New Yachats fire chief outlines his plans, ideas for volunteers, ambulance service, staff and administration

By GARRET JAROS/Lincoln Chronicle

YACHATS – The Yachats fire district’s new chief is wasting no time as he works to enlist experienced volunteers, ensure ambulance coverage, create ways for employee advancement and modernize administrative tools.

Jeff Mathia had no sooner been sworn in as acting chief during the Yachats Rural Fire Protection District’s monthly board meeting Monday before giving his first “chief’s report” outlining a host of tasks underway.

“I did a lot during February just to get out there and get some things done,” Mathia told the board before diving into a three-page summary of his efforts.

Mathia stepped into the role of acting chief following the board’s removal of volunteer chief and paid administrator Frankie Petrick on Feb. 28. Mathia had been the district’s emergency medical services chief and had been designated assistant fire chief prior to Petrick’s departure.

Mathia was general manager of Pacific West Ambulance in Lincoln County from 2017 to 2024 and had been with its parent company, Metro West Ambulance, since 2004. He now has a contract with Yachats Fire that pays $96,000 a year and expires in June 2027.

To help ensure the district remains staffed while Yachats responders are on calls, Mathia has initiated an agreement with the Seal Rock Fire District and East Lincoln County Fire and Rescue to share volunteers. Volunteers from Seal Rock have been assisting Yachats Fire with station staffing for two months without a formal contract.

“We’re looking at trying to combine the volunteer pool, some of the training aspects and some mutual aid coverage,” Mathia said. “Hopefully I will have a little more for you at the next board meeting on that.”

Mathia, who is also as a Seal Rock volunteer, said he spoke with Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue board members last month after they expressed concern their department was being bypassed in favor of Seal Rock.

“I tried to explain to them, I have a resource background so I know how to utilize resources, and to me it made sense to request resources from an agency that can supply the resource without abandoning their district,” Mathia said. “Typically, Central Coast does not have extra personnel on. They suffer just like a lot of other agencies do. And fortunately, Seal Rock has a slew of volunteers.”

Mathia added that Yachats tries to check in with Central Coast and Seal Rock each morning to see who has extra staff on duty – not only available – but able to staff the Yachats station with two firefighters if needed.

“So I was really trying to make the point (with Central’s board) it’s not favoritism in any way, it’s who has the resources available to come down,” Mathia said.

Yachats board members suspended talks with Central Coast board members last month over a possible merger or consolidation proposed by Central Coast, saying the district needed to focus on staffing and internal issues for the time being.

After the meeting, Mathia told the Lincoln Chronicle that of the seven fire agencies in Lincoln County, only Seal Rock has a significant number of volunteers – more than 45 on the roster and 20 who are “very active.”

He added that volunteers who come from Seal Rock are experienced and qualified to operate Yachats’ equipment.

Yachats fire’s efforts to attract volunteers has been slow, but something Mathia is working on that has resulted in the district increasing from one volunteer a couple of months ago to eight – some with experience – by the end of the month.

Ambulance coverage

Whether to continue providing independent ambulance service to Yachats with the non-profit South Lincoln Ambulance has been on the board’s agenda for more than a year and included a feasibility study by the Special Districts Association of Oregon.

The board is wrestling with four options:

• Continue ambulance operations as usual and rely on staffing from Yachats firefighter/paramedics;
• Move to “some sort of joint operation” with South Lincoln;
• Absorb the ambulance non-profit into the district and use it to respond to calls while relying on PacWest for transport; or
• Drop ambulance coverage altogether and have PacWest provide that service.

PacWest’s transportation fees are substantially more than South Lincoln’s.

The 2025-2026 staffing agreement between Yachats Fire and South Lincoln expires March 30. Mathia said he has spoken with South Lincoln’s board, which includes Petrick and former Yachats administrative assistant Shelby Knife, about extending the agreement until June 30 to allow more time to consider options.

In the meantime, PacWest has offered to work with Yachats by providing an ambulance if needed until a decision is made.

“I think it’s vitally important that you guys keep one down here,” said a PacWest paramedic who attended Monday’s board meeting. “Our call volume has increased and I think it would do the citizens of Yachats, it would be very valuable for them, for you guys, to maintain an ambulance to help.”

PacWest’s parent company is Hillsboro-based Metro West Ambulance and its owner has made it clear previously it would not seek South Lincoln’s county-assigned service area because the low number of calls does not make it financially feasible to station an ambulance in Yachats.

Mathia acknowledged the four options the board is considering, but said he believes the Yachats area needs an ambulance.

“Just my opinion and based on being in the EMS industry for 25 years now, knowing this area (like) I have for the last 10 years, I think Yachats needs to have an ambulance down here, within the community,” Mathia said. “I think Frankie’s done a great job providing that and I think the citizens expect it.”

“Okay,” replied board president Doug Myers. “But we’re looking at it from what’s best for our taxpayers as well as the other part?”

“Yes,” Mathia said.

Communication and money

The board also discussed its goal to improve communication both internally and externally with city of Yachats officials. Myers has contacted city manager Bobbi Price, who offered to arrange a meeting between the fire board, herself and the mayor and council president.

“They have a really nice newsletter,” Myers said. “They have the ability to disperse information to a very large chunk of our taxpayers quickly. That’d be nice to be able to use.”

Prior to Petrick’s departure, the board had discussed reaching out to the public to gauge interest in keeping an ambulance in the community and continuing to transport patients to hospitals despite the required staffing levels and associated costs. The city has been very successful with sending out surveys to the community to garner feedback about a variety of issues.

The district primarily receives revenue from five sources: A tax base of 29 cents per $1,000 assessed property value; a 2016 building bond of 69 cents per $1,000 assessed value; a 2022 local option levy of $1.59 per assessed value; a 2023 local option levy of 61 cents per assessed value; and $18,000 annual service agreement with the ambulance nonprofit.

The district is asking voters to renew the $1.59 levy in the May 19 primary election.

Board members also wondered aloud whether the recent decision by the 2026 Legislature to increase the amount of visitor amenity funds cities are allowed to use for operations and public safety could include the fire district.

“We need to develop some other income streams,” Myers said. “…If we don’t identify other income streams, we’re gonna have to keep coming back to the citizens of Yachats and asking for more money.”

And it is not because finances are being mismanaged, he added, but simply because it is a normal part of keeping up with inflation and wages that will need to be addressed by cuts or additional income.

The district currently has reserves in the amount of $380,000 after sitting static at $30,000 for years, Myers said. “And that’s what the citizens voted, that extra buck in there (in 2022) that was to build up reserves and that is our evidence that we have now done it.”

Petrick’s departure as a paid district administrator also frees some money because those duties will now fall to assistant administrator Deborah Coleman.

Myers said the board will not fill the administrator position.

“We may end up sunsetting the position,” he said. “Most of the duties if not all of them are absorbed into our new fire chief job description. We’ll probably modify Deb’s (Coleman) job description so it’s not reporting to a position that’s no longer filled. And realistically, their job descriptions, the administrator and assistant were exactly the same.”

Mathia’s contract does not call for him to take on that role but Myers said he may take on some of those responsibilities.

Mathia on challenges

In stepping into his new role as acting chief, Mathia outlined some of the challenges and changes he wants to make.

“There are some operational things more on the administrative side that we need to modernize,” he said, including saving time through updated accounting systems.

He also wants to bring more consistency to the organization, such as matching uniforms for staff. In interviewing employees before taking the position, Mathia said he learned what they would like to see and what they expected of him. One of those things was delegating leadership roles within the ranks.

“Petrick ran it all herself, so to speak,” Mathia said. “And people want to grow within a job. And when they see an opportunity to grow, they tend to be more active in the organization. And they have pathways, so we wanted to give them pathways to grow their career, grow their profession.”

• Garret Jaros covers the communities of Yachats, Waldport, south Lincoln County and natural resources issues for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]