During a community meeting Wednesday night, Lewis County Fire District 8 Chief Duran McDaniel spoke to a group of nearly 30 community members from the Koons Road and Salmon Creek Road area near Salkum.
McDaniel called the meeting to help residents plan a new, secondary evacuation route as currently there is only one road in and out of the area. He, along with those in attendance, are currently gathering information on backcountry forest roads to try to establish a second evacuation route for residents should a wildfire threaten the area.
McDaniel plans on meeting again with residents at 6:30 p.m. July 12 at the Salkum Fire Station to finalize the new evacuation route.
While the meeting was specifically for residents in the Salmon Creek Road area, McDaniel added the upcoming fire season would be a concern for the entire district and discussed many issues affecting residents countywide.
According to a U.S. Forest Service hotshot firefighter McDaniel knows, fire conditions in Lewis County right now are already unseasonably dry.
“He was on the Packwood fire. Our fire behavior, right now in Packwood, what he said is what he would see in Idaho in August,” McDaniel said.
Handouts were provided to attendees with instructions on how to fireproof their homes and barns to help reduce risk for property damage should a wildfire occur. Clearing brush and debris from around houses to prevent burning embers from starting spot-fires in was the biggest issue.
“A lot of houses that catch fire are because of firebrands that blow in and get up into a house,” said McDaniel, later adding, “the houses usually hold up pretty well if (firebrands) can’t get into the house.”
Burn restrictions were another topic for discussion, although McDaniel remarked he wasn’t concerned about the attendees at the meeting, but those who own vacation homes and don’t live in the area permanently.
“Mayfield Village are my troublemakers. They will burn, they will come down here from Seattle and think, ‘OK, I’m in Lewis County, I can burn anything,’” McDaniel said.
Another issue affecting dispatchers is residents calling to report ash during wildfire season. According to McDaniel, 911 dispatchers are often overwhelmed with those kinds of calls. He’s had to send out county alerts to try to help dispatchers in the past due to wildfires in Eastern Washington.
“We sent a message out to everything east of I-5, quit calling 911 for ash. If you see smoke, OK, if you see fire and dark smoke, then we have a fire,” McDaniel said. “I listened to the radio and tried to talk to dispatch once, and could hear the phones over the radio going off. They could not answer all the calls.”
Erika Katt, a planner for Lewis County Emergency Management, was on hand to help residents plan and explained the three-level evacuation warning system the county utilizes.
The three levels are “ready,” “set” and “go.”
Under a “ready” evacuation order, level 1, a wildfire is a threat in the area and residents are advised to monitor emergency service websites and local media for updates. Under a “set” evacuation order, level 2, residents are to gather supplies, food and water, and prepare for an immediate evacuation as a wildfire is posing significant danger.
Additionally, should conditions deteriorate quickly, a “set” order may be the last order a resident actually receives. Katt recommended residents be responsible and monitor for changes on their own while continuing to check for updates through the media.
“A fire is close. It’s not knocking on your door yet, but at level 2, if you have a condition where it may take you a little longer to evacuate, now is the time to go,” said Katt. “If you have large animals, this is also a great time to get those evacuated. If you live on a one-lane road, this might also be a good time to evacuate.”
Finally, there is the “go” evacuation order, level 3. Should a “go” order be issued, residents are urged to leave immediately.
“This is a nationwide push, too. This is something that you go to Illinois somewhere and you’re in a tornado and they ask you to evacuate, they’re going to use this same system,” Katt said.
Katt advised residents to sign up for Lewis County emergency alerts if they haven’t already.
Should a resident decide to ignore a “go” level evacuation order, McDaniel explained once the order has been given and a resident refuses to comply, emergency personnel will not be allowed back to the area until it’s safe for them to return.
“The old standing order is we would ask for next-of-kin and what funeral home you want to go to,” McDaniel said.
Aside from discussing wildfire season issues, McDaniel also showcased a new piece of EMT equipment every fire district in Lewis County now has — a LUCAS 2 automated CPR machine.
Before the LUCAS, McDaniel would have to send four or five paramedics in an ambulance call to the more remote parts of the fire district to ensure a patient in need of CPR would be able to get it throughout their entire ride to the hospital — sometimes taking an hour or more.
This left the paramedics taking turns administering continuous chest compressions for CPR. With the new LUCAS device, paramedics can now simply strap it to a patient and send them on their way.
The device’s battery can last for hours, according to McDaniel, and his paramedics carry a spare battery fully charged at all times should the battery begin to run out during chest compressions.
“There’s a 45-minute battery, another 45-minute battery, and it’s got a little charger that plugs in too, and we have a (power converter) that runs on the engines. This can run for hours, so we can get you to a hospital and they can figure out what else they can do for you,” said McDaniel. “They’ve been running them in Alaska, and they’ve had people on them for over an hour and a half.”
For more information on LUCAS CPR systems, visit https://www.lucas-cpr.com/.
To find out more about fireproofing your property, visit https://tinyurl.com/5yvrvcaa and https://www.nfpa.org/education.
For more information on the Lewis County emergency alerts and to sign up for them, visit https://tinyurl.com/42s63cfx.
