Othello to start municipal fire department

OTHELLO — The city of Othello will be starting its own fire department before May 2026, when its current contract with Adams County Fire District 5 expires. A proposed increase in the contract price for 2024 and beyond and resulting negotiations went to mediation. 

Othello City Council members voted 6-0 not to accept the proposal reached through mediation at their Aug. 5 meeting.  

Othello Mayor Shawn Logan said Tuesday the city owns some fire equipment and facilities, and city officials will start there. 

“We’ll need to go through and analyze what’s going to be needed to start up the fire department and specific equipment we would need to buy,” Logan said. “Then create a budget for it (and) hire the people that are necessary to start a department.” 

Fire district Commissioner Jay Weise said Monday there would be some decisions for fire district commissioners to make after the contract expires.  

“We’ll have to reevaluate how we operate,” Weise said, but what that will mean is still to be determined.  

Logan said council members and city officials were concerned about a substantial increase in the contract cost. Assessed valuation was one of the criteria used to establish the contract rate, and as that increased in the city it affected the contract price. 

Logan said the cost increased to about $750,000 per year. City officials budgeted about $465,000 for 2024, based on previous years.  

Weise said ACFD 5 commissioners believe that providing firefighting services in a rural area is changing, and the district will need to change with it. 

“The volunteer pool is limited,” Weise said, and it’s been shrinking.  

That means ACFD 5 probably will have to fire additional paid staff, Weise said. The district employs a fire chief, assistant chief, two paid firefighters and a few other personnel. In light of that, fire district officials started working on a strategic plan. 

“We started that in motion about a year ago,” Wiese said, with the idea of determining the options available, and how much those options would cost the district and the city. “We wanted to be able to give all the pros and cons.” 

Weise said ACFD 5 officials wanted to wait to make any changes to the contract until a study of the options was complete.  

“Our overall concern was, if we continue the relationship with the city of Othello, how do we provide the fire service?” Weise told council members Aug. 5.  

Logan said Othello officials thought the city should get additional services with the increase in price.  

The two sides agreed to mediation, and the proposal that resulted included annexation of the city into the fire district. But the annexation proposal did not come with additional services, Logan said, and included the district taking ownership of city equipment and facilities. 

City officials don’t know yet how much it will cost to start a fire department, Logan said.  

“We know that the city of Ephrata, which is similar in size to Othello, runs their fire department on $733,000 per year,” Logan said. “That also includes backup ambulance service, which we wouldn’t provide.”  

That amount also includes some insurance expenses Logan said he didn’t think Othello would have. City officials think Othello can afford its own fire department, he said.  

“The city of Othello is continuing to grow,” Logan said. “Going forward we think we can run an excellent fire department, and as the city grows, revenue will continue to grow inside the city and we will fund the department through that.”