North County Regional Fire Chief John Cermak had a vision — a vision many, even his closest colleagues, called crazy at first. He wanted to create a training program in Snohomish County that would serve all firefighters in the region. His idea included a place to hold live fire demonstrations, classes and gatherings between fire districts. “I recognized the need to improve our training,” Cermak said. Cermak’s dream came from a desire to train firefighters together — creating a cohesive, robust system that would help the entire county respond better to disaster. “When you train together, you'll find out that firefighters across the nation are firefighters ... the same everywhere,” he said. “One puts their boot on the left foot first and the other puts the right boot on first, but you find out we all have strengths and weaknesses.”
Standwood Camano News
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Firefighters rescued a woman from a house fire in Lacey early Sunday morning.
First responders were called around 4:30 a.m. to reports of smoke in a 911 caller’s home.
According to Lacey Fire, the woman in the home was briefly trapped on the back deck while the fire grew. Crews arrived and started working on the fire.
The woman was rescued, then taken to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.
Photos shared by the fire department show damage to the outside of the house and its roof, a room, and a car parked out front, which was melted by the extreme heat.
It is not yet known what caused the fire.
KCPQ-TV FOX 13 Seattle
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When the California Interagency Incident Management Team 13 arrived in Randle early this month, taking over for another team, there were 43 active fires scattered across the Gifford Pinchot National Forest’s northwestern Cowlitz Valley Ranger District.
Today, there are just three.
Clint Green, operations section chief on the group of fires collectively dubbed the Cowlitz Complex Fire, considers that a win. At least, with the qualifier, “in this circumstance.”
In total, the 723 acres of the fires are 39% contained, and a crew of 265 people were staffing the complex on Friday.
“We’ve made quite a bit of progress,” Green said on Wednesday, standing in the firefighting team’s briefing tent in Randle. “It does feel good, at the end of the day, to know that you made a difference and you’re setting the next team up to be successful.”
Centralia Chronicle
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VIDEO: Despite the start of fall, wildfire season is not over, according to Commissioner of Public Lands Hillary Franz. She cited continuing rising temperatures and "abnormally" dry vegetation conditions, such as in shrubs, trees, and grass.
According to the Department of Natural Resources, Washington state has had 1,855 wildfires so far in 2023. Despite there being over two months left in the year, it has already beat the 10-year average of 1,417 fires. "We’re seeing fires rage through wetter forests, even the Olympic Rainforest. Even though it’s been cooler, we still haven’t seen much rain, and until we do, our forests remain vulnerable to wildfires that can threaten homes and fill our skies with smoke," said Commissioner Franz in a statement.
KING-TV NBC 5 Seattle
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