By Nathan Isaacs
Tri-City Herald
Copyright 2007 Tri-City Herald
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
BENTON COUNTY, Wash. — The five fire departments in eastern Benton County plan to consider an agreement that would send the closest fire truck or ambulance to an emergency regardless of their jurisdiction.
The agreement is called automatic aid and is expected later this summer to be brought for consideration by the city councils and fire district commissioners in Kennewick and Richland and Benton fire districts 1, 2, and 4.
“It gives us more legal ability to operate as one and share resources,” said Bob Gear, chief for Benton Fire District 1.
It could mean having a Richland ambulance go to a medical emergency in West Richland or have a Benton Fire District 1 water tender help fight a fire on one of Kennewick’s newly annexed properties.
The five agencies already have been working together for more than two years on various other issues, such as adopting standardized breathing equipment that firefighters use inside burning buildings.
The proposed agreement would cover from Benton City to Finley. The combined districts and departments cover about 560 square miles and protect about 150,000 people with 16 fire stations, about 100 full-time firefighters and about 200 volunteer firefighters.
The agencies have used separate automatic agreements with each other for years.
Kennewick and Richland recently expanded their agreement this spring to include medical services.
The new proposal is different from mutual aid agreements, which allow fire agencies to call for help from another after they’ve exhausted their own resources. Most fire and police departments have mutual aid agreements.
The mutual aid model has its drawbacks, said District 2 Chief Ron Duncan. Specifically, he said, it creates time lags between having to exhaust resources and waiting for additional help to arrive.
Also, under the automatic aid agreement, the agencies could have access to the best equipment available to meet a specific need, whether it be an ambulance, water tender, brush fire truck or ladder truck.
“You fight the fires you have,” he said.
It also can be seen in how the agencies have worked quickly and collaboratively during recent wild fires in West Richland, Prosser and Finley.
District 4 Chief Mike Spring said he has heard firefighters talking positively about the improved relationships with the other agencies.
And, as several of the chiefs noted, Benton County residents don’t care what agency’s fire truck or ambulance arrives to save their home or life.