Woes continue with EFR’s dispatch center
May 7, 2013
Corrected version
NORCOM, the emergency dispatch system that provides service to 14 fire districts, including Eastside Fire & Rescue, couldn’t wait any longer for the long-promised new software from New World.
The old system, called TriTech, hadn’t been updated because NORCOM kept expecting the New World system to be in place. And that resulted in the system crashing — just locking up — during emergency calls, said EFR Fire Chief Lee Soptich. Read more
Sammamish to consider options for fire service
April 10, 2013
New: April 10, 2:09 p.m.
Negotiations to reduce the amount Sammamish pays for fire service have been less than fruitful. So at is April 2 meeting, the City Council formally authorized City Manager Ben Yazici to study options outside of remaining a member of Eastside Fire & Rescue.
“We are giving (Yazici) the OK to go ahead and examine the alternatives,” said Mayor Tom Odell. Read more
Most EFR partners don’t want to let Sammamish save some money
March 31, 2013
New: March 31, 11:16 a.m.
Eastside Fire & Rescue partners are generally unwilling to change the way they fund the agency in order to save Sammamish a few bucks.
At a March 18 funding model committee meeting, members told Sammamish they wanted to find some way to preserve the partnership, but they were unwilling to change the current funding arrangement. Read more
Eastside Fire & Rescue board sets 2013 goals
March 28, 2013
The Eastside Fire & Rescue board set seven 2013 goals for Fire Chief Lee Soptich to fulfill at its March 14 board meeting.
Top on the list is to prepare for the 2014 collective bargaining agreement with the firefighters’ union, which also includes hiring an attorney to provide comparison data. Read more
State auditor gives Eastside Fire & Rescue another clean audit
March 12, 2013
The state auditor’s office just completed its audit of Eastside Fire & Rescue for 2011 and found that the agency had complied with all state financial laws and regulations.
EFR, since its inception in 1999, has always had a clean audit. View the audit at http://www.sao.wa.gov/AuditReports/AuditReportFiles/ar1009217.pdf.
EFR partners lukewarm on funding change
February 14, 2013
New: Feb. 14, 1:16 p.m.
Eastside Fire & Rescue partners had the equivalent of couple’s counseling at a Feb. 7 meeting, complete with accusations of duplicity and calls to salvage fraying relationships.
With less than two years left on the agency’s current interlocal agreement, and months of prep work necessary if a partner were to go somewhere else for fire service, partners began laying out their positions on the thorny issue of funding the agency. EFR serves the cities of Sammamish, Issaquah, North Bend and King County fire districts 10 and 38. Read more
Smoldering grill lead to house fire in Heritage Hills neighborhood
February 4, 2013
New: Feb. 4, 1:54 p.m.
A smoldering grill is believed to have ignited a fire that damaged a home in the Heritage Hills neighborhood Feb. 2.
Eastside Fire & Rescue crews responded to the report of flames coming from a home on the 22000 block of Northeast 26th Place at 11:09 p.m, according to an EFR press release. The occupants were sleeping at the time but were able to evacuate by the time firefighters arrived. Read more
Sammamish could save under new EFR funding plan
January 11, 2013
New: Jan. 11, 10:18 a.m.
Sammamish could trim its fire service costs by between $156,000 and $314,000 a year if Eastside Fire & Rescue partners agree to a new funding model that reflects the amount of calls each jurisdiction produces.
But it remains to be seen whether other partners that make up the fire consortium – namely the cities of Issaquah and North Bend – would sign on to a new funding method that would substantially increase their fire bills in the name of maintaining the current incarnation of EFR past 2014. Read more
EFR seeking volunteers
January 9, 2013
Eastside Fire & Rescue needs volunteer firefighters to serve rural communities in rural King County, including Lake Joy, Maple Hills, Preston, Tiger Mountain and Wilderness Rim.
The agency needs men and women to assist in delivering emergency firefighting and medical services. Officials extended the application deadline to 5 p.m. Jan. 23. Read more
EFR may drop its dispatch service
January 6, 2013
New: Jan. 6, 2:17 p.m.
Eastside Fire & Rescue has informed its dispatching service that it intends to look for another agency to handle its calls at the end of 2013 unless it sees significant progress on a long-delayed software upgrade.
EFR Chief Lee Soptich said he informed Bellevue-based NORCOM, which coordinates emergency response for 14 fire districts and five police departments from Shoreline to North Bend, of his intentions last month following repeated delays in the implementation of a new computer system that’s been years in the making. Read more
