The Public Safety Complex at the Clark County Fairgrounds will once again be partially staffed with firefighters as officials from two fire districts agreed to place a shift there.
During a May 20 meeting, the Fairgrounds Fire Facility Board voted 4-0 to approve the placement of crew and apparatus at Station 151 at 505 NW 179th St. in Ridgefield.
The firefighters and apparatus will come from Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue, who along with Clark County Fire District 6 have joint responsibility for the station. The station will be staffed for one of three rotating shifts and will have a minimum of two firefighters, though most of the time CCFR will try to have three at the station, said CCFR Chief John Nohr.
The first shift will begin June 5, Nohr said. Alongside the personnel, CCFR will also place a fire engine and a brush fire unit at the station.
The Fairgrounds Fire Facility Board includes Nohr, Fire District 6 Chief Kristan Maurer and a commissioner each from the respective districts. The board oversees the station which was completed in 2001 following the passage of a $3 million bond measure two years prior.
The station was conceptualized by Clark County Fire Districts 6, 11 and 12, given the growing population of the area. Fire District 11 and 12 merged in 2008 to create the district currently called Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue.
The station was staffed by the volunteer firefighter program of Fire District 6 up until the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even with the volunteers, it was usually only staffed at about 20%, Maurer said. After May 20’s approval, the station will be staffed a third of the time.
Last year, both fire districts began discussions on how they could bring staff back to the station. Following a handful of joint meetings, the proposal featuring CCFR staff finally came to a vote by the fairgrounds board.
Residents near the station will see benefits from the return of operations at the station. It will improve the insurance rating on nearby properties by the Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau (WSRB), a private, third-party company that provides the ratings in the state.
A better rating means lower insurance rates, which would decrease even further if the station is fully staffed. Nohr said CCFR staffing the station at that level is financially infeasible now, but the approval of an emergency medical services levy in August could allow for more staffing.
Having a shift at the fire station is “definitely a step in the right direction” toward providing fire protection service in the area, Nohr said. The station will cover CCFR’s area north of the Northeast 179th Street boundary up to the southern city limits of Ridgefield.
“I’m frankly quite thrilled to finally be able to serve the citizens of that area with the kind of response that they probably have been expecting since all the years that the station’s been built,” Nohr said.
Maurer said the lack of staffing at the station meant Fire District 6 was often pulled out of its jurisdiction to answer calls in CCFR’s area for mutual aid. The fairgrounds staffing will ease the burden on those resources.
“We’ll have a more reliable service all-around,” Maurer said. “It’s a benefit for both sides.”
