Rick bannan
rick@thereflector.com
A fire station covering two jurisdictions finally has a full force.
The building, known as Clark County Fire Station 151, has a full staff for the first time in two decades.
On Sept. 1, the building, 505 N.W. 179th St. in Ridgefield, now has firefighters from both Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue and Clark County Fire District 6 representing it.
It took two fire departments to do it. Of the two, the Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue now staffs it two-thirds of the time. For the other third, Clark County Fire District 6 mans the station.
The station first had a CCFR crew staffing it one third of the time in June 2022, CCFR Chief John Nohr previously said. The station had been dormant for years before the two fire districts renewed the effort post-COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was a fire station ahead of its time,” a line from a joint press release stated. “Built on the edge of farm fields and the Clark County Fairgrounds, Fire Station 151 has been a lightly-used rural station since its completion in 2001.”
With the staffing, Nohr said instead of 8 to 12 minutes, now calls for response will be closer to 4 to 6 minutes.
“If somebody’s not breathing, that can mean the difference of life and death,” Nohr said.
Arriving at a fire in the area sooner also means a better chance of saving an engulfed structure, Nohr noted.
In the absence of firefighters, the station has been a base for sheriff’s office and county fire marshal’s operations. Though they had occupied some of the space intended for firefighting service, Nohr said law enforcement was fine with making room for their new first-responding roommates.
With the population growth in the region, the firefighting force is needed more now than ever. “Massive” housing developments surround the station in every direction, the joint press release stated.
Because of its location on the border of two fire districts, having both take respective shifts at the location makes sense for district administrations.
“This is not a common staffing model,” Clark County Fire District 6 Fire Chief Kristan Maurer said in the release. “However, we see it as a cooperative arrangement that solves a number of issues.”
Having a fully functional station also benefits fire insurance ratepayers. Homeowners will see insurance rate changes in their next renewal, Nohr said. If all else is the same, a lot of nearby residents will be paying less.
Both fire chiefs and their respective jurisdictions’ boards of commissioners have been working on a solution for the station since 2021. Nohr noted the work between the two agencies could be used as a benchmark for other neighboring districts in solving issues brought on by growth in Clark County.
“Having Fire Station 151 staffed with firefighters around the clock will ensure a higher level of service to residents of Fire District 6 and CCFR,” Nohr said in the release. “This cooperative staffing arrangement will be a model for all fire departments in Clark County as we look for ways to more effectively and efficiently serve our residents.”
