The Editor:
Imagine this: A loved one falls and hits their head. Or your child is choking and can’t breathe. You call 911, and every second feels like an eternity as you wait for help to arrive. In those moments, the cost of saving a life is priceless.
Our fire department is asking for your support to approve a levy lid increase, which would mean a small additional cost to homeowners – about $170 per year for a $500,000 home. This investment is crucial for our community’s safety and wellbeing.
Over the past decade, our fire district’s call volumes have doubled. Emergency medical services (EMS) calls alone have been increasing by four to five percent annually. This significant rise in demand stretches our current resources thin, and we need to ensure we can respond quickly and effectively when emergencies happen.
The additional funds from the levy increase would allow us to hire up to eight more emergency personnel and add another response unit dedicated to medical emergencies. It would also enable us to replace aging equipment, including a ladder truck and three engines, ensuring our firefighters have the tools they need to save lives.
In those critical moments when a loved one’s life hangs in the balance, having a well-equipped and adequately staffed fire department can make all the difference. Please consider supporting the levy lid increase to help our fire department continue to protect and serve our community effectively.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Patricia A. Bloom
Birch Bay
The Editor:
Birch Bay has become a beautiful, thriving community where we can proudly say, “There’s never a bad day at the beach!” Unfortunately, if the fire levy lid lift on the August 6 primary election ballot does not pass, our lives as we know them could change drastically.
Currently, our emergency response time relies on the hope that nobody else within our 156 square miles has an emergency when our local Birch Bay fire department is called out. Are you willing to wait for a medic to come from Bellingham? In an emergency, minutes matter.
Our aging fire trucks leave us with unreliable equipment and no reserve equipment for backup, which will impact response times. Worse yet, the Birch Bay station is in dire need of a rebuild due to a roof that cannot be replaced. Vacating the station altogether is a possibility due to health and safety concerns if the levy lid lift fails.
Are you prepared to pay a fee of $1,000 if the fire department comes to your home to put out a fire in your backyard that has gotten out of control? This is a very strong possibility when there are not enough funds to pay for emergency call-outs due to homeowner error.
I urge fellow residents to support this levy lid lift in the August 2024 primary election. Your family and your neighbor’s safety and well-being depend on it.
Sharman Burnam
Birch Bay
The Editor:
I am writing to express my support for the upcoming North Whatcom Fire and Rescue levy lid lift. Birch Bay has experienced significant growth since the last levy in 2006, and according to the Whatcom County Comprehensive Plan, we are expected to accommodate another 4,000 residents by 2036. As a designated Urban Growth Area, this expansion is inevitable, and our emergency services must scale to meet the increasing demand.
North Whatcom Fire and Rescue serves over 33,800 people across 156 square miles, including Lynden, Blaine, Custer, Laurel, Birch Bay and Semiahmoo. In 2023, they responded to 5,753 calls, 71 percent of which were medical emergencies. Despite rising call volumes, the fire levy rate has dropped from $1.42 per $1,000 of assessed property value in 2006 to just $0.76 today. This “levy compression” limits revenue and impacts their ability to maintain services.
The levy lid lift will reset the fire levy rate, enabling the funding of up to eight new emergency personnel, replacing outdated apparatus, and contributing to the replacement of Station 63 in Birch Bay. These improvements are crucial to ensuring our emergency services can keep pace with our growing community, reducing response times and enhancing reliability.
I urge fellow residents to support this levy lid lift in the August 2024 primary election. Our community’s safety and well-being depend on it.
Matt Berry
Birch Bay
The Editor:
I am writing to share some thoughts on our upcoming election, and to encourage everyone to participate. Here’s how:
Learn about the candidates who are running. Research them yourself and know their positions on the issues that are important to you.
Focus on what the candidates’ plans are for solving those issues. Resolve not to get distracted by the negative campaigning of an opposing candidate.
If you have questions, talk to your party’s precinct officer. They have been working to have the information needed, and may be a helpful resource.
Take the time to consider what you find, pray and vote. Your voice matters!
I’ll repeat that – vote. Because your voice matters.
Vote, because we have that blood-earned right – lets’ not give that right away by being silent.
One last thing – I ask that people please stop stealing candidates’ signs. Not only is it disrespectful, it is illegal. Those signs are protected by law. (RCW 29A.84.040 and RCW 9.20.021, for example).
We all have opinions, and many of our preferences differ, so please, let’s respect one another during this wonderful process of freedom, and resist the urge to silence those we differ with.
Christena Miller
Birch Bay
The Editor:
Ranked-choice voting.
Receiving my ballot this week, I grabbed the voter’s pamphlet to review the candidates. As I reviewed eight candidates for insurance commissioner, seven candidates for public lands commissioner, eight candidates for U.S. Representative, 11 candidates for U.S. Senate, 21 for governor and five for lieutenant governor, it occurred to me that we really should consider ranked-choice voting (RCV) for all primaries.
RCV allows candidates to focus on their virtues, values, abilities and ideas. Campaign rhetoric could be based on their own vision rather than dissing each other. What a concept proven by several states. Just saying.
Donna Starr
Blaine
The Editor:
Probably too long for a letter to the editor, but I had to get this off my chest.
1. I don’t like the fact that politicos see negotiation and compromise as behaviors and signs of weakness. When this happens, sight of the big picture is lost as is the health and welfare of the nation at large.
2. Current Congressional members act like kindergarteners playing tit-for-tat.
3. The upper crust, the so called 1%, don’t pay their fair share of taxes. Nor do corporations.
4. Roe v. Wade needs to be reinstated. Abortion is between a woman and her god. This is not an issue for government.
5. Health care should not be politicized to the extent that it is, but affordable prices for drugs should be mandated.
6. Community services should be instituted for low-level crime offenders.
7. If you want to own a gun, fine, but be willing to submit a universal background check. If one has nothing to hide, one has nothing to hide.
8. Separation of church and state should be a given. This country was not intended to be a Christian nation.
9. Public education needs to be renovated. Our high schoolers do not stack up well in contrast to other nations. We score woefully low for being such a “rich” nation.
10. Why are one in five American children hungry? Why do I need to see Feed Hungry Children ads on TV?
Richard Mollette
Custer
The Editor:
A “No” vote for the levy lid lift is a serious and far reaching decision, affecting not only the fire district’s operations but also the safety and well-being of the 33.800 people over 156 square miles that they serve.
The failure to pass the levy lid lift will create significant staffing challenges. As personnel retire or leave for better-funded fire districts, the North Whatcom Fire District will struggle to fill these positions. This will lead to increased overtime costs as remaining staff members are forced to cover additional shifts.
The district may be forced to operate below minimum staffing levels or even close stations that lack adequate personnel. Such conditions will undoubtedly harm employee retention, leading to further departures, and result in negative mental health effects and burnout among the dedicated firefighters.
The district’s aging apparatus poses a serious concern. Without the necessary funds to replace an ambulance (cost $400k), ladder truck ($1.5m) and three fire engines ($1m each) that have reached the end of their usable lives. The lack of reserve equipment will impact response times, leaving our communities vulnerable in emergencies. Additionally, the inability to replace the Birch Bay station raises the possibility of vacating it due to health and safety concerns, which would have district-wide repercussions on response times.
The overall service levels of the North Whatcom Fire District are also at risk. A decline in service levels will degrade the district’ insurance risk rating, leading to increased insurance rates for property owners. This is already occurring in parts of the first district and neighboring areas, highlighting the urgent need for adequate funding.
The consequences of these issues are severe and will directly affect the safety and financial stability of our growing communities. I urge you to vote “Yes” to ensure that the North Whatcom Fire District can continue to provide essential services and protect our communities effectively.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.
Doralee Booth
Birch Bay
The Editor:
I am sharing this post to help with education about bears in the hope that everyone in the community can come together to keep the bears safe. The bear is female, she has a yellow ear tag because she was relocated from Coquitlam, B.C. last summer with her two cubs. She is lost and trying to find her way back home to Burke Mountain in Coquitlam.
The sad part is she is tagged and conservation officers are unlikely to relocate her again. We call her Matriarch as she is mom and grandma to many other bears in Coquitlam and she is more than 20 years old.
We have dated her back to having cubs since 2008 when she was already a full grown adult (older than five). It is mating season for bears which is the reason a male bear (without a tag) was seen when she was in Langley, B.C. If she is able to stay safe, feed on natural food and find bear habitat away from the community then she will have cubs again this winter.
If you see her please give her lots of space, do not approach or chase her in the car for a video. Bears do not have sweat glands so she will be looking for water to regulate her temperature so please be aware and leash dogs when walking near creeks or ponds.
Please secure and lock garbage (in a garage if possible). Freeze food waste until morning of collection. Clean barbecues immediately after using. Pick ripe fruit from trees and bushes. Keep pet food indoors. Remove bird feeders including hummingbird feeders. Lock doors on your home and vehicle.
Lynne Broyan
White Rock, B.C.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here