KETCHUM, Idaho — Blaine County and the City of Ketchum are looking for voter approval this November 5 to help create a new Fire District for the City of Ketchum.
- With multiple fire departments stretching the length of the Wood River Valley, firefighters sometimes find themselves lacking the support they need when things start to get busy.
- McLaughlin says a fire district seems to be the best resort for those answering those calls.
- If approved, the new Ketchum Fire District would be the first step in creating a valley-wide district.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
"Ketchum has just one department, but in the Wood River Valley we have a total of nine fire departments,” said Bill McLaughlin, Ketchum Fire Chief.
With multiple fire departments stretching the length of the Wood River Valley, firefighters sometimes find themselves lacking the support they need when things start to get busy.
And with the continued growth across the valley, those busy days start to outnumber the slow ones.
"We look at just the last five years, our call volume has gone up 39% and we're already on track for setting a new record for calls this year,” said Chief McLaughlin. “For example, last Sunday we had all of our ambulances out on calls, and we were down to one engine in this end of the county."
With so many calls for help going out, McLaughlin says a fire district seems to be the best resort for those answering the calls.
"We are looking to try to consolidate all the fire departments here in the valley to create better efficiency and services. The best way to move forward was to create a new fire district, being the City of Ketchum, and work to merge with the other fire districts,” said Chief McLaughlin
Effectively, this new Ketchum Fire District will operate in name only for the first couple of years, allowing the other municipal and rural fire departments across the Wood River Valley a chance to maneuver into a position where they too can become a fire district.
"Merging two fire districts together is a lot easier than having a fire district annex a city,” said McLaughlin. “By merging we can make better use of all the resources from up and down the entire valley and it doesn't all fall to one department to handle all the calls in that area."
For Chief McLaughlin, this option, which will be left to the voters of Ketchum and parts of Blaine County by a simple majority, is the most logical move going forward.
"I think one fire department for the entire valley would be the most efficient way to provide services and we could certainly provide a better service than we are now,” added McLaughlin.
