Information for the Public

We place information that may be relevant to your health and well being in our "Your Health"
link above. Each article will run for a few months before it is changed
to some other topic. Since we started our web page, we have covered
Strokes, Heart Attacks, and (Eating) Portion Control. Now we are
presenting some information on the up-coming cold and flu season. We
hope some of these topics can be useful to our viewers.
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In the afternoon on Saturday July 24th, our Fire District responded to a report of a brush fire on the north side of Lewis River Road in the Yale Valley. Read the full story of what happened, and see some pictures of it by clicking "About Us' in the "go to more" pull down menu in the Navigation section above right.
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Fire Sprinklers Save Lives! Follow this link for more information: http://www.homefiresprinkler.org/
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The Burning Ban is now in effect in both Skamania and Cowlitz County. Since the restrictions for each county are slightly different, they are listed separately below. The Burn Ban will continue through September 30th regardless how much rain we get.

Cowlitz County:
All burning allowed under the self-issue permits will not be allowed until October 1, 2010. Only recreational fires in approved fire pits 3'x3'x2' will be allowed on private property by the land owner. Campfires are allowed only in approved campgrounds with approved fire pits.

Skamania County:
All burning allowed under the self-issue permits will not be allowed until October 1, 2010.  Only recreational fires in approved fire pits 4'x4'x3' will be allowed on private property by the land owner. Campfires are allowed only in  approved campgrounds with approved fire pits.

For more information on the burn ban, click on the link provided under Navigation in the upper left corner of this page.
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 All of our Fire District in Cowlitz County has changed to a Protection Class 8.  For more information, read below. Contact your Homeowners Insurance agent about the change. The Skamania County residences in our district are more than 5 miles away from a Fire Station so their rating will remain at a 9.
Since our Fire District was formed in 1977, our Fire Protection Rating has been a 9 out of 10. Ten is the rating given to property that has no fire protection at all. Recently, the Washington State Surveying and Rating Bureau (WSRB), re-assessed our district. They determined that most of our district’s fire protection rating could be dropped to an 8. A rating drop from a 9 to an 8 will give most individuals around a 25% reduction in their homeowners insurance premiums.
We were told by the WSRB that all our district with the exception of the Cougar area would be re-rated at an 8. Cougar, and the area around it, would remain a 9. After discussing the details with the WSRB, Chief Stuart and the Board of Commissioners for the fire district decided to add a longer truck bay to the station in Cougar. This addition would have allowed the Cougar area to drop the rating to an 8 when the bay was completed. Chief Stuart decided that until the bay was completed, the fire district would swap the Tender from Station #2 in Cougar with the rated Engine in Station #4 by Cresap Bay. This move will allow the Cougar area to drop to an 8 along with the rest of the district.
Construction on the Cougar station started August 9th.

Driving Safety Tips

The paving and grinding part of the construction on Hwy 503/Lewis River Road has finished. Kerr Construction had to come back a couple of times and re-pave some areas because of compaction problems. All information coming from the DOT is that the paving project is now done.