In 2006 the voters of Kittitas County Fire District 2 and the

City of Ellensburg voted to have the city annex into the fire

district and merge the fire and EMS operations into one

organization.  Throughout 2006 we worked together as a

consolidated agency and as of January 1, 2007 we officially

merged and formed Kittitas Valley Fire and Rescue. 

 Our service area is about 280 square miles of fire

suppression footprint and 1,200 square miles for an

EMS footprint.  We also back up Upper County Medic

One when they are unavailable, so we essentially

cover from the top of Snoqualmie Pass to the Columbia

River and the top of Blewett Pass to the Yakima County

line.   Because of the impact of the University and the

daily traffic on the freeways, we average about

100,000 lives per day within the District. 

 In order to protect that big of a footprint, we have 11 fire stations.  Two of those stations have career staff—102 North Pearl and 2020 Vantage Highway.  Our career firefighters and officers are cross-trained, multi-role responders.  They do it all, fire suppression, rescue from vehicles to grain silos, hazardous materials and of course they are experts in caring for people that have medical or traumatic events.  Ours is a full service fire district.  Whatever your emergency, we will be there. 

 The other 9 stations are staffed by 7 volunteer companies that are members of the community and respond from home.  These dedicated volunteers leave their own friends and family, many times in the dark of night to assist their neighbors.  If you know one of these noble individuals, please say thank you. 

 Thanks to an eager and energetic pool of college aged students we have a resident firefighter program where young men and women live at the fire station and work as firefighters learning the profession.  The majority of these fine young folks go on to become firefighters, EMT’s and paramedics, throughout the Northwest. 

 Reserve firefighters round out our combination district, these responders fight fire and assist us with back-staffing for emergency medical services.  Each is an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) as well as a firefighter. 

 To support the activities of these responders we have a Training Captain, a Prevention Captain, Ambulance Billing Coordinator, Human Resource Manager, District Secretary/Financial Officer, Deputy Chief and Fire Chief.  More importantly, we have outstanding leadership and oversight of the entire operation by our five elected fire commissioners. 

 If we can help in any way, please let us know. 

 John Sinclair, Fire Chief

Kittitas Valley Fire and Rescue is a combination district.  This means we have career firefighters and community volunteer firefighters.  Additionally, we also have reserve firefighter/EMT’s that assist with our EMS mission and resident firefighters that are college students living in the fire station to learn the craft of firefighting and emergency medical service. 

 The Board of Fire Commissioners meets monthly at 7:00 PM on the second Thursday of the month.  The meeting is currently held at the Fire District Administration office located at 102 North Pearl.  All members of the community are welcome.  If you cannot attend a meeting our professional staff is available to assist you during regular business hours. 

 We work for you.  Please let us know if you have comments, questions or concerns. 

Pat Clerf, Chair - John Smith,  Vice-Chair - Neil Houser -  

Neil O’Neill - Glenn Huffman