By GARRET JAROS/Lincoln Chronicle
YACHATS – The Yachats Rural Fire Protection District board will hold off seeking legal advice regarding its ambulance options in south Lincoln County until after it meets Friday with representatives from the group it asked to conduct a feasibility study.
The board asked the Special Districts Association of Oregon to advise it on whether operating an ambulance service is financially and staffing viable for the district and whether it should include transporting patients to hospitals in Newport or Florence.
South Lincoln Ambulance, the nonprofit which has provided the service for decades, has offered to donate its new $420,000 ambulance and its equipment to the fire district if the district takes over the service.
Other options being considered by the board are consolidating with the nonprofit ambulance service under a modified agreement, continuing with the longstanding relationship as is – with Yachats Fire continuing to provide staff for the ambulance for a nominal fee — or dropping that agreement and leaving it to South Lincoln to staff the ambulance itself.
The last option would leave South Lincoln in a financial bind that would most likely lead to the demise of the service, said SLA board member Frankie Petrick, who also serves as the YRFPD volunteer chief and the district’s administrator.
On Friday, two members from the special districts organization will interview Petrick, board members, and possibly two firefighters to hear concerns about finances, staffing and risk-benefit before providing its findings at an yet undetermined date.
Board member Doug Myers wrote a draft for fire district and SLA board members to review that highlighted general issues to consider along with timelines related to the various options. He also asked about first sending the draft to its attorneys to find out what is possible.
The district is consulting with the Eugene-based Local Government Law Group as well as the special districts organization.
Myers said he was not aware of any other agreements around the state or beyond between a nonprofit working with a fire department. Petrick said she was informed last week of several, including in Summer Lake, which is part of the Lake County Fire Protection District in southeastern Oregon. She also said the current staffing agreement between the fire district and ambulance nonprofit was written by an attorney.
“I would have to believe that he was mindful of the law and that that could be a legal document between a nonprofit and a government entity,” Petrick said.
Myers said he had reached out for advice from Jefferson County Fire & EMS in Madras, which had done roughly the same thing the Yachats district is considering. It merged a third-party public, tax supported ambulance with Jefferson County Fire. He told the Yachats board that Jefferson staff offered to help them through “the minefield they are still trying to recover from 15 months later.”
The board and Petrick agreed to wait until after the interviews with SDAO on Friday before advancing any possible drafts about future actions to its attorney, who in a previous meeting had advised there are specific procedures for transferring assets to or from a rural fire protection district.
Board member Stan Wagaman advised not starting the clock with attorney fees until after the meeting with SDAO “because their report will make a big difference in what we consider doing.”
The board will also ask SDAO to give a “quick read” of Myers’ draft about possible decisions and timelines to see if it is in line with the general direction it may or may not advise.
During the public comment period preceding the discussion by board members, a self-described “overly taxed resident of the Yachats Fire District” Katrina Wynne, urged board members to no longer support the South Lincoln Ambulance and instead rely on Pacific West Ambulance as the local provider so Yachats firefighters can focus on “their number one job, our safety and timely response to fires.”
She said the ambulance service is a burden on fire district residents because it does not have its own staff and that firefighters can be on call with the ambulance and thus reduce their availability for fire calls as well as increase response time. And she noted the fatal ambulances collision with another vehicle in January 2024 that left taxpayers “saddled with the legal bills due to the illegal overlap between these two entities.”
- Garret Jaros covers the communities of Yachats, Waldport, south Lincoln County and natural resources issues for the Lincoln Chronicle, formerly YachatsNews, and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
I find it highly unusual that the fire district would even be having any type of negotiations with the ambulance service that currently has an active lawsuit against the district. How is this not a conflict of interest? Also is the district going to be willing to staff four? It’s required to have two on an ambulance and then you would need two more to support the primary role of the district, which is fire protection. This model is very outdated which is why so few districts do it.
There should be one consolidated county-wide fire district instead of all these little conflict-ridden districts that are constantly in the news with their money troubles and personality conflicts.
Maybe someone out there among Lincoln Chronicle readers has legal experience to draft a ballot measure to accomplish this? Merging all their finances and various bonds or levies would be tricky but it’s preferable to the ongoing turmoil.
Thank you for your comment, Jon. I agree and have been concerned about this for years. Katrina
Here’s my complete “Proposal” as presented at this 4/14/25 meeting of the Yachats Rural Fire Protection District board.
Katrina Wynne – SLA Proposal
4/14/25
As an overly taxed resident of the Yachats Fire District, I have serious concerns about how the SLA is impacting our community, financially and legally, something I’ve been voicing for years, especially if you view the comments under articles on the Yachats News/Lincoln Chronicle on the topic of the Yachats Fire District and the SLA. Concerns I expressed long before the unfortunate January accident.
1. The SLA is a financial burden on the residence of the fire district:
a. They do not have their own paid staff and rely upon our paid firefighters.
2. The SLA raises the risk of increased damage to residents’ property:
a. Yachats firefighters can be on call with the ambulance, thus reducing the number of staff available for a fire call.
b. The time it takes to respond to a fire is significantly increased if the Yachats Fire staff and truck are not available due to an ambulance call.
c. Rather than having two firefighters to manage the fire hose and water, when the SLA is on the call, at least one of the two paid firefighters is focused on the medical emergency.
3. As we sadly noticed with the 1/11/25 SLA vehicle collision, Yachats Fire District and all its taxpayers are saddled with the legal bills due to the illegal overlaps between these two entities.
For these reasons and more, I strongly urge the YRFPD board to no longer support the SLA and to bring in Pacific West Ambulance (PacWest) as the local provider for ambulance services, so our Yachats firefighters can focus on their number one job, our safety and timely response to fires.
PacWest would need to do a feasibility study, of course, just as you’re doing now, I believe. Based on the 9-1-1 records I reviewed from 2023 for ambulance services in the Yachats district, I’m certain that they’ll find it financially advantageous to not only serve this area, but to rent space in the Yachats fire house, thus bringing in needed revenue for our district and reducing the overburdened taxpayers.
Since most of the SLA calls are responding to tourists either staying or passing through our district, they should carry the burden of their ambulance expenses, not the residents.
For too long, the resident taxpayers have been subsidizing the tourism industry of Yachats.
Based on the statistics that I managed to formulate from limited public records found online, in spite of the fact that the Yachats Fire District doesn’t keep accurate data about who requested emergency service, and taking into consideration that the population of the City of Yachats residents is less than half of the transient population, my calculations clearly show that local taxpayers carry the burden of an unreasonable percentage of costs for maintaining public services for the tourism industry.
For these reasons, I highly recommend that the SLA is dissolved, and PacWest (or any qualified ambulance provider) is invited to serve the Yachats fire district and rent space at the fire station at a fair market price.