Archive for month: March, 2020

We will always respond when you need us. With COVID-19 cases present in our community, there’s a new opportunity for you to help your first responders stay safe when responding to your home. Community Connect bridges the information gap before 9-1-1 is called, allowing you to share specific information about your household so that we may better serve you during an emergency.

Now, there’s a special section for COVID-19. By answering a few questions regarding the health of members in your household, our crews will know what precautions they need to take when responding while also gaining visibility into how this Health Crisis is affecting our community as a whole. This information remains private and is only accessible when responding specifically to your address.

To begin, just visit https://www.communityconnect.io/covid-19 and enter your address.  The program will make sure you’re directed to the correct fire department that serves your location.

You may already be familiar with Community Connect if you have already completed your home’s profile or even if you’ve applied for a burn permit online.  If so, the same login will give you access to fill out different sections such as pet information, functional needs in the household, where the gas and water shutoffs are located, and more. If not, everyone nationwide now has access to self-report their COVID-19 related information in addition to the Community Connect instances already up and running in some districts such as Kitsap County, many departments in Pierce County, Lacey, and Eastside.

Community Connect comes to you after more than a year of collaborative work between Kitsap County’s public safety agencies and First Due, a provider of cutting edge technology for our first responders and builders of Community Connect programs around the country.

So please, take a few minutes to visit https://www.communityconnect.io/covid-19 to #selfreport. Beating COVID-19 will take everyone’s help, and your First Responders are already thankful for yours.

As many businesses are closed during this time, we want to reassure you that Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue is still open for business and here for you. Our fire stations are at full staffing and administration continues to operate behind the scenes supporting the frontline.

Business is being conducted electronically as well as in person. Currently all uniformed administrative personnel, such as the Fire Chief, are still reporting to our Administration Building on Newberry Hill Road. All non-uniformed admin staff are now working from home for the safety of themselves, their families, and our firefighters.

We want you to know you can still access all of our services, such as burn permits. Our main line, 360-447-3550, is still being answered and each employee’s desk phone has been forwarded to their home office.
Please visit us at ckfrdev721.wpengine.com or any of our social media platforms:

Facebook: @CKfireandrescue
Twitter: @CKFireRescue
Instagram: centralkitsapfire

The Board of Fire Commissioners for Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue will meet to discuss a resolution asking voters to consider a bond to fund station-improvement projects. If the resolution is approved, voters would see the measure on the August 4 Primary Election ballot.

The meeting will take place on Monday, March 23 at 4:00 pm at 5300 NW Newberry Hill Road in Silverdale (98383). The public is invited and encouraged to attend. Individuals who are unable to attend, but would still like to provide public comment, are encouraged to contact Chief John Oliver at joliver@ckfr.org, or by letter at the above address. All comments are welcome and become part of the public record.

The District spent two years assessing its fire stations through a comprehensive Capital Facilities Plan. The plan identified needed facility improvements for community safety and to provide a healthier work environment for firefighters.

For example, many stations are nearly 60 years old, and none are up to current seismic standards. Engineers have identified several that would be in danger of collapsing even with a small earthquake. This could jeopardize the District’s ability to respond to emergency calls during such an event. Several stations also are located significant distances away from populated areas, which increases response times. 

The stations lack effective exhaust removal systems and decontamination areas that reduce firefighter exposure to carcinogens and infectious diseases. Many stations also are not equipped with modern fire and life safety systems such as security cameras, commercial fire alarms and sprinklers. Some have been subjected to break ins.

Apparatus is a significant investment for taxpayers with a basic fire engine starting at approximately $500,000. Many stations are too small to shelter modern apparatus, which leaves it exposed to weather and reduces its lifespan.

Capital facilities are too expensive to fund through the District’s regular operating levies without cutting service levels. The facilities bond would be 32 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. Even with the bond, the average homeowner would still see a net decrease of $24 per year in the taxes they pay to the District compared to what they paid in 2019.

The decrease is possible because an excess levy has expired and an old bond for apparatus will be paid off before the new bond would take effect in 2021. The District planned a possible bond request to coincide with the retirement of the other funding measures to reduce impacts to taxpayers.

More information about the bond proposal, including a copy of the Capital Facilities Plan, can be found on the District’s website at ckfrdev721.wpengine.com. Chief John Oliver also welcomes questions at (360) 447-3566 or joliver@ckfr.org.