About three months after a community meeting to recruit volunteers to keep Lost Mountain Station 36 active, Clallam County Fire District 3 leaders report they are going forward with its sale, after no residents from the area came forth to volunteer.

Interim fire chief Dan Orr made the brief announcement in a report at the fire commissioners’ meeting on Jan. 2, saying he and volunteer coordinator John McKenzie will schedule a meeting with property owners about the decision.

The sale would go to help offset costs for a new Carlsborg fire station, district officials previously said.

Initially, fire commissioners said they’d take a wait-and-see approach following an Oct. 9 meeting at the station with more than 30 residents in attendance.

The station had an active volunteer base a few decades ago that has diminished for various reasons, but commissioners said their minds weren’t made up on a sale so they wanted to wait for a volunteer response.

In an interview, Orr said they’ve put out volunteer recruitment signs across the area and have gotten a good response from other neighborhoods — particularly around R Corner — but none from Lost Mountain.

He said the property’s sale was contingent on volunteers signing up.

A flier to area residents stated that the district must have six volunteers that live within a 5-mile radius of the station in order to be considered an active volunteer station.

To become an active volunteer firefighter, one must train two nights a week, and all day on Saturday for four months, pass a physical, and complete drills once a month.

Orr said Lost Mountain residents were asked about 15 years ago to volunteer to prevent their fire insurance rating from going up but not enough people volunteered then either, he said.

Glen Hover, a neighbor of the station who attended the October meeting, said in an interview he’d be unable to volunteer due to previous sports injuries, but that he’d be in favor of selling the station because it isn’t being used for what it’s intended.

“If there’s a fire up here, there’s not even a fire engine in there that can be used,” Hover said.

In October, commissioners said staffing the station doesn’t make financial sense because of its small call load.

Fire District officials reported there were 22 calls for service to the Lost Mountain area from Nov. 6, 2022 to Oct. 6, 2023, including two grass/brush fires, eight calls for basic life support, and seven invalid assists for support or there was no incident.

The district had about 8,700 calls for service in 2022 and 2023 had about 8,500 calls with its total still being finalized, fire district officials report.

“With (Lost Mountain’s) amount of calls a year, keeping the fire station is not a good use of public funds,” Orr said.

Carlsborg station 33, about 6.5 miles away, will be the primary station responding to Lost Mountain, district officials said, with it and two other fully staffed fire stations responding to a 142-square mile coverage area along with on-call volunteers.

At the October meeting, residents shared a range of concerns about fire and medical response particularly being next to Olympic National Park during dry weather and high fire danger.

Orr told residents that fire officials are concerned about that too, and he agreed with a concerned neighbor that homeowners can take preventative measures, while the district can increase its fire protection information on its website.

Potential sale

No timeline has been given for the station’s sale, Orr said.

Hover said he knows some people, including himself, who might be interested in purchasing it and “turning it into something useful.”

Lost Mountain Station was built in 1980 to be operated by on-call volunteer responders, however it’s been used for storage for about a decade and without an active volunteer since 2021.

Orr said if sold, the district would donate the bell atop the station to Sequim Museum & Arts.

Fire commissioners look to use its sale to help offset costs for a new Carlsborg Station 33 at the current Training and Operation Center property.

The district sold its 1.96-acre East Anderson Road property — initially slated to become a new volunteer Dungeness Station 31 — for $160,000 late last year

Orr said they’re still waiting on a scheduled hearing with Clallam County’s hearing examiner to rezone the district’s 5.1 acres from commercial to residential on the 100 block of Sieberts Creek Road. It was intended to replace Station 32 on U.S. Highway 101.

Orr confirmed on Jan. 2 that they’ve asked for a market analysis on Dungeness Fire Station 31 at 4771 Sequim-Dungeness Way that sits on less than an acre. It was built in 1966 and currently stores an antique fire engine and a tsunami siren.

Orr said during a recent meeting with Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe leaders, they expressed an interest in purchasing the property to help protect Meadowbrook Creek as a salmon habitat.

“The building is a little rough and you can see sunlight in it because it’s starting to separate and there are issues with the septic system,” Orr said.

“It’s way past its useful life as a fire station.”

W. Ron Allen, CEO/tribal elder for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, confirmed via email they are exploring the purchase.

For more about Clallam County Fire District 3, visit ccfd3.org.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash The bell atop Lost Mountain Fire Station would be donated to Sequim Museum & Arts if the building is sold, according to Clallam County Fire District 3 leaders.