PORT TOWNSEND — Fire Chief Gordon Pomeroy on Monday vowed to stop the administrative revolving door at East Jefferson Fire-Rescue.
But he hinted hard at the need to consider higher fire district levies to support future growth and meet rising demand.
Pomeroy pointed out the district’s tax rates are 56 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation for Jefferson County and 57 cents per $1,000 for the city.
“That is astronomically low,” Pomeroy told about 50 people attending Monday’s Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Elks Lodge.
Some discussions about the issue were expected to take place Monday night during a joint meeting of the fire district board and Port Townsend City Council.
The fire district’s 2010 budget is $1.92 million for firefighting and $2.28 million for emergency medical services. He said 60 percent of the budgets go to salaries.
Shortly after he was hired in December, Pomeroy said an additional firehouse is needed in Chimacum to serve that area, and aging firefighting and EMT apparatuses need to be replaced.
Introducing Pomeroy to the chamber audience, Fire-Rescue Commissioner Rich Stapf Jr. said the district — which includes Port Townsend, Cape George and the Tri-Area of Port Hadlock, Irondale, Chimacum and Marrowstone Island — has a lot going on.
Stop instability
Staph said he believes Pomeroy will stop the instability at the fire district’s top spot.
“We told Gordon that this is his last stop — he’s going to stay for a while,” Stapf said.
Indeed, Pomeroy said, “I’m not building a résumé. I’m not looking to move to California,” a subtle reference to former Fire Chief Mike Mingee, who moved to Southern California two years ago.
He promised to stay on until he gets the job done.
Pomeroy said the district’s businesses can expect to see a return to inspections that would offer business owners suggestions to prevent fires. It would be voluntary rather than compulsory, he said.
The 60-year-old Pomeroy, a career emergency medical technician who retired in 2007 after 31 years, last serving the Shoreline Fire Department where he knew Stapf, said his focus will remain to train firefighters and paramedics to the same high standard.
Continuity of training
“The intent is to have the continuity of training and to build the core of training,” he said.
Stapf and fellow board members Jess Bondurant Jr. and Zane Wyll on Dec. 22 appointed Pomeroy as permanent chief, after serving as interim chief following the September resignation of former Chief Chuck Tandy, who cited family reasons for leaving after only eight months.
Ted Krysinski was appointed deputy chief and Firefighter/Emergency Medical Technician Steve Grimm was appointed probationary lieutenant, effective Friday.
Pomeroy, already on a pension and who will be paid about half of the $90,000 annual salary Tandy was making, said he hopes to bring stability and morale by bringing a solid philosophy to the department.
Pomeroy oversees 22 career firefighters and emergency medical technicians, nine resident volunteers in training to become firefighters and two in firefighting school, along with about 30 volunteer firefighters and EMTs.
A new group of East Jefferson Fire-Rescue volunteers recently finished their International Fire Service Accreditation Congress Firefighter I training in the local academy supervised by Krysinski.
State certified evaluators arrived from throughout the region Feb. 6 to test the recruits’ knowledge of forcible entry, ladder operations, salvage and overhaul, extrication, ventilation and hose handling.
Pomeroy led several private companies to develop a faster DNA-identification process and has worked extensively with the motion picture industry as an EMS staff coordinator.
He was trained at Harborview Medical Center in conjunction with University of Washington Medical Center.
He has set a goal of five years of increasing the number of East Jefferson’s 11 paramedics to 16.
With emergency response demand growing at a rate of between 4.5 and 5 percent annually and aging firefighting equipment, Pomeroy said he will recommend the fire district board consider taking a levy increase proposals to the voters.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.