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Fire chiefs describe 20-month consolidation drive, set April vote to join Central Pierce
Summary
Orting-area fire leaders told the Orting City Council a multi-agency consolidation aims to shorten response times, cut duplicate planning and share expensive equipment; a community vote is scheduled for April 22 to join Central Pierce as the surviving entity.
Dustin Morrow, fire chief, told the Orting City Council on March 12 that leaders of three local fire organizations have spent about 20 months preparing a consolidation intended to improve emergency response and reduce duplicated costs.
Morrow said the three boards of fire commissioners selected Central Pierce as the “surviving entity” required by the Revised Code of Washington, and that residents in the affected communities will vote on April 22 on whether to join Central Pierce. “We just want to make sure that we’re getting to the emergencies as quickly as we can,” Morrow said.
The chief described several drivers for consolidation: overlapping response geography that already sends the closest resource to emergencies, out-of-date mutual-aid language and duplicated planning for stations and apparatus. Morrow said the groups have negotiated new labor agreements covering all employees and that the combined organization will cover roughly 78 square miles. He said commissioners have planned to reduce a 15-member commission back to five within three election cycles, as required by state law.
Morrow gave an example of equipment savings, saying a recently refurbished engine was returned to service with a roughly $400,000 overhaul instead of buying a new engine that can cost about $1.2 million. He said the consolidation has allowed agencies to rebuild or reassign existing apparatus across stations.
Morrow also described work on organizational culture and identity, and said the consolidated organization had agreed on a simple purpose statement: “we’re just people helping people.” He said the joint board meets every second and fourth Monday and is drafting unified policy and operations.
Council members asked no substantive follow-up questions during the presentation. Morrow said the next public step is the April 22 community vote to join Central Pierce and that commissioners and staff are continuing implementation work ahead of that vote.
