City Council tomorrow, the 25 million dollar deal is just one of several
annexations planned for the Fruitvale area this year. Fruitvale fire
officials say the land grab is threatening the future of the fire
district as we learned in this report from NewsBeats Ken Crockett. The Fruitvale
Fire Department is worried that it may be annexed out of existence. The City
Council tomorrow will consider taking in the Ace Hardware warehouse along with
other property in the area. Altogether the city has eyes on nearly 60 percent
of the assessed valuation of the district. We do not feel that Yakima has
adequate equipment and personnel to cover the amount of territory that they
are adding to the city limits and do justice to it. But Yakima Fire Chief
Jerry Beeson says there will be no problem providing services to the area
after the relocation of fire station number three to the 40th Avenue area.
Fruitvale Fire Commissioner Nod says the city is only interested in taking the
high-income property. We would be left with the low-income districts which are
spread from North 4th Street clear up onto scenic heights. There is an
alternative to the situation. Discussions are underway between the fire district
and the city on the possibility of contracting services. We would like to
have a contract with the city something that we could live with and continue to
operate. If no agreement is reached Fruitvale Fire officials fear that their
district will face the same fate as the Fairview Fire Department which could be
annexed out of existence soon if the city follows through on their latest
plans to take in another large section of the district. In Yakima this is
Ken Crockett reporting for Newspeed. The Fruitvale Fire Department has dropped
plans to challenge the annexations because the legal costs could leave the
district bankrupt. Found a red-hot surprise waiting for them and in no time
they were smoking. The firefighters were taking a training class inside while
their leaders were outside stoking up the fire for tonight's drill. With the
help of 300 plus pallets from Ace Hardware, firefighters had plenty of on
hands experience putting this fire out. Firefighters were the only ones who were
surprised you could see this baby for miles. Many people came out to watch it.
The Fruitvale Fire Chief says this is good training for the firefighters. Seven
of the 20 had that fought the controlled burn tonight had never done anything
like this before. It took 20 firefighters an hour and a half to put out the flames
and with plenty of embers left smoldering they had plenty of mop up
practice too. A huge tire fire in Eugene is