Drafter
Clerk 09/14/2016
Title
AN ORDINANCE related to the naming of the aircraft rescue firefighting unit building at the King County International Airport in honor of Luther Dean Bonner.
Body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. King County International /Boeing Field is one of the busiest primary nonhub airports in the nation. As such, its emergency service personnel contend with unique and potentially catastrophic scenarios that can endanger large numbers of people. The responsibility to mitigate and manage these occurrences falls to the aircraft rescue firefighting unit.
2. The aircraft rescue firefighting unit at the airport is unique among other air rescue services around the nation. The unit is staffed with king county sheriff deputies who are also cross-trained and certified as Washington state firefighters and emergency medical technicians. The unit provides a variety of services including, law enforcement, airfield security services and safety inspections for the airport.
3. The aircraft rescue firefighting headquarters building at 8190 E. Marginal Way South is being replaced with a new facility that has approximately 8,300 square feet, costs $7.7 million and includes three apparatus bays that support two ARFF firefighting vehicles and a command vehicle. The building will have space for approximately twenty firefighters and will reach full occupancy and commissioning by December 31, 2016.
4. Mr. Luther Dean Bonner was hired by the Seattle fire department on October 27, 1942, to protect the citizens of King County from the loss of life and property resulting from fire or other disasters.
5. On February 18, 1943, the Frye and Company slaughterhouse and meat packing plant at 2203 Airport Way was destroyed when a B-29 Bomber on a test flight crashed into the building. The ensuing fire killed thirty-two people and became the largest life-loss fire in Seattle history.
6. At 1:30 on the morning of February 19, 1943, Luther Bonner was killed in the line of d...

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