One of the most crucial elections on Vashon this season is the one for fire commissioner.
Fortunately, two competent people are running, both of them offering decades of significant experience in the fire service.
But we must make a choice between them, and I believe the choice is very clear. I am speaking only for myself and not for any of the island’s disaster preparedness organizations in which I serve.
My vote goes to Brigitte Schran-Brown. While both candidates have lots to offer, Brigitte brings to the position the qualities I believe we need for the next six years in the history of Vashon Island Fire & Rescue.
More than 80 percent of all our fire district calls are for medical aid. Brigitte would bring to the commission her decades of medical training and experience as a nurse and as a hands-on emergency medical technician working in the field.
Brigitte understands the psyche of our small community and our island-constrained fire district better than anybody. For example, she lived through its controversial conversion from an all-volunteer agency to what’s called a combined department, mixing career and volunteer staff. She has the insight and trust that commissioner leadership requires and has earned the respect and support of district team members.
In my own volunteer work, including on the district’s citizen team that’s working on a long-range strategic plan, I have experienced Brigitte’s relentless focus on disaster preparedness, always asking the tough questions we need to answer in order to be ready.
Finally, Brigitte understands what it means when a ferry transport of a patient leaves the island short of staffed ambulances. She’s lived it. She knows in a powerful way how important it will be for the district to deal with the impending reorganization of our Medic One service and the severe limitations looming ahead for the district’s junior taxing district finances.
I hope this note will be helpful in some small way as you make your own choice. Above all, I hope this will inspire you to pick up that ballot, mark it for your own choice and get it in the mail.
— Rick Wallace
