East Pierce Fire and Rescue details staffing, station expansion and call trends in Sumner update

East Pierce Fire and Rescue Chief John Parkinson gave an annual update to the Sumner City Council on July 14, outlining the district's staffing, capital projects and incident trends in 2024 and plans for 2025–26. Parkinson spoke during the council study session at 6 p.m.

Parkinson said the district's coverage area includes Milton, Edgewood, Sumner, Bonney Lake and several smaller towns, covering roughly 153 square miles and about 100,000 residents. "We responded to over 13,009 911 calls," Parkinson said, and because multiple emergency units typically respond to a single call, "over 30,000 emergency units were traveling down the roadways last year from East Pierce." He said the district's 2025 operating budget is just shy of $49,000,000 and that about 85% of expenses are wages and benefits.

The chief said East Pierce is largely funded by property taxes from within the district, noting a combined tax rate currently equal to $2.09 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. Parkinson said the district employs 198 full‑time staff, staffs eight stations 24/7 and keeps 36 personnel on duty at all times. "Over 85% of our expenses each year are wages and benefits, meaning people," he added.

Why this matters: Sumner residents and the council heard specific operational measures — response times, staffing and new facilities — that affect emergency coverage, local budgets and planning for future growth.

Parkinson gave city‑level figures for Sumner: 2,388 incidents inside city limits in 2024 and about 5,500 unit responses in the city, reflecting that an incident often involves more than one vehicle. He said medical calls are the largest category of responses nationally and across the district — roughly three‑quarters of incidents — though Sumner's share was closer to 70% because of increasing commercial and warehouse development in parts of the city.

Parkinson provided travel‑time metrics for Sumner: a median (50th percentile) response time of 5 minutes, 28 seconds and a 90th percentile of 8 minutes, 50 seconds. He said the district tracks unit‑hour utilization and reliability metrics to monitor capacity, aiming for unit utilization under 30% and a reliability target of greater than 80% (the percentage of time a caller gets the closest available station).

On capital projects, Parkinson said East Pierce recently completed a new headquarters (Station 111), opened Station 114 (West Lake Tapps) in mid‑June and opened Station 117 (Tehaleh) on June 30. The district is constructing a similar design for a Prairie Ridge station and is in pre‑application with Milton for another station, with Prairie Ridge expected to finish in mid‑2026.

Parkinson said the district is negotiating to acquire just over five acres behind Station 116 for a training center and logistics campus and has leased 20,000 square feet of warehouse space on State Route 410 (the Peak 410 development) on a five‑year lease to consolidate supplies and shop functions. "We've leased, on a 5 year lease, 20,000 square feet of warehouse space there, and that's to basically consolidate our warehouse," he said.

Council members and staff asked about population and incident trends. Parkinson said the district's population has grown substantially over the last decade — "I believe we're looking at about 20,000 increase in population" — and that Tehaleh alone accounts for about 12,000 new residents compared with roughly a decade ago. He said call volume has risen in line with growth: "If we rewound around 5 years ago or so, we'd see a couple thousand less incidents per year." He attributed local changes in incident mix to commercial growth and warehouses in and near Sumner, which bring different risks and resource needs.

Council questions also covered mental‑health and critical‑incident support for firefighters. Parkinson described a peer‑support program developed over the last five years: teams of trained peers check in with crews after traumatic incidents and escalate to outside resources when needed. "Over the last decade or so and really for us over the last 5 years, we've developed a peer support team," he said. Parkinson said the district also uses outside mental‑health providers when additional services are needed.

Parkinson closed by pointing councilors and residents to the district's public communications: a quarterly newsletter, a website, social media channels and a real‑time incident app, PulsePoint. He said the district will continue station construction, open the consolidated warehouse in September and advance the training center acquisition in August.

Parkinson answered council questions during the presentation; no formal council action was taken on the update itself.