December 1, 2011 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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ourna pno[o o} Natahe Johnson
Mason County Fire District 5 Assistant Chief Mike Patti is one of two
level three fire investigators in Mason County.
Mason County approves
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agreement for fire investigation
By NATALIE JOHNSON
After being without a fire marshal since
March, the Mason County Board of Com-
missioners approved an interlocal agree-
ment tbr fire investigation services with
the Mason County Fire Chiefs Associa-
"Just because there's a car fire, it
doesn't mean you need to call the on-call
investigator," [licks said.
Some firefighters in every district will
receive level two training, he said. With
such training, those responders will be
able to investigate fires that are suspi-
Light he
tion on Tuesday, Nov. 22. cious, but are likely not arson.
Bob Burbridge, Fire District 4 chief and "The level two training will probably
president of the fire,chiefs association, start right after the first of the year,"
called the agreement a milestone. Hicks said.
"This was great. As we watched the Finally, three firefighters in the county,
county governments in the state ... They're including Hicks and City of Shelton Fire ~ ....
dropping the fire marshal r~sponsibilities Marshal Mike Pattiwill have level three
on the districts,' he said. training and will share the responsibility
While other counties in thestate have
dropped fire marshals from their budgets,
Burbridge commended the county tbr
working with the fire districts to find an
innovative solution.
"It's a win-win," he said.
The contract is unique because it shares
the task of investigating suspicious fires
between Mason County's 14 fire districts.
"No one district can do it," said Fire
District 2 investigator Jeromy Hicks.
Mason County used to have its own fire
marshal, in charge of building inspections
and investigations of suspicious fires.
However, in March the county fired Craig
Haugen, the last fire marshal.
After that, the fire chiefs association
suggested the county look at fire investi-
gation in a new way.
The new plan, approved by the county
last week will cost $79,768, and will in-
clude a three-tiered approach to fire in-
vestigation, Hicks said.
All new recruits to Mason County fire
districts will now be trained in fire in-
vestigation at level one, Hicks said. This
means that all firefighters in Mason
County will at least know how to tell if a
fire looks suspicious and if it might have
been intentionally set.
of investigating arsons and other suspi-
cious fires in the county.
Hicks said there are benefits to both
the fire districts and the community in
the agreement between the county and
the fire chiefs association.
"On my side of it, it shares the duty be-
tween multiple people," he said.
These investigators will rotate so that
an investigator will be on call 24 hours a
day, seven days a week.
"The community gets the benefit be-
cause ... you'll have really good investiga-
tors that are able to maintain their skills,"
he said.
Under the plan, the county, rather than
the fire districts, will handle building in-
spections.
Individual districts will handle fire pre-
vention and community fire education un-
der the contract. Burbridge said such du-
ties are morally and ethically important
to districts, but are not always funded.
"Some of those fire prevention budgets
get pretty skinny," he said.
Burbridge said he plans to focus on
comnmnity education and fire education
in schools in 2012.
"We're looking down the line to the fu-
ture," he said
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Mason County PUD 3 selects
new commission districts
By NATALIE JOHNSON
After weeks of delib-
eration the Mason County
PUD 3 Board of Commis-
sioners approved a plan to
reorganize its commission
districts.
PUD 3 Executive Assis-
tant Nancy Bolender put
together seven options for
the commissioners to con-
sider. On Tuesday, Nov.
22 the commission voted to
approve option seven.
This option closely fol-
lowed Mason County's
recently approved redis-
tricting plan in having
one district encompass all
of Shelton, another cover
the northeast corner of the
county, and the third span
the west side of the county.
While the map looks
similar to the county's,
the district names are
swapped.
PUD 3 district 1 corre-
sponds with county com-
mission district 3, PUD
district 2 corresponds with
county district 1 and PUD
district 3 corresponds with
county district 1.
Bolender said the com-
mission wanted to follow
Mason County's redistrict-
ing plan and keep the City
of Shelton together in one
district.
"There were only a cou-
ple of options that had the
city as one whole commu-
nity," she said.
The issue was further
complicated by having to
take out the population
served by PUD 1 while
keeping the resulting three
districts as close as pos-
sible to the same size and
population.
"It's trying to keep like
communities together," Bo-
lender said.
Bolender also had the
hard task of keeping the
commission districts the
same size while keeping in
mind where current com-
missioners live.
"You can't develop it
based on where your cur-
rent commissioners live,"
she said.
While the districts in
option seven don't have
exactly the same popula-
tions, they are very simi-
lar, Bolender said.
"l think as far as keep-
ing communities together
that needed to be together
I think it's best," she said.
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Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursda~ December 1,2011 - Page A-5