By MICHELLE BEAHM
and RICHARD WALKER
North Kitsap Herald
POULSBO — Several local firefighters are east of the mountains, helping battle fires in Okanogan and Chelan counties.
Michele Laboda, communications officer for North Kitsap Fire & Rescue, said five firefighters and a reserve structural engine from NKF&R are helping fight fires there.
Firefighters Alex Hickey and Dean Schuster, and firefighter/paramedic Nic Johnson, are in the Chelan area, working on the First Creek Fire in the Reach Complex.
Firefighter Heath Clark and intern firefighter Sam Berni are working on the Kettle Complex Stickpin Fire.
In addition, Laboda said the district’s medical safety officer, Steve Engle, is working as a paramedic on the lines. When last she heard from him, Engle was in the Colville area.
Jody Matson, communications officer for Poulsbo Fire Department, reported that three of her department’s firefighters are in Eastern Washington: Battalion Chief Kurt Krech was called to the Stickpin Fire; Lt. Mike Prevost and firefighter Sean Langaker were called to the Reach Complex in Chelan.
Neither NKF&R nor Poulsbo Fire know when their firefighters will return home.
“As everyone is well aware, (there are) thin resources over there,” Laboda said. “We don’t anticipate that these folks will be returned to us in the near future. There’s a great need for firefighters right now.”
Three U.S. Forest Service firefighters died and four state and federal firefighters were injured Aug. 19 while fighting the Twisp wildfire.
Laboda said local firefighters are “heartbroken” over the deaths.
“Our flags are at half staff,” Laboda said. “It’s always sobering and it certainly makes us take a minute and think about the sacrifice that these folks made.”
Some 24 wildfires are burning in Washington state — more than 306,000 acres total — as of Aug. 17, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center.
“It’s worse in Eastern Washington, but fire danger is also extremely high west of the mountains,” Laboda said. “Everybody has to work together — fire departments, citizens — trying to make sure all the ways we can control how fires start happen.
“There’s nothing we can do about lightning. That’s how the fires in Eastern Washington started. (But) there’s a lot we can do about discarded cigarettes, outdoor fires, all those kinds of things, to make sure the problem isn’t made worse.”
On Aug. 17, Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste authorized the mobilization of additional state firefighting resources at the request of Okanogan County Fire Districts 7 and 9 and Conconully Fire Department.
The fire there started the morning of Aug. 14, and the cause is believed to be lightning. The fire is growing, threatening 15 homes and crops as well as infrastructure. Level 3 evacuations have been ordered for the 15 homes.
Mobilization specialists from the Fire Protection Bureau have received a request for six wildland task forces to supplement the resources already fighting the fire. The State Emergency Operations Center at Camp Murray has been activated to Phase III to coordinate state assistance for the multiple fires, including the Okanogan Complex Fire.
Under the State Fire Services Resource Mobilization Plan, the Fire Protection Bureau coordinates the initial dispatch and continued administrative oversight of resources and personnel for the duration of the incident. The mobilization plan is implemented to provide a process to quickly notify, assemble and deploy fire service personnel, equipment and other resources from around the state when fires, disasters or other events exceed the capacity of local jurisdictions.
