“I’m sad that it had to come down to a mandate,” he said. Alexander, like many of the other fire leaders interviewed for this article, is vaccinated.
In that case, they’d have to pay additional overtime to the remaining firefighters to fill the gaps. If employees get the vaccine while off-duty, they get two hours worth of overtime pay.Ĭhris Alexander, the Mukilteo Fire Department’s chief and president of the county fire chiefs association, said Wednesday his 27-member staff could lose two to four responders because of the requirement. He added they will continue to offer those opportunities. For example, on Tuesday, it offered vaccines at its station in Clearview, O’Brien said. The department has been working to up its vaccination levels. While concerned about the impact, O’Brien said, “I can assure you that when a citizen calls 911, our excellent firefighters will be there to help 24/7 365.” Despite a vaccination rate below 60%, the chief doesn’t expect any disruptions to service. Kevin O’Brien, chief of Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue, said in an email his department is prepared to comply with the governor’s mandate. More than 72% had gotten at least one dose. Just over 66% of the county’s residents 16 and older were fully vaccinated as of this week, according to the state Department of Health. “I don’t think this is any different, with the fire service, than all of our society in America right now trying to determine that risk-benefit analysis between individual rights and public health,” Waller said Thursday. He said that helped get his 40 full-time operational staffers to 92% vaccinated.
As the chief at Fire District 4 in Snohomish, Waller has used his medical background to lay out the facts about the COVID-19 vaccine to his crews. In a statement, the Snohomish County Fire Chiefs Association said they were working to implement the governor’s order.ĭon Waller, who has been in the firefighting field since he was 16, holds a master’s degree in health policy and administration. Faulk said, however, that alternative was determined to be “infeasible and ineffective.” One estimate put the price tag for regular testing at $66 million annually across all state agencies.įaulk also wrote the emergency response sector faces a different staffing conundrum if workers aren’t vaccinated: Responders are missing shifts in “incredibly high numbers” due to exposures to the virus and infections. Officials considered an option letting workers get frequently tested for the virus, instead of getting vaccinated. Members should be able to choose to not get vaccinated without worrying about losing their career, he added.Īnd IAFF Local 2781, which represents firefighters in south and east county cities like Monroe, Sultan and Mill Creek, wrote its own letter to the governor Wednesday saying the mandate “could result in a loss of essential workers.” The union said it is seeing an increase in cases of both its vaccinated and unvaccinated members.Ī spokesperson for the governor’s office, Mike Faulk, said in an email the mandate won’t be changing. Paul Gagnon, president of IAFF Local 46 for Everett firefighters, said his union disagrees with the governor’s requirement.
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