When firefighters are sent to fight wildfires in other states, you might think that’s exactly what they are doing.
But it’s not always the case. They often help doing many other things.
For example, when two Kitsap County firefighters went to Oregon recently, they ended up feeding livestock and protecting homes because the town’s residents had been evacuated.
Lt. Bill Green and Marcus Oliver, an apparatus operator, of Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue were deployed Sept. 8 with other firefighters from Washington as part of a strike team in the town of Westfir, Ore.
The fire, which started Aug. 1 due to a lightning storm paired with dry conditions, was threatening to spread into multiple towns. The fire had already grown to over 50,000 acres when CKFR and other departments in Puget Sound got the request to send reinforcements to the Cedar Creek wildfire.
“Our initial assignment was to position down outside of Eugene for the expected wind event that was to happen,” Green said. “So if another fire or another event happened somewhere in that area, our strike team would be deployed on that fire.”
Both Westfir and the neighboring town of Oakridge, which have a combined population of 3,500, were issued Level 3 “Go Now” evacuation orders, indicating severe danger. Green said that wildfires are nothing new to the area.
“That’s the entire town having to leave for the second year in a row,” he said, “packing up their stores, their businesses, their houses, all their belongings and having to leave town.”
Firefighters stayed behind to prepare the town for any possible fire event. Green said that it was not just the fire that would be taken care of, but all possible hazards were under their watch.
“We’re taking care of their homes, their livestock, making sure nobody’s breaking into homes,” he said. “Some of the crews on a different strike team fed animals that couldn’t be fed because there was nobody there to feed them.”
Weather conditions proved to be favorable as the winds were not as severe as anticipated. Green said having the resources ready for the worst-case scenario was always a need because any delay in transportation could prove catastrophic.
“You can save lives and property, and that’s what our job is,” he said. “Without that strike team in place, the potential was there for things to go really bad for that town.”
The fire as of Sept. 21 had spread to over 113,000 acres and is 14 percent contained. There is still the possibility of more firefighters making the journey.
