An estimated 38 Clark County firefighters, including the chiefs of Fire District 13 and East County Fire & Rescue, are helping mitigate wildfires burning throughout the northwest.
“It’s been a very serious couple of weeks. It’s early in the fire season. I’ve actually been surprised by how many severe fires we’ve had,” said East County Fire & Rescue Chief Scott Koehler. “We’re off to a tough start.”
Koehler was just outside of Warm Springs, Ore., Tuesday evening planning work assignments for firefighters at the Logging Units Fires.
“We’re making progress,” he said. “Hopefully we will be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel pretty soon.” Four east county firefighters are fighting wildfires in central Washington and the deputy chief is also there, coordinating air attacks, Koehler said.
Other firefighters from Clark County are battling the Carlton Complex fire in Washington’s Okanogan County, which has torched nearly a quarter million acres and destroyed an estimated 100 homes.
The Carlton fire is the largest in Washington’s history, spanning four times the size of Seattle, according to the state department of ecology. It has surpassed in size the 239,000-acre Yacolt Burn of 1902, which previously was the largest reported fire in state history.
On July 12, four firefighters from the Camas-Washougal Fire Department were sent to Entiat to help with the wildfire, Chief Nick Swinhart said. Six days later, they were relocated to the Mills Canyon fire near Leavenworth, where they reportedly remain.
“They’re bouncing between fires right now,” he said.
State rules limit deployments to 14 consecutive days, so the crew will have to return by the end of the week. If more work needs to be done, they’ll send out more firefighters. Camas-Washougal firefighters help with state fires each year, Swinhart said.
“Last year was fairly subdued,” he said. “It ebbs and flows a bit. Unfortunately, this year is a bad year.”
Clark County Fire & Rescue has 13 people at the Washington wildfires, said Battalion Chief Tim Dawdy. The majority are on the ground, while others are part of the interagency management team. Additionally, two firefighters are in Idaho and another is in Oregon. Firefighters must hold national certification and meet physical requirements in order to fight wildfires.
“In the two weeks they’ll be there, they’ll gain years and years of large fire experience that they wouldn’t gain here,” Dawdy said. “They’re just that much better firefighters when they come home.” Dawdy said that while a firefighter is deployed, the state pays for his or her salary and pays to backfill a position back home. So, there’s no extra, overtime cost to the local fire district.
“We want to help our neighbors,” Dawdy said. “Part of the deal is out of the state fire fund. We get that paid back so it doesn’t affect local tax payers.” Those who remain in Clark County work extra shifts to fill in for the vacated position. No one from Fire District 6 has gone to the regional wildfires, according to public information coordinator Sarah Mitchelson.
“Right now we’re so low on staffing levels, we don’t have enough resources to send anybody,” she said.
Some firefighters with that agency are injured, including one firefighter who had a ceiling collapse on him during a Fourth of July house fire. Others are in the process of earning or renewing certifications.
Three Fire District 3 firefighters are in Carlton, and one is in Idaho’s Hills Canyon area, according to Chief Steve Wrightson.
Wrightson said the firefighters are expected back at the end of the week, though others from District 3 may take their places. The Carlton Complex was last estimated to be 16 percent contained.
Deputy Chief Drew Tracy said the Vancouver Fire Department has two firefighters at the Washington wildfires. One, an incident commander, started at fires in Alaska and was later deployed to the Omak side of the Carlton fire; he goes to fire mobilizations each year. Another was last in Entiat, working as a communications specialist, he said. Among the firefighters deployed are a few volunteers, including five from Yacolt-based Fire District 13. Chief Ben Peeler and Assistant Chief Tom McDowell, two of the district’s three paid employees, are part of the incident management team for the Carlton Complex fire.
About 40 Red Cross volunteers from around the Cascades region, including some from Southwest Washington, are helping out with Oregon wildland fires.
Red Cross Spokesman Paul Telfer said that people have passed out wildfire preparedness information at grocery stores, community centers and parks in central Oregon.
If there are no more lightning strikes in the wildfire areas, he said, the volunteers will leave the state and, if needed, some will be diverted to the Washington wildfires.
“This evening is the big watershed moment for us,” Telfer said. “It’s entirely weather-dependent.”
