Firefighter work is stressful and grueling. We ask them why we were called and what they need. We don’t force our service onto people that’s not our job. It helps ground us so that we don’t take people’s behavior or words personally. Firefighters remind each other about this often. These experiences have equipped me to assess the current bill before City Council and compel me to speak out against it.įirefighters are called to respond when people are having their worst day. I am Black, queer, and nonbinary, and I co-led the Black Brilliance Research Project, funded by City Council to answer questions around how we build community safety and community health. I also have a PhD in Sociology and have spent the last 17 years researching homelessness, housing, and criminal legal system policy in Seattle and the broader region. While my firefighting work is in Pierce County, I currently live and rent in Seattle’s District 2. How do I know this? For the last five years, I have been a firefighter/EMT for Central Pierce Fire and Rescue, giving me a front-row seat to the challenges of the job. This proposal, which would expand the existing law against “obstructing” police officers to include Fire Department personnel, will not only fail to protect firefighters, it will make things worse for them and the communities they serve-particularly the Black community members who face disproportionate arrests and prosecutions under the existing “obstruction” statute. The Seattle City Council is considering legislation to protect firefighters responding to emergencies, making it a crime to physically interfere with them as they try to provide aid.

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