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Everett and South County firefighters outline regionalization options and promote community paramedicine as cost saver
Summary
Representatives from the Everett Fire Department and South Snohomish County Fire told Mukilteo council that regionalization, municipal fire authorities and fire benefit charges each carry tradeoffs; both presenters emphasized community paramedic programs as a proven way to cut 911 calls and health costs.
Two potential regional partners — the City of Everett Fire Department and South Snohomish County Fire — presented to the Mukilteo council on June 8 about options for Mukilteo’s 2026 evaluation of fire‑service futures.
Everett Fire Chief Dave DeMarco said Everett has studied consolidation and municipal fire authority models and that none of the alternatives are obviously lower cost than the status quo. He highlighted Everett’s mobile social‑worker care team, which he credited with reducing call volumes and improving outcomes: "We're the only organization in the county that has seen a call volume reduction every year for the last 3 years," DeMarco said.
South Snohomish County Fire leaders described their network of 15 stations, 354 line personnel, marine and hazardous‑materials teams, and a range of specialty units. Chief Sean Maxwell and commissioners explained a suite of programs — community paramedicine, a coordinated overdose response (CORE) pilot that uses buprenorphine in the field, life‑jacket and prevention efforts, and a high‑performance CPR program — that they said have materially lowered system demand and costs.
"When our community paramedics work with people, we reduce 911 calls by 50% and reduce hospital visits by 50%," a South County presenter said, summarizing program results and claiming substantial systemwide savings from avoided emergency and hospital costs. Presenters also said their community paramedic efforts have been supported by roughly $10 million in grant funding over time.
The presenters described governance and funding options. South County Fire explained its governance structure (seven elected commissioners, plus nonvoting seats for newly annexed cities), its fire benefit charge formula (based on square footage and building type) and the voter thresholds for benefit charges and renewals. They recommended that Mukilteo consider how representation and benefit‑charge mechanics would work if the city were to join an authority or regional fire district.
Councilmembers asked about costs, grant competitiveness for regionalized entities, and how representation would work during transitional periods. Presenters said regionalization often improves grant competitiveness and described a process that grants newly annexed cities a nonvoting seat on the board until redistricting lines are adjusted.
Next steps: The presentations provided comparative models and asked the council to weigh tradeoffs between cost, local representation and service delivery. Several councilmembers signaled interest in community paramedicine programs as a near‑term way to reduce calls and costs while longer governance debates continue.
