Chief Brad Martin and the Fire Commissioners of South Pend Oreille Fire and Rescue are asking voters to consider increasing our regular fire levy rate previously voted on from $1.00 to $1.25 per $1,000 of assessed property value. This is called a Levy Lid Lift. The current fire levy rate has fallen to $.75 per $1,000 of assessed property value. The last time voters were asked to restore this fire levy was in 2010, 13 years ago.
This is necessary because the Fire District has grown since 2010 and now encompasses 240 square miles. Our calls for service last year were just under 1,000 responses. This is handled by only 4 paid career Firefighters and a dedicated roster of community volunteers . With the scheduled closure of POEMS (Pend Oreille EMS Ambulance Service) in December 2023, this would put a huge burden on those who volunteer, as well as having an extremely limited ALS (Paramedic level response) in the event of any medical emergency that you or your family may encounter.
SPOFR has seen significant increases in emergency responses with more than a 355% increase over the last 13 years (2010 -2022). This includes a 92% increase of EMS related calls since 2019.
Chief Martin will be announcing Fire Station Community meetings in the near future to answer any questions.
Public Information Officer
SPOFR
