City of Union and Union Rural Fire Departments Merger Up for Vote August 2
By Garrett Christensen on Wednesday, July 19th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
UNION – (Information from the City of Union) A reminder to City of Union residents that Measure 31-118 will be on the ballot August 2. This measure proposes the annexation of the City of Union Fire and Ambulance Services into the Union Rural Fire Protection District.
For those unfamiliar with the purpose of the merger, the City of Union Fire and Ambulance Services and the Union Rural Fire Protection District, despite being legally distinct entities with their own fire chiefs, operate out of the same fire station and are manned by many of the same volunteer firefighters. Equipment is also split between the organizations. As chief for the Union Rural Fire Protection District Craig Kretschmer (who is also the chief for the La Grande Rural Fire Protection District) explained during a prior interview:
“It’s a difficult situation when you have the same firefighters in the same building. The building is owned by the rural department, some of the engines are owned by the city and so are the ambulances. There’s also an engine, a brush truck and two tenders owned by the rural district and so it gets confusing when it comes to who pays for what, who’s liable for what and who’s going in what rig. There’s a lot of stuff that could and should be cleaned up. Further, technically having two chiefs is not the best because it’s a hierarchy thing in the fire service. Having one person in charge is a good thing.”
