The Timberlake Fire Protection District in North Idaho is calling for an increase in fees for the first time

The Timberlake Fire Protection District is asking voters for the first time in its history to approve a levy increase so it can hire enough firefighters to have more than one response team at a time.

The North Idaho District, created in 1999 by the merger of the Athol and Bayview fire departments, covers 83 square miles of Kootenai County and the Little Blacktail Community in Bonner County. In addition to Athol and Bayview, it includes Farragut State Park, Silverwood Theme Park and the US Navy Acoustic Research Detachment.

By law, fire districts in Idaho can only increase their annual budget by 3% without a public vote. If this value is exceeded, a tax override is required.

The district employs seven full-time firefighters who operate the Athol fire station in teams of two 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That limits the district to responding to one call at a time, and since the district also has its own ambulance, transporting a patient to the hospital can leave crews out of action for hours, Fire Chief Brandon Hermenet said.

The county is asking voters to approve a permanent tax override of $700,000 per year, which would cost taxpayers about $30.94 per $100,000 of taxable value. The money will be used to hire five firefighters, which would allow the district to fully staff two fire stations with two-man crews around the clock.

Initially, the new crew would occupy Station 3 on Clagstone Road, but would move to the Bayview fire station after the remodel, Hermenet said. The district plans to use the development impact fees it collects to add housing to the Bayview station so it can be staffed 24 hours a day, Hermenet said. Currently the station is only used for storage. The renovation is expected to be completed in 18 to 24 months.

The district began collecting impact fees, which are levied on new developments, in 2011. However, these funds cannot be used to pay personnel or normal operating costs; They can only be used for facilities and certain equipment, such as fire engines.

The new firefighters would allow the district to reduce response times and better manage growth in the region, Hermenet said. The population has increased by almost 25% since 2010 and the number of calls has increased by 100% since 2014.

“We’ve had tremendous growth in both residential and commercial,” Hermenet said. “Our commercial growth has probably quadrupled in the last four years.”

Tourists, particularly those traveling to Silverwood, temporarily increase the population each summer.

The district’s board decided to request a permanent levy override, which requires two-thirds support because the funds would be used to pay salaries, which would also be permanent, Hermenet said. The need for additional firefighters has been clear for some time, he said, but now that need is becoming more important.

“We tightened our belts,” he said. “We held off on giving until we really needed it.”

Because the district hasn’t tried to introduce a levy before, Hermenet said he wasn’t sure how many voters would support the proposal. The district has not found a path forward if the levy fails, but increasing staffing will be impossible without additional funding, he said.

Hermenet has spoken to various community groups to spread information about the levy, and information is available online at Timberlakefire.com. District representatives will be at the Super 1 store in Athol on Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. to hand out flyers to shoppers and answer questions.