Mill Creek residents protest removal of Station 76 paramedics

Published 1:21 pm Wednesday, August 27, 2025

MILL CREEK — Four years ago, South County Fire paramedics saved Mill Creek resident Pat Erwen’s life.

After she had a heart attack, paramedics from Mill Creek Station 76 arrived at Erwen’s house in three minutes, she said. Now, Erwen has concerns about South County Fire’s recent decision to move the station’s paramedics to Martha Lake Station 21 in Lynnwood.

“If they had been in Martha Lake, it would have taken them 11 minutes,” Erwen said, “and I may not have survived.”

Erwen was one of about 20 residents who lined the corner of Highway 527 and 153rd Street Southeast on Tuesday to protest the fire authority’s decision. She held a sign that said “Medics Saved Me.” Other signs read “Save Our Medics” and “Broken Promises = Broken Trust.”

On Aug. 1, South County Fire announced the department-wide redeployment plan that removes two paramedics from Mill Creek Station 76. In the announcement, South County Fire spokesperson Christie Veley said the change will increase the number of paramedics in Mill Creek’s surrounding area from five to seven.

Mill Creek community members have raised concerns about a lack of transparency from South County Fire. In an Aug. 15 statement, Veley said the fire authority informed the city of the change July 22. The model went into effect in mid-July.

“Being in communications and different jobs for the last 20-plus years, the strategy of not saying anything was surprising,” said Scott Harder, a former public information officer for South County Fire and current Mill Creek City Council candidate. “As a resident for 19 years and someone who’s friends with council members and running for council, not knowing about this was a total shock.”

Tannis Golebiewski, also a Mill Creek City Council candidate, co-wrote the pro statement on the ballot when Mill Creek annexed into South County Fire in 2022.

“One of the reasons I did that was because we were promised that we would remain at the same level of staffing,” she said. “They’ve broken that promise. It’s been a few years, but it hasn’t been that long, and the city’s growing, not shrinking, so a reduction in staffing doesn’t seem to make sense.”

Mill Creek was the first city to annex into South County Fire after Fire District 1 merged with the Lynnwood Fire Department to create the fire authority in 2017. In 2022, Mill Creek voters approved annexation with 75% of the vote. Since then, Brier, Mountlake Terrace and Edmonds have also annexed into South County Fire.

In 2011, Mill Creek voters approved an emergency medical services levy that increased the station’s staffing from three to five employees, including one paramedic. After annexation, South County Fire added the second paramedic at Station 76, while keeping five-person staffing. Under the new model, staffing has dropped back to three. In an Aug. 12 letter to South County Fire, Mill Creek Mayor Brian Holtzclaw urged the South County Fire Board of Commissioners to immediately restore at least one paramedic to Station 76.

Alison Harder, a nurse at Swedish Edmonds, said that the further away a paramedic is stationed, the longer it could take for a patient to receive critical care in a cardiac arrest situation.

“Being a nurse, I understand the acuity of care that the paramedic can provide for in certain circumstances, when their skill set is needed, and you’ve got minutes,” she said. “You don’t have 10 to 12 minutes for a paramedic to arrive in that situation.”

Mill Creek was incorporated as a city in 1983 largely to form its own police department, City Council member Sean Paddock said in an Aug. 21 interview. He said Mill Creek is a community that’s always been focused on public safety, including fire services. He sees the controversy as a potential turning point for the city’s trust with South County Fire.

“If you learn from this now, adjust and move forward, you will never make this mistake again, and the community will trust and love you back for it,” Paddock said. “But it’s what they do now that’s going to determine whether or not the community will trust them moving forward. If they don’t make a change and don’t communicate and engage, the community will never trust them again.”

South County Fire plans on asking voters to renew its emergency medical services levy lid lift in 2027, according to a June 17 presentation from Chief Bob Eastman to the council. The fire authority also plans on voters to approve a fire levy lid lift in 2028. With the levies and inflation, the average property owner would see a 47% tax increase from 2025 to 2031.

“If the voters don’t trust us, then we won’t succeed as an organization, and that will start having an adverse effect,” South County Fire commissioner Micah Rowland said Tuesday.

At the board’s Aug. 19 meeting, a motion to restore one paramedic to Station 76 failed by a 3-3 vote, with Rowland abstaining due to concerns about potential Open Public Meetings laws violations. Rowland supports bringing a paramedic back to Station 76 and attended Tuesday’s event to answer questions from residents.

“People are really concerned about the changes and what they mean for their community, and they want to understand everything,” Rowland said. “I think that’s where we failed. We should have been doing that before the changes were made.”

The board will discuss potential action at its next meeting Sept. 2, Rowland said.

Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.