Good Samaritan Deed Backfires
No matter how much of a Good Samaritan you might be, helping your neighbor can backfire in some odd ways. -Just ask the Seattle Fire Department. Asked to assist in putting out a blaze on Vashon Island (not a part of the City of Seattle), the good-hearted fire department responded quickly.
Vashon Island is a small, picturesque piece of land in Puget Sound with a small wintertime population and a much larger one during the summer months. In order to get to Vashon Island, the visitor must climb aboard one of the ferry boats operated by the State of Washington, and therein lies the story.
The Seattle Fire Department sent an engine and seven fire fighters across to Vashon on the ferry. The battalion chief went along too in his department vehicle. Did these Good Samaritans get a free ride on the trip to help out a neighboring community? You can bet your bottom fire hoses that they didn’t. In fact, the group was assessed $26.50 for the round trip.
Ralph White, the deputy general manager of the Washington State Ferry System, stated the system’s position: “A bond resolution mandates that all vehicles and persons riding the ferries be charged,” he said.
However, the following day, the King County Fire District 13 on Vashon Island asked that it be allowed to pick up the entire tab and the ferry system agreed, thus bringing an embarrassing situation to a happy ending.
This has not been the first of such unique situations. Hugh Maguire of the fire department’s public affairs office noted, “They used to try to collect a toll from us on the Evergreen Floating Bridge (across Lake Washington). They made us go through the toll plaza and pay 35 cents, then make a Uturn to get back to Seattle, whereupon they charged us another 35 cents for that trip.”
That’s happily been resolved and fire department vehicles are now exempted from toll payment. Such is the everyday life of a fire department in a city famous for its many lakes and waterways—and tolls.
