Ed Egan Wins Fire Commissioner Race by 16 Votes

Friday's close recount declared Ed Egan winner of the Fire District 22, position 4 seat by only 16 votes over Pat McElligott.

According to Pierce County Elections, the final numbers show Egan receiving 8,915 votes to McElligott's 8,899. Out of the 17,000 votes cast in the fire commissioner race, the machine count originally showed Egan and McElligott 22 votes apart, or just .123 percent. State law mandates a hand recount if the difference is 0.250 or less.

Egan, 69, has served as fire commissioner for the past nine years, with seven of those in Edgewood before the merger with East Pierce in 2009. He is a retired safety manager from Weyerhaeuser.

We sent Egan a questionairre at the beginning of the race, read to learn more about him.

The East Pierce fire commissioners meet at 7 p.m. the third Tuesday of the month at the East Pierce headquarters station, 18421 Old Buckley Highway.