Poulsbo Fire Department History - Poulsbo, Washington, USA

A Brief Written History of Poulsbo Fire Department

Part 7 - 1970 to 1980
The changes occurring during this time period were far too many to enumerate. The continued rapid expansion of the northern portion of Kitsap County was occurring, especially due to the U.S. Navy construction of the ultra modern Trident submarine base. This Naval facility was the largest shore construction project for the Navy during this period of time any place in the U.S. The local impact was terrific. The Navy had prepared a very extensive Environmental Impact Statement as required by Federal law. Accordingly, the Navy lessened the financial impact on the community by providing extensive funding to local governmental agencies, so they could provide the necessary local support facilities. These included public schools, State and County roads, Poulsbo and Silverdale Fire Departments, and other agencies.

Growth within the greater Poulsbo area as well as Central Kitsap in and around Silverdale continued. New houses were being constructed and additional business structures were springing up. The area of Poulsbo along Highway 305 experienced many new stores. The Poulsbo school system had expanded with construction of additional buildings on the hill behind the City, including a new elementary school on Noll Road, a new middle school and community center on Serwold Road. All of these additional buildings in the Poulsbo area required fire protection. The scope of the fire and medical aid requirements were exceeding the capacity of the existing Poulsbo Fire Department which was composed entirely of volunteers. Medical aid was furnished by the American Legion Ambulance up until 1975 when the duty was taken over by Poulsbo Fire Department and the fulfillment of this additional service taxed the volunteers to the limit.

In the later part of this decade, the decision was made to change from an all volunteer department to one with a full-time paid fire chief as well as full-time paid medical crews for the ambulance. (See the special section on Medical Aid for details of that function.) The first step in implementing this new concept was the hiring of Larry Dibble as full-time paid Fire Chief, reporting for duty on September 10, 1979, when former Fire Chief Charlie Olson stepped down. The advanced medical aid concept was authorized but was not implemented and in operation with licensed paramedics until 1980, the ambulances being operated by qualified EMTs up until then.

Additionally, during this decade, the decision was made to construct a second satellite or outlying fire station, this one on Clear Creek Road slightly north of the intersection with Finn Hill Road. Both this station and the other satellite at Surfrest Park, made possible quicker response to the scene of a fire or accident. Volunteers did not have to drive all the way into the Poulsbo main station and then back out again on a fire vehicle, but rather could now respond to a closer station and drive the fire engine from there to the scene.

A considerable portion of the available Federal monies from the Navy Trident impact account was utilized to purchase additional equipment, including new and more powerful fire trucks, several medical unit type ambulances, additional tank trucks, a special rescue truck complete with tools to cut a vehicle open when necessary to extricate an injured person, and much more.

The former loud siren on the top of City Hall had been removed and a new County-wide command network known as CenCom (Central Communications) was established. Each fireman, either paid or volunteer was issued an alerting receiver and these were fitted with a special device whereby CenCom sending an alarm to Poulsbo would only alert the Poulsbo crews while other districts on the same radio frequency did not hear the call. Concurrently, the nationally accepted call number of "911" was established whereby a person anywhere in the county desiring to call for assistance would dial these three numbers, the operator would answer and, based on the need, dispatch the necessary emergency units.

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