Vashon Island Fire & Rescue last week celebrated the first anniversary of the opening of the fire district’s Station 56, in Burton.

Over the past year, the station has responded to 670 calls in the Burton response district and significantly improved emergency response times to Maury Island and south to Tahlequah, said Fire Chief Matt Vinci. He added that the station has also served walk-in patients with emergency health concerns.

Vinci gave credit to islanders for their part in opening and maintaining operations at Station 56.

“We extend our sincere thanks to the citizens of Vashon for restoring the fire levy in 2023, which made this vital station and its services possible,” Vinci said. “We remain committed to serving the community with the highest level of care and professionalism.

Vinci also announced several promotions for district personnel, including a promotion to Captain for former Lieutenant Ben Steele, who serves at Station 55 on Bank Road. Firefighter/EMTs Brian Lee and Josh Lawson, who both serve at Station 56, have also been promoted to Lieutenants.

The district is currently in the midst of a hiring process for two additional firefighters, an increase made possible by VIFR’s recent award of a competitive, three-year federal grant of $824,753. The grant will pay 100 percent of the salaries of these positions in the district for three years, with VIFR picking up those costs after that.

VIFR is well positioned, budget-wise, to assume those costs in four years, Vinci said. But in the meantime, he said, he was very pleased that the district had facilitated “bringing over $800,000 federal tax dollars back to the island.”

The SAFER grant hires will bring VIFR’s overall staff to 24 uniformed employees, with six assigned to every shift — a longtime goal under Vinci’s administration. Final interviews for the positions took place last week, after VIFR received 135 applications and narrowed the field to 50 candidates.

In other hiring news, the district has opened a search for a 16-hour-a-week licensed independent clinical social worker (LICSW) to join its Mobile Integrated Health (MIH) program, which provides care, by appointment, to islanders in their homes with a wide variety of needs. These include follow-up visits after surgery, wound care, fall prevention assessment, nutrition and wellness checks, and more.

MIH, now operating two days a week, is staffed at this time by a firefighter/EMT and a part-time registered nurse. But the program will soon add an additional day of service, following the hire of second part-time registered nurse.

Mobile Integrated Health is a King County program, partially funded by the already-existing Emergency Medical Services levy, with no additional cost to patients served. In January, pending approval of its fiscal year 2025 budget, the district will open a search for a physician’s assistant to add to its MIH team, Vinci said, allowing the program to further expand.

To find out more about MIH, visit vifr.org/mih.