A recall election for the Elsie-Vinemaple Rural Fire Protection District Board is scheduled for April 30.

ELSIE — Four members of the Elsie-Vinemaple Rural Fire Protection District Board are facing recall this month in the wake of their decision to remove the fire chief.

Vivian McCann, the board chair, and board members Thomas Hecox, Staciy Morrison and Wayne Carmichael will be on the special election ballot on April 30.

The recall petitions were filed in February by Jachin Crawford, of Elsie. Clatsop County verified that the petitions had the necessary signatures required to certify. Under state law, the board members had five days to resign before a recall election was scheduled.

The board terminated Mike Wammack’s volunteer status as fire chief in January. The board alleged Wammack, who had served as the fire chief for more than two decades, had deliberately disobeyed board and county directives by making his own repairs and construction to Station 2. Rob Davis, the former acting chief at the Vernonia Rural Fire Protection District, was named interim chief in Elsie-Vinemaple in February.

Crawford claims the fire district’s board has put residents at risk by compromising fire and emergency medical services.

“The board’s ineffective leadership, inability to collaborate with our department volunteers and poor decisions have gutted the local volunteer fire department, leaving many untrained and inexperienced volunteers to handle emergencies in our community,” he wrote in his recall petitions.

McCann, in response to Crawford’s claims, told The Astorian, “We’re not compromising the services. The response time is the same. And we’ve responded to every call.”

McCann believes the recall petitions have caused confusion and fear in the community.

“Our decision to move forward with new leadership was motivated by a desire to provide more effective and professional emergency services with the small budget we have. We have a solid plan to achieve that, and hope that our residents will vote to move our district forward into a brighter future, rather than backward into the disrepair and mismanagement of the past,” McCann said in an email to The Astorian.

Ballots were mailed to voters on April 10. Voters will have until 8 p.m. on April 30 to submit their ballots through the mail or at drop sites at Jewell School or the county clerk’s office on Exchange Street in Astoria.