Fire chiefs in east Jefferson County continue to raise safety concerns with state transportation officials about the plan to shut down the Hood Canal Bridge for four weekends this summer.

East Jefferson Fire Rescue Chief Bret Black has repeatedly pressed state officials about potential impacts of completely shutting down the bridge during the busy summer season, and the potential impacts to transporting patients and others in need of emergency care to hospitals in Kitsap County and beyond if the span is shut down.

Black repeated his concerns in a March 21 letter sent to Steve Roark, the Washington Department of Transportation’s administrator for the Olympic Region.

Last year, East Jefferson Fire Rescue had 4,600 medical-related emergencies, Black said in the letter.

Black asked for the state’s help in creating a mitigation plan to deal with extended 911 transportation times in the event of a bridge closure.

Taking patients to the hospital via a medical helicopter lifeflight, he added, would not “fill the gap” during the bridge shutdowns.

Black noted in the letter that medivac flights were dependent on the weather, and added that only two organizations in the region provide flights for those in need.

“We do not have our own dedicated aircraft in Jefferson County,” Black wrote in the letter. 

He also noted that health insurance companies and Medicare/Medicaid would likely reject any claim for a medivac airlift that was “not medically necessary.”

That cost, expected to be more than $35,000, would have to be paid by the patient, he added.

Black also noted that emergency responders would not be able to take patients out of Jefferson County by using
US Highway 101, as construction is also planned on that major link this summer.

The fire chief also pointed out that when an ambulance from the fire department takes a patient across the Hood Canal Bridge, it can be two to four hours before the medic unit comes back to the fire district.

With the bridge closed, the return route is limited to US 101 or the ferry from Whidbey Island.

“These options easily triple the amount of time we are without our ambulance, negatively impacting our local 911 capacity,” Black wrote.

The chief also reminded the state that in past prolonged shutdowns of the bridge, additional reserve 911 units, additional ferries, dedicated aircraft, and additional 911 personnel have been put into play.

Other fire chiefs in the county have underscored those concerns, and raised additional issues.

In a separate letter sent to Roark on March 29, Brinnon Fire Chief Tim Manly and Quilcene Fire Chief Tim McKern asked that bridge closures not be permitted on days when weather conditions prohibit helicopter flights.

The chiefs also raised worries that the shutdown of the Hood Canal Bridge will increase traffic on US 101, “which is already a heavily traveled route that sees frequent injury-causing accidents in our districts,” they wrote.

The chiefs noted that the state’s average daily estimate of traffic on US 101 through Quilcene and Brinnon is 3,100 vehicles.

There were 35 vehicle crashes on US 101 between Highway 104 and the Jefferson/Mason county line in 2022, they added. One person was killed in the wrecks, while three other incidents involved serious injuries, and 11 others had minor or possible injuries.

Most of the traffic coming to the Olympic Peninsula during the summer will be diverted from the Hood Canal Bridge to US 101, the letter noted.

“Every summer weekend day that the bridge is closed, traffic up and down Highway 101 through Quilcene and Brinnon will potentially increase by 700 percent,” the letter said, and may rise as high as nearly 900 percent.

Manly and McKern asked Roark to put speed-control devices on the highway to reduce the risk of increased traffic.

The pair asked that speed limit signs with radar detectors and “Your Speed” displays be installed at the north and south entrances to “downtown” Quilcene and Brinnon.

The chiefs also noted that drivers traveling through Brinnon on US 101 also frequently encounter the area’s resident elk herd.

Since 2017, they wrote, there have been 15 elk hit by drivers in Brinnon.

“The frequency of these collisions will likely increase due to the elevated traffic resulting from the bridge closures,” the letter said.

The two chiefs also asked for permanent signage warning of the presence of elk at each end of elk territory in Brinnon.

In emails to The Leader Monday, Manly of the Brinnon Fire Department and Black of East Jefferson Fire Rescue said the state had not responded to their recent letters.