LANE COUNTY – South Lane County Fire & Rescue is continuing its efforts to raise awareness and spread knowledge about the District’s proposed fire levy that will be on the May 19 ballot.
SLCFR has been making its presence known in the communities it serves by hosting meet-and-greets and speaking at city council meetings. Fire Chief John Wooten gave a presentation about the importance of Measure 20-383 to the Cottage Grove City Council last Monday night.
“I’m here to raise awareness … the council needs to know, and the community needs to know the situation that we’re in with staffing,” said Wooten.
Measure 20-383 is a fire levy that, if passed, would fund up to six new full-time positions and one additional apprentice.
In November 2025, South Lane voters rejected the same levy by 53%, with a margin of 484 votes out of 6,750 total votes.
The District’s current levy of $0.47 per $1,000 of assessed property value would increase to $0.94 per $1,000 of assessed property value. This measure would authorize the collection of property taxes for a five-year period, from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2031.
“We are funded exclusively on property taxes and some ambulance revenue, which does not cover the cost of providing EMS,” Wooten said. “I’m here to let the communities in Creswell and Cottage Grove in our 132-square-mile fire district and our 800-square-mile ambulance service area know that we are currently providing service to 33,000 people with an average of five people on duty a day, running 15 calls a day,” adding that, some days, SLCFR will receive 24-30 calls, with each ambulance call taking around two hours to complete, leaving no one to staff a fire engine.
“If we don’t get this levy to increase our staffing on July 1, we will have to cut to one ambulance for both communities in Creswell and Cottage Grove in order just to keep two people on a fire engine,” Wooten said. “I can no longer, as fire chief, in good conscience, allow our District to be without personnel for hours at a time. … If that statement ends my career, then so be it. I’ve been doing this for 35 years, and I have never seen it get to where it is right now.”
According to Wooten, SLCFR personnel are quitting because they are overworked. Three people resigned last week.
“I have squeezed every dime I can out of the budget to increase staffing. I can’t squeeze any more,” he said.
Cottage Grove Mayor Candace Solesbee shared her experiences with her husband, Danny Solesbee, who is also the Fire Marshal.
“There have been many times he’s called me and said, ‘I really hope we don’t get another call today because I’m the only one here at the station right now.’ And that is a very real thing, and it might not affect you or a loved one until it does, when you need an emergency ambulance to come and save you,” Solesbee said.
Meanwhile in Creswell
At the same time, Amanda Huckins and Stephen Beach spoke at the Creswell City Council meeting, asking for support of the levy.
The following day, SLCFR held a meet-and-greet with local firefighters at Hillside Church, where folks could ask questions and learn more about the levy. A handful of folks showed up.
“The public engagement has been okay. We have finished a couple of events that had very little engagement with the community,” Beach said. “We have had a lot of positive interactions with the community, and they seem very supportive, but trying to get the word out and the correct information has been challenging.”
Coast Fork Brewery is hosting a meet-and-greet on April 24, open houses are scheduled at the fire stations for April 29 in Cottage Grove and April 30 in Creswell, and the crew will be going door-to-door on May 2 in Cottage Grove and May 3 in Creswell.
