From Orcas Fire and Rescue Chief/CEO Kevin O’Brien
After seeking significant community input through two town hall style meetings, multiple Board of Fire Commissioner Meetings, and information learned at 16 strategic planning focus group sessions, the Orcas Island Fire and Rescue Board of Commissioners have elected not to be a financial partner in the Marine Operations User’s Group (MOUG).
The MOUG was formed by the San Juan County Sheriff to administer a grant for a new public safety vessel issued through the Department of Homeland Security. The MOUG includes all the public safety organizations in San Juan County and will also be tasked to oversee the marine operations program. As a financial participant, OIFR would be responsible for approximately $25,000 per year in maintenance and operational costs for the program.
Fiscal accountability was pivotal in the decision that was made on April 9, 2013 at the Regular Board Meeting. Working with Chief Kevin O’Brien, the commissioners diligently compared the potential financial impacts to our taxpayers with the prospective benefits of the new program. Community input was also a significant driver, as well as the recent improved availability of federal marine resources.
Currently, the Sheriff’s Department operates three vessels and charges local emergency providers $1,000 per marine EMS transport to the mainland. With the purchase of a new vessel, the bill for transport is planned to be $6,500 per transport for agencies who are not financial partners in the MOUG. Since 2007, OIFR has used the Sheriff’s vessel Guardian an average of seven times per year for EMS transports with four transports in 2012 and three in 2011. This year, OIFR has made two marine EMS transports, one by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and the other by the U.S. Coast Guard. There is currently no fee for marine transport with these federal organizations.
OIFR will always assure that our EMS patients receive the highest level of care possible through the following means:
- A paramedic is on duty 24/7-365 with EMT responders.
- A back-up supervisor paramedic/Assistant Chief living on the island
- Medical Control with Dr. Michael Sullivan
- Partnerships with Orcas Island medical professionals to avoid off-island transport if appropriate
- Partnerships with our neighboring emergency service providers
- Off-island transport to hospitals through these modes:
- Airlift Northwest
- Island Air Ambulance
- SJC Sheriff’s Vessel
- Washington State Ferries
- U.S. Navy Rescue Helicopter
- U.S. Coast Guard safe boats and helicopter
- U.S. Customs and Border Patrol safe boats and helicopter
- Private vessels
Orcas Island Fire and Rescue will continue to foster collaboration with the Sheriff’s Department and our neighboring emergency providers. In the remote island setting we live, we can’t operate alone. We will endeavor to seek partnerships and offer assistance to our surrounding neighbors.
If you have any questions regarding our operations, please contact Chief Kevin O’Brien at kobrien@orcasfire.org or by phone at (360)-376-2331.
I want to thank the Chief and the board. I know this was a tough decision, I think they made the correct and fiscally responsible judgement.
Hard to know what’s really going on here,and I doubt we have all the details, but seems like FD missed out on an opportunity to think more cooperatively about emergency response. Our County needs more cooperation and coordination instead of narrow island-specific thinking. We have 5 Fire/EMS agencies County wide, is that too many? Maybe time for a single agency?
I predict this comes back to bite us.
We may be missing information but from what we do know, I think OIFRB made right decision. But…this decision doesn’t bring this matter to conclusion. It doesn’t make sense that we have to negotiate with a third party, MOUG, to use a boat that is owned by the County. The cost of Sheriff Department is in the County budget. If the Sheriff can charge OIFRB for using their boat why can’t Public Works now charge the Sheriff for using their roads?
This sounds like a tough decision. Kudos to those who made it. If you ask me, Fire Company missed out on an opportunity to participate in a cooperative approach to something that could save lives someday (we do live on an island after all and boats sink, planes crash, and people need help on water more often than you’d think). Fire here spends plenty of trucks, stations, full time staff, and other gee gaws. 25,000$ doesn’t sound like a lot for chipping in on a county wide effort like this. Seems like provincialism and short term thinking often prevail around here… everyone just defending their turf and pushing their own agenda. Those of us interested in fiscal responsibility should be encouraging more cooperation between islands, not less. And what’s the price of one rescue or one life saved? Way more than 25k a year. Hopefully I’m proven wrong and this calculation works out.