New WA Fire Station Could Sit Empty When Finished

Construction of a new fire station on Tacoma's Tideflats near Puget Sound Energy's liquefied natural gas facility is slated to be completed in early 2021.

There might be no fire engine to fill it.

Tacoma City Council passed an overall $3.7 billion 2021-22 budget in November that takes one engine out of commission due to a change in operations by the Fire Department to offset a deficit stemming from COVID-19 impacts.

Tacoma Fire Department identified Engine 5 to be taken out of service starting April 2021. Engine 5 serves Central Tacoma and the Tideflats and is currently housed in Station 6 at 1015 E. F St.

Engine 5 was slated to move into the new station, formerly known as Fire Station 15 but now known as Station 5, when construction is completed early next year. The station is at 3520 E. 11th St. on the Hylebos peninsula, just across the street from the LNG plant.

With the approved budget, that won't happen unless City Council funds additional revenue to cover the costs.

"If Engine 5 goes out of service, it will create a coverage gap in the Tideflats area, and we are hopeful that funding can be secured to prevent the reduction in service to the community," Tacoma Fire Department spokesman Joe Meineke said in an email.

With no engine on the Tideflats, fire response would be coming from engines outside of the area, leading to longer response times.

The selection of Engine 5 was made based on an assessment of call volume and the combination of risks in the response area, Meineke said. In 2019, Engine 5 responded to 1,663 calls for service. The ideal number of calls for service per year is 2,500 calls.

Out of 17 ladders and engines, Engine 5 was one of five units with fewer than 2,500 calls in 2019, according to a presentation by Chief Tory Green in September.

Matt Frank, treasurer-secretary for the Tacoma firefighters union, said while Engine 5 makes the most sense to cut, he's concerned about the response to the Port of Tacoma.

"Incidents at the port you want to address quickly," Frank told The News Tribune on Tuesday.

The department also was looking forward to added coverage of Northeast Tacoma, Frank said.

Tacoma's Tideflats has endured long response times in the past due to a lack of Fire Department services. Between 2012 and 2017, there was not a fully staffed fire station on the Tideflats as the city grappled with the results of the recession in the mid-2000s. Meanwhile, fossil-fuel storage on the port led to a need for fire services.

The city, Port of Tacoma and Puget Sound Energy approved an agreement in 2015 that would reopen Fire Station No. 15 as part of the proposed LNG facility's environmental impact statement by the time the facility opens.

In December 2019, Tacoma City Council agreed to award a $4.3 million contract to Pease & Sons Inc. for the construction of the 5,600-square-foot new station, budgeted from the city's Public Safety Fund. The total project cost is estimated at $7 million in the city's Capital Facilities Plan.

Reached by email on Tuesday, Puget Sound Energy spokesperson Andrew Padula said the plant is "on track to begin production in the first quarter of 2021."

Padula directed questions about the fire station to the Tacoma Fire Department.

The agreement states that operation of the fire station is dependent on budgetary constraints.

The contract reads: "The Parties understand and acknowledge that City's continued operation of Fire Station 15 is subject to the budgetary and operational decision making of the City as a Washington State municipal corporation."

"Neither the opening of Station 5, nor the ongoing staffing of an engine company at Station 5, is a required permit condition for the PSE LNG facility to open or operate," Meineke said in an email to The News Tribune, per the city's legal department.

Council members Conor McCarthy and Robert Thoms pushed to reopen fire services on the Tideflats in 2017.

Thoms, who voted against the 2021-22 city budget because it cut fire engine service, said he's exploring ways to preemptively steer future federal COVID-19 relief funding toward keeping the engine online.

"I am 100 percent committed to fighting very hard for the COVID relief funds to be used toward that," Thoms said. "I want to make sure we have the greatest possible services opening up a new station fully, equipped with an engine."

McCarthy, who also voted against the 2021-22 budget, feels things are now going backwards.

"I think cutting a fire engine during a pandemic is irresponsible," he told The News Tribune on Wednesday.

McCarthy proposed an alternative to the fire engine cut in November with a list of $9 million in line items, including eliminating an unfilled accountant position, deferring funding from the city's Streets Initiative by $500,000 and delaying police fleet replacements by $250,000. The proposal was not approved by council.

McCarthy also referenced a recent fire on the port in October that reportedly was ignited by failed supply lines to two liquid asphalt silos, one of which contained an estimated 70 tons of the material.

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