FAQs

A new station will serve as the headquarters for Camas-Washougal Fire Department and will be located in downtown Camas, in the core of the department’s response area. Currently, the downtown Camas emergency response personnel, the Fire Marshal’s Office (FMO) and the administrative staff are decentralized; operating out of separate buildings and remote to each other. As the headquarters facility, the downtown Camas station will house response personnel, apparatuses, administrative staff and the FMO.

The Department has already put this off for years, and the current building is expensive to maintain and is susceptible to collapse or major damage during an earthquake. As Camas grows, real estate costs are increasing and available property supply is dwindling. Development and construction costs are also rising, so building the new station as soon as possible will ultimately save money.

The August bond-approval is different from the recent EMS Levy renewal. Levies are for operations.  In April of 2024, the voters approved a renewal of the existing EMS Levy, which was set to expire at the end of 2024. The EMS Levy expires every six (6) years and has been continuously renewed by the voters since 1978. The EMS Levy supports all EMS operations of the fire department including the staffing of ambulances with paramedics, EMS equipment, and EMS training. The EMS levy may only be utilized to support EMS services and is not eligible to be spent on non-EMS programming. The EMS levy will not include funds for capital construction costs for a new fire station.

The current station is built within the existing Camas City Hall at an elevation below that of the street entrance on 4^th Avenue and above that of the basement on the South side of the building. This original design configuration prohibits expanding the existing facility beyond its current size. Remodeling or repairing the current facility would cost as much or more per square foot as building a new fire station and would still be inadequately sized.

After considering multiple site options that didn’t meet the City’s needs, we have identified the Camas City Hall Annex building located at 528 NE Fourth Avenue as the potential location for the new downtown fire station.

The fire station is part of the larger City Hall complex. If a new station is built downtown, the vacated space will be evaluated for other municipal services and uses.

The current site for Station 41 is co-located with City Hall and it is deficient in many ways. With the programming needs of a new station and headquarters, the current site is not big enough to accommodate such a facility.

The Fire Department’s central command would continue to operate out of separate buildings, which is inefficient, and the current fire station's conditions would continue to decline. The fire station building would be at risk of complete failure if an earthquake were to hit.

The Department would continue to struggle to recruit and retain firefighters because the facilities are inadequate. The Fire Department response times will increase due to increased call volumes and insufficient space to house additional equipment. The Department would need to try to put another bond measure on the ballot in the near future.

Regardless of the governing agency, Camas still needs adequate space to house emergency services downtown.