By Jake Sudderth
May 15, 2008
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell's office spent much of last week touting their assistance in "spearheading" committee passage of a bill that is slated to replace the current Snoqualmie Pass Fire Station.
Senator Cantwell's office was also complimentary of the Wild Sky Wilderness legislation led by Senator Patty Murray and House member Rick Larsen that will protect 106,577 acres of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest as wilderness.
"Wild Sky will provide Washington state with its first new wilderness in two decades, and I applaud President Bush for signing it into law today," said Cantwell. "Creating this new wilderness area in Washington means more opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts, a boost to tourism, protection for wildlife habitats and preservation of clean water sources. After years of hurdles and obstacles, I'm so proud to see this day finally come.”
The fact that Senator Cantwell was excited about both her Snoqualmie Pass solution and a major wilderness bill displays how self serving and locally biased our systems of federalism is in action. Wild Sky is a proposal that protects land for the public trust. The Snoqualmie Pass maneuver is "small potatoes” as the most pragmatic American would say, but it is still an example of giving away land and dollars in the face of no significant problem: a public giveaway for a small group of constituents.
One measure protects land for generations. The other is an empire building program for firefighters.
"Today we are one step closer to seeing a much-needed new fire station at Snoqualmie Pass,” said Cantwell. "With an average of more than 300 calls a year, which is triple the amount of calls a typical all-volunteer fire department would respond to in a year, there is a critical need for a working, updated fire station. In order to maintain the safety of our communities, and help protect these pristine areas in Washington, we must invest in the future and build an adequate fire station.”
It is difficult to read this press release with a straight face because it is a reproduction of material provided by local fire officials. You may ask yourself what is the amount of calls an all-volunteer fire department should respond to each year? A fair question that nobody can really answer. The number of calls listed was revised after an audit by this paper discovered that past data had been inaccurate.
"Helping the Fire District acquire land and allowing it to invest its resources in building a new fire station rather than buying land will improve the safety and emergency response time at Snoqualmie Pass.”
Again, the information is absurd. Problems at Snoqualmie Pass during heavy winter fall under the "we cannot afford to solve all problems” category. The government could use spend countless millions of dollars on new roads, new fire trucks, new firefighters, and perhaps a helicopter and it is unlikely the fire department could solve fire problems at snow covered cabins deep in the woods. Unfortunately when you bring up such a practical matter the questioner is treated by firefighters like a theoretical terrorist who is pro-fire.
Spending at all costs for public safety does not equal more safety.
"The Snoqualmie Pass Fire Department serves a portion of King and Kittitas counties on both sides of the Cascade Mountains, a community of 350 full-time residents that peaks to 1,500 during the ski season. Nearly 60,000 vehicles travel through the fire district during peak times, making it one of the busiest mountain highways in the country.”
This busy mountain highway in question, I-90, is served by numerous fire districts, volunteer and professional alike. In fact, there is so much emergency service available that there has been a territorial battle for access to those in need.
The best example was the year before last when the intrepid Snoqualmie Pass firefighters publically denounced their Fire and Emergency District to the east (in Cle Elum) which after further investigation turned out to be doing a fabulous job. The Snoqualmie Pass district has increased their geographic call space (the places they go) by three-fold in five years and Interstate-90 has not become any wider or longer. In fact, generally the only time forest service land shrinks and development grows is when congressional officials provide land swaps for fire districts.
"With traffic on the rise and the need for emergency services in the area growing, the Fire District needs to move to a true fire station. In recent years, this area has been the scene of major winter snowstorms, multi-vehicle accidents, and even avalanches.”
Perhaps there is enough money to solve winter storm problems and provide emergency services at every milepost and district in the United States. However, as long followers of Snoqualmie Pass the members of this paper are confident that fire district response would not always be at the top of the list for assistance or services if a non-political poll were conducted. For example, winter power outages are much more dangerous and disconcerting to local residents and unfortunately new fire equipment will not solve this problem.
Fire districts were anointed as "first responders” when Homeland Security officials began outlining systems after September 11, 2001. So much money has been spent on many small districts that it begs the question whether they are the best groups to deal with services in all communities? The other pertinent question is how much should they grow? When will local taxpayers mind paying for the maintenance of these growing firefighter communities that are bestowed with dollars from federal sources and public land?
The United States has a heritage of overlapping police services that are the butt of jokes in nearly every movie and novel related to police work produced in the 20th and 21st centuries. Hopefully, our congressional officials are reviewing every potential bill and proposal carefully because if the Snoqualmie Pass Fire Station proposal is typical we are spending a great deal of money on small problems. If a 350-person (a very high estimate by the way) community requires 24 volunteer firefighters than New York City needs to add about 600,000 volunteer firefighters and some serious upgrades to current facilities to keep up with their Snoqualmie Pass brethren.
We will send this essay to Senator Cantwell's office. Sadly, she will likely not care. In her mind the pork is likely going to the right people.
