East County Fire & Rescue
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East County Fire & Rescue (ECFR) is an emergency services provider located in Clark County, in the State of Washington, United States.
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[edit] General Information
East County Fire & Rescue provides fire suppression and emergency medical services (EMS) as well as first response for all hazards in ECFR's 58 square mile fire district[1]. ECFR is one of twelve fire protection districts in Clark County, and is an active participant in regional mutual aid agreements with all other agencies in Clark County, and also with neighboring agencies in adjacent Skamania County and across the greater southwestern Washington and Northwestern Oregon region.
[edit] Origin
East County Fire & Rescue was formed by the consolidation of Clark County Fire District #1 (CCFD1) into Clark County Fire District #9 (CCFD9) on May 16, 2006. The consolidation was prompted by the decaying modern trends in volunteerism which resulted in reduced numbers of trained firefighters reliably available at all times of the day, and also by the desire of both fire districts to reduce costs by sharing resources and eliminating duplicative expenses[2].
The consolidation also provided the newly-formed ECFR with a stronger voice in local fire protection issues than either District #1 or District #9 formerly possessed individually, an important issue to the old districts in the face of their shrinking service territories resulting from the expansions of the nearby cities of Vancouver, Camas and Washougal.
Following the consolidation, the former CCFD1 and CCFD9 commissioners also merged their leadership structure over the new agency and formed a new five-member board of commissioners[3]. ECFR retained CCFD1's numeric district identifier of "1" for apparatus and station identification.
[edit] Service Territory
The East County Fire & Rescue service territory is located in the Southeast corner of Clark County, bordered on the East by the county line with Skamania County, on the South by the Columbia River as well as the Cities of Washougal and Camas, on the West by the Cities of Camas and Vancouver, and on the North by Clark County Fire District #3, Camp Bonneville (a former military training range) and a forested, mountainous area of unincorporated Clark County not presently included in any fire district.
[edit] Services
In addition to essential structural and wildland fire suppression and emergency medical services, as well as vehicle extrication and hazardous materials emergency response, ECFR also provides emergency rope rescue, water rescue, general search and rescue, and fire safety/fire prevention education[4].
ECFR provides a rope rescue unit, an air unit utilized for refilling SCBA bottles during fires and other emergencies, and a rehabilition unit to the region's emergency services agencies, while neighboring agencies also provide other various specialty resources that are made available to ECFR.
Paramedic ambulance transport for the ECFR service area is primarily provided by the Camas Fire Department. Secondary coverage is provided by Clark County EMS District #2, which subcontracts American Medical Response (AMR). Effective September 1, 2008, the Camas Fire Department's ambulances and paramedics will cease responding into ECFR if a special election EMS levy fails to pass in August 2008. The planned withdrawal is the result of a lack of funding caused by the failure of an EMS levy renewal in 2006. Following the planned Camas withdrawal, paramedic ambulance service will be assumed by AMR with units responding from locations farther away in Vancouver and Battle Ground, which may result in ambulance arrival delays of up to 40 minutes.[5].
[edit] Facilities
East County Fire & Rescue currently serves from five strategically-located fire stations[6].
| Station 11 600 NE 267th Ave |
Engine 11 Squad 11 Tender 11 Air 11 |
| Station 12 4909 NE 292nd Ave |
Engine 12 Squad 12 Tender 12 |
| Station 13 121 NE 312th Ave |
Engine 13 Squad 13 Squad 131 Tender 13 Rescue 13 Rehab 13 |
| Station 14 1808 SE 352 Ave |
Engine 14 Engine 141 Squad 14 Tender 14 |
| Station 15 † 211 39th St |
Tender 15 |
| Station 16 * 39806 NE 24th Cir |
† Due to annexation, Station 15 is now located within the City of Washougal. Station 15 was closed May 22, 2008, but still houses a reserve tender. ECFR will acquire properties to open three new satellite fire stations elsewhere in the district to improve coverage, one of which will replace the current Station 15[7].
* Station 16 will not open until September or October 2008, and will house a squad and a tender.
[edit] Personnel
East County Fire & Rescue employs four full-time career fire officers; the Chief of Department, an Assistant Chief, and two Captains, as well as some volunteer members who work for ECFR full-time as daytime administrative staff support. ECFR also employs several part-time paid firefighters who supplement staffing during daytime hours when volunteers are largely unavailable. While the career members are critical to the operation of the fire district, ECFR is primarily a volunteer agency.
Volunteers serve ECFR in a variety of roles[8]:
- Respond-From-Home (RFH) Volunteers - these members who live or work in or near the district, who respond to emergencies as they occur depending upon their availability.
- RFH Firefighter - traditional firefighters, also required to maintain at least a minimum of medical first responder certification with the State of Washington.
- RFH EMSO - EMS Only members are volunteers who serve by responding to medical emergencies, but who are not firefighters.
- Sleepers - these members draw from the ranks of the RFH Volunteers, but also contain members who live too far from the district to be viable RFH members. Often, these are career-minded volunteers who seek experience as they prepare for a full time firefighting career with ECFR or elsewhere. They serve by staffing stations during evening hours. Sleepers typically serve at least four shifts per month.
- Residents - ECFR is currently capable of accommodating up to seven resident volunteers, who live in one of the stations rent-free in exchange for a greater degree of availability to respond to alarms. Residents have a higher level of required participation than other volunteers, but still are able to work and/or go to school full time while fulfilling these obligations.
- Cadets - Junior and Senior High School students are offered early exposure to a career in the fire service through the Cadet program. While cadets do not provide significant support during emergency events, they do provide a valuable contribution to ECFR in the course of their training programs. The ECFR Cadet program is operated as a joint venture with Clark County Fire Districts #3 & #6, Clark County Fire and Rescue (formerly Clark County Fire Districts #11 and #12), the City of Vancouver Fire Department, the Battle Ground School District and the Clark County Vocational Skills Center[9].
- Emergency Response Team (ERT) Volunteers - ERT members are typically concerned citizens who wish to volunteer their time and energy to the community, but are unable or unwilling to go to the extreme of becoming a front-line response firefighter. ERT members nonetheless provide an extremely valuable service to ECFR and other agencies in the region by responding as support personnel to larger incidents, and by responding with and staffing the regional rehabilitation unit (Rehab 13).
[edit] References
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