Fire at Blaine Middle School draws large response

Whatcom County fire departments assisted as NWFR was strained with other calls

B y I an H aupt

First responders were dispatched around 5:30 p.m. February 8 to a small fire at Blaine Middle School that was reportedly extinguished by a single activated sprinkler.

North Whatcom Fire and Rescue (NWFR) chief Jason Van der Veen said initial reports described a commercial fire. Units from Whatcom County Fire District 7 in Ferndale, Lynden Fire Department, NWFR Laurel station and Bellingham Fire Department responded. Nearby

NWFR units from Blaine and Birch Bay were dealing with separate medical emergencies at the time, he said.

Van der Veen said a group of drama students and staff was in the building, away from the fire area, and safely evacuated. Firefighters brought a staff member into the building, once it was determined the fire was out, to collect the students’ belongings, he said.

“We didn’t want anyone to miss an educational opportunity,” Van der Veen said.

Blaine school district superintendent Christopher Granger said in a February 8 statement that a microwave appears to have caused the fire, but the district has not yet received an official report. Van Der Veen said an investigation into the cause of the fire by the Fire Marshal’s Office is ongoing and that cleanup was allowed to begin.

Van der Veen said fire damage was limited to the microwave, counter and wall area in a small room adjacent to the cafeteria. Smoke and water damaged areas of the kitchen, cafeteria, adjacent classroom and nearby hallway. Light smoke spread throughout the entire school, he said.

“[The sprinkler system] worked exactly like it’s designed,” Van der Veen said. “It did a good job.”

Granger said after consultation with NWFR, the school district determined it was safe to continue school February 9 in areas not impacted by the fire. Class began on time and middle school students were given an adjusted schedule to follow. Grab-andgo breakfast was served outside the middle school cafeteria and lunch was served through the high school cafeteria, Granger said in the statement.

Road Rules: What is the shared responsibility of the transportation system?

Question: I appreciate your appeal to people to improve safe driving behaviors but the framing about human error implies that it is the sole reason for traffic fatalities. Was that your intention? If so, this doesn’t fit with what I am hearing from the National Transportation Safety Board, U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) or Washington State Department of Transportation about the Safe System Approach.

What about the responsibility of road designers and builders, vehicle manufacturers, and emergency responders?

Answer: I’m certain this question was prompted by the comment I made a few weeks ago about how driver error is a factor in 94 percent of fatal crashes. While true, it doesn’t tell the whole story. (Also, given how prone we are to mistakes, I’m surprised that even six percent of crashes don’t involve human error.)

Fatal crashes are rarely attributable to a single factor. The crash itself might be caused by driver error, but the outcome depends on multiple circumstances, including road design, the safety features of the vehicle and how quickly the ambulance shows up.

The goal of the Safe System Approach is to eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes. Note that it’s not to eliminate all crashes. Until humans become perfect de- cision-making machines (a more likely scenario is that the robots take over and we become their servants), even the best drivers will still sometimes make mistakes. But the consequence of our driving mistakes shouldn’t be death or serious bodily harm.

Maybe the Darwinist in you wants to argue that bad driving has natural consequences. I’d argue first that there’s nothing natural about driving (so if we’re building a human-designed system we have the obligation to consider the consequences), and second, that those consequences often happen to people other than the driver who makes the mistake.

We’ve spent decades trying to improve human driving behavior, and while we’ll keep trying to build better drivers through driver education and strategic enforcement of traffic laws, we must also plan for our inevitable failures. Washington (along with many other states and the USDOT) has embraced the Safe System Approach to roadway safety, which addresses crash risks through five elements: safe road users, safe vehicles, safe vehicle speeds, safe roads and post-crash care.

This column, because it primarily responds to reader questions, focuses on road users and our shared understanding of how to be safe as we use our transportation system. But the rest of those elements are critical to protecting road users. Take, for example, the almost absolute certainty that at some point in the not-to-distant future a driver is going to get distracted while trying to save a coffee from spilling. When that driver swerves off the roadway, will bike lanes and sidewalks have adequate separation to protect vulnerable road users? Will the shoulder have rumble strips to alert the driver, or will the roadway immediately drop away into a ditch? Will the speed limit be appropriate for the environment to minimize injury in the event of a crash? If the driver ends up crashing into an object, will the vehicle have safety features that absorb the impact and protect the occupants? And if the driver is injured, how soon will emergency responders arrive? As individual road users, we play a critical role in traffic safety, but so do the people who design, build and maintain roads; the innovators developing safe vehicle technology; the officers enforcing speed limits; and the emergency medical responders who provide care. USDOT states, “Safety is an ethical imperative of the designers and owners of the transportation system.” As a shared public system, that imperative is for all of us.

City ...

From page 1 pursue an overpass due to funding issues but reconsidered the overpass when BNSF Railway officials contacted the city late last year.

State senator Sharon Shewmake (D-Bellingham) and state representatives Alicia Rule (D-Blaine) and Joe Timmons (D-Bellingham) signed the letter.

BTAC appointment

City council unanimously voted to appoint Mangal Samra to the small hotel position on Blaine Tourism Advisory Committee.

According to state records, Samra owns the Northwoods Motel on D Street and Anchor Inn Motel on Cedar Street. Smuggler’s Inn owner Bob Boule, who had been serving on the committee, also interviewed for the position.

Housing action plan

In a unanimous 7-0 vote, city council approved a housing action plan study that will be paid with a $75,000 state grant.

The city is contracting Bellingham-based consulting firm Maul, Foster and Alongi to conduct the housing action plan study that city staff hope will encourage construction of affordable and market-rate housing. The study will look at the city’s zoning code, fee structure and land supply as well as interview stakeholders. The consultants will then report their findings to city council and planning commission.

“It will really explore the options we have to improve and streamline our structure of housing in the city,” said Alex Wenger, the city’s tourism and economic development coordinator.

The contract is only projected to cost $65,000, meaning the city may use the leftover $10,000 to compensate staff time, Wenger said. Wenger said city staff selected Maul, Foster and Alongi from three applicants and decided the firm was most qualified because of its work with the Port of Bellingham and Whatcom County.

“The point of the plan is to identify, whether it be legislative fixes, comprehensive plan policies and goals or zoning code fixes,” community development services director Stacie Pratschner said.

Wenger said the housing action plan dovetails with the work the ad hoc downtown advisory committee is doing (the committee started meetings in January to look at downtown rules on items such as building height and parking restrictions.) The plan will look at all the zoning districts that allow residential use, Wenger said.

City has second highest year on record for lodging tax

Five recipients awarded tourism grants for 2023

The city of Blaine has awarded five grants to support growing tourism within the city this year as it saw its second highest year on record for lodging tax revenue last year.

The state expects the plan to be finished by June.

“I’m not a big fan of paying someone $65,000 to think but since the money is coming from somewhere else and we wouldn’t have gotten that money anyway, I’m in favor of this,” councilmember Richard May said.

Legislative agenda amendment

City council unanimously approved an amendment to the city’s 2023 legislative agenda that has retracted its support of Blaine school district’s request for a sewer line while adding the Bell Road overpass project and a $2 million request for a wellfield project on Pipeline Road.

Council approved its legislative agenda last November to guide the city’s lobbyists and other city proponents on what it would like to accomplish in Olympia this legislative session.

According to city documents, support for the school district’s request was retracted because of legal concerns on extending the city sewer to an area outside of its urban growth area.

City staff originally asked for $2.5 million in sewer infrastructure to the upcoming east Blaine neighborhood Grandis Pond in its original legislative priorities but has dropped that request and is now asking for $2 million for a wellfield project, which will create a water reservoir and piping installation along Pipeline Road.

City staff also added support for the Bell Road overpass on the legislative agenda. In 2021, the state appropriated $2.75 million for streetlights and bypass lanes to reduce traffic congestion at the Bell Road intersection; the city is asking those remaining state funds be reappropriated to the Bell Road overpass project.

The city is not changing its priorities on fiscal sustainability, transportation maintenance and affordable housing.

G Street sewer improvements

City council unanimously approved the city to increase the city’s G Street sewer improvement project with David Evans and Associates by no more than $85,000. The project, already slated to cost around $6-7 million, will replace or add over 6,600 feet of sewer lines west along I-5 near the Blaine school district campus, on 5th Street between E and G Streets, and along a few streets near the Burger King. City council has been discussing the sewer project since the beginning of 2021.

TIF agreement

City council tabled a contract with east Blaine development companies East Harbor Hills and Blossom Management to fund a tax-increment finance (TIF) district. In the agreement, the city and developers will each pay $25,000, or $75,000 total, toward funding a study that will build the framework for TIF. The findings would then be sent to the state to determine if the new housing developments in east Blaine meet the specific requirements for TIF.

In fall 2021, city staff and council began discussing utilizing a TIF district to pay for public infrastructure in Grandis Pond and The Ridge at Harbor Hills. TIF would allow the city to borrow money from expected increases in property tax revenues from a designated area, such as the upcoming neighborhoods, that could pay for street, water, stormwater and electrical improvements.

Councilmembers raised concern during the February 13 meeting that it cost $75,000 for Stowe Development and Strategies to work on the study. Council approved the $75,000 contract with Stowe Development last December.

Councilmember Richard May asked to postpone voting on the financial contract with the developers until the February 27 council meeting, when city manager Michael Harmon, who was away, could advise council in a study session. Finance director Daniel Heverling said Stowe Development was already working on the project and council asked for Stowe Development to immediately halt work.

Council will need to determine no later than the February 27 council meeting if it would like to continue the study because the state needs three months to review the application before June, Heverling said.

Support for maritime institute feasibility study grant application

City council unanimously approved a letter of support for the Port of Bellingham’s application for a state grant that would fund a feasibility study for a research institute in Blaine Harbor. The study will show if, one day, the harbor could support a facility for marine workforce development and aquaculture research.

Drayton Harbor Oyster Company (DHO) co-owners Steve and Mark Seymour and DHO community outreach biologist Katherine Garrah have been garnering attention among community groups and government agencies to build an ecotourism platform in Blaine. Group members spoke at the December 12 council meeting, February 7 Port of Bellingham meeting and again at the February 13 council meeting. The grant application has gained the support of state representative Alicia Rule (D-Blaine).

The research center could be used by youth and scientists alike to research topics of kelp farming, fisheries and aquaculture. The grant deadline is February 27 and the awards are announced in May. If approved, the feasibility study could start this summer.

“A huge part of this would be citizen science too,” Mark Seymour said during the meeting. “We have tons of intelligent people with great backgrounds all over Blaine. We have a lot of people who want to become more involved but there’s not really a place to become more involved.”

He continued, “You have a lot of entrepreneurs that are pursuing marine stuff but there’s nowhere to do it. You have to have your foot in the door somewhere on the water because it’s not cheap. We can build something that can generate a bunch of new ideas and bring new folks to town.”

Councilmember Garth Baldwin and councilmember Eric Davidson, who spoke at the port meeting along with new city manager Michael Harmon, expressed support of the grant application.

“It’s not just what’s going to be great for Blaine,” Davidson said. “It’s also getting dialogue going with the port that we haven’t for a while. They’re excited, we’re excited and Alicia [Rule] is excited.”

Blaine received $270,200 in lodging tax revenue in 2022, said Alex Wenger, the city’s tourism and economic development coordinator. The city’s highest year for lodging tax revenue was 2008, which Wenger said was slightly higher.

“This is great news and shows the lodging industry at least has recovered from the pandemic,” Wenger said in an email. He added the revenue was higher because Semiahmoo Resort, the primary contributor to the lodging tax, was doing well.

The city budgeted $230,000 in lodging tax revenue for 2023. Blaine Tourism Advisory Committee (BTAC) recommended Blaine City Council approve the grants when finalizing the 2023 city budget late last year and additional funds were added during the February 13 council meeting. Recipients were notified of their initial grants on February 1.

Nine grant requests were submitted to the city, totaling $57,480 in requests, but only five requests were awarded $35,000 total.

Blaine Chamber of Commerce received $2,500 for Drayton Harbor Days; Blaine Arts Council received $5,000; Wings Over Water Northwest Birding Festival received $5,000; and the Blaine Chamber of Commerce received $18,000 for the Old Fashioned Fourth of July.

The requests that weren’t funded were the chamber of commerce’s $3,000 request for Fourth of July restrooms, Blaine Community Theater’s $7,000 request for an international art and dance festival, Blaine Arts Council’s $8,000 request for a downtown art gallery and Washi Arts’ $4,000 request for a Washi Arts workshop series. Wenger said the Fourth of July restrooms will likely be funded through a separate city source.

The city’s operating tourism budget is just over $175,000 for 2023. In the operating budget, the historic Plover passenger ferry received $38,000, the Blaine Chamber of Commerce received $20,000 for its executive director salary and the Blaine Welcome Center received $30,000 for staffing and managing volunteers. The city pays extra to lease and maintain the welcome center.