STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
The smell of freshly flipped pancakes and sausage wafted from the Ketchum fire house to Rotary Park Saturday morning.
Tom Ancona and Pete Schwartz were busy flipping large fluffy hot cakes on a grill outside, while inside the engine bay other firefighters were treating visitors to a buffet that included orange juice, coffee, and chocolate chips and whipped cream to accompany the maple syrup.
The Ketchum Fire Department hosted the pancake feed to invite Ketchum voters to the fire house to learn about a proposal on the Nov. 5 ballot to create a Ketchum Fire District for valley-wide fire and EMS consolidation.
Ketchum Fire Chief Bill McLaughlin told those in attendance that his department no longer has adequate staff and resources to respond adequately to or prevent emergencies, what with fire and EMS calls in Ketchum increasing by 39 percent since 2020. This past year the department was asked to respond to five emergencies at the same time and it didn’t have what it needed, he said.
That leaves the Ketchum Fire Department unable to do preventative wildland fire measures to mitigate the chances of a conflagration similar to the one that happened in Jasper, Alberta, Canada, this summer.
“I teach fire adaptive community workshops across the country and I can’t use this valley as an example,” said McLaughlin. “We’re not as prepared as we could be. If you want to know what that means, look at Jasper or Paradis, Calif.—all those communities that were devastated by wildfires.”
McLaughlin said three studies—the most recent conducted by the Blaine County Commissions in 2023—have suggested that consolidation of fire districts would improve wildland fire prevention and response, provide more stable staffing, reduce administrative costs, eliminate redundant equipment and staffing and standardize training and operations procedures.
“When we had the Limelight Condo fire, every department in the valley responded, but each department tackled it in different ways. They all drove in and did their own thing,” McLaughlin said.
The ballot, which is sponsored by the Ketchum firefighters and interested property owners—requires a 50 percent yes vote to pass. If approved, Ketchum Fire District would immediately merge with Wood River and West Magic fire districts.
Smiley Creek Rural Fire Protection District is considering it and the Hailey Fire Department would likely come on board if it passes, McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin said consolidation at this time makes sense because he’s at the end of his career so leaders of other fire districts could take over and his vacancy could go to hiring a training officer who could provide training for such things as wildfire mitigation.
That would include better wildland fire training for firefighters, public education for property owners and improving codes. It also would enable thinning forests at the base of Warm Springs and other areas.
Consolidation would also mean that staff can be moved where needed should a staffer call in sick.
One hundred percent of Ketchum property taxes collected for the current fire/EMS services would be cut in 2025 while public hearings are conducted for a new property tax to fund operations in the 2026 tax year. Some taxpayers would see a slight increase; others would see their taxes lowered, McLaughlin said.
It’s estimated that Ketchum taxpayers could see pay $21.52 more per $100,000 of taxable property value.
THE BALLOT LANGEUAGE:
Should a fire district be formed to be called the Ketchum Fire District, comprised of the current city of limits of Ketchum with the intent to consolidate the fire departments of the Wood River Valley? Learn more at https://www.projecctketchum.org/fire-consolidation.
WHO YOU GONNA CALL?
Did you know that the firefighters based in Elkhorn are responsible for providing the initial response to fires on the Board Ranch in Warm Springs? That’s because the Ketchum Fire District is tasked with calls in the city while the other is tasked with responding to rural calls.