Proposition 1 will appear on the November 7, 2023, general election ballot
Camano Island Fire & Rescue invites the community to learn more about the fire levy lid lift that will be on the November 7, 2023, general election ballot. The purpose of the lid lift is to hire paramedics and improve emergency response.
Learn more at upcoming Q&A sessions:
- Wednesday, Oct. 25, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Station 5 (Mabana), 3651 S. Camano Drive
- Wednesday, Nov. 1, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Station 4 (Madrona/Vista), 273 NW Camano Drive
Fire Chief Levon Yengoyan will deliver a short presentation and be available to answer questions.
Emergency medical service (EMS) accounts for 66 percent of all calls, but Camano Island Fire & Rescue has just one paramedic per shift to provide Advanced Life Support, which is the highest level of care a person can receive outside of a hospital setting.
Paramedics can start intravenous lines and administer lifesaving medication, provide advanced airway management to help patients breathe, and perform other lifesaving care for trauma, heart attack, stroke, and critical infections.
Having only one paramedic per shift can lead to longer response times, particularly in cases where a patient is being transported to a hospital. These transport trips can take an ambulance and its personnel out of service for as long as five hours. Hiring additional personnel would allow Camano Fire to provide another medic unit staffed by a second paramedic per shift.
The fire levy lid lift would fund:
- Up to six additional firefighter/EMTs or firefighter/paramedics to respond to higher call volumes (call volumes have increased by 28 percent since 2017)
- Another medic unit staffed by a second paramedic
- Renovation of the Mabana station to allow for round-the-clock emergency response
Together these improvements will help reduce response times and improve service reliability across the island.
Camano Fire is asking voters to change the fire levy from $0.83 per $1,000 of assessed property value to $1.25. The $0.42 lid lift would cost the owner of a home with an assessed value of $500,000 an additional $17.50 per month or $210 per year.
Find more information about Camano Island Fire & Rescue online. Chief Yengoyan also welcomes your questions at info@camanofire.com or 360-387-1512.