A plan spearheaded by three Westport-area men would combine fire districts between Westport and Tokeland with the City of Westport into one regional fire authority.

“It would take the four fire districts we have here and combine them with the City of Westport Fire Department,” said Westport Chief Dennis Benn. “The advantage of this is to streamline operations and offer consistency in service.”

Benn, South Beach EMS Chief Art Cole and South Beach EMS Captain Daryl Brown are the driving force behind the plan, which includes Grays Harbor Fire District 3 just south of Westport; Fire District 11 in Grayland; Pacific County Fire District 5; Ocosta Fire District 14; and South Beach Emergency Medical Services, which currently is contracted to provide emergency services for the four districts.

The effort started about a year ago, when the trio enlisted the help of a consulting firm that specializes in the formation of regional fire authorities “to see if it was feasible,” said Cole. “We got a board set up and put out a resolution to all our agencies. Each was given a choice, and all have agreed to it.”

Even though the districts have all agreed to form a regional fire authority, the attorney for the City of Westport has to sign off on it first. Then the final decision will belong to the voters when the measure is on the August ballot. The measure needs a 60 percent yes vote to carry.

The creation of the authority will streamline funding and make it easier for residents to see what they are paying for when levies come up for a vote.

“Currently, what we have are five different fire agencies with different levies for funding,” said Benn. “Each fire district has three different levies for service: fire, EMS and excess.”

The number of levies for emergency services in the area is problematic, he said. Ocosta had two failed levies last year; the City of Westport had its own failed excess levy – a levy that funds other critical expenses outside the equipment used for fighting fires and emergency response. Both of those failures put the region’s emergency services more than $300,000 behind in their budgets.

“People can get voter fatigue,” said Cole, meaning when there are several levies for five different emergency services providers at once, in an area encompassing less than 35 square miles, voters can lose track of what exactly they’re paying for from one levy to another. Some of the levies are doomed to fail because voters are simply overwhelmed and feel like they’re spending too much money for their services. Adding to the confusion are different tax rates depending on the fire district.

Funding for the regional fire authority beginning in 2018 and beyond would be accomplished by a fire property tax of $1.50 per thousand dollars of taxable assessed value and a six-year EMS property tax levy of 50 cents per thousand dollars of taxable assessed value. An excess levy will be filed at a rate to be determined later this year. The rates of taxation would remain stable for a three-year period, and the rate would be the same throughout the entire South Beach region. This would help to eliminate duplication funds going toward equipment and other expenses that could be found within the boundaries of the fire authority, which would reduce costs to citizens while allowing for 24/7 fire and EMS service in the region.

Cole said the plan would make the area’s fire and EMS services eligible for federal funding, along with local and state funding.

Other benefits, they say, include uniform insurance coverage across districts, rather than the different rates and companies used in the current system.

“And combining all forces means all the departments will now have one central training program,” added Cole. “And one agency would be maintaining all the records as well.”

Training records are critical for several reasons, not the least of which is when a firefighter is injured or killed on the job, the first thing the state asks for is their training record. If that record is not up to date or incomplete, the firefighter or his or her family could find it difficult to collect benefits. And when all fire and EMS personnel are trained under the same program, they can perform more efficiently and safely together.

“Right now the districts don’t communicate their plans to one another,” said Benn. With consolidation, “Hopefully we can get a bigger, better plan in place to incorporate all of our people and services.”

The power to form regional fire authorities in the state came in 2004 with the enactment of Chapter 52.26 of the Revised Code of Washington. In it, the state sets the requirements for forming such a regional fire authority, including who all needs to be included in the planning. The input of public officials, area leaders and especially the public is important — and required by law — in the creation of a regional fire authority.

Should the voters agree to its formation in August, the fire authority itself would not be officially in place until Jan. 1, 2018. In the interim, the law requires the formation of an official regional fire authority board, made up of three local registered voters, to drive the formation and organization of the district.

Residents are not likely to see any changes in their local fire services right off the bat. Eventually, as the board sees fit, there may be some shifts in personnel and equipment distribution across the region. All such changes will be based on a model created by the board to allow for the maximum and most cost effective level of service throughout the region.

“If it goes through, there could be short-term cost savings, but it’s the long term costs that we’re aiming for,” said Cole.

Benn said the fire departments in question are in “pretty good shape” as far as equipment goes. There is no driving need for a new tender, pumper or other vehicle right at the moment, but eventually there will be a need for one of these high ticket items. But if the regional fire authority is created and one of the stations within it needs a new vehicle or any other piece of equipment, they could first look within the authority itself to see if there is already a vehicle in the area that could meet their needs.

Modern communications also make a regional fire authority more feasible than even 15 or 20 years ago. Similar response times can be possible from services throughout the area to calls made from different areas of the authority. Benn is also hopeful that a few of the districts that are short on volunteers could attract new personnel by being under the same umbrella of service.

“There is no hidden agenda here,” said Benn. “We see how we can sustain the level of care people are used to and provide stability to our services.”