North Whatcom fire officials straining to keep up

North Whatcom Fire and Rescue chief Jason Van der Veen is concerned about the future of his sprawling district that serves the less populated areas north of Bellingham. “There are times when I shake my head like, ‘I don’t know how we pulled that one off, but we did,’” he said recently. A district covering 156 square miles and serving 33,800 residents has only three fully-staffed fire stations. Fire district officials say a lack of resources has contributed to delays in emergen