Off-duty firefighters around the region came to the rescue on their days off to save homes threatened by the Sumner Grade Fire Tuesday and Wednesday.
Firefighters have been working around the clock, on the clock, to fight the brush fire between Sumner and Bonney Lake, which has burned 800 acres, destroyed four homes and forced hundreds of evacuations. But when a wall of flames threatened at least two homes on Elhi Rim Road, the homeowner of one of them, a firefighter himself, sprang into action.
First-time homeowner and Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority firefighter Jordan McClain had made the decision to stay put and defend his home, despite the Level 3 evacuation order, an urgent measure to “get out now.” His neighbors, the Taylors, had reluctantly packed up and left their own dream home of more than two decades when it looked like the fire was going to consume it.