Fire Districts Coordinate Over Tinderbox Threat
Spokane Valley Fire District commissioners discussed the high fire danger in the area on Wednesday, alarms were going off.
Valley Fire Chief Pat Humphries looked at his pager and went to make phone calls about a three-alarm fire burning a grass field north of Rockford.
He was the area coordinator that day, which meant he was responsible for making sure that different fire departments coordinated their efforts to contain the blaze.
While the fire seemed small at first, tricky winds shifted fire over 60 acres of dry fields near Harvard Road.
As firefighters from fire districts 2, 11, 8 and the state Department of Natural Resources fought the blaze, Valley Fire’s assistant chief, Mark Grover, told commissioners the fire district is on high alert.
“With the additional fire danger, our preparedness level has increased,” he said. “We’re sending out more equipment to fires.”
Valley Fire didn’t send any truck to the field fire, which was contained after 45 minutes, but the weather has everyone on edge.
“If we’re going to get any fires like this out here, we want you guys to come no matter what,” District 2 Fire Commissioner Steve Primmer told District 11 chief Stan Seehorn.
Behind them, the blackened field continued to smoke.
Small fires can get big fast, Seehorn agreed. He was directing the fire suppression efforts Wednesday.
The fire was caused by a bearing overheating in a combine that was harvesting bluegrass.
“He (the combine driver) had both pressurized water and a dry chemical extinguisher. The wind made the fire too big too fast,” said District 8 Lt. Tim Archer, who investigated the fire.
He said it wasn’t known whether there was fire insurance to cover the loss of the crop.
“Everything is so dry, it’s just like a tinder box,” said Karen Lewis. She had come to check in on her mother-in-law, Cloris Lewis, who lives on Harvard Road near where the fire started.
“If there’s a wind, that whole doggone country would go,” said Cloris Lewis, looking across at the expanse of fields.
After harvesting is over, the next fire danger that could stretch well into the fall will be teenage keggers, Archer predicted.
“They build bonfires, then take off,” Archer said of mostly underage drinkers who go far into the woods during fall months to drink. “That becomes a true problem for us. It flares up at noon the next day. With this weather, it has the potential to get really big.”