By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A former Winlock area fire commissioner is challenging Randy Pennington for his post on the three-person board, saying he’d like to shift the resources of the fire department more toward emergency medical services.
Real estate broker Dan Godat wants to see the paid staff have paramedic credentials.
Randy Pennington
“We’re paying out almost $100,000 a year for two firefighters, but most of our calls are medical,” Godat said.
Lewis County Fire District 15, with about 28 volunteer members, protects some 64 square miles in south Lewis County.
Pennington, a truck driver and reserve police officer who has served two consecutive six-year terms as a fire commissioner, is seeking re-election.
Ballots are due in the Lewis County Auditor’s Office on Tuesday in the vote-by-mail general election.
Pennington thinks the district has come a long way in the past few years and was concerned if someone came in who didn’t have the knowledge he’s got, the organization could end up going backwards, he said.
Pennington views the money spent on two full time firefighters as a positive. Previously, the response time was six to eight minutes, Pennington said. “Now, it’s immediate.”
Sixty-four-year-old Godat studied banking and finance and served two terms as fire commissioner in the 1980s.
Dan Godat, photo unavailable
“So I understand the budget, won’t be a whole lot of training time getting up to speed on that,” Godat said.
He’s the real estate broker at Winlock Realty, but worked on many issues when he was a fire commissioner.
He said he was key in the movement to merge the city department with the district as well as was a founder of the organization that is now called Lewis County Medic One.
Multiple fire districts pay for the operation of a team of paramedics who work round the clock, responding with the fire departments when aid is needed. They are based in Winlock and formerly were called South County EMS.
One of Godat’s proudest accomplishments when he was commissioner was using the fire department’s concerns about a giant tire pile in Winlock to get other agencies to get rid of it, he said.
“I don’t think these are lifetime appointments,” he said. “If you don’t step in and step out, you don’t really get the sense on what the people think.”
Fifty-nine-year-old Pennington describes the jobs of the commissioners as demanding and challenging. Keeping current with the rules and regulations as well as rising costs without breaking the taxpayers takes a lot of work, according to the current commissioner.
He was a paramedic in Tacoma before moving to Winlock, where he’s been involved with the fire service since the early 1980s. Forty years altogether, he said.
He’s also a reserve police officer for the city of Toledo and drives a commercial lumber truck full time for M and M Transport.
Pennington spends some 10 to 15 hours a week on his work as a commissioner, with meetings of the district commission, county fire commissioners, and regional fire commissioners. He is currently chair of the board of Lewis County Medic One.
“What I tell people is from my experience from being a paramedic, being a fireman for so many years, I think I have a better insight into what’s needed, what’s not needed, how to get it financed and keep in step with regulations,” he said. “I think you’d be handicapped to try to administer the finances without that background.”
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Brief bios
Candidate: Dan Godat
Age: 64
Occupation: Real estate broker
Resides: Evaline
Education: studied banking and finance at Olympic Jr. College, University of Washington, University of Southern California
Political experience: previously was a fire commissioner
Candidate: Randy Pennington
Age: 59
Occupation: Truck driver and reserve police officer
Resides: Winlock
Education: attended University of Hawaii, paramedic school
Political experience: been elected fire commissioner for past 12 years
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