Fire Commission Has New Officers and Programs

— by Susan McBain, Orcas Issues reporter —

The Orcas Island Fire & Rescue Board of Fire Commissioners (BOFC) elected new officers for this year: Tim Fuller is now Chair and Amanda Montague is vice chair. Other commissioners are Wes Heinmiller, Jim Helminski, and Rick Christmas. In another change, BOFC Secretary Marla Johns has resigned as of May 31; she will help develop and post a job description for a new secretary.

The February 28 BOFC meeting began with the financial report for January, which showed expenses on track with the budget at about 8% for the year to date. Chief Scott Williams reported 105 calls for service in January, up from 72 last January, continuing the upward trend of the past several years. Nearly one-quarter of the 67 EMS calls were by people walking into the station; overlapping calls rose to 26 from 22 last January. Although OIFR is generally seen as “doing quite a bit for quite a bit less money [than some other agencies], and doing it successfully,” according to Williams, the commissioners agreed that the department’s funding structure may need to grow in order to meet the need for services.

New programs at OIFR include a fire academy that began in late February to train new volunteer firefighters, and the Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) pilot project scheduled to launch in May or June. The contract to fund the MIH project was expected to be finalized on March 7. The current plan for the program staff includes a community paramedic who will work with patients in their homes and in the community to fill gaps between acute and routine care.

Donations from the community during last fall’s Holiday Catalog campaign, sponsored by the Orcas Island Community Foundation, provided $9,000 toward the purchase of new stretchers for EMS use. Chief Williams plans to buy them from Stryker, which offered the best price ($30,000 for three, including service) through a formal bidding process.

Other topics that the BOFC discussed:

• Williams reported that several groups in San Juan County are discussing Kaiser’s denials of reimbursement for air medical transport in some cases, and are considering bringing the issue before the Washington insurance commissioner and elected representatives. He invited anyone who has been denied reimbursement to contact OIFR for information about patient advocacy available from both Airlift Northwest and Island Air Ambulance.
• Representatives from EMS and UW Neighborhood Clinic have been meeting monthly to coordinate services, and Williams reports that “the relationship is good.” He also commended Orcas Family Health Center for its on-call procedures, which have worked smoothly for a long time.
• Williams noted that a meeting on March 11 will bring County emergency agencies together to discuss improving radio communications for emergency services and other County departments. This will be done by adding additional equipment/antennae to the OPALCO/Rock Island fiber network. Codan is the company that has been contacted to provide the additional equipment.

The next BOFC meeting is scheduled for March 18 at 5:30 pm at the Fire Hall.