Submitted by The Quinault Indian Nation
The Quinault Indian Nation (QIN) fire staff has been keeping busy fighting fires near and far this summer in concert with federal, state, tribal and local agencies.
A crew was dispatched to Arizona on July 15 at the request of the Truxton Canyon Fire Agency on “severity watch,” firefighter jargon for being available in extremely hot conditions. A relief team, in full gear, attracted a bit of attention at SeaTac as they flew down to take over the Quinault Nation’s fire engines there from the first team. The second team found and fought a fire near the Grand Canyon. The crew was first on the scene and was thus entitled to name it. What else could it be? It became the “Quinault Fire.”
“The crew traveled more than 1500 miles to fight flames in pinion pine and sage which grew to 77 acres. Temperatures reached an average of 105 degrees. Fortunately, injuries were slight. Two firefighters did have to be transported to a nearby hospital for heat exhaustion, but they were okay,” said Acting Quinault Fire Manager John Preston. “Firefighting is dangerous and it’s very important for us to practice every safety precaution. We train for it, but actual on-the-fire experience helps tremendously. The Quinault Fire Agency was happy to comply in the spirit of cooperation,” he said. QIN crews were on scene in Arizona for 33 days.
The Quinault Fire was contained within six days, with 70 fire fighters on scene, aided by air tankers and helicopters. The extent of damage to natural resources and archaeological resources is unknown at this time, but there was no structural damage and there were no forced evacuations.
As they were making the drive home, the Tribe received a dispatch request from Yakama Nation. So another Quinault Nation crew rendezvoused with them at Napavine, swapped a truck for their engine and headed east of the Cascades.
While all this was going on, a watchful eye was fixed on the area on and near the Quinault Reservation in case response was needed here.
The crew had worked in cooperation with other agencies to extinguish a three acre fire on state land along the Upper Quinault River in early July, which could have been much worse without quick response.
“We are ready to respond on a moment’s notice,” said Preston. “Of course, the best response is prevention. So, as always, we encourage people to be very careful with fire and follow all fire regulations.”
“It’s that time of year, when things are beginning to get very busy. All of these tactics, the cooperative efforts, the swaps, the quick responses and the fire fighting itself are all excellent training and experience for our firefighters. This is an outstanding team and it gets even better with each response,” he said.
In addition to fire crews, Quinault dispatchers Cheryl Bumgarner and Ervin Obi have been serving at various fires, including the Arizona fire and in Oregon, California, other parts of Washington as well as locally. Also, Quinault Resource Enforcement Captain Jared Eison as well as trainees Daniel Becker and Jaren Ancheta have provided investigations into the cause of fires.
“I want to extend a huge thank you to the Havisupi Tribal Agency for allowing the Quinault Agency to assist them. Everyone was very kind and we gained some very valuable experience.” Preston added that there is always a need for strong and healthy people interested in fighting wildfires. “There is no doubt that it is important and interesting work,” he said.
Anyone interested should contact Preston at jpreston@quinault.org, 360-276-8215 ext. 387 or 360-590-1856 (cell).
To report a fire on or near the Quinault Reservation, contact the Quinault Police Department at (360) 276-4422.
For questions related to the Quinault Fire Department, call Dispatcher Caitlin Howard at (360) 276-8215, ext. 284.
