Case Study: Walla Walla Fire District 4
Building Community Trust and Passing a Levy with Strategic Social Media
The Challenge
Walla Walla County Fire District 4 had made several attempts at social media on their own. Their team of firefighters and EMTs was highly skilled at saving lives — but overwhelmed and ineffective when it came to navigating new digital platforms and learning content creation skills. Occasional press releases and newsletters weren’t enough to keep the public informed, and the department felt like they weren’t meeting their duty to communicate with transparency. They knew they wanted to leverage social media but they didn’t have the internal expertise or bandwidth to make it happen.
The Solution
Beginning in August 2023, Sarah partnered with the district to build their social presence from scratch. Brand-new Facebook and Instagram accounts were set up and the district committed to a consistent posting schedule of three times per week.
The strategy was designed around three pillars:
Transparency & Education: highlighting the fact that not all agencies are the same (county fire vs city fire, for example), and highlighting the full scope of services (fire suppression, EMS, pump testing, event support, training, community education, and more).
Humanizing the Department: featuring not only leadership but also career firefighters and volunteers, showcasing the personalities behind the uniforms.
Varied Visuals: gathering video from incidents, trainings, and events to build a living content bank that felt real, relevant, and responsive.
Sarah managed everything end-to-end: strategy, filming, editing, posting, and coordination with the team to capture authentic behind-the-scenes moments.
The Levy Communication Strategy
A year into the partnership, the district faced a critical levy vote. Working closely with leadership and a public affairs consultant, we developed and shared content months before the levy appeared on the ballot. The new strategy:
Kept it neutral: Shared clear facts without telling voters how to cast their ballot.
Exposed surprising truths: Explained how levy funds actually support emergency medical services,
Mixed emotional and practical messaging:
Emotional: Highlighted that most calls are medical, and that outdated ventilation systems put first responders’ health at risk.
Practical: Broke down the levy cost to just $12.67/month for the average household—less than common expenses like lattes or streaming services.
By pairing emotional urgency with everyday comparisons, we positioned the levy as a no-brainer investment in community safety.
The Results
Levy Passed: securing critical funding for more career staff (to support the growing population), new apparatus, and station improvements to protect the health and well-being of the team.
Volunteer Growth: As a result of years of consistent posting and increased visibility, the district received over three times more applications for volunteer positions, the highest number of applicants to date.
Community Trust and Awareness: both the general social strategy and the levy campaign generated high views and shares.
Leadership Confidence: The fire chief praised the quality and professionalism of the content, noting the department is now doing a wonderful job communicating with the public.
The Impact
Walla Walla County Fire District 4 has had a consistent, professional, and humanized presence on social media for years. Their accounts serve as a living record of their service to the community — from emergency response to public events, continuing to report on the impact of levy funding after the fact, and successfully advertising job openings and opportunities to support the district.
Most importantly, social media has become a strategic asset: helping them recruit, inform, and build trust in a way that aligns with their mission of providing fire, emergency medical, and other related services to the citizens in a fiscally responsible manner.
