden utensils, paper and plastic bags, towels, and anything else that can burn, away from your stovetop, and; 6. Clean up food and grease from burners and stovetops. More information about preventing kitchen fires can be found at www.firepreventionweek.org Escape Planning Contest - As we do every year, we are partnering with local schools to help make families as safe as possible by encouraging students to create or renew their home fire escape plans. At each school, the classroom(s) with the highest return rates of accurate escape plans will be treated to an ice cream sundae party by firefighters. A good escape plan includes two ways out of every room, one meeting place outside and practice. Check our website at www. nkfr.org for downloadable escape planning contest forms and additional information about creating a life-saving plan.
Suquamish News
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Vol. 13, No. 10