Almost exactly one year ago, Packwood’s Labor Day weekend flea market was in full swing as helicopters circled over to drop water on the Goat Rocks Fire.
On Sept. 5, 2022, the U.S. Forest Service reported the fire was at 80 acres.
The following weekend, evacuation orders were issued as the fire swelled to 2,000 acres. By Sept. 11, the wind had shifted, cooler air came in, and residents were allowed home.
Today isn’t so different.
The flea market is up and running, and teams are fighting dozens of fires across the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. If a weather event caused one to swell, would Packwood be ready?
On Sept. 16, at the Packwood Fire Station on U.S. Highway 12, from 10 to noon, members of the public are welcome to join in a “Firewise” training. A national education program, Firewise encourages communities to prepare for wildfires.
Though separate from the federal program, several state agencies, including Washington Department of Natural Resources, also offer “Firewise” grants that reimburse community fire preparation, according to Michele Steinberg, wildfire division director for the National Fire Protection Association.
“The Firewise USA program was designed to encourage volunteer action to accomplish risk reduction work to protect homes,” Steinberg said.
As the Timberline, Goat Rocks and High Valley neighborhoods were evacuated late last summer, resident Bill Serrahn recalled feeling “helpless.” He lives just across the Cowlitz River from downtown Packwood.
“I felt, this year, I’m going to prepare. Even if it’s not going to be a fire season. Because, the first three years I was here, there were big snows. So then, I bought a snow blower, and it never snowed again for another three years,” Serrahn said with a chuckle. “Maybe if I prepare, I’ll scare it away.”
With well water, an above-ground pool, large water tubs from a whisky distillery, sprinklers and a generator, Serrahn has rigged his house with high-powered sprinklers. He’s also cleaned up the area around his house by moving the woodpile, propane, brush and other fuels. This buffer zone is referred to by firefighters as “defensible space.”
In a recent article by Stateline about U.S. Forest Service protection grants, Lewis County Fire District 10 Chief Lonnie Goble calls Packwood “lucky.” A few more hours of heavy wind during the Goat Rocks Fire’s big swell, Goble said, and the Timberline community would have been wiped out. The hope with Firewise is that, next time, it won’t be.
The goal of the program isn’t to prevent wildfires from starting, but prevent them from causing massive loss. With adequate defensible space and other methods of preparation, houses can be spared.
Serrahn has gone a few steps further with his sprinkler set-up.
“Can you tell I’m a bit of an obsessive?” he asked, laughing, on Thursday night as he demonstrated his various fire suppression builds.
If he needed to evacuate and the power to his place were cut, Serrahn has a generator set up that could run the sprinklers for eight more hours. All together, the pressure pump, PVC piping, water storage (including the pool) and storage, cost him $2,500.
The pool doubles as a leisure activity, too.
He set out with a budget of $1,000 before it turned into a learning project, Serrahn said. Asked if he could have set up meaningful fire protection at that cost, he replied: “Absolutely.”
Whether or not the suppression system could qualify for grant reimbursement, he’s interested in helping the community prepare for the next big fire.
“Next year, I would like to just help people, to show them what they can do. Because, all these sprinklers are just put together with PVC. It’s really cheap and you can just glue them together,” he said. “It’s like Legos.”
Learn more about Firewise and fire preparedness at firewise.org.
Communities can apply for grant dollars for fire protection through the U.S. Forest Service at https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/fire/grants.
