Fire district preps for March 30 windstorm exercise

You play how you practice.

That was the mantra shared last Thursday by Skagit County Fire District 13 Commission chair Bruce Shellhamer, a former Sedro-Woolley High School sports standout. He wasn’t alluding to athletics. He was talking about the fire district’s upcoming March 30 windstorm exercise.

The training will engage HAM radio operators, volunteers at the Shelter Bay Disaster Assistance Center, a mobile Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) trailer, and residents who will post “Help/OK” placards in their windows to inform emergency responders.

“We’re going to come up with a litany of stuff,” said Capt. Gary Ladd, who launched the district’s popular “Good Morning, District 13” outreach project that has since morphed into the new Community Assistance and Referral Education Services program.

“We’ll be simulating a windstorm disaster and the winds come in after a week of heavy rain,” Ladd said. “You’ll have very soggy ground causing trees to come down.”

He said the exercise will assume that internet and cell phone service will be disrupted.

“We’re trying to simulate the best we can,” said Ladd. “It’s a big event and everybody who wishes to participate is free to join in. We’re looking forward to this event.”

Shellhamer said major windstorm training is ideal for the La Conner and Fidalgo Island areas.

“You can’t live here without seeing trees across the road,” he said. “So, this is a good event.”

By all accounts, it was likewise a good event when commissioners and Skagit Bay Search & Rescue President Sue White signed a memorandum of understanding that brings the Search & Rescue group under the fire district’s umbrella.

It’s a pact more than 20 years in the making, Doyle said.

The signed memorandum followed extended talks with the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office, with whom Skagit Bay Search & Rescue has been affiliated, and reviews by legal counsel.

“I’m really excited about this,” Ladd said. “We’re all looking forward to this partnership for the betterment of the community.”

Fire Chief Wood Weiss said the memorandum evolved from a long-held desire that the Search & Rescue vessel be directly available to the district.

“I became a member of Skagit Bay Search & Rescue 20 years ago, and I left because we never had a call-out,” he said. “I was continuously waiting for a call to come out from the sheriff’s office.”

He cited several recent emergency calls for service on local waters.

“The last couple weeks we’ve seen how important is to get a boat out there fast,” Weiss said.

The next step is to finalize details with dispatchers.

Looking ahead, Weiss hopes – given greater District 13 staffing – that the Summit Park station could be staffed two days per week to respond to calls on the northwest edge of the district’s coverage area.

Staffing at the Snee-Oosh station would not be impacted, Weiss and district training officer Chris Olbu said.

“Our membership is back up again,” said Olbu. “Before, it would’ve been hard to staff (Summit Park) because we had people leaving to hire on with other (full-time paid) departments.”

Weiss suggested a six-month trial for Summit Park staffing. Commissioners could act on the proposal at their April 11 meeting.

Weiss closed by reporting that the District 13 team had raised a record high $2,700 at this year’s Firefighter Stair Climb in Seattle benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Weiss placed third in his age division at the event, which challenged entrants in gear and on-air to climb 69 floors (788 feet) and nearly 1,400 steps.