Governor Inslee honors fallen firefighter, addresses opioid crisis in Walla Walla

Walla Walla Wash. — Governor Inslee is visiting Walla Walla on Friday. We caught up with him at the Walla Walla Fire Department, where he paid his respects to Firefighter, Ryan Pleasants, who died in the line of duty, and talked with leaders about the ongoing opioid crisis.

We heard from paramedics, police, and volunteers, who all say the fentanyl epidemic is continuing to be a blight in the community. They tell us while the ability to save a life is present, they lack the ability to quickly get an individual into treatment.

One of the Walla Walla firefighters present spoke with the Governor and told him. "Where I see the system failing, just from my perspective on the street is either they tell us no I don't need your help, at which point nobody can help them, or they say, sure we'll go to the hospital, you take them to the e-r, and the team does everything they can for them. (then we say) ok be at this place on this day and this time, ok cool. They walk out, you're never going to see them again."

Governor Inslee says they'll be looking to the budget to help fund treatment centers locally, and tells us he's proposing an additional 50 million dollars in funding to combat the opioid epidemic.

Governor, Jay Inslee, says. "Time is really important to get people into treatment. When they might lose consciousness, be saved by Narcan, and come out, you want to get people into treatment right away. If it takes weeks or months to get them into treatment, they get right back to their old ways, they fall into addiction again. So that time is really important. Anything to accelerate getting people into treatment."

Here locally, groups like Clean Sweep Tri-Cities are already looking to address the problem by providing court-endorsed transport to treatment centers in Spokane, and as far away as Vancouver.