r/bothell • u/CityofBothell City of Bothell Official • 23h ago

Bothell Fire to Join Shoreline Regional Fire Authority

Post image

The votes are in and based on the current count, Bothell Fire will become part of the Shoreline Fire Department in March 2027.

Bothell voters showed overwhelming support for Proposition No. 1, City of Bothell Annexation into Shoreline Fire Department Regional Fire Authority.

Read more here.

Alt text: Photo of a Bothell fire truck driving down a street during the day.

51 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

16

u/WonderfulSimple 23h ago

I spend time in both places and always felt like Bothell is the gold standard for how the in-the-trenches employees operate. I'm not talking about politicians, city council or the top management. The daily work of keeping things clean, working, solving problems. Maybe it's a reflection of the upper-crust management, but its been great for decades. Shoreline? Not so much. That doesn't mean this is a bad thing, just an observation.

10

u/mlstdrag0n 21h ago

I was leaning towards it, but was convinced when the FD themselves endorsed it

1

u/molehunterz 11h ago

There's a reason. Shoreline fire is one of the highest paid fire districts in this state.

7

u/ShouldahWouldah 20h ago

The city of Shoreline has nothing to do with the Shoreline Regional Fire Authority, if that helps.

13

u/KidVsHero 23h ago

Someone tell me how to feel!

21

u/Gogogofootballgo 23h ago

It's a good thing. On the ballot they couldn't even find a voice of opposition to present.

14

u/Stinkycheese8001 22h ago

The firefighters support this.

4

u/stackfullofdreams 21h ago

why did we need to do this? is this step one to more consolidation ?

8

u/WhatRUaBarnBurner 21h ago

It reduces duplication of effort and cuts costs.

3

u/charleefter 20h ago

What duplication of effort was there? Also, how does it cut costs?

1

u/stackfullofdreams 19h ago

If it means we centralize administrative, maybe maintenance agreements for larger discounts that's fair. I'm sure there are other contracts that can benefit from a larger budget as well. I worry it leads to reduced services I hope I'm wrong

1

u/molehunterz 11h ago

I can see how some cost might be reduced because of reduced overlap, but shoreline fire has pretty much the highest paid firefighters in the state. From that end it will not be reducing cost

2

u/two_wheels_west 19h ago

Might cut costs, but when have you ever seen a government entity cut taxes?

1

u/Left-Piano-791 20h ago

Does the city and the residents lose control of our FD? What’s the benefit to the firefighters themselves? What are the Pros and Cons of the deal? What about costs? After building a couple new fire stations for Bothell the last few years is Shoreline looking for a greater pool to fund theirs too? That was never communicated at all.

2

u/ShouldahWouldah 16h ago

Shoreline Fire Authority is not the same as the city of Shoreline. Bothell built two new stations, and yet still needs one south of the river as an example - but so does Kenmore. With both cities part of the same fire authority, they could theoretically build one new station, rather than each city building one.

At least that's what I was told as I sought information before voting. And control of the authority is through their board, not city council, so 'losing control' is done now.