Photos, video and infographics provided by the Arcata Fire District.

On November 3, voters in the Arcata Fire District will decide on Measure A, a proposed special tax that would fund the hiring of nine additional firefighters and two battalion chiefs.

Humboldt County’s largest fire district serves roughly 37,000 residents throughout Arcata, McKinleyville, Bayside and Manila. Arcata Fire District Chief Desmond Cowan said the department’s current staffing of two firefighters per engine is below California’s industry standard.

“What our community outreach indicates is we need to grow this organization and bring it to the industry standard,” Cowan said. “Modern communities similar to ours have three [career firefighters] on an engine.”

A majority of residents in the 62-square-mile district currently pay $108 per single family household annually. The new ordinance would raise that fee by $96 per year on average.

Eighty-three percent of the tax revenue would fund additional salary costs. The remaining 17 percent would go toward training, equipment and utilities expenses.

Increased staffing would also allow the department to participate in urban search-and-rescue and confined-space training.

From 2006 to 2014, the fire district saw service calls increase by roughly 50 percent. Cowan said an extra firefighter at all three stations for every shift would help meet the increasing demand for emergency response and improve response effectiveness.

“Our ability to do our job is based on speed and bringing adequate personal to the response,” Cowan said. “It’s amazing we’ve been able to function so well when we’ve been really minimal on our staffing level compared to what we need as a modern organization in a modern community.”

The fire district received a two-year Federal Emergency Management Agency staffing grant in 2012, which provided funding to hire an additional six personnel. Cowan said the district was lucky to be awarded the grant again in 2015. The funds will expire in September of 2017 and a yes vote on Measure A would also cover salary costs of staffers hired with the FEMA grant.

“The passage of the tax would help us transition those grant-funded positions into permanent positions,” Cowan said. “[The grant’s] purpose is to kickstart a program and then have the local community carry it forward.”

The fire district also relies on 18 volunteer firefighters who respond to emergency calls and 11 support volunteers who assist with logistical tasks like refilling oxygen tanks and traffic control.

If the measure passes, funding will be implemented starting December 2016.

The Arcata Fire District and Police Department will host an open house and safety fair at the newly renovated Arcata Fire Station on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in honor of National Fire Prevention Week.

A van engulfed in flame near the Arcata plaza.

The passage of measure A would add nine firefighters and two battalion chiefs to the district staff.