Re: Fire District 6

[dorankj]

I’m happy they’re training some personal and the paper runs a puff piece having no actual knowledge how our local fire department runs. Some of those individuals may go become professionals elsewhere as I did and learn so much more how fire departments are actually effectively run and incidents managed effectively for safety but also life safety and property conservation. Our management and leadership is far far behind industry standards and best practices utilized throughout the firefighting world but the general public has zero awareness and simply ‘support our firefighters’ (a laudable sentiment but without true understanding) and don’t even know how we can vastly improve our responses and oversight here. I don’t question our volunteers effort and hard work but I KNOW our leadership is severely lacking, I wish I’d had a opportunity to share what I’ve learned and bring about needed positive change!

[pasayten]

17 Methow Valley volunteers complete state-certified firefighter training class
JULY 11, 2024 BY RALPH SCHWARTZ

Photo courtesy Okanogan County Fire District 6 The 17 volunteers who participated the state certification class posed with instructor David Dodge, far right.

Even Fire District 6 veterans are proud to earn the black hat

A crop of volunteer firefighters with Okanogan County Fire District 6 are about to earn their state-level certificates. But don’t call them greenhorns.

All but a handful of the 17 volunteers who are attaining basic “firefighter 1” status have already been responding to real-life calls. In fact, 14 of the 17 tackled last month’s Gold Creek Fire.

Many of the veterans were already trained in wildland firefighting or were fully certified at the local level. They were just waiting for an opportunity to complete their state-level training at home.

The new Winthrop fire station, with its live-fire training center, made this large and local class of firefighting graduates possible.

“There was this serious backlog of people ready to do this,” said David Norris, one of the 17 trainees and the Fire District 6 secretary. “Both the facility and the capability to do the training didn’t exist. So they were playing catch-up.”

The Winthrop station, completed in 2022, was funded by a property tax levy approved by Fire District 6 voters two years earlier. Money for the live-fire training building at the edge of the station’s parking lot came from a $1.8 million grant from the Bruno and Evelyne Betti Foundation.

Before the live-fire training center was built, trainees had to travel to North Bend to practice with real flames, which is a required part of the 300-plus hours of firefighter 1 training. A weekend in North Bend can be too inconvenient or expensive for some volunteers, Norris said.

For Carlton station officer Brandon Richison, an eight-year veteran of Fire District 6 who was already fully certified at the district level, the training was an opportunity to brush up on his skills — and earn a new feather for his cap.

Or, to be more accurate, a new color: Now Richison can wear a black helmet, which is recognized nationally as the headgear of a certified senior firefighter.

“It was more of a personal goal for myself … and just wanting to be better,” Richison said.

Enduring the blast furnace

The live-fire facility in Winthrop is three stories tall, to enable firefighters to practice their ladder work. Inside the training area — essentially two stacked metal storage containers — propane jets underneath a horizontal metal grid simulate a bed fire. A trainer in the facility’s small control room can also direct a rolling ceiling fire at the students.

Temperatures inside that metal box can reach 500 degrees.

“Part of the training is just to understand what your thresholds are,” Norris said.

Instructors help trainees understand how to handle the extreme heat while wearing heavy fire-protection gear and a breathing tank.

“They’re watching each person … and working with them individually to say, ‘Here’s how you should breathe. Here’s how you should be moving,’” Winthrop station Captain John Owen said.

Facing a 500-degree blast furnace knowing your gear only gives you five minutes of protection at that temperature might sound like a tremendous physical challenge, but Richison insisted all of the elements of firefighter training are “very basic.”

The most challenging part, he said, is mental.

“Just having the confidence in yourself and being aggressive in your actions. Those are the two biggest things,” Richison said. “Anyone can drag a hose, put a nozzle on the end of it. You can throw a ladder. Anyone can be taught these things.”

The best thing about the training class, Richison said, was the camaraderie — especially after the isolating, dispiriting years of COVID-19.

“This class brought back a real fighting spirit,” he said. “I’ve been getting to know these guys well.”

Norris noted that the 17 firefighters on the threshold of state certification — they still await the results of their written exams — fulfill a promise made to voters leading up to the 2020 levy election.

“We promised that we would have this elevated level of training,” he said. “We could never have pulled it off without this kind of facility.”

Officials believe the new station and training center helped attract more volunteers to the fire district. District 6 has 55 volunteers and five paid staffers covering its stations in Mazama, Winthrop, Twisp and Carlton, compared to some 45 volunteers before the 2020 ballot measure, Norris said.

The district seeks more volunteers. District 6, which covers 300 square miles up and down the Methow Valley, requires about 75 firefighters to be fully staffed, Norris said.

Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer firefighter may contact him at (509) 996-2227.

[dorankj]

If you only had any idea how they actually run things (I also volunteered for many years here) you might have a clue. As to running again, I’ve taken my lumps and due to asshats like you who make personal something that should be just actual capabilities and utilization of resources I’ll keep busy actually performing this career of firefighting. Doesn’t at all change what I’m saying just because so much of the public has no idea how it could be managed and BS excuses are given to explain obvious failures.

[pasayten]

Wow! Such a sucker to rhetoric, make methow firefighting great again!

"Such a sucker to rhetoric"... A trumpster saying this is quite hilarious...

Why don't you answer my questions? You at a loss to explain your inaction? I am quite happy with FD6 and our volunteers. They are serving our large rural Valley quite well. I bet a resounding majority of folks will agree with me.

Why didn't you run? Have you attended any recent Board meetings and got your concerns/comments in the minutes?

[dorankj]

Wow! Such a sucker to rhetoric, make methow firefighting great again!

[pasayten]

What does any of this have to do with my questions? You are quite a bull*** artist Ray!

I’m talking about actual firefighting tactics and utilization of personal (having 3 ‘Chiefs’ rigs show up first is stupid) and whether we actually needed a station designed for full time sleeping personal and a poor location.

Once again, why didn't you run? Have you attended any recent Board meetings and got your concerns/comments in the minutes?




As far as the sleeping quarters, I agree with the initial needs document...

Sleeping quarters need to be provided to allow Firefighters the opportunity to rest when they are exhausted from fighting a fire in the middle of the night. Sleeping quarters also can be used by volunteers to do night shifts at the station so that responses to incidents are a lot faster. The Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau (WSRB) also recognizes Volunteers doing shifts as credit to help provide a better fire rating to the public.

Training... In my opinion, the new facility and grant will help provide the opportunities to educate/certify our firefighters and help improve firefighting tactics...

thanks to a substantial grant received from the Bruno and Evelyne Betti Foundation, we are also developing a regional training center, with a curriculum and facilities designed to allow vocational instruction and certification of
professional firefighters, both structure and wildland.

OCFD6 is the largest rural Fire District in Washington, covers over 300 square miles and is surrounded
by thousands of square miles of highly combustible public lands. I think OCFD6 is doing very well with the resources they have.

If you have other opinions, what are you doing constructively to illustrate them and make them heard?

[dorankj]

What does any of this have to do with my questions? You are quite a bull*** artist Ray!

[pasayten]

First on Gold Creek Fire scene, Carlton firefighters save house
JULY 11, 2024 BY RALPH SCHWARTZ


Photo by Ralph Schwartz - Carlton Station Officer Brandon Richison led Fire District 6’s initial attack on the Gold Creek Fire.

The Carlton fire station officer for Okanogan County Fire District 6 got the call shortly before 5 p.m. on June 22 while working his farm, just across the Methow River from the station.

“I got the tones for an incident that was happening near Gold Creek and 153,” Station Officer Brandon Richison recalled in an interview earlier this week. “I walked out my door and I looked down valley, and I saw the column already forming.”

A mower had started a fire in tall, dry grass on the former Clees farm at 1941 Highway 153, about 3.25 miles south of Carlton. And the wind was picking up on this warm early-summer afternoon.

Richison and fellow Carlton firefighter Bob Burns jumped into the station’s brush truck and were first on the scene. They saw the fire climbing the steep slope in the back of the Clees property toward heavy timber.

It was also heading toward the unoccupied house.

By the time Richison and Burns had pulled their hoses off the truck, the back of the house and a side deck were burning. The house was surrounded by fallen timber, plywood, junked vehicles, tires and other litter. Two or three vehicles were burning, but Richison concentrated his efforts on the backside of the house while Burns attacked the deck.

“I didn’t try to hit the vehicles at all at this time,” he said. “We only have 500 gallons. … We had to kind of conserve a little bit.”

A Winthrop fire engine eventually doused the vehicle fires, the firefighters in full structure-protection gear with breathing tanks.

As firefighters braced for a possible explosion from old fuel or oils inside the vehicles, they heard discarded propane tanks and other “random things … kind of popping off” in the backyard, Richison recalled.

Swirling winds threw debris and started spot fires near a barn, behind state and federal firefighters who were advancing up the hill toward the fire. District 6 knocked those smaller fires down, with the help of a Department of Natural Resources helicopter bucket drop. Local firefighters also saved the house.

But the leading edge of the blaze topped the hill above the Clees farm and made a run toward Gold Creek.

By the next day, Gold Creek residents were in level 2 evacuation. But a multiagency response team had the fire under control within a week. As of Tuesday (July 9), the Gold Creek Fire burned 278 acres but hadn’t destroyed any homes — thanks in no small part to the Carlton station’s quick response that Saturday afternoon.

[pasayten]

I’m talking about actual firefighting tactics and utilization of personal (having 3 ‘Chiefs’ rigs show up first is stupid) and whether we actually needed a station designed for full time sleeping personal and a poor location.

Once again, why didn't you run? Have you attended any recent Board meetings and got your concerns/comments in the minutes?

[pasayten]

John Owen
To:
Ray Peterson

Sun, Jul 14 at 7:31 AM

Hi, The most recent Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau (WSRB) rating for OCFD6 is PC 6. The scale runs from 1 to 10 with 1 being the best rating. The PC 6 rating applies to residential and commercial properties located within 5 road miles of a station and having 'standard' fire hydrant water supply.
You can find out your property rating by calling 206-217-0101 or emailing www.customerservice@wsrb.com . Since you are not located near a hydrant you, like me, fall under the 'Tender Credit' rating which OCFD6 has with WSRB.
WSRB surveys us about every 5 years. We improved from a PC 7 five years ago to a PC 6 this year.

Hope this helps your quest for information, John O.

[dorankj]

I’m talking about actual firefighting tactics and utilization of personal (having 3 ‘Chiefs’ rigs show up first is stupid) and whether we actually needed a station designed for full time sleeping personal and a poor location.

[PAL]

Well, good Ray. But Ken won't believe you or facts and figures. Certainly doesn't want to hear good news about the fire Dept. He wants failure to prove he is "right".

[pasayten]

Hmmm... Current levy rate is $0.53... Lower than is was 20 years ago... In these times of higher costs, that is decent Board management of the budget. I will call FD6 next week and get some other facts and figures for you.

[dorankj]

Yeah who cares if they are best utilized or implement state of the industry procedures, they all mean well!

[PAL]

Let's just be happy we even have a group of dedicated fire fighters.

[dorankj]

With your incredible expertise of course! “Just fine”, there’s a measurable standard.

[PAL]

Well, Ken you do kinda bring it on yourself. I think our fire dept. is just fine. Hard working bunch of volunteers. You are still bitter because you lost.

[dorankj]

Still no explanation on how you’ve improved our firefighting here or how our response is improved, just personal invective about me.

[mister_coffee]

I "vote personalities" in the sense that I refuse to vote for crazy people.

[pasayten]

lol... you use that answer a lot...

You seem to vote personalities and you don’t like mine but I guess Darold’s is better for you (you should talk to some of his former employees!) too bad you don’t put the same effort into knowing about fire stations and the fire department as you did swimming pools.

Must be a LOT of folks in the Valley then that vote personalities... You got your butt beat by a very large margin.

[dorankj]

Still deflecting, par for the course from your type!

[pasayten]

Jeesh you are sure butt hurt from that past election... Then why didn't you run in this recent election against John Lindsey?

[dorankj]

You keep rubbing it in my face! But why are you deflecting from the questions, is our fire department and infrastructure better now? Has anything really gotten better there? Isn’t competency a better reason to vote for anyone rather than personality or who you like?

[pasayten]

Thank goodness “Christian Brothers” don’t have to agree on politics…. Good grief you are sensitive to the past fire commissioner election….

[dorankj]

Really not surprised, or that you would point it out here. Do you actually think you’ve improved firefighting or really made anything better in that system here? Do you think a huge station designed for live in full time firefighters that is also out of place is the right thing for this area? You seem to vote personalities and you don’t like mine but I guess Darold’s is better for you (you should talk to some of his former employees!) too bad you don’t put the same effort into knowing about fire stations and the fire department as you did swimming pools. You may actually seriously regret that choice! Otherwise enjoy taking any opportunity to stomp on me ‘Christian brother’!