WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, who has long spearheaded efforts for a new fire station to be built at Snoqualmie Pass, praised Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passage of legislation to help the Snoqualmie Pass Fire District build a new fire station on an acre and a half of Forest Service land near an I-90 on-ramp at the Pass. This station would support neighboring communities and address safety and security needs, while helping to preserve the environment. For decades, the Fire District has operated out of an aging building that was not originally designed to be a fire station and is structurally inadequate to meet the growing emergency response needs at the Pass.

 

“Today we are one step closer to seeing a much-needed new fire station at Snoqualmie Pass,” said Cantwell. “With an average of more than 300 calls a year, which is triple the amount of calls a typical all-volunteer fire department would respond to in a year, there is a critical need for a working, updated fire station. In order to maintain the safety of our communities, and help protect these pristine areas in Washington, we must invest in the future and build an adequate fire station.”  

 

Cantwellintroduced legislationin early Februaryto transfer Forest Service land to the Snoqualmie Pass Fire and Rescue to build the new fire station.  Last year, Cantwell worked closely with the Fire District and conservation groups to secure an amendment to a similar bill introduced by Congressmen Doc Hastings (WA-04) and Dave Reichert (WA-08) that better tailored the legislation to the needs of the Fire District.Helping the Fire District acquire land and allowing it to invest its resources in building a new fire station rather than buying land will improve the safety and emergency response time at Snoqualmie Pass. The Snoqualmie Pass Fire Department serves a portion of King and Kittitas counties on both sides of the Cascade Mountains, a community of 350 full-time residents that peaks to 1,500 during the ski season.  Nearly 60,000 vehicles travel through the fire district during peak times, making it one of the busiest mountain highways in the country. 

 

In a letter to Cantwell in February, Gene Duvernoy, President of the Cascade Land Conservancy wrote, “The land will be used to improve the location for a much-needed fire station – one that serves thousands of daily travelers on Interstate 90, as well as the citizens who use the ski areas and other recreational destinations near Snoqualmie Pass.”

 
There are 24 dedicated volunteer fire fighters and Emergency Medical Technicians serving the Snoqualmie Pass Fire District. However, with traffic on the rise and the need for emergency services in the area growing, the Fire District needs to move to a true fire station. In recent years, this area has been the scene of major winter snowstorms, multi-vehicle accidents, and even avalanches. The Fire District is often the first responder to incidents in the area, which is prone to rock slides and avalanches and it is not uncommon for this community to be isolated for hours or even days at a time. 

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