At a special July 29 meeting of the Mill Creek City Council, South County Fire officials explained a recent redeployment that moved medic 76 from Station 76 to Station 21 and reduced Station 76's minimum on-site crew from five to three, drawing sharp questions from council members and residents about notice and service levels. The council did not take a vote; the session was a public presentation and Q&A.

City leaders and residents said the staffing change felt sudden and inconsistent with the council's understanding at annexation. Resident Dan Surns told the council the move reduced local capability in a neighborhood that contains a school bus stop and cited speed and cut-through traffic as ongoing safety risks. Council members said they and the public learned about the redeployment from residents rather than through department outreach and described the lack of prior local engagement as unacceptable.

South County Fire officials said the change was part of a 15-year organizational planning effort and a broader effort to "uncross-staff" stations across the regional fire authority, with the stated goal of raising station reliability across the network. Chief Bob Eastman (introduced to the council as the department chief) told the council that the RFA's leadership looked at call volumes, heat maps and 15 stations as a single network and chose redeployment to improve reliability: "You can't think of things as individual stations anymore. You gotta look at the network of stations," he said.

Eastman and operations staff explained the specific changes affecting Mill Creek: the two-person medic unit that had been located at Station 76 was reassigned to Station 21, and a paramedic was added to the engine company at Station 21 so that the engine retains ALS capability when the medic is out on a transport. The department also said it added paramedics or paramedic staffing to other bordering stations (Stations 11, 12 and 13) to maintain coverage around Mill Creek. The department said minimum daily staffing across the RFA increased from 64 to 67 and that a daytime peak transport unit raises daytime staffing to 69.

Chief Jason Isotalo (assistant chief for operations) summarized the data-driven process staff used to reach their recommendations and said the change was the first step in a larger plan of hiring and station infill that will unfold over several years. "Our redeployment that we did was step 1 of a much larger plan, of infill fire stations, additional staffing, and additional resources in the future," he said. He also said the department is monitoring response-time data closely and will make dispatch and deployment adjustments if metrics warrant it.

Council members and residents pressed department leaders on three points: why the redeployment was not communicated to the city or the public before it took effect; whether the city's annexation-related understandings about Station 76 staffing were honored; and whether current and projected local growth was considered. City leaders noted the annexation election campaign and the council's expectation that staffing at the Mill Creek station would be maintained. One council member characterized the change as a "bait and switch" in tone; another asked what dispatch thresholds would trigger restaffing, and the fire chief replied that the department monitors response-time thresholds and would act if first-response times rose to what he described as "unacceptable" levels.

South County Fire officials acknowledged they did not conduct broad public outreach before implementing the redeployment and said the staffing decisions were discussed at board meetings and work sessions. The department said it will brief Mill Creek staff and explore improved communication going forward. Department leaders also told the council they can upstaff Station 76 temporarily when extra personnel are available and that the department has the authority to move resources quickly if the monitored data indicate a coverage hole.

The council did not adopt any formal action at the meeting; council members requested follow-up briefings and said they want written details about the redeployment metrics, monitoring plans and a communication plan for future deployment changes. The council also asked the city manager to pursue clarifications about the annexation-era understandings and whether any agreement terms were breached.

Background: South County Fire serves roughly 300,000 residents across a 15-station regional fire authority that includes Mill Creek and nearby cities. The department said the redeployment is intended to reduce "domino-effect" coverage gaps created when cross-staffed units go out on transport and to provide consistent first-due engine reliability across the network; long-term plans discussed with the commission include hiring additional firefighters and adding infill stations over the next decade.

Next steps the council requested include a written summary from the fire department of the data used to make the redeployment decision, a monthly monitoring schedule the city can review, and a communication plan for residents and elected officials.