Longest wildland fire season on record

From June 28 to September 26, 18 firefighters with Snohomish County Fire District 7 spent 6,150 hours on crews battling 16 wildland fires in Washington State. Two brush engines, a water tender and other miscellaneous equipment accounted for another 1,120 hours of service.

State and federal agencies reimburse Fire District 7 taxpayers for these costs. What’s more, these types of deployments do not impact emergency service levels for residents served by Fire District 7. Fire district officials say that this is possible because of its partnership with the City of Mill Creek, which has built the most advanced emergency response system in the county.

“Ninety-nine percent of our people are certified as Wildland Firefighter II,” said Eric Andrews, assistant chief for Fire District 7. “That’s one of the highest levels of any fire agency in the state and why we get called to help.”

Andrews, who has participated in advanced disaster training, serves as an operations section chief during many of these statewide emergencies. Wildland fires are commonplace for him, but he also has been deployed to natural disasters such as the Oso Landslide in 2014.

Other personnel at Fire District 7 have been trained as part of an incident management team, as well as strike team leaders, who lead others in the field. Andrews says the experience firefighters receive during deployment is invaluable for responding to emergencies closer to home.

One example was the Eastmont Fire that happened in an area served by the City of Everett and Snohomish County Fire District 1 in July. Fifteen homes were put on a Level 1 evacuation notice because of a fast-moving brush fire. Fire District 7 was called because it had the equipment, knowledge and skills to manage the incident when other fire agencies needed help.

This has happened several other times this summer with brush fires along Highway 9 and a large incident in Maltby, but Andrews isn’t worried.

“Taxpayers in Fire District 7 and Mill Creek have invested in our fire district and its people so we are prepared for any emergency,” he said.