La Conner is ending a 13-year agreement to share a fire station with Skagit County Fire District 13, and is buying out the district’s share of ownership of the building.
The move comes a month after the district, which has been transitioning into a professional 24/7 department over the past several years, announced plans to keep two overnight firefighters in the Chilberg Road building, said District 13 Chief Roy Horn.
John Doyle, La Conner town administrator, said the town’s fire department already has two of its volunteer firefighters there overnight.
The town decided, he said, that the extra space District 13 was asking for would infringe on the town’s ability to serve its residents, so the town elected to buy out the district’s half-ownership of the building.
Horn doesn’t agree with the town’s reasoning.