Fire Commissioner Speaks Out on District Controversies

After months of taking the heat for the Kirkland annexation and the closing of Station 34 in June, Woodinville Fire & Rescue Commissioner Bob Miller read from a prepared statement at Monday's meeting to correct "lies" regarding those issues.

“Just because lies are repeated does not make them true,” Miller said in the opening of his statement.

Miller said had been in the works for three years and said contrary to statements made, the District was forced to

“Voters in the service area decided they wanted Kirkland to be their service provider,” he said. “I didn’t want this, the chief didn’t want this and none of the other commissioners wanted this. We had no choice.”

Miller said under the state’s Growth Management Act it is the law that areas inside the urban growth areas must go into adjacent cities and urged people to read the law.

He lambasted the idea that Station 34 could have remained open after Kirkland annexed the area. “How? Would some suggest WDVL [Woodinville] taxpayers pay for service in Kirkland?” He added that he was not talking about mutual aid on emergency calls.

Miller also asked why firefighters who were being transferred to Kirkland as part of the annexation did not show up at a planned ceremony to honor their service to the District, and why the commissioners were not invited to the flag-lowering ceremony at Station 34 on its last day of operation.

"Truth is we were not invited. We all would have been there," he said.

, Ted Klinkenberg, a firefighter for Woodinville Fire & Rescue and a member of the Local 2950 Executive Board, wrote:

”The transferees feel they were neglected throughout the annexation process and feel that they were used as pawns by Woodinville’s administration. They also object to the closure of the Kingsgate fire station without any plan to provide coverage to the remaining portion of the fire district that Woodinville is still obligated to protect. Sharing this sentiment, other Woodinville firefighters and staff also boycotted the event.”

Miller disputed the union’s claim that members “volunteered to keep 34 open the last 2 wks [weeks] of June, but the truth is we paid overtime to staff Station 34 the last two weeks in June. Commissioners agreed to release 6 FF [firefighters] the last 2 wks [weeks] to train in Kirkland—WFR [Woodinville Fire & Rescue] Dist. [district] paid their salary for this time—not Kirkland.”

, the Local states that then , dropped the staffing of Station 34 from three people to two people, which meant that for those two weeks, a fire engine would not be available and that only an aid car would respond out of Station 34, according to the union: 

“The Firefighter’s union convened prior to the staffing reduction and quickly agreed to cancel vacation time taken during the last two weeks of May in order to properly staff the station. As a result of the firefighter’s offer to fill the gaps, the Kingsgate area will be properly protected at no additional cost to Woodinville Fire & Rescue.”

At Monday's meeting Miller pointed out that because of a decline in revenue, firefighters in other areas are being laid off.

“I don’t want that. I started with this District in 1987. I love this District,” Miller said. “I want us to continue to deliver the quality of service the citizens deserve and expect. I expect that chief, firefighters and commissioners all to work together to address annexation, budget and personnel issues.”