The Fire District 1 race has seen an election night flare up with incumbent Larry Curfman nearly tied with challenger Clarence (Buck) Graham.

The two are separated by a mere four votes as of the preliminary count on election night.

Curfman had 159 votes while Graham earned 155 votes.

Fire District 1 serves the Oakville area. The district made headlines in 2015 when it put a Christian message on its reader board during the holiday season leading critics to complain about a potential violation of the separation of church and state.

Other fire districts

For Fire District 5 the margin of separation doesn’t fare much better for the candidates.

Eric L. Patton has 396 votes, while Dave Hauge has 372 votes. That’s only 24 votes separating the candidates.

Fire District 5 serves the rural Elma area.

Fire District 7 candidate Joseph Fernandez trails Jim Richards. Fernandez has 73 votes and Richards has 93.

Fire District 8 candidates Stephanie Allestad and Clinton L. Davis have a little more separation than their East County counter parts. Allestad has 103 votes and Davis received 74 votes.

A levy for Fire District 8 is passing with more than 76 percent of ballots voting “Yes.”

Fire District 12 candidate Albert (Buck) Wilder earned 14 votes, while Nicholas Jones earned 7.

Fire District 17 candidate Calvin Pierce III earned 36 votes and Bruce I. Brown earned 31.

Fire District 2 candidate Adam Bigby, Fire District 3 candidate Michael Bearden, Fire District 4 candidate Mike Shepard, Fire District 4 candidate Kenneth W. Carlyle, Fire District 7 candidate Darrell Haglund, Fire District 10 candidate Mike Toy, Fire District 11 candidate David McLellan, Fire District 12 candidate Jerry Banks, Fire District 14 candidate Edward McNett and Fire District 15 candidate Jeffrey Schreck all were uncontested in their bid for office.

Another ballot count is scheduled for Nov. 8. The election will be certified on Nov. 28.