Fighting eastern Washington wildfires

I received the call on the morning of the 23rd of July to mobilize the tender and could not find anyone who would or could take the un-airconditioned beast to eastern Washington, so the job fell to me. Within hours I was headed to the Grand Coulee.

The first fire we fought was the Northrup Canyon Fire. We mostly did mop up of any hotspots. In fact, that is a common job of strike teams: to finish corralling the fire and making sure it does not re-kindle. This is why strike teams often jokingly refer to themselves as Mop-Shots as opposed to Hot Shots. There is always the chance though that a new fire will crop up and we will be first on scene. On this first fire we had helicopters helping out with water drops.

After three days we were sent to the Hardesty Valley fire near Spokane where we met some nice people, Joey and April, while protecting their house. Joey made a nice plaque for me from a piece of wood he milled from his land that states “Skagit Wildland Crew.” I will cherish it always and now have it in my office.

The communities were always very appreciative of us and were asking where Skagit County was.

On the first two fires we slept in tents on high school football fields sometimes showering with water bags that were hung off the tender.

At the end of the week, after finishing off another fire, we were sent to a Type 1 incident: The Cedar Creek Fire, in Winthrop. My brush truck was already there with members Paden Holmberg, Kyle Ekkelkamp and Trevor Remle. I have little in the way of pics from these young gentleman but they worked hard for a full two weeks. Unfortunately they left hours before I arrived.

I felt sorry for the Winthrop/Twisp communities. The air was heavy with smoke and the restaurants were light with tourists.

Type 1 incidents mean lots of resources and infrastructure are available, including food, showers, laundry, fuel, medicine and a mechanic. The entire camp was huge and there was another one close by for the Cub Creek Fire. On this fire we worked at night and slept in classrooms at the local school.

Being on the tender is sometimes a lonely affair and I was often referred to as the Maytag repairman. Nights were often difficult because the smoke would lay down in the hollows, so I would wear an N95 mask trying to save my lungs. We protected the Sun Mountain Lodge and neighboring communities and we were part of a huge control burn to stop the fire from heading to Twisp.

It was also a pleasure to work with such a great team. These mobilizations allow us to help communities in need, make us sharper/better firefighters and bring in much needed revenue for our district and its programs. Eventually we will be the ones who need the help so right now we are “paying it forward.”