Firefighters join FD3 crew

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Seven firefighters have joined the fold with Clallam County Fire District 3.

They include firefighter/EMTs Ryan Beck, Tristan Lowman, Aaron Polumsky, Cole Smithson, and Jeramy Stewart, and firefighter/paramedics Liam Bedenkop and Jacob Carrell.

The seven first responders officially started on shift March 2 with Bedenkop and Carrell set to start Kitsap Fire Academy on March 9 hosted by the Kitsap County Fire Training Consortium.

Deputy Chief Tony Hudson said in an interview they will all also need to do an in-house academy for four weeks to familiarize themselves with the district’s procedures.

They’ll eventually join various shifts out of the district’s three staff stations in Blyn, Carlsborg and Sequim.

Both of the new paramedics must obtain required training that the five EMTs have already obtained, Hudson said. One paramedic has no firefighting experience, he said, and the other some experience.

Staff report that prior to joining the fire district, Lowman and Stewart were Clallam 2 Fire-Rescue volunteers in Port Angeles, Beck worked for Poulsbo Olympic Ambulance, Smithson with Sequim Olympic Ambulance, and Polumsky came from Montana, Bedenkop from Massachusetts, and Carrell from Ellensburg.

With the new firefighters hired, Clallam County Fire District 3 will go up to 57 line staff, including three battalion chiefs, a community paramedic and a medical safety officer, both of whom work day shifts. However, a firefighter/EMT and a captain are anticipated to retire soon bringing the total to 55 career firefighters in the coming months.

Jon Donahue, a firefighter/EMT and vice-president of Local 2933, said “these new hires are a positive step, but they mostly replace retirements and attrition.”

“Our call volume has doubled since 2008 yet we still operate with the same number of units most of the time,” he said. “The district is failing to keep up with the demand which is pushing responders to their limit. We are in desperate need of growth in order to serve the needs of the community.”

For the second year, the fire district responded to a record setting number of 911 calls with about 9,800 calls for service in 2025.

Fire Chief Justin Grider reported at the March 3 fire commissioner meeting that some firefighters have been out with injury and/or for other reasons, but two have come back on light duty.

A day car, featuring a career firefighter/EMT and a new recruit, worked weekdays for four months, but Grider said it has been put on pause due to staffing needs.

Hudson said the day car was on a trial basis intended to respond to basic life support (BLS), non-life threatening calls for service, so that regular crews could be available for advanced life support (ALS) and other critical calls.

“The concept has proven itself,” he said. “We fully intend to bring it back.”

The day car was also helping Community Paramedic Mark Karjalainen who has been responding to many BLS calls during the day to free up other crew members. His role is intended for other matters though, such as helping routine 911 callers better connect with services they might need, Hudson said.

There have been ample discussions about bringing call loads down, staff report.

Fire commissioner Mike Mingee said on March 3 there has been persistent requests for more staff, which he understands due to the high call loads. He requested staff consider creating a staffing plan for the coming years.

In August, voters agreed to restore the fire district’s general levy rate from $1.11 per $1,000 of assessed valuation of a property to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value as it makes up about 71% of the fire district’s annual budget. If it wasn’t restored, staff reported that they likely would have cut non-essential services, such as water and technical rescues, and public education.

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