In recent weeks, Vashon Island Fire & Rescue has announced big news that means change for the fire district and, quite possibly, the wider community.

On March 1, Assistant Chief George Brown, who has served the district for six years, announced his retirement effective next week. Chief Hank Lipe said he, too, plans to leave the district soon, after seeing the leadership transition process through.

Days later, county officials released a draft operating plan to combine Vashon paramedics with the South King County Medic One system. The intent behind the proposal — some two years in the making — is to improve paramedic care for islanders. Vashon fire commissioners and district officials received the document less than a week before the meeting last Tuesday, when James Fogarty, the emergency medical services division director at King County, presented it and fielded several — sometimes heated — questions about what such a change might mean for Vashon, especially given the vagaries of the ferry system.

Following his presentation, board chair Candy McCullough was quick to say that the board wants to hear from islanders in the coming weeks, including at the next commissioners’ meeting on March 29. We hope many members of the public will attend to learn more about the proposed plan’s pros and cons and some of the challenges facing the district.

The possibility of Vashon’s paramedics working off the island, at least part of the time, can quickly become an emotional conversation. Many in the community know the medics to be highly skilled responders, and several of us have welcomed them into our homes during emergencies, when they have expertly tended to us and our loved ones.

Additionally, the island medics are firefighters, and south King County medics are not — a situation that raises questions of its own. It can be difficult to consider change.

At the same time, some of the challenges of paramedic care on the island are clear, including the island’s low call volume. Fogarty last week said that for skill retention, paramedics should go on no fewer than 1,500 calls a year. Vashon receives only 400 to 500 paramedic calls annually, and its four paramedic teams share those. For experienced medics, those low numbers may not pose a challenge, but what about for others, and if not now, in the future?

The district’s statistics for overtime are also a cause for concern, not just because of overtime’s high cost in economic terms — reportedly some $200,000 annually — but for the toll it could take on the medics and their families, and possibly, at some point, on a patient.

As a community, we have been invited to the table for this important conversation. Let’s gather ’round. Listen. Weigh in. And move ahead together respectfully.