Despite rumors saying so, Valley Regional Fire Authority will not move into East Pierce Fire and Rescue’s territory any time soon.

In the weeks following the Dec. 12 dedication of the new Valley Regional fire station near Lake Tapps, worry abounded that the organization would be taking over emergency operations in the Lake Tapps community.

The rumor stemmed from reports coming to the city of Bonney Lake that a firefighter was seen in the Tacoma Point neighborhood on Lake Tapps distributing fliers detailing the benefits of Valley Regional service. In addition, the new fire station is on the edge of the fire authority’s coverage area rather than closer to the interior, which is not typical for fire stations, East Pierce spokesperson Teresa McCallion said.

Despite this, Valley Regional has no intention of infringing on East Pierce space, Valley Regional Director Eric Robertson said. Even if they wanted to move services into the area, the could not do it without the city of Auburn’s authority, he said.

Valley Regional covers the cities of Algona, Pacific and Auburn. The fire authority would not be able to take over coverage of the north Lake Tapps area unless Auburn annexed the community. Residents of the Lake Tapps area would have to vote to be annexed into Auburn for annexation to occur.

“We don’t have any intention of taking over that area,” Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis said. “I know (Bonney Lake Mayor) Neil Johnson pretty well, and I would call him as the first person if that were something we wanted to do.”

Lewis added that with recent layoffs in Auburn government, taking on more land to govern would be counter-intuitive.

At a Jan. 5 Bonney Lake City Council workshop, Johnson told the council that he had received a call from Lewis after the Auburn mayor had heard the rumors. Johnson said he trusted Lewis and does not believe Auburn or Valley Regional intends to move into the Lake Tapps area. Lewis told Johnson that if he found out which Valley Regional firefighter was handing out fliers to Tacoma Point residents, he would be reassigned.

When East Pierce first heard of rumors of Valley Regional moving into their district, they hosted a Dec. 18 meeting at the Public Safety building for members of both cities to discuss what an annexation would mean and require.

“To be real honest, since VRFA opened, we’ve been working real hard to make sure we’re working well together,” East Pierce Chief Jerry Thorsen said. “Things are good between the departments.”

Currently, the two departments offer each other support on calls in both districts.