Fire District 13 crew reports on Stehekin mobilization

Local firefighters who mobilized to battle the massive summerlong blaze in Chelan County near Stehekin had reason to be rattled.

A Skagit County Fire District 13 crew on scene twice had rattlesnakes approach their tent. In addition, a bear was spotted in the area where the District 13 firefighters, led by Battalion Chief Jamie Jurdi, were assigned.

Jurdi related his team’s three-week stay in the area around Lake Chelan during the District 13 Board of Commissioners meeting Sept. 12.

The District 13 firefighters were among those units from throughout the region and beyond mobilized to combat a wildfire that as of the end of August had burned nearly 40,000 acres.

“It was a great experience,” Jurdi told commissioners. “The people over there have a lot of energy. They helped a lot.”

An evacuation order was issued for Stehekin at the start of August but was downgraded later in the month.

Jurdi said the District 13 team spent two weeks preparing for the encroaching fire, laying miles of hose and wrapping houses with a heavy grade foil.

“The fire came down in the third week,” Jurdi said, “but then it went around us.”

Jurdi said both Lake Chelan and the Stehekin River provided ample water to crews fighting the fire on the ground.

“It was fought mostly from the air, with helicopters,” said Jurdi.

Firefighters from District 13, whose coverage area is Swinomish Reservation and rural La Conner, may soon be logging more travel miles.

“California is on fire now,” Jurdi said, indicating the district’s mobilization force will be ready to head south if needed.

Closer to home, District 13 Fire Chief Wood Weiss and training officer Chris Olbu said manning the Summit Park station with paid shifts twice weekly has paid dividends.

“It’s been beneficial for the community,” Olbu said. He cited the ability to send a crew to a car crash on the reservation when another unit was on scene at an electrical fire in Swinomish Village.

In another case, Olbu said emergency responders based at Summit Park were able to reach a vehicle fire on Highway 20 within three minutes.

A Summit Park crew answered a call literally within walking distance of the station. Otherwise, a unit would have had to roll from Snee-Oosh Road.

“They were very appreciative of the rapid response,” said Olbu.

Weiss and district medical officer Drew Farrell provided call volume statistics for August and the year to date.

Through August, district personnel had responded to nearly 900 calls, 649 of those (73%) involving rescue and emergency medical services. Seventeen (2%) were for fires.

“We’re the No. 1 busiest rural fire department in Skagit County,” said Weiss, “and the fifth highest department in the county for calls overall, only behind the four cities (Mount Vernon, Anacortes, Burlington, and Sedro-Woolley).”

On the finance side, secretary Tracy Berg reported that two-thirds the way through the year the district is at 61% of its budgeted expenditures.