POULSBO — Three firefighters from North Kitsap — two from North Kitsap Fire & Rescue and one from Poulsbo Fire Department — are helping fight wildfires in the state.
NKF&R sent a brush unit and a crew of two, Mike Mock and Dan Schuster, to Sleepy Hollow through the state mobilization plan, which organizes the fire departments statewide in pooling resources.
The Sleepy Hollow Fire, located northwest of Wenatchee, is estimated to be about 2,950 acres, according to Incident Information System (inciweb.nwcg.gov). It started June 28 and has burned an estimated 29 homes. It’s estimated that most of the affected acreage burned within the first 12 hours, spreading through sage brush and grass.
The firefighting efforts were first focused on life safety and home protection, then on isolating burning warehouses and building and strengthening fire lines.
As of July 2, the fire was about 47 percent contained, according to InciWeb.
The State Fire Service Mobilization Plan was established after a 1991 wildland fire in Spokane destroyed hundreds of residential structures and thousands of acres of forest.
“It’s about helping where we can help,” said NKF&R battalion chief John Kleeman. “When other agencies don’t have that number of resources, we’re going to help fill that gap.” He said if the situation were reversed, North Kitsap would receive the same help.
Poulsbo Fire spokeswoman Jody Matson added, “Nobody has the resources to man a whole large fire like that. Usually, Western Washington isn’t as dry and we can usually send even more resources. We have to be really cognizant of having us here to protect ourselves, also.”
The remains of a fertilizer storage area with by buried with sand to ensure the fire is completely out. Photo provided by Kurt Krech.
Poulsbo Fire sent Kurt Krech over to Wenatchee on June 29. Krech was assigned as a division supervisor, overseeing three strike teams fighting commercial structure fires, according to Matson.
“The fires are out,” Matson said, “but (they’re) making sure the needs of the city and the local community are being protected.”
Matson said strike teams and HazMat teams are working to make sure there’s no danger from hazardous materials burned in the fire.
Krech told Matson that four large warehouses were burned.
“Most of them were fruit-type warehouses and plants,” Matson said. “He said that’s going to have a really negative impact on the economy there.”
NKF&R Fire Chief Dan Smith, a state mobilization officer, said firefighters are deployed to help “probably every year.”
“Every year there are mobilization requests,” Smith said. “Oftentimes, that’s several times a year.”
These requests come from any district in the state that has exhausted their local and mutual aide resources in fighting fires. The request is made through the State of Washington, then goes to a duty officer for approval, who sends it to the mobilization section of the Washington State Patrol. After they approve the request, it’s sent to the region closest to the one affected for the deployment of requested resources.
Smith said the state reimburses the local agencies for their resources, “so there’s no financial burdens on the local communities to support this effort.”
