Reporter Central Kitsap
Keep it classy Expanded classifieds inside Kitsap Week
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2013 | Vol. 29, No. 5 | WWW.CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM | 50¢
CKFR looking at costs, may close station BY LESLIE KELLY LKELLY@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Seraine Page/Staff photo
Capt. Rick O’Rourke tests equipment during a weekly inspection of the ladder truck at Station 51. Ladder maintenance is part of the firefighters’ responsibilities at the Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue stations.
Reporter hangs with firefighters BY SERAINE PAGE SPAGE@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
When Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue fire station personnel say they’ve had a long day at work, they aren’t kidding. The team works 24-hour shifts. By the end of a shift, they may have served the community in a variety of capacities: as a counselor, medic or firefighter. For some, the work they do in an hour would be more than others could handle if it were spread out over an entire eight-hour work shift. This unit does more than fight fires or the stereotypical saving kittens from trees. They work hard. Harder than most would imagine. Reporter Seraine Page tagged along for a portion of a work day. Following the adventure, Page admits she couldn’t handle a full shift. 8:30 a.m. I arrive on a particularly foggy morning at Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue Station 51 for my first responder ride-along. Ileana LiMarzi, CK Fire & Rescue public information officer, greets me as soon as I walk through the door. She introduces me to the Station 51 on-duty fire and rescue team. The fire department captain shows me my seat on the fire truck that I’ll jump in if a call beckons. I was then told I’d have to wear a fashionably ugly jumpsuit for identification purposes while out on calls. Fair enough, I thought, zipping up. This is what I asked for, isn’t it? I also was required to sign a waiver releasing the department from any liability if I were to be injured on the ride-along. I was warned a few days prior that ride-alongs were known for jinxing any exciting happenings, so I wasn’t too worried. For the next two hours, I watched two firefighters, including Capt. Rick O’Rourke, check multiple
items on the ladder truck. The weekly inspection includes wiping soot off the 105-foot ladder and ensuring all cables and pulleys are in working order. Amazed, I watch as four “legs” drop out of the sides of the truck to withstand the weight of the ladder. O’Rourke explains that each leg hosts about 12,000 pounds for stabilization. When I ask what the cost of a new fire truck was, he says, “almost a million” and that fire trucks have a lifetime of about 25 years. The current truck is a 1997 model. LiMarzi tells me 80 percent of the department calls are medical, but the fire truck has to be in tip-top shape at all times. We watched the two men work, inspecting seemingly every inch of the truck. “It’s just one big rolling toolbox,” O’Rourke says, while pulling out multiple tools. I ask what would happen if a call came in over the speaker alerting the crew a fire was in progress during their inspection. The department has one directive: drop it and go. 10 a.m. The department has a total of five career stations, which is how they back one another up when fires or other situations are out of hand. I get in my car and follow LiMarzi to Station 41 where Station 51 staff beat us to the location to host a regular 10 a.m. meeting. While the fire personnel hold their morning pow-wow, LiMarzi explains to me how the fire station is more than a work place. It is also a community gathering place open to the public; anyone can reserve the room — knitting clubs, car clubs and other groups frequent the department’s public meeting room. 10:15 a.m. Lt. Jay Christian tells me he can oneup my request to tour the building. He asks if I’d be interested in participating in an exercise with them. I agree, to which Christian tells his crew, “Let’s go play.” 10:20 a.m. I’m sure it is more for the crew’s amusement, but the lieutenant tells me I can wear the gear for the exercise. He warns me it’ll be a little big, which I have no doubt since most of the men tower over me. I quickly tug off my boots and step into what look to be size 13 boots attached to fire pants. I yank up the suspenders, struggling to figure out which straps go where and what to pull on to make adjustments. I can feel about 10
pounds already added to my frame, and I don’t even have the most crucial of gear on me. I ask Christian how much time they get to suit up for a call. He tells me a minute, which I’ve already used up. I can tell that I would fail a fire academy. 10:27 a.m. As the firefighters assist me with pulling on the jacket and an air tank, I can feel knots immediately forming in my shoulders. I see a mask in one fireman’s hand, and I warn the guys helping me that I am claustrophobic. Christian tells me that I can at least try, and if I don’t like it I can pull it right off. As soon as the strap tightens on my head, I can feel the panic rising in my chest. Hooking up the regulator, they tell me to breathe, which I had apparently stopped doing the second the mask went on my face. Through my speaker I say, “Yeah, I don’t think I can wear this.”They immediately unhooked everything, and I feel the cool morning air against my face once again. I took a deep breath and told them, “You guys are my heroes; I don’t know how you wear all this gear and fight a fire.” I adjust my helmet as another crew member straps on my infrared camera and radio before handing me an axe to carry. I shuffle to their dorms where the exercise will happen, praying it goes quickly. I can barely move. Thankfully, Christian pairs me up with a patient firefighter named Chad Gillespie whose gear I am wearing. Firefighters always go in pairs. 10:30 a.m. Lt. Christian tells me I can’t chop down his real door with the axe in my hand. He redirects me to a log on the side, and tells me to give it five good chops. With everything I’m wearing, raising an axe higher than my shoulder seems impossible. I weakly crack the wood, missing my mark every time. I feel as though I’m moving in slow motion, which, apparently I am since my partner firefighter is already starting inside the hallway. Gillespie, wearing his full gear, including the mask, gives me directions to radio in to the lieutenant. After inspecting each room, we close the door to know it’s been searched. In addition to carrying heavy gear, searching for survivors, the firefighters must also count how many rooms they searched while maintaining a sense of calm as they work their way through buildings on fire. About three rooms in we find “a
SEE REPORTER, A13
Maintenance costs in the Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue District may force the closure of Station 44 in the Tracyton area, fire commissioners were told Monday. Station 44, an all-volunteer station, and the area is adequately covered by Station 41 on Military Road and Station 45 on Trenton Avenue in the Ilahee area, according to administrators and Ronny Smith, vice president of the Firefighters Local 2819. Assistant Chief Jay Lovato said safety standards at Station 44 could cost upward of $500,000. Lovato ran Monday’s meeting because Chief Scott Weninger was out of town. “To find another location, buy property and build a new station would be close to $1.5 million,” Lovato told commissioners. “Moving 44 into 41 is a prudent move considering the fact that it would only cost about $39,000 to make that move.” The discussion about closing Station 44 and maintenance costs in general came during a work study session on the district’s proposed 2014 budget. The $16 million budget will continue to be discussed by commissioners at a meeting at 2 p.m. Nov. 12 during which time there will be a public hearing and commissioners will take comments from residents of the district. A final budget is expected to be passed later in November or December. The draft budget includes $13.3 million in tax revenue from both the EMS levy and the district’s regular operation levy. The budget doesn’t include levy increases. However, commissioners discussed going out to voters for
increases in 2014 and 2015. The district has lost more than $1 million in tax revenue because of a drop in assessed valuation of property in the district, Lovato reminded commissioners who agreed. “The economy has not been kind to us,” said commissioner Dave Fergus, commission chairman. The budget is based on other income as well, including $1.9 million in excise tax, state contributions, contracts for services and ambulance billing collections, which is the bulk of that at $1.3 million. On the expense side of things, $13 million of the planned $16 million in expenses are related to personnel. Salaries are listed at $7.1 million, plus another $2.5 million in benefits. Overtime is expected to cost about $500,000 next year. Costs of operations, including utilities, uniforms, janitorial services, printing and publications, professional memberships and election costs are listed at $1.19 million. Capital expenses are set at $421,113. That amount includes equipment purchases, computer purchases, tires, ladders, nozzles, and medical supplies. The repair and maintenance budget is set at $448,274 and includes a number of projects at a number of fire stations, and routine maintenance such as plumbing, electrical and painting repairs. There is another $166,173 in the budget for training in 2014. The budget is a balanced budget, Lovato said. He said the budget protects staffing at the same level and adds one administraSEE COSTS, A13