The Editor:
As a recently relocated climate migrant from northern California, I must voice my disappointment with this community’s decision to postpone funding for the fire department in the failed ballot measure of Proposition 2024-18.
We need access to emergency fire and first response services now more than ever before. The proposed structural modernization and equipment upgrades would allow our firefighters to do their jobs in an effective and secure manner.
As a transplant from the fires of Northern California, I know firsthand that well-equipped firefighters are imperative to our safety and well being. Grasslands once considered golden dry and located only in California, now are seen in British Columbia, Oregon and Washington. They are tinderboxes awaiting just a spark or ember. Our neighbors to the north of us in B.C. continue to experience profound community loss due to wildfires.
We will never be immune from these devastating fires that now plague the West Coast from the Arctic Circle well into Mexico. Our firefighters and first responders need our political and financial support now. Won’t someone please resubmit the very sensible bill of 2024-18? Perhaps we, the local citizens of Northwest Washington, just misread and underestimated the value of Proposition 2024-18.
Suzanne Cresswell
Blaine
