||| BY LIN MCNULTY, EDITOR |||
You have probably received the mailer from Orcas Island Fire & Rescue (OIFR) by now, reassuring our community that our Fire Department will indeed respond when called. Anyone on Orcas who doubts for a minute that OIFR would not answer our calls for assistance, just doesn’t have an inkling what motivates a person to volunteer to respond if we need help. Rest assured that our 9-1-1 calls WILL NOT go unanswered.
Their notice:
Orcas Island Fire & Rescue recognizes that internal matters from within this organization are being discussed in the public forum. Because of the public nature of these discussions, concerns have been raised about the affect (sic) this has on operations and emergency response.
To the extent that one of the disgruntled narratives being spread in the community is a concern that 9-1-1 calls may go unanswered.
Nothing can be further from the truth. The staff and volunteers want to reassure you that Orcas Island Fire & Rescue first responders will always come when you call. A commitment that has been put to the test and reliably proven over recent weeks with areas of the island being cut-off due to damage from heavy rains, back-to-back structure fires and simultaneous critical medical calls.
Orcas Island Fire & Rescue career and volunteer members are a TEAM of responders working together to ensure island-wide coverage is available in your time of need.
We are here for you, and we are coming.
The mission of Orcas Island Fire & Rescue is to provide the highest level of protection to life and property and promote community safety through the extension of fire prevention and suppression, medical rescue, and public education services consistent with the prudent utilization of public funds.
There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever, which I’m sure is pretty much island-wide, that our Fire Department will be there when we need them. Volunteering and helping is the prime directive for OIFR, and we count on them to be there.
In this new year, the opportunity exists to resolve whatever is causing this turmoil. Sooner the better, of course, for our peace of mind as well as our firefighters and EMS.
Nice editorial, Lin.
What would make it even better is for you to fix the title to match what you wrote:
“Orcas Island Fire & Rescue WILL respond!”
The people at the top need to be held responsible for whatever the issues are over there. Maybe like WSF and many other organizations, new leaders are needed. Once the leader loses faith with the followers it is very hard to regroup. But needs must.
OIFR has never let our family down. Been here since 2010.
https://www.islandssounder.com/opinion/saddened-by-divisiveness-in-our-community/
As a family of five we’ve had to call 911 more times than I ever would’ve expected, when I was young and carefree(ish). The most recent was NYE, when my mom fell down some stairs and had a seriously nasty break. Our steep dirt driveway was iced/snowed over, our main road unplowed. The crew showed up unbelievably fast and was almost all neighbors, people we know. From the dispatcher on they were just as kind, compassionate, friendly, skilled, and wildly capable as always. While we were waiting for the first ones on the scene to hike up the impassable driveway I told my mom “don’t you worry, you’ll be in the absolute best of hands. We know these people- they’re the best of the best, and you’re going to be completely taken care of. You couldn’t wish for a better team”. And I was right.
Thank you so much, OIFR. My family’s gratitude for you is, quite literally, boundless.
There is little doubt that a call to 911 will result in OIFR responding. We will respond. It is not about whether your loved ones will be cared for on NYE. They will. it is entirely whether the OIFR culture and processes are consistent with our Orcas island beliefs and culture. It really comes to whether the community wants their fire and EMS department to believe in what they believe in. Does the OIFR philosophy support the well accepted Orcas belief that the community supports each other and “buys locally”, thereby supporting the island economy. I think many are questioning whether the Orcas values and beliefs are held by the leadership and commissioners of OIFR. There is more than enough data that community beliefs and values are not reflected in the way OIFR hires, fires, manages and supports the staff and volunteers. This is what I have personally observed as a volunteer, for what it is worth.
PS – These may be the last comments I will be able to make as a volunteer of OIFR as I will likely be thrown out of the department as a result of my statements, despite my devotion to serving my neighbors, my community. Is this our Orcas Island culture?
On one of Greg’s points, I have a developing process concern. I submitted a very very simple public records request from the District nearly two months ago. I have yet to receive the records, only delays and excuses. It should have taken very little effort to produce the records. Not making them available in a timely fashion doesn’t smell like transparency in government to me.
WA State’s Public Records Act is a serious thing. It needs to be followed. This is Elected Official 101.
Hopefully this doesn’t make me a “disgruntled” person.
RCW 42.56.030:
The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may maintain control over the instruments that they have created. This chapter shall be liberally construed and its exemptions narrowly construed to promote this public policy and to assure that the public interest will be fully protected.