West Pierce Fire & Rescue Start Anything But Boring

The inaugural meeting of the West Pierce Fire & Rescue Board of Commissioners  on Tuesday night finalized the political details of the merger, but officials say two large-scale incidents showed the value of it.

Back to back emergencies — a train derailment in  on Saturday night and a natural gas explosion at the Pierce Transit headquarters in  on Monday — evening put the newly formed department under a microscope. West Pierce Fire Chief Ken Sharp said the outcome showed the merger benefits between the neighboring cities, particularly with firefighter coverage

"All the stations were covered," he said of both situations at station 21 off Steilacoom Boulevard on Tuesday. "We never lost coverage in either city."

Tuesday marked the first time both districts worked together in north and south battalions.

"Today was the first day crews were mixed up," Sharp said.

West Pierce — whose board is composed of Lakewood and University Place fire commissioners —  approved four separate resolutions including the deeds to transfer all real property from District 2 (Lakewood) to District 3 (University Place). Former commissioners, special guests and retirees were honored, and Sharp presented Joe Rodgers, the most-tenured firefighter, with the first West Pierce badge.

Both agencies have been running unilaterally since January. Voters in Lakewood approved the merger on Feb. 8 by more than 80 percent and it was ratified on two weeks later. What was originally slated to be a smooth transformation resulted in a pair of out-of-the-ordinary response calls.

West Pierce Assistant Chief Operations Paul Tinsley assisted in the natural gas leak explosion Monday at the transit center and said the response time was just as good — if not better — because of the merger. The train derailment marked the first major response by West Pierce, and both incidents were defused with no injuries.

West Pierce Fire & Rescue will celebrate the merger of University Place and Lakewood Fire Departments at 10 a.m. on Friday at the the West Pierce Fire & Rescue headquarters located at 3631 Drexler Drive W. in University Place.