By Owen Sexton
The Chronicle
GLENOMA, Wash. — Earlier this month in East Lewis County, volunteer firefighter Jeanine Armstrong resigned from her position as the chief of Lewis County Fire District (LCFD) 18 during the district’s board of commissioners’ meeting on Feb. 10.
Following Armstrong’s resignation, the remaining 16 volunteer firefighters and paramedics at LCFD 18, also known as Glenoma Fire & EMS, decided to end their time there as well, along with the commissioners’ clerk.
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With the unincorporated community of around 800 residents in Glenoma effectively being left without a fire department, mutual first response agreements — such as with the neighboring LCFD 4 in Morton some 10 minutes west of Glenoma on U.S. Highway 12 and LCFD 14, also known as Randle Fire & EMS, 10 minutes to the east — ensured Glenoma residents still had someone responding in case of an emergency.
However, by this time next month, the mutual first response agreement between Glenoma Fire & EMS and Randle Fire & EMS will no longer be active, after the LCFD 14 commissioners convened for a special meeting on Thursday, Feb. 19, to vote on contract termination.
Per the agreement’s language, either party may terminate the contract by giving the other party a 30-day written notice of termination. The agreement had been in place since Aug. 9, 2011.
In attendance at Thursday’s meeting was LCFD 18 Commission Chair William “Bill” Lauth along with the interim Glenoma Fire & EMS Chief Phil Congdon. Congdon had previously retired from Glenoma Fire & EMS, but came back last week to serve as interim chief to try to help get the department get fully staffed again.
Lauth explained that since Armstrong’s resignation, Glenoma Fire & EMS has had “about 10″ prospective volunteers apply to be on the force according to Lauth.
“We had about six or eight that were experienced firefighters,” Congdon said.
Both he and Congdon vocalized displeasure with the decision to end the mutual first response agreement, pointing out that Glenoma Fire & EMS had been there for Randle Fire & EMS when Randle’s fire department went through a similar situation recently.
“We’re still a functioning fire department,” Lauth said.
However, none of these new volunteers have their certifications to drive the department’s fire engines and other apparatus on Highway 12, and while they have volunteers looking to fill the firefighter roles, they don’t have any new paramedics yet.
Randle Fire & EMS Chief Justin Claibourn explained to the LCFD 14 commissioners the reason for terminating the contract was to avoid liability concerns, especially since they don’t know how long it will take to finish rebuilding Glenoma’s own department.
“The reason we want this contract, this agreement, terminated, is we do not want your apparatus coming into our district. It’s as simple as that,” Claibourn said. “But we will still come to yours.”
Claibourn assured Lauth and Congdon that despite the termination of the contract on paper, his firefighters and paramedics would still respond to calls in Glenoma as far west as Wills Road, just down the road from the Glenoma Fire & EMS firehouse on Highway 12.
However, he also stated response times may increase, and the added strain of having to respond to calls in Glenoma could leave Randle without first responders during certain times, meaning volunteers from LCFD 10 in Packwood might have to respond to Randle calls.
LCFD 4 Chief Bill Reynolds was also in attendance at Thursday’s meeting and stated the Morton Fire Department was also still responding to calls from their side of Glenoma all the way to Wills Road.
Lewis County Fire District 14 Commissioner John Pollman echoed Claibourn’s comments, and stated he hoped to see Glenoma Fire & EMS back to operating soon.
“You were right, Bill. You said that we watched these different departments go up and down throughout the years. This department has been down several times, big time. We’ve come back. You guys are working on it, and that’s what we want to see,” Pollman said. “… To put this in concise words, Glenoma doesn’t need to worry about if Randle 14 is going to show up or not. We just need to protect ourselves from (liability for) training that hasn’t happened yet.”
Lewis County Fire District 14 Commissioner Ken Lindh added just last year, Randle was “close to being in the same predicament.” One thing that helped was instituting reforms in how training was handled and how the department is run.
According to Armstrong’s Feb. 10 resignation letter, her choice to leave Glenoma was spurred by “direct verbal abuse from (LCFD 18) Commissioner (Lonnie) Houlbjerg in an open commissioners meeting, which significantly escalated and created a hostile work environment.”
She alleged during the incident, Houlbjerg, who was just elected to the LCFD 18 Board of Commissioners last November, tore up a draft anti-harassment policy she had written for the department and cursed her out.
A volunteer firefighter who got her start with LCFD 9 in Mineral, Armstrong has been a firefighter since 2000. She had been Glenoma’s fire chief for over four years. She is now a volunteer with Randle Fire & EMS. Armstrong’s full resignation letter can be read online at https://tinyurl.com/4ykj743r.
“We have changed our ways of thinking here, and I’m really happy with our new chief, our secretary, our commissioner board,” Lindh said. “We’re trying to open up our minds towards different directions, different ways of training. And it’s bringing people in now. We went from about eight (volunteers), to up to 32, and they’re here every Tuesday night.”
He stated the goal was to get Randle Fire & EMS up to a force of between 40 and 50 total volunteers on staff.
Both Congdon and Lauth are still actively looking for new volunteers to serve at Glenoma Fire & EMS, both as firefighters and paramedics. Anyone interested in becoming the new fire chief is also invited to apply.
One meeting attendee did express interest in volunteering, as he was a former Seattle Fire Department firefighter, but stated he couldn’t at the moment as he was too busy caring for his newborn child.
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