PORT ANGELES — Emergency call volume at Clallam County 2 Fire Rescue reached a record high last year. increasing pressure on staffing, funding, and facilities.
Fire Chief Jake Patterson says the district saw nearly a 10 percent increase from 2024 and more than double the call volume from 2011.
“This is the first year we’ve broken 2,000 emergency calls for assistance. We ended up with 2,094, so we almost hit 2,100,” said Patterson.
Patterson said about 70 percent of those calls were medical, and the surge has led to a sharp rise in overlapping emergencies — situations where more than one call comes in at the same time. With just two firefighters on duty most days, the district relies heavily on volunteers. But Patterson says volunteer availability has declined, forcing crews to prioritize life-threatening emergencies while lower-priority calls may wait.
“What keeps happening is that as the number of calls increases, so does the number of overlapping calls. Right now, about 26 to 27 percent of our calls overlap — meaning we get an emergency call while another one is already in progress. More and more often, if it’s a low-priority call, we may have to stack it and just let it wait,” Patterson told Newsradio KONP.
The growing demand is renewing discussion about funding. Fire District Two is one of the fire services in the state without an EMS levy.
“We started an advanced life support paramedic program in 2012 and didn’t ask voters for an EMS levy at that time. Instead, we funded it through the regular fire levy. Over the years, we’ve had a couple of levy lid lifts, which we’re very appreciative of, but those were still on the fire levy. That will only carry us so far in sustaining our current level of service, especially as we continue to face higher call volumes.”
The district is also facing major infrastructure challenges. Its fire stations, built more than 60 years ago for volunteer operations, are not seismically reinforced and are undersized for modern equipment.