Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Sorted by date Results 1 - 3 of 3
My name is Wood Weiss and I am the Chief of Skagit Fire District 13. Recently people have been asking me about the upcoming ballot measure for the countywide Emergency Medical Services (EMS) levy renewal. I thought it might help to clarify who we are as a fire district and how the EMS levy impacts us and the people we serve. Our district provides Fire and EMS protection for a 71 square mile area, which includes the Swinomish Tribal Reservation (Tribal village, Shelter Bay, Snee Oosh beach area, Casino), farmlands east of the Swinomish channel,...
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 re...
FYI: Just returned from eastern Washington (Sept. 8). This was my first mobilization and it was an interesting experience bringing a 56,000 pound tender over Snoqualmie Pass. On Thursday night (Sept. 3) at 7:30 p.m. the call came out for the Evans Canyon fire in Naches, Washington. By 9:30 p.m., after dumping 12 tons of water (3,000 gallons) to reduce weight, fellow firefighter Bailey Hawkins and I were on our way with our wildland gear and enough clothing for 14 days, if needed. Our initial instructions were to drive through the night and...
