Big Blow Keeps Crews Hopping

Wednesday night’s storm with high winds and lightning kept Valley area fire departments running for several hours, but no buildings were burned and fires were quickly put out.

“Wild!” said Dan Blystone, zone coordinator for fire districts in southern Spokane County.

“For the first hour we were just hopping,” said Blystone, also a District 8 firefighter. “Once the storm went through, things calmed right back down.”

District 8 had about 20 calls in the first hour, Blystone said. “It really taxed our resources,” he said, especially since the district has loaned an engine and a water tender from the Valleyford station and a brush engine from the Moran Prairie station to fight the fires in Central Washington.

Most of Wednesday evening’s calls were for downed power lines, said Karl Bold, Valley Fire District’s acting chief.

“It was pretty busy for a while,” he said. They had about 18 runs in two hours that included small grass fires.

“We still had good coverage,” he said. Valley Fire has loaned two engine companies and a command car to the Central Washington blazes, but that didn’t hamper them here.

“Our first responsibility is to the Valley,” Bold said.

Newman Lake’s Fire District 13 escaped most of the problems. The district had a couple downed power lines but no fires, said Chief Bud Clow.