Fire chief shuffles shifts and staffing

LAKE STEVENS – Two more Lake Stevens firefighters are now on duty during peak hours, in hopes of reducing the time it takes for crews to respond to an emergency.

It’s one of the changes that the department’s new chief, Gary Faucett, has made since starting the job April 1.

Faucett took the first 90 days to look at how Snohomish County Fire District 8 operates. He decided to shuffle work hours, creating more 12- and 24-hour rotating crews.

“We needed more people on the (fire engines) during peak times,” Faucett said.

By changing the hours that firefighters work, Faucett was able to add another crew from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“It’s a good deal. We put out one more car without anymore funding,” Faucett said.

To accommodate the new schedules, cuts were made in other areas in the district. The department will no longer have one employee dedicated solely to public education, prevention and training. Also, the district will not staff the fire station in Machias with full-time firefighters.

The firefighters have been moved to the main station, which serves the Frontier Village area and downtown Lake Stevens.

About 90 percent of emergency calls come from those areas, Faucett said. It takes firefighters up to 21/2 minutes more time to respond from the Machias station, Faucett said.

The chief expects response times to decrease as a result of moving the firefighters to the main station.

The district will add a communications assistant, who will be responsible for providing a newsletter, improving the district’s Web site and working on other measures to communicate with the community.

The department recently took a survey that found residents want more information about the services provided by the district.

“It’s hard to go out for support when you they don’t understand what we do,” Faucett said.

The district serves 43,000 residents over nearly 50 square miles in the Lake Stevens area.

Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.