There wasn’t a shaky response to earthquake preparation drills here last month.

Far from it, in fact, Fire District 13 Capt. Ted Taylor told fire district commissioners at their monthly hybrid meeting Friday, Nov. 11. The annual Great ShakeOut exercises Oct. 21 went according to plan and in some cases exceeded expectations.

He said district personnel were able to roll emergency equipment and vehicles out of the Snee Oosh Road station in under three minutes, raising some bay doors electrically and others manually, a task that would be essential in the event of an actual earthquake.

“Psychologically,” he said, “that was very important. This is something we might have to do some time.”

Taylor said that as part of the Great ShakeOut event the fire district was able to distribute 74 earthquake preparation packets to Shelter Bay residents.

Those included signs reading “Help/Okay” to be posted by residents to alert responders if emergency aid is needed in an earthquake situation.

“That was pretty good,” Taylor said, “when you consider that people had to get out of their houses, drive and pick up the packets.”

He said those packets could be further modified in the future to address other emergency scenarios, including power outages and that the district will coordinate with Swinomish police to make possible distribution of packets across the reservation area.

“When and it’s not if, we have the big one, there are vulnerabilities we have to be ready for,” said Taylor.

Taylor took note of the 3.0 magnitude earthquake that rattled Mount Vernon and the Big Lake area Nov. 9. “It’s just a reminder,” he said, “that we live in earthquake country.”

Among other concerns, noted Fire District Chief Wood Weiss, are potential landslides linked to “the atmospheric river hovering over us.”

“That usually doesn’t affect his part of the district,” he said, “but it could affect us out in the flats.”

Commission chair Bruce Shellhamer praised Taylor for coordinating local Great ShakeOut drills, a concept launched several years ago in southern California and which has since spread throughout the West Coast.

“This is moving us in a good direction,” Shellhamer said.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 statistics have not been trending well. Fire District Chief Wood Weiss reported that 47 new cases had been reported in the Swinomish area between Oct. 14 and Nov. 8. He shared a bar graph showing growing numbers of COVID-19 cases reported this year among persons ages 20-29.

Other statistics were less troubling.

Fire District 13 responded to 97 service calls in October, just three fewer than was the case in October 2019, prior to the pandemic.

District patient transports totaled 228 in 2021, including 20 in October.

“We’ve had fewer incidents, but more transports,” Weiss said. “That tells me the medics are trusting us more with calls. Moving forward, that’s good to see.”

Weiss also reported that “Good Morning, District 13”, the district’s popular proactive daily wellness program, has been gifted a gait belt.

Commissioner John Doyle was congratulated for having won election to the panel. He was appointed in April after Larry Kibbee resigned.