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| Is MFD keeping up with the times? |
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| Citizens for a Safer Community believes five-year, $2.6 million levy would help fire department keep up with growth |
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From Denise Everhart's perspective, if the Molalla Fire District's levy fails in the November General Election, there are dire consequences.
"Somebody is going to die, and you can quote me on that," she said. "Somebody is going to die, and it is going to have been preventable. It's not a scare tactic. It's every volunteer firefighter’s fear."
Everhart is a volunteer firefighter with Molalla Fire Department, as well as the director of Citizens for a Safer Community, a political action committee pushing for a yes vote on Ballot Measure 3-230.
That measure would impose a five-year $2.6 million levy that would tax fire district residents 49 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.
The levy would pay for new ambulances, additional staffing and a new water tender.
Currently, the MFD has one of the lowest tax bases in Oregon at 78 cents per $1,000, but it fields the highest call volume in Clackamas County, according to Everhart. Last year, Molalla's department went on 1,924 calls compared to Canby's 1,909.
If the proposed levy passed, the new rate would be $1.28 per $1,000. A house appraised at $140,000 is currently paying $109.20 a year for emergency fire and medical service. If passed, that number would raise $68.60 for a $177.80 total.
In comparison, both the Canby ($1.55 with a proposed $29 cent tax levy) and Colton fire departments ($1.89 with a proposed $33 cent tax bond) both have higher rates.
"We are running more calls than anyone else in this county, and we're bringing in half financially of what anyone else is bringing in," Everhart said. "We're at a third of the staff of anyone in this county, with the exception of Colton, but we handle their ambulance."
Not growing with the population
Molalla's population in 1990 was 3,637, and the fire department had five paid staff members who could go on the 1,082 fire calls that year.
In 2006, Molalla's population — 6,395 — has nearly doubled since 1990, but the number of paid staff is nearly the same. The MFD currently has four paid staff members who can go on fire and medical calls, and the agency is in the process of trying to hire a new fire chief, and a possible deputy chief, though there is no given the latter position will be replaced.
"We are at the same staffing level that we were at in 1990, and we are at 177 percent of the calls that we did in 1990," Everhart said.
The MFD relies heavily on the estimated 60 volunteer firefighters, though former chief Joe Misso has previously said the number of consistent active volunteers is closer to 20.
Everhart said with the rising population and lack of time volunteers have, the MFD is in need of additional paid staff to ensure citizen safety.
"If you look at statistics of some of our most recent fires, we're lucky if we're getting a full engine crew out," she said. "Our second engine isn't rolling. On the arson fire (on Union Mills last month), our second engine didn't roll until the second house was on fire, which is a product of many things. We are low on volunteers, volunteers are busier than ever, and half of our staff had to leave (that fire) to go to work. They've got to keep their jobs."
One part of the problem is OSAA's standards where if two firefighters go inside to fight a fire, then two firefighters must remain outside.
Because of that standard, a shorthanded Molalla Fire department watched a house burn to the ground two years ago, around the time the last fire levy failed. The house was located two blocks away from the department.
"There are OSAA laws, and if your house caught on fire and we couldn't get a full engine crew, we would have watch it burn," Everhart said. "We can shoot water on it from the outside. If somebody is trapped inside, I wouldn't say all of the rules go out the window, but all of that relaxes. We can go in.
"We're trying to save lives first but also property. People expect when they call 911 the fire department will come and put the fire out in their house. Not stand outside and put water on it while it burns from the inside out."
According to Everhart, getting enough people out on fire calls is just one staffing problem. The majority of calls the MFD goes on are medical, and Everhart estimated it takes about two hours per call. Between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. there are two paramedics on duty, while between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m., there is one paramedic on duty, leaving that person dependent on volunteers. Everhart said problems are compounded if a second call comes in while the first ambulance is out.
"We're averaging 5.5 calls a day, and once you do the math, when you dial 911, you're waiting for (firefighter/paramedic) Mike Penunuri to hopefully be available. That he can jump out of bed and into his clothes, come down to the shop, get a medic and have a driver, and he has to have a driver, and if that doesn't happen, you're looking at AMR coming out of Oregon City or Canby Medical coming out of Canby, if they're available," she said, "That's about a 25-minute wait. If I'm doing CPR on somebody, I don't want to have to wait 25 minutes before an ambulance shows up. That is terrifying to me."
The levy would add three paid staff members.
"We would like to have two paramedic/firefighters per shift," Everhart said. "They would work A, B and C shifts, working 24 hours on and 48 hours off. That way, we can supplement with the volunteers. It's not going to replace volunteers. We'll still need them, but when a volunteer firefighter and a paramedic go out on an ambulance, we can have one at the station."
Means to get there
Everhart points out that staffing is important, but it is also important for that staff to be able to get to where help is needed, which is why the MFD is seeking replacement ambulances.
"This is a rig that goes from nothing to 65 (mph), then idles for half an hour while we're on scene working on a patient, then goes 65 to the hospital, through traffic, slamming on brakes," she said. "It's never a smooth ride to the hospital, and it's over every kind of terrain that you can imagine. And then it gets shut down until it happens again an hour later. … Ambulances are the first line of defense, so that is a real concern. If the ambulance can't get to you, then the paramedic can't get to you."
The department currently has two ambulances to cover the 325-square miles of coverage area, which ranges from the edge of Colton to the top of Mulino Hill to Highway 170 in Canby to the edge of Marquam.
One MFD ambulance has 109,000 miles on it, while the other has 116,000. On average each is driven more than 80 miles per day.
If the levy passes, Everhart said the funds to start purchasing an ambulance wouldn't begin to accrue until next November, and it would take around 3 ˝ years after that to have enough money to purchase an ambulance, which runs between $120,000-$150,000 — though some of the funding could speed up that part of the equation with reserve funds in the capital reserves.
Once the MFD has money to buy an ambulance, there is a 14-16 month delay after ordering it, meaning it could take 4 ˝ years from this November before the MFD could purchase an ambulance off this levy.
"Our ambulances have a lot of miles on them right now and with the amount of transportation and the population growth, the mileage is just going to get higher," she said. "… By the time it passes — and you wait a year to collect the taxes, it will have over 200,000 miles on it."
MFD is one of the few districts to offer ambulance service, and Everhart said that contracting the ambulance service out to another provider would mean delayed times for area residents.
"The arrival times here wouldn't be good," she said. "They don't have enough cars right now and it will cost more."
In the past, ambulances were paid via the MFD budget through ambulance service fees; however, due to changes in Medicaid and Medicare in recent years, funds generated from ambulance fees are simply trying to offset ambulance costs.
"The ambulance side used to make enough money to help support the fire side," Everhart said. "But changes were made a few years ago to Medicare and Medicaid, and we don't get as much money for an ambulance ride, and it's really hurt us. Now the fire side is kind of taking care of the ambulance side."
Everhart also noted that the MFD is not eligible to purchase anymore vehicles via Homeland Security grants, as the department recently got a new fire engine off said funds.
Need water to put out fire
The MFD provides fire coverage to an estimated 100-square mile area, where 85-90 percent of it is rural and does not have access to fire hydrants.
"The only way to get water to those areas is with a water tender," Everhart said.
The MFD has two tenders, but one of them doesn't have a working pump, limiting it to where it can only be used to dump water "in a kiddie pool type thing. … However, the amount of time it takes to fill it means we never bring it. We call for outside tenders."
Water tender shuffling affects ISO ratings, which can lower home owners' fire insurance; however, Molalla firefighter/paramedic Mike Penunuri said a lower ISO rating is based off many factors, and there is no guarantee the water shuffle would impact that, but noting it would help fight fires in rural areas.
Penunuri said if funds were available, the MFD would look at buying two water tenders as the one that does work is old with visible holes on the inside. |
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