Planning committee votes to push forward with fire merger.
As fire district representatives squabbled amongst one another, Bremerton City Councilman Adam Brockus likened Tuesday’s West Sound Fire & Rescue meeting to marriage counseling.
“We can’t afford to have any kind of ill feelings toward one another,” said Dave Fergus, Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue commissioner and WSFR planning committee second-vice chair.
The WSFR planning committee voted 5-4 to move forward with the three-way merger Tuesday, with the three South Kitsap Fire & Rescue commissioners and Fergus voting no.
SKFR commissioners unanimously approved a motion at the end of May recommending Bremerton Fire Department be annexed into CKFR or SKFR, which was a hot topic, yet again, at this week’s WSFR meeting.
“We got to do something and this is what we chose to do,” SKFR commissioner and planning committee member Darla Hartley said.
Four options were previously created as to which direction the three fire agencies should go:
• Continue working toward a merger of Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue, South Kitsap Fire & Rescue and Bremerton Fire Department into WSFR
• Merge two of the three fire agencies with the intent of adding the third in the future
• Initiate functional consolidations/strategic alliances prior to pursuing a full merger of the agencies
• Annex BFD into CKFR or SKFR
Hartley said WSFR isn’t making progress toward the goal of merging the three fire agencies and something else has to be done.
“There was progress being made,” Fergus said. “This is not about a foot race to get the consolidation put together.”
City of Bremerton Assistant Attorney Ken Bagwell said a fire agency can now give a 30-day notice and leave the WSFR planning committee if it no longer wants to participate.
“It would be a disappointment just for all this to go away,” Fergus said. “Even if this group is disbanded, the work is not lost.”
The WSFR planning committee will take a two-month hiatus to create a new plan of action. The next meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1 at the Kitsap Readiness Center in Bremerton.
