East Jefferson Fire Rescue (EJFR) released its 2024 annual report on June 4.

The 24-page document highlights EJFR’s growth and its ongoing commitment to the health and well-being of its staff and the surrounding community. 

Covering Jefferson County Fire Protection District 1, EJFR served over 28,000 residents across 123 square miles with nine stations, 68 employees and 24 volunteers. 

In 2024, EJFR responded to a total of 5,656 emergency calls, seeing an increase of nearly 10% from the previous year. Port Townsend accounted for 2,410 of the incidents, with the majority of calls being EMS or rescue-related. 

Despite the growth and its aging fleet and facilities, the department’s response time improved by 11.4%, dropping by 49 seconds from the previous year. 

“Arriving on scene faster allows us to begin medical care faster and to mitigate the impact of fires, traffic accidents, and other hazards more effectively,” wrote Robert Wittenberg, EJFR’s community risk manager. “And with increased call volume, this improved response time became even more beneficial to the community.”

Wittenberg attributed the improvement to technology upgrades and increased staffing. 

“EJFR was able to be fully staffed for the first time since the merger with Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue,” Wittenberg wrote. “Our new standard is to have a minimum staffing of 13 firefighters per day. If no firefighters are off for training or vacation on a particular day, then we have additional personnel to put an additional crew into the 911 system.  These extra resources certainly have a big impact on our response times.” 

Last year, EJFR developed Jefferson County’s first-ever Community Wildlife Protection Plan, hired nine employees and nine volunteers, opened Volunteer Station 5 on Marrowstone Island and spent less than they took in. 

The fire district is funded almost entirely by property taxes. 2024 voters approved a levy increase from $1 to $1.30 for fire and reset the $0.50 EMS levy in April. 

“The increase facilitated our ability to cover previous years’ deficits, provide specialty training, enhance CRR programs and support employee health and wellness,” the report says. “Employee wellness initiatives funded in 2024 included on-site physicals and the Ready Rebound program — helping injured employees get back to work faster.”

EJFR completed 19,441 hours of training in 2024, up from 13,596 hours in 2023.  

EJFR saw $17.5 million in revenue last year and spent $15.4 million of it. Its ending balance was $8.7 million, nearly $2 million higher than the original projection.

Two notable additions to the team were Wittenberg, who leads the new Community Risk Division, and Facilities Manager Chad Lawson, who was tasked with maintaining all nine fire stations and the administrative headquarters as well as developing a capital facilities plan.

The community risk program focuses on identifying local risks and investing resources to reduce their frequency and impact through initiatives such as expanding fire extinguisher training, installing smoke alarms, and hosting community events, among others. 

The division oversaw 226.7 hours of community education, installed 250 smoke alarms and 12 car seats, and hosted 31 children’s events, 77 community presentations and 18 training sessions. 

Last on the report was a breakdown of EJFR’s Fire CARES program. The intervention service focuses on referring and providing services, as well as operating a specialty unit for behavior-related calls. The unit is staffed by a firefighter/EMT or firefighter/paramedic partnered with a prevention/intervention specialist. 

Operating since 2023, CARES saw a 6% increase in contacts.