Despite the possibility to add six full-time firefighters to the workforce, Clallam County Fire District 3 fire commissioners opted not to accept a three-year federal grant due to concerns over future finances once the grant ends.
Fire commissioners James Barnfather and Michael Gawley, with Steve Chinn absent, voted at the fire district’s regular meeting on Sept. 19 against accepting the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) matching grant. It would have given the district about $1.007 million over three years to cover 75 percent of wage and benefit costs in 2018 and 2019 and 35 percent in 2020. It would have cost the district about $1.1 million over three years though, staff said.