Consideration of a Regional Fire Services Model
On January 1, 2024, Eastside Fire & Rescue began as Mercer Island’s provider of fire and emergency medical services. This project page has been archived and is no longer being monitored. Please contact Eastside Fire & Rescue at 425-313-3200 or info@esf-r.org with questions.
In 2023, the Mercer Island City Council approved an interlocal agreement with Eastside Fire & Rescue (EF&R) to provide fire and emergency medical services on Mercer Island.
Eastside Fire & Rescue began providing Mercer Island’s fire and emergency medical services on January 1, 2024.
While this is an official transition for the City and fire personnel behind the scenes, Islanders can expect the same level of service. Both Mercer Island Fire Stations (Station 91 and Station 92) will remain open and operational.
Continue reading for historical information about the process, project timeline, frequently asked questions, and more. Please note, this page is no longer active.
What's being proposed:
The City Manager recommended to the City Council that the City explore the adoption of a regional fire services model - this is where a larger fire agency provides comprehensive fire services across multiple communities. In this scenario, Mercer Island would be served by a larger, regional fire agency instead of the City operating its own, smaller department. Mercer Island fire personnel would transition to the regional fire agency and both Island fire stations would remain open.
The purpose of adopting a regional fire service model is to maintain or enhance current levels of service while balancing the shared responsibility for long-term, cost-effective fire and emergency medical service delivery. A regional fire services model would allow the City to offer even stronger fire and emergency medical services to the Mercer Island community, with more cohesion, more consistent leadership, and a deeper bench of resources, specialty services, and growth opportunities. Read the City Manager's letter to the community below to learn more about this recommendation.
The City’s fire department has done a remarkable job keeping the Mercer Island community safe. The City is proud of our dedicated fire staff and wants to ensure they remain an integral part of our community through a fire services model that provides the greatest support, training, and professional development opportunities.
What this means for the Island:
The safety and wellbeing of Mercer Island residents is and always has been the top priority for the City of Mercer Island. Taking that priority seriously means ensuring that public fire and safety operations meet the needs of the community now and into the future while employing the best practices possible.
Calls to the Mercer Island Fire Department today are much different than even a few decades ago. Originally created to specifically address fire emergencies, the fire department today covers emergency medical services, hazmat services, special rescue, water rescue and recovery services, mobile integrated health, and more. Adopting a regional fire service model for all fire services would embed the expertise and resources of a larger, integrated fire agency directly within the Mercer Island community. Under a regional model, the City of Mercer Island would continue to control service levels for fire services provided on Mercer Island and both fire stations would remain open, meeting or exceeding current services levels.
What's being done:
City Council will review the City Manager's recommendation at the April 4 regular meeting. With City Council approval, the City Manager will seek proposals from the City of Bellevue and Eastside Fire & Rescue to provide fire and emergency services on Mercer Island. Proposals received will be reviewed by the City Manager's Office and presented to Council for further discussion and consideration. Council will then provide direction on selecting a proposal and entering into an agreement with that agency for regional fire services.
Engage with us here on Let's Talk to learn more about this proposed change and view Frequently Asked Questions in the FAQ section.
Want to give us your input? Provide it here!
On January 1, 2024, Eastside Fire & Rescue began as Mercer Island’s provider of fire and emergency medical services. This project page has been archived and is no longer being monitored. Please contact Eastside Fire & Rescue at 425-313-3200 or info@esf-r.org with questions.
Open House Schedule 2024
Station 91 (in Town Center)
January 10
5:30pm - 7:30pm
Station 92 (South End)
January 20
11:00am - 1:00pm
FAQ Button
Key Documents
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Final Signed Interlocal Agreement (6.22 MB) (pdf)
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Interlocal Agreement with Eastside Fire & Rescue (1.03 MB) (pdf)
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Resolution No. 1645 (Approve Agreement with Eastside Fire & Rescue) (6.05 MB) (pdf)
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Regional Fire Service Proposal Cost Analysis
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Eastside Fire and Rescue Proposal (1.43 MB) (pdf)
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Bellevue Fire Proposal (1.63 MB) (pdf)
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Request for Proposal Presentation to City Council (April 4 Meeting) (2.88 MB) (pdf)
Who's Listening
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City Manager
I am very concerned that the city council and city manager are attempting to change our fire department services without adequate information about what is going on provided to the residents of Mercer Island and with very little opportunity for resident input into the process. I don't understand why the city council would want to disrupt a service that works very well for Mercer Island for no good reason. Fire departments save lives. Having a Mercer Island fire department means that the fire fighters know the island, where the roads are, and can respond quickly. A Mercer Island fire department is accountable to Mercer Island residents, something that will be lost if we are forced to go to regional control. I am contacting all of my neighbors and fellow residents to alert them about what the city council is trying to do without most residents even being aware.
I'm tentatively in favor of this as long as we don't see any reduction in incident response times. It seems better to be able to draw from a larger pool of regional resources as it would allow for more specialized responses.
I support this effort to create a fire department with a greater pool of staff and experiences.
I wonder how much it will cost to hire a consultant to look into this. There are some interlocal agreements in place. I just don't know why they are not adequate. And currently, there is an ongoing lawsuit with the former Eastside firefighters over the $170 million-plus claim following vaccine mandate dispute. I wonder how that will impact us. That is a lot of money. And I can just see, our Fire Department will be responding to incidents at the Light Rail Transit Stations. Just wait. It is just that there was nothing wrong with the current model. And we often have assistance when required and when we needed a ladder truck, it is still going to have to come from Bellevue or Seattle.
So, there would be no difference there. https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/eastside-firefighters-tort-claim-vaccine-mandate/281-fa2f4d11-8357-40f1-b5f9-47f0fe6ec541
This looks like a bureaucratic push with a resulting drop in community well-being!! Wasn’t this nonsense scheme rejected just a short time ago??
Our “regional” police connection has been hard to adapt to!!
Please stop wasting our tax money on these type of studies!!
This change seems very sudden and leaves me in the dark the city's primary motivation for this change. Benefits such as "more cohesion, more consistent leadership, and a deeper bench of resources" really say nothing without clear examples. If the primary goal is to save money, what are those savings and what are the trade offs?
This is a very bad, short-sighted proposal.
One of the very key deliverables I expect from the City is Public Safety, and this path would diminish our protection.
While staffing would technically remain the same, we'd have a rotating pool of random-Joes cycling through our stations, with no ongoing commitment or familiarity with the Island. I have seen some recent cases where some of our elderly (a significant portion of our population!) have had repeat calls for aid and the responding personnel were already familiar with the case and able to provide better care.
We know, love and trust our current Firefighters.
Add the fact that we're losing the Chief and losing control of our department, this doesn't seem like a great place to save money.