Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
South Mason Fire and Rescue's headquarters on Arcadia Road Tuesday in Shelton.
Mason County Fire District 4 has named itself South Mason Fire and Rescue.
South Mason Fire and Rescue Chief Greg Rudolph said this was something that was on the staffs' radar to refresh the department with new leadership coming in. Rudolph said he has done renamings at previous departments and it gets people to "buy in a bit more when they have some say in what the logo and name say or represent about us."
"It feels good. The crews are excited about it, everybody had input with the new branding as far as logo and design and name and that goes from our newest volunteer firefighter all the way to commissioner level," South Mason Fire and Rescue Chief Greg Rudolph told the Journal. "It was really an opportunity to give everybody some ownership in the organization and how we represent ourselves. It's pretty exciting any time you make a shift like this."
Later this year, South Mason Fire and Rescue is going to do some planning about building on the changes, including changing the philosophy and mission statement of the department.
Multiple fire districts in Mason County that are numbered, and Rudolph said part of the name change was to help solidify the department geographically.
"We have North Mason, we have Central Mason and we have South Mason right on the 101 corridor and we have West Mason on the other side of 101," Rudolph said. "It gives us a bit of geographical identity also rather than asking where is 4?"
The transition to the new name and logo will take time. Rudolph said uniform changes and the department's stationery are in progress of switching over. Apparatus renaming will begin next year.
The changes are mainly public on the website and social media, but they will be going out to community events to help get the word out about the change.
The move will not change services from the department.
It has been a busy summer for the department. South Mason Fire had to deal with the Kamilche Point Fire in May, assisted with the response to the McEwen Fire and assisted with the brush fire near Wallace Kneeland Boulevard behind Fred Meyer last weekend.
In personnel news, South Mason Fire and Rescue swore in Jess Fulkerson as the assistant chief. Fulkerson was with North Mason Regional Fire Authority for 18 years before joining South Mason Fire.
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