Enumclaw Fire moves admin to new building, looks ahead at new stations

The department needed to find room for three new firefighters.

By Ray Miller-Still • February 17, 2023 1:30 pm
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Enumclaw Fire Department administration’s new offices, located at 2884 Griffin Avenue, used to be a physical therapy office. The offices are still being fitted for the department; all services are still being done at the department headquarters on Well Street. Photo by Ray Miller-Still
Enumclaw Fire Department administration’s new offices, located at 2884 Griffin Avenue, used to be a physical therapy office. The offices are still being fitted for the department; all services are still being done at the department headquarters on Well Street. Photo by Ray Miller-Still

The Enumclaw Fire Department is outgrowing its current digs, and is taking a look at how to expand and accomodate additional personnel in the near future.

Fire Chief Randy Fehr announced in a Feb. 7 press release that his department has moved its seven (soon to be eight) administrative staffers — not firefighters or EMS techs — into a new office at 2884 Griffin Avenue, Suite A.

The move allows the three additional firefighters EFD promised to hire if local voters passed a levy lid lift last August to be housed in the department headquarters at 1330 Wells Street. The lid lift was approved with more than 62% of the vote.

The relocation of administration doesn’t change any programs offered at the fire department — blood pressure checks will still be performed at the Wells Street location, and EFD’s mailing address remains the same as well.

Over the five-year contract (through January 2028), the total lease amount is about $20,300.

BIGGER AND BIGGER

The Enumclaw Fire Department used to operate out of city hall — Fehr said people passing by the back of the municipal building can still see where they bay doors used to be.

The current department was built in 1968, and was added on to in ‘83 and ‘99 to accomodate new hires amid local population growth.

However, after hiring an architect and sitting down with the city to see if there was any way to continue expanding, Fehr said he was told “we could not add one additional square foot to the building, because we have exceeded the footprint that’s allowed on the lot due to the zoning.”

That will put strain on the department as it continues needing to hire additional first responders as its district becomes more populated.

EFD hired its first-ever full-time firefighter around 1990, Fehr said. By 2011, the department had a record-high number of first responders at 15, but a failed levy lid lift in 2013 resulted in two layoffs.

With the passage of the August 2022 lid lift, EFD is now staffed with 21 firefighters and EMS techs. This provides the department with a minimal staffing level of five, meaning there are five responders on shift every 24 hours at any given time. This both allows for greater flexibility when it comes to responding to concurrent calls and mitigates how much EFD has to pay overtime.

It’s unclear what the fire district’s population was three decades ago, but EFD was serving nearly 19,000 residents back in 2015. That has increased to about 22,500 people currently, ahead of projections laid out in 2016-2035 previous Capital Facilities Plan.

As the area’s population grows, so do the number of emergency calls — call volumes increased 40% between 2011 and 2021, and 20% of all calls in 2021 were emergencies concurrent, or happening at the came time.

But without being able to expand the current department, “We’re getting close to being capped out” at first responder capacity, Fehr said.

EFD is currently working with a consultant to update its Capital Facilities Plan, which may include updated information on how the fire district should expand.

It’s previous plan, created almost a decade ago, recommended two new stations.

The first would be a new downtown station, moving from the Wells Street location to 185 Roosevelt Avenue (across the street from Enumclaw Ski and Mountain Sports). The building was proposed to be 20,000 square feet large, as opposed to the current department’s 7,883 square feet, and include not just room to house on-duty first responders and office space for administration, but training grounds as well.

Another station would relocate the 212th Avenue SE satellite station about two miles closer to Enumclaw proper along SR 164. The satellite station was proposed to be 8,000 square feet large and provide housing for two on-duty first responders, as opposed to the current facility which is less than 1,700 square feet.

It was determined the two relocated stations, in conjunction, would better serve what city officials calls the “Big West”, which is a chunk of unincorporated land that the city of Enumclaw may eventually annex through King County’s Growth Management Act.

Were those stations built back in 2020, costs were estimated to exceed $20 million; inflation estimates for 2025 puts costs closer to $23.5 million, and in 2030, more than $27.2 million.

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