Fire Crews Going Nonstop With Emergency Calls Downed Power Lines, Water Shortage Pose Difficulties
As tree branches snapped under the weight of a glossy coat of ice several times their own thickness Tuesday, complaints of downed power lines began to roll into Spokane Valley Fire.
During the ice storm’s 12 bitter hours Valley Fire received nearly 300 calls for help.
That’s about 10 times the number of calls Valley Fire dispatchers typically field during a full day, said Battalion Chief Rick Keeling.
Most of the calls came from people worried about tangles of downed power lines in their yards or in the street.
The phone began ringing steadily just before lunch time. By late afternoon phone lines were jammed.
Some residents who couldn’t get through, either because circuits were busy or because their own phone lines were knocked down by the storm, drove to the Valley Fire’s main station on Sprague Avenue, across from the University City Shopping Center.
Valley Fire officials called in 15 extra firefighters and used three additional trucks to service the extra calls. The district’s chief officers also responded to calls.
By late Wednesday morning, responses changed to battling fires and chasing commercial fire alarms that had begun to sound as power was restored.
“It’s been real busy since Tuesday,” said firefighter Dave Halpin. “I don’t think it will let up until the power comes back on.”
Water shortage
As the chaos subsided after hundreds of reports of downed power lines, two fire districts protecting Valley neighborhoods and businesses faced a new problem.
A few of those downed lines carried power to two water systems, meaning pumps that filled their water reservoirs were not functioning.
By noon Wednesday, major reservoirs for Pasadena Park Irrigation District No. 17 and the Spokane Industrial Park’s water supply system had only about a day’s worth of water left and were not refilling.
“If we don’t get power to those pumps, we’re going to be in trouble - not only domestically, but firewise too,” Valley Fire Chief Pat Humphries said Wednesday morning.
In an effort to protect the industrial area left vulnerable by the water shortage, a Valley Fire truck began pumping nearly 200,000 gallons from Consolidated Irrigation District No. 19 to the Industrial Park early Wednesday. Trucks and firefighters from fire districts 8 and 9 also were prepared to help in case a major blaze broke out, Humphries said.
By mid-afternoon, power was restored to the Industrial Park and the pumps began working.
Plans also were made for a National Guard generator to power pumps carrying water to the Northwood neighborhood, which is served by the Pasadena Park Irrigation District, said Ron Welch, district manager.
“We need to get the water up the hill for emergency purposes,” he said.
Welch expected the generator to be powering pumps late Wednesday, but said it would take several hours to refill two of the district’s reservoirs which were sucked to 50 and 65 percent of their capacities during the outage.
While permanent power is being restored to the Pasadena district, Welch asked that its 1,500 customers limit their water consumption to necessary domestic uses.
Shattering experience
It wasn’t the freeway sniper, but a large chunk of ice that blew off a car on Interstate 90 and shattered the windshield of a Chevrolet Suburban behind it had the same effect.
Valley Fire paramedics who responded to the 1 p.m. incident near the Liberty Lake exit said the impact blasted a basketball-sized hole in the windshield. The woman who was driving the truck suffered only minor cuts to the bridge of her nose.
Three children who were passengers in the truck were not injured.
, DataTimes