Purpose: To bolster and strengthen fire and emergency medical services to ensure the highest levels of medical care and comprehensive rapid emergency response for travelers on I‑90, recreationists, visitors, and residents in surrounding communities, meeting current demands and preparing for ongoing growth and increasing impacts.
Mission: Life Support is committed to minimizing loss of life and suffering by bolstering emergency medical services and by strengthening fire preparedness and response.
Vision: To elevate fire and EMS in Upper Kittitas County by providing critical equipment, advanced training, apparatus, and facilities that elevate service standards and ensure reliable, high‑quality, timely emergency response.
Brief Overview:
Fire & EMS — Upper Kittitas County
Life Support is dedicated to bolstering Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS); we believe in and support Kittitas County Fire District 7’s (KCFD7) and Snoqualmie Pass Fire and Rescue’s desire to establish an Upper Kittitas County Regional Fire Authority (RFA) that plans for a consistently dependable and professional emergency medical and fire agency integrated with committed volunteers. State law provides the framework for cities, towns, and fire districts to form an RFA to achieve service efficiencies through consolidation. The legislature noted that the ability of many of Washington state’s fire and protection jurisdictions to respond to emergencies had not kept pace with demand, and that efficiencies could be achieved through a regional fire and EMS response system.
KCFD7 is leading the way and, in 2017, was awarded a SAFER grant to hire nine full-time firefighters in 2018, enabling its transition to a combination fire district. By integrating a response team of career and volunteer members, the district established an unprecedented standard of response for the community. Currently, KCFD7 has grown to 21 career firefighters, supported by over 30 dedicated volunteers. KCFD7 has eight fire stations: Full-time staff are on-site at Station 73 (I-90 Golf Course Road exit), Station 76 (Bullfrog Road, near the Suncadia entrance), and Station 72 north toward Blewett Pass on US Highway 97. There are five other stations: SR 903 toward Salmon La Sac, Peoh Point, Liberty, Ballard Hill, and the Teanaway.
KCFD7 provides emergency services across 126 square miles, including I‑90, and surrounding Upper County communities, Suncadia, major recreational areas, and the northern corridor toward Blewett Pass, while also supporting neighboring Federal, State, and local jurisdictions through automatic and mutual aid. The district must continue to expand full-time firefighter/EMS staffing and volunteers to meet regional demands. KCFD7 is the largest and most complex district in Upper Kittitas County.
KCFD7 service demand exceeds that of neighboring districts and municipalities. With a broad range of incident types, including motor vehicle/semi-tractor-trailer collisions, medical emergencies, structure/wildland fires, rope and winter rescues, the district operates in a highly varied and demanding environment. KCFD7 is guided by its vision to be a leader in Fire/EMS, protecting life, property, and the environment through partnership, continuous improvement, and innovation.
Upper Kittitas County has a complicated system for Fire and EMS. Currently, each municipality has its own fire department with volunteer EMTs and firefighters. For example, the Cle Elum, Roslyn, and South Cle Elum fire departments are separate, volunteer-based entities. There are also volunteer fire districts, including Districts 1 (Thorp), 3 (Easton), and 6 (Ronald), that serve smaller unincorporated areas of the region outside city/town limits.
Medic One is a separate, non–fire–based paramedic transport service dedicated to Upper Kittitas County, providing paramedic-level prehospital care and patient transport. KCFD7operates three aid units and provides backup transport for Medic One. There are often days with multiple calls simultaneously.
The movement toward an RFA would provide centralized services and preparedness to meet regional growth and changing risks. An RFA enables consistent training and response standards, integrates career and volunteer first responders, and ensures communities receive reliable, professional, well-trained, and well-equipped fire and emergency services.
An RFA approach has proven effective across the state, and we must be prepared for catastrophic emergencies that are not a matter of if but when. Preserving the history and heritage of each local fire service is meaningful and can be the foundation and catalyst for evolving into a shared legacy of public service, moving forward together in service, a chapter that, a century from now, will stand as a pivotal part of our history.