EDITORIAL: Time to prove you support your first responders

Which of these options best describes your feelings toward first responders?

a. What are first responders?

b. I strongly support them when I need them.

c. I support them because the services they provide are essential for public safety not just for me and my family, but for my neighbors as well.

If you chose c., you get it. You are to be commended for sterling citizenship, for behaving like a responsible adult and a good neighbor.

If you chose either of the other options, we need to talk.

On the Nov. 5 ballot is a funding request from Northern Lakes Fire District. NLFD staff provide all-hazards response to about 45,000 Kootenai County residents in a 108-mile area, including the cities of Hayden, Rathdrum and Twin Lakes.

These highly trained professionals promptly answer the calls for:

• Emergency medical calls with EMT-staffed ambulance services

• Home and other structure fires

• Wildland fires

• Vehicle crashes, with heavy extrication capabilities

• Hazardous materials response

• Serious weather emergencies

• Ice and water rescues

With the district’s steady population growth has come a significant increase in activity — 6,000 emergency responses last year. In the past decade, demands on the agency have increased almost 70%. Staffing and equipment needs over those years have struggled to keep up.

The Nov. 5 funding request, a temporary solution that will last two years if approved, will maintain current staffing levels and pay for eight firefighters to staff a new fire station in Garwood.

To provide adequate funding for all the services listed above and more, the cost to owners of a $543,000 home (the Kootenai County median value) is $11.15 per month more than they’re paying now.

To Northern Lakes Fire District’s credit, no scare tactics are being employed in their pitch for support. But it would be irresponsible not to weigh the consequences of failure at the Nov. 5 ballot box, so consider this:

A dozen firefighters, all of them certified EMTs, would be laid off, reducing coverage in Hayden and Rathdrum. The $4 million Garwood station would close due to lack of staffing.

Further, District residents would face potentially higher insurance costs — a painful phenomenon that has spread across the country. It’s not hard to imagine that an investment of $11 a month for the funding request might easily be less than rising insurance premiums.

Those who live in Northern Lakes Fire District and have ever needed their services can attest to the organization’s excellence. This funding request should be a simple decision for voters: Show your belief in c. above and vote Yes on Nov. 5.

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Read more about the funding request: northernlakesfire.com