The 5,000 or so Lewis County residents that live within the boundaries of Fire District 5 may have to live without their own emergency medical response system if they don’t vote next month to approve levy funding for the service.
The fire district has never collected levy funds to pay for EMS services, which account for 70 to 80 percent of its call volume each year, instead using tax funds collected for fire services.
District 5 Commissioner Kevin VanEgdom wrote in a letter to The Chronicle that if the proposed levy of 49 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value does not pass in August, the district that includes Napavine as well as portions of State Route 508 and U.S. Highway 12 will have to cut the program altogether.
“It is my duty to provide the services that are paid for,” VanEgdom wrote. “That means we fund fire protection but not EMS.”