This week we will all get our ballots for the Nov. 7 general election in the mail.

It’s the most important election concerning Vashon’s safety in decades, perhaps since Vashon Island Fire and Rescue (VIFR) was created 75 years ago.

I have served in the VIFR ranks for almost 17 years as a volunteer. Nine months ago, I was made fire chief. Now I have the honor of leading a great organization in service to our unique island community. It is an honor, but it is also a great challenge.

That’s because VIFR faces a financial crisis. In 1990, the last time the fire district asked voters for their support, the tax levy rate that voters approved was $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property valuation. This year it is nearly 94 cents. Next year, if the proposed fire levy listed on your ballots fails, it is projected to be only 82 cents. For years, we have had to do more and more with less and less. Other fire districts regularly ask voters to “top up” the tax rate to cover inflation and other rising costs. But for 27 years VIFR has not done so.

Today, VIFR’s tax rate is the lowest of all 24 fire districts in King County. For years we have been “putting off” and “doing without” and have survived by drawing down equipment and facility reserves to cover rising operational costs. We have not been planning for tomorrow. We have been borrowing from tomorrow and risking the future of VIFR in the process. At the same time, calls for our help have gone up 260 percent since 1990. Without a return to the 1990 levy rate (an increase of 56 cents), VIFR will no longer be able to provide islanders the level of service and safety they have come to expect. By the end of next year, drastic cuts will be inevitable, and I am now preparing two budgets for 2018 in case the worst happens.

This crisis may seem sudden, but it has been building for a long time. It seems sudden because for years we have done a poor job of telling our story. We are our own worst enemy in this area because firefighters/EMTs are committed to getting their jobs done no matter what. We are uncomfortable asking others for help because we are supposed to be the helpers. But that’s what I’m doing now: I’m asking for your help so we can do our job.

More and more we have had to respond to simultaneous emergencies without having enough staff on duty to do so. Here on the island, and nationally, volunteer firefighter/EMT numbers have plummeted for any number of reasons, from our increasingly busy lives to the commitment to necessary training. In 1990, VIFR had more than 60 trained on-island volunteer first responders; today we have nine. We have tried to offset that decline by adding career staff and off-island volunteers, but we are perpetually understaffed and ill-equipped to meet concurrent emergencies. Most of our aid and fire vehicles, though diligently maintained, have aged well beyond industry standards.

Our pride in managing to get by with dwindling resources has disguised the risk our island faces. And that risk is big. We could continue to patch together deteriorating equipment and buildings for a year or two, but more than anything, we must increase the numbers of our trained first-responders. We are dangerously understaffed, and that means our ability to reach you in time is compromised.

I hope you will take the time to understand what we do, how we do it and what we need in order to protect the island going forward. I am committed to informing and engaging our community. I am available to anyone who wants to learn more. I urge you to vote “yes” on Proposition 1 to restore the 1990 tax levy rate … to protect your family, your friends, your neighbors and your community. And, as always, everyone at VIFR appreciates your support over the years.

Be safe.

— Charles H. Krimmert is the chief of Vashon Island Fire and Rescue.