RIDGEFIELD, Wash. — Fire Station 151, near the Clark County Fairgrounds, has been used only lightly since it was finished about 20 years ago. Now, a new partnership between two fire districts has the station up and running with full-time staff.
Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue and Clark County Fire District 6 began jointly staffing the station full-time this month, with Clark-Cowlitz crews there for two-thirds of the time and Clark County crews on staff the remaining one-third of the time.
The station sits on the border of the two fire districts. The staffing arrangement provides emergency service coverage around Northwest 179th Street in Ridgefield. Nearby fields are being cleared to make way for new housing developments.
"This station was built over 20 years ago and it was a vision before its time by the chiefs that built it," said Chief Kristen Mauer with Clark County Fire District 6. "They had built it with the idea that this area was gonna grow and it just didn't grow as fast as they anticipated, but now we're at that point."
Mauer added that due to the location of the station, it made sense that both fire districts staffed it.
Full-time staffing means faster emergency response times.
Clark-Cowlitz Chief John Nohr has been thinking about better utilizing Fire Station 151 for a long time. Four years ago, Nohr and his crew were responding to a medical call from a station six miles away.
"As we're moving the patient to the ambulance and looked across the street, there's an empty fire station. That obviously is the most dramatic example of not doing the right service for folks," Nohr said.
Fire chiefs Nohr and Maeur have been working on the new staffing model for more than a year.
"This is an example of how fire districts and departments in this country should be working together," Nohr said.
The Clark County Fire Marshal's Office and the Clark County Sheriff's Office also use the building.