I’d like to voice my concern relating to the Woodinville Fire and Life Safety District. I’m sure all of you who pay Woodinville Fire and Life Safety levy taxes have received your 2005 glossy Year in Review from the District.

I believe that it’s time to look for some fiscal accountability at the District. I see many recent changes and expenditures:

• A small fleet of new Ford Expeditions or similar – possibly for the Chief, Battalion Chief, Deputy Chiefs,etc.; I don’t know who has them
• Two new two-axle pumper units
• The “Big One,” T-31, the relatively new (2003) Aerial Tanker (“Hook and Ladder truck”)

We need to ask ourselves: Does our small department need International CFAI recognition as one of only 111 departments in the whole country? How many of our tax supported dollars went into the training, buying expensive equipment, adding firemen, and other needs for this certification? Did we buy the T-31 unit so that we could qualify for the CFAI certification? Why does our small District have a $828,000 Aerial Tanker? Our town has buildings which are one or two stories high and the smaller ladder trucks can easily reach the roofs with their ladders.

My informal fire truck watch group has observed the “Big One” in the following emergency situations:

• Pulling up to the Hollywood Video in the crowded Top Foods parking lot, as one of the fire fighters hops out to return a video
• Parking in front of the Starbucks as informal meetings of its 4 to 6 man crew meets inside
• Being called out to a car fire on I-405
• Wandering our city streets in the low mile per gallon rig
• Coming off English Hill at 8:30 p.m. Are there a lot of three or four story house fires up there?

I can understand the need for a larger city to have large aerial tanker units. They really do have buildings taller than two stories. The Woodinville FLS District Goals prepared a few years back (located on the District Web Pages) discuss the need for a Regional Apparatus Plan where big equipment is shared, lessening the duplication of expensive equipment.