The West Benton Fire Rescue team will soon have "Volunteer Firefighter Only" positions opening in their agency in hopes of keeping their workforce, but also being compliant with vaccine mandates.
Chief Seth Johnson told Action News that they're creating this position which would allow an individual to only fight fires, and would restrict them from having any emergency medical services interaction with the public.
Because this position will deal with only fire calls and no medical calls, it falls outside of the mandate and would not require a COVID-19 vaccine.
He said this will allow their agency to be fully compliant with Governor Inslee's mandate by October 18, 2021, and gives them hope of still being able to fully operate.
"Our path may not be the path that other departments go to. Everybody has their own specific operational needs, this is not a one size fits everybody approach. It is just what we have determined is going to work best for the community, the agency, and the personnel," said Chief Johnson.
He said they're still working out the fine details for the requirements of the position.
We will talk with him as the vaccine deadline gets closer to find out more.