Snoqualmie Valley firefighters help fight Preston house fire
December 22, 2011
 A firefighter with Eastside Fire & Rescue puts water on a house fire in Preston early Thursday morning. (Contributed) |
Firefighters and aid units from Eastside Fire & Rescue, Fall City, Duvall, Snoqualmie and Maple Valley, responded to a house fire in Preston early Thursday morning.
The residents of the two-story house called 911 at about 2:45 a.m. to report that their carport and garage were burning, and the fire was quickly spreading to the main house.
Firefighters arrived at the blaze in the 8300 block of 293rd Avenue Southeast to find flames coming from the garage and extending to the home.
The residents got out unharmed.
EFR backs county’s new life vest requirement for rivers
June 22, 2011
Trying to beat the heat by basking on a river? Take a life vest along — or risk an $86 ticket.
The Metropolitan King County Council passed a measure in a 5-4 vote June 20 requiring boaters and swimmers to wear life vests on the county’s major rivers from July through October. The law exempts fishermen who are 18 and older, divers and designated public swimming areas.
Children 12 or younger are already required to wear life vests while on vessels shorter than 19 feet long under current state law.
The King County Sheriff’s Office will enforce the new measure, which requires wearing a U.S. Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device on portions of the Raging, Snoqualmie, Tolt, Cedar, Green, Skykomish and White rivers in unincorporated areas.
First-time violators will get a warning, but subsequent violators could face fines of up to $86.
Support for the measure galvanized behind concerns about dangerous river conditions after a year of heavy snowfall.
The tumultuous winter flood season changed river channels and reoriented logs, creating a challenge for boaters and swimmers. The snowpack in some Cascade river basins is about 200 percent of normal.
Eastside Fire & Rescue leaders supported the measure after King County Executive Dow Constantine proposed it.
King County experiences about 23 drowning deaths per year, said EFR Deputy Chief Jeff Griffin.
EFR firefighters pull father and daughter off SUV stranded in floodwater
December 22, 2010
Eastside Fire & Rescue firefighters from Station 87 in North Bend rescued a father and his daughter from their car after it became stranded in floodwaters on Southeast Reinig Road near 396th Drive Southeast during the Dec. 12 flood.
Their car, a Nissan Pathfinder, had stalled in three to four feet of water from the swollen Snoqualmie River, which runs alongside Reinig Road.
Firefighters arrived after receiving a 911 call at 3:32 p.m.
EFR greenlights ambulance fees
October 21, 2010
NEW — 10:06 a.m. Oct. 21, 2010
Where are you hurt?
Do you know your name?
Are you paying with debit or credit?
Beginning next year, Eastside Fire & Rescue will charge patients for ambulance rides in nonlife-threatening situations. The fire agency’s board of directors adopted the new fees in a 7-1 vote at its Oct. 14 meeting.
The board also considered charging fees for responding to car crashes, but voted 5-3 against it.
The estimated revenue from the new fees won’t make up the about $500,000 in savings EFR is looking for in its 2011 budget, according to EFR Chief Lee Soptich.
The fees were proposed as part of EFR’s attempt to come up with a budget for 2011 that meets rising costs and does not increase costs for its partners, which include North Bend and Fire District 38. Sammamish and other EFR partners have pushed the agency to not increase its costs.
To do that, the board either has to add fees or cut services, Soptich said.
Eastside Fire & Rescue adopts ambulance fees
October 15, 2010
NEW — 3:20 p.m. Oct. 15, 2010
Where are you hurt?
Do you know your name?
Are you paying with debit or credit?
Beginning next year, Eastside Fire & Rescue will charge patients for ambulance rides in non-life threatening situations. The fire agency’s board of directors adopted the new fees in a 7-1 vote at its Oct. 14 meeting.
The board also considered charging fees for responding to car crashes, but voted 5-3 against it.
The estimated revenue from the new fees won’t make up the about $500,000 in savings EFR is looking for in its 2011 budget, according to EFR Chief Lee Soptich.
Ambulance fees worth considering
September 1, 2010
NEW — 1:00 p.m. Sept. 1, 2010
Yes, the economy has not turned around, but sometimes government cannot simply slice and dice its way to a balanced budget. All ideas are on the table for increasing revenue — including an Eastside Fire & Rescue fee for ambulance rides.
Hit by falling tax revenue, contract cities, including North Bend, are interested in keeping their expenses as low as possible. Necessity has produced some interesting ideas. Charging for ambulance rides is one worth examining.
This practice exists in other parts of the country, and indeed, in other parts of King County. No critically injured person has yet to be denied a ride to the hospital because they had a maxed-out credit card.
Most agencies, when pressed, admit they don’t invest much time and energy trying to extract payments from residents who can’t afford to pay. Most insurance providers cover the cost of the ambulance ride, and they do pay their claims. It doesn’t seem to matter whether the ride is provided by a private ambulance company or a public fire agency.
But it may not be that simple. It is possible that costs would end up being passed on to residents and businesses through higher insurance premiums. EFR should study that possible impact during its discussions.
There is also some concern about the idea of double charging. After all, residents already pay for the ambulance, the salary of the emergency medical technicians, the gas in the vehicle and everything else through their taxes. Should they have to pay a second time, whether it be through a direct payment or via higher insurance?
In a fair and perfect world, no.
But today’s reality is neither of those things, and is full of examples of government double-dipping. Taxpayers already pay tolls to drive on roads they paid to build, and fees to use park facilities that they already own. Taxpayers have put up with it, recognizing the fee model as a more equitable way of distributing costs.
Unfortunately, the charge for EFR to give medical transport to a hospital or to another waiting ambulance is probably necessary.
EFR considers charges for services, ambulance rides
September 1, 2010
NEW — 1:00 p.m. Sept. 1, 2010
Call it the fire department equivalent of tolling.
Faced with the steadily rising costs of health care and personnel, and repeated calls from partners to limit their annual increases in contributions, Eastside Fire & Rescue is considering charging citizens for various fire services, from ambulance rides to car crash responses.
Sammamish officials have pushed the department to see what it would take to draft a budget with a zero-percent increase next year. EFR Deputy Chief of Operations Jeff Griffin said the administration is dedicated to trying for that, but said it may be a choice between staff or program cuts, or new revenue from fees.
EFR honors firefighter, with help from others
September 1, 2010
NEW — 12:10 p.m. Sept. 1, 2010
Surely, Tom Stapleton would have appreciated it.
A man whom his friends say thrived on making you smile would have loved seeing his fellow firefighters smile during his life celebration Aug. 17.
A man whom his friends say loved helping others would have loved seeing firefighters help firefighters attend the ceremony at Pickering Barn.
Sammamish’s contract proposal with Fall City draws fire from some EFR elected officials
May 18, 2010
NEW — 6:00 p.m. May 18, 2010
A proposal by Sammamish to contract with Fire District 27, in the Fall City area, has drawn the ire of some elected officials with Eastside Fire & Rescue.
Snoqualmie fire run reports, April 9-15
April 16, 2010
UPDATED — 2:15 p.m. April 16, 2010
Snoqualmie Fire Department responded to a fatal heart attack at a home in downtown Snoqualmie April 12.
