Unfortunately, the South King County Fire and Rescue bond failed to pass by a small margin on the April 28 ballot. Our fire district was in great need of new apparatus, and upgrades to new facilities and equipment.

As a local resident, and a nurse who works in this community, I found this really disappointing. The firefighter safety and emergency response bond measure was voted on by the South King Fire and Rescue board of fire commissioners for several reasons, many that our voters didn’t fully understand.

Roger Flygare was there to help many of us understand how the $53 million was going to be spent, and why it was necessary for our growing population. Senior housing (SHAG) buildings and other planned and proposed multi-family units are estimated at 2,814 in the next year. Response time and safety are some of the most important factors. Roger helped explain by teaching the taxpayers that this would only cost an average family $6.50 per month.

I worked for many years in community health and called on emergency medical services during times when I was concerned about whether a patient was safe at home, or if the should be taken to the hospital for further evaluation.

Several year ago, I had one such patient who I detected had an irregular heart rate (a skip) every 17-18 beats. I called 911 “just to make sure” she was OK. When the emergency responders arrived, the patient appeared well and had no symptoms of a cardiac issue.

The responders didn’t have upgraded equipment (two oxymeters that were old and not functioning) and had to borrow mine. The findings warranted an electrocardiogram, and they found the patient was actually having a mild cardiac event and took her to the emergency room.

I admire Roger Flygare for his hard work educating all of us about what the bond measure meant. Roger is an excellent counselor, is highly professional and has applied his commitment to running for office to serve our people on the South King County Fire board of commissioners.

Roger is gracious, generous and hard working. Roger Flygare has exhibited an active, analytical approach to helping us all learn the facts. Roger is dependable and has shown us all that his motives are nothing other than wanting to help the greater good of our citizens.

Our public safety should come first, let’s support our firefighters, emergency medical services and get behind Roger Flyrgare’s passion to help serve our people.

Sharry Edwards, Federal Way