Cloverdale Fire District sends levy to May ballot to boost emergency response

(Update: Adding video, comments from fire chief)

SISTERS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Cloverdale Fire District Board of Directors recently voted to put a local option levy on the May ballot to fund enhanced emergency medical and fire response for residents of the district, located east of Sisters.

The levy, if passed, would assess a tax rate of $1.35 per $1,000 of assessed property value for a period of five years. For every $100,000 of assessed property value, not real market value, the cost would be $135 a year.

If the levy is approved by voters, the fire district says the, funds would be used to enhance Cloverdale Fire District emergency responses in two ways:

• Ensure two paid firefighter-medics will staff the main station 24 hours a day, seven days a week. At least one of the two on duty would have paramedic advanced life support training. Paramedics with Advanced Life Support skills bring a level of emergency medical help on scene that was once only available at a hospital.
  
  Currently, the district has just two staff members (Fire Chief and Training Officer) who can provide response from the station while on duty and otherwise relies on volunteers to respond to calls. As always, Cloverdale Fire response would continue to be supported by its volunteer firefighters and EMTs as well.
  
• Locate an advanced life support ambulance within the Cloverdale District. Ambulance service for district residents is currently provided by the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District, and this will continue. However, the nearest ambulance is currently stationed in Sisters, which results in longer response times. Passage of the levy would provide for an ambulance to be stationed in the Cloverdale Fire District, allowing for a faster response and advanced life support when seconds count.

“A lot of people have never called 911 in their life," Cloverdale Fire Chief Thad Olsen said Tuesday. "The time that you do -- if you have a child injured, or your house is on fire, or there’s a brushfire threatening -- certainly you would want the fastest response that you would be able to be provided with. With this, this would put firefighter medics in the fire station easily, to respond to your emergency in a timely fashion."

Currently, the station does not typically have paid staff on evenings or weekends when about two-thirds of emergency calls are received. Olsen said the levy will help bring needed resources to the district.

“So while not only are they firefighters, they are also going to be medics. And we have seen increases, (a) 27%  increase in calls that require paramedic-level training," Olsen added.

Cloverdale Fire District Board Member John Thomas, who has been with the district for more than 25 years, says he has seen the once-quiet Cloverdale district become busier with 911 calls.

Thomas says, “We have seen a lot of population growth in the district, and with that a tremendous increase in medical and fire emergencies. Our neighbors in the Cloverdale Fire District deserve the level of rapid ambulance and fire response that this levy would allow the district to provide.”

Thomas added that recruiting and keeping volunteers, who have been the life force to Cloverdale for the past 60 years, has become more difficult.

And one surprising benefit that the levy can have -- improving the ISO (Insurance Services Office) rating for the district. An improved ISO rating means property owners may be eligible for a reduction in their annual fire insurance premiums.

For more information or questions about the local option levy, contact the Cloverdale Fire District at 541-389-2345.