More than 1,000 miles from home, Lt. Brian Kees and his firefighting team from Snohomish County found themselves staring down a blaze racing into a lush canyon.
Firefighters and equipment were flooding in from all over in a fight to save whole neighborhoods. The wind had shifted, fanning the destructive Palisades fire toward Encino and Brentwood.
Kees’ fire department was among the dozens from Washington to answer a call for help to protect lives and homes in Southern California. After two days on the road, they were sent to the leading edge of the blaze, driven by a sense of duty, professional pride and a desire to aid those in need.
Their dispatch to this faraway place, in the middle of winter, illustrates the new reality of longer and more intense fire seasons across the West. Fueled by hurricane-force winds on land that hadn’t seen rain for nine months, these fires were especially dangerous. The devastating Los Angeles County blazes have so far killed at least 27 people and razed thousands of structures.
Twelve states, as well as Mexico and Canada, sent about 1,300 firefighters to the blazes.
That includes about 220 firefighters from more than 50 Washington fire departments who navigated the journey down Interstate 5 in 55 engines. About 80 additional firefighters in 20 engines from the state Department of Natural Resources responded to a request for assistance from the U.S. Forest Service.
Two strike teams from King County, and Kees’ team from Snohomish County, were some of the first Washington teams to arrive.
Through interviews, text messages, photographs, video and official reports, they told The Seattle Times about their first week working the fire.
What was developing on the ground, as winds changed, was one of the more intense battles so far on the front lines.
Answering the call
Snohomish County firefighters and their engines rendezvoused at South County Fire’s training grounds in Everett on Jan. 8. They greeted each other with hearty embraces and pats on the back.
The state had readied hundreds of firefighters early that morning. Tulalip Bay, Getchell, South County Fire, Snohomish Regional and Camano Fire would become Washington Strike Team 1.
At the training grounds, Kees began to jot down a plan for their journey in a notepad placed on the edge of his pickup. Around his wrist, he wore a bracelet made by his 6-year-old son, its beads spelling “Daddy.”
The official call for help is part of a voluntary process. Anyone who is qualified to fight wildland fires can raise their hand.
“We get the call, and it’s yes or no,” Tulalip Bay Fire Department Capt. Derek Kuhn said, “and here we are.”
To some, the chance to help with a big fire is like waking up on Christmas morning. They’re eager to help neighbors in need and motivated to make a difference.
“We look at this as an opportunity to go down there and help our neighbors,” Kees said. “California would do the same thing for us.”
He and his team of 20 firefighters made it to Salem, Ore., after a long night of driving.
Before sunrise Jan. 9, Bremerton firefighters began their journey. Then came a steady flow of crews departing local districts from Mason County to Walla Walla.
They continued on for vehicle inspections west of Sacramento, as would the crews that came after them, and then they were sent on their way.
Digging in
After a quick briefing Friday night, the firefighters from King and Snohomish counties reported to Sunset Boulevard, got their radio frequencies and headed to Mandeville Canyon.
The King County crews were positioned to defend Westridge Road, which dead ends against a mountain park.
“You could see active fire just over the ridge from us. The sky was lit to the north,” said Seth Merritt, a battalion chief with Eastside Fire and a strike team leader for the deployment to California.
The Snohomish County teams were on nearby Bayliss Road. They hooked up to hydrants and used hand tools to remove dry vegetation and scratch a fire break around the neighborhood.
Firefighters removed patio furniture and raked out debris that had collected in gutters and on people’s properties from the extreme winds earlier in the week.
They worked through the night to give themselves the best shot at a good defense.
“As the sun started coming up, the fire activity really picked up and started backing down the hills to this community,” Kees said.
Around 7 a.m. Jan. 11, flames were maybe 1,000 yards away and moving closer.
A rain of embers
The wind picked up, Merritt said, and the fire was throwing embers ahead of the blaze.
The humidity was less than 16% and the fire was creating squirrely wind directions.
The embers of varying sizes acted as fire starters. They blow in front of the fire and drop on dry fuels.
“It looks very otherworldly because all of a sudden, you’ll see it looks like a small campfire starting just on an open slope of a hillside with no other fire around it,” Merritt said. “And then it quickly spreads. Then that will be absorbed at some point, generally, by the main body of the fire.”
They watched the fire continue to jump out in front of itself, create more fires and continue working its way toward the homes. That’s when they started deploying hose lines.
King County firefighters had anticipated the fire would come from the east, Merritt said. Instead, it came over the ridge and a trickle of spot fires brought it toward them from the west side.
As the fire approached, they wetted the roofs of the homes and started up their chain saws. They had maybe 45 minutes before it would reach them.
With a roar, they sawed down brush from around homes that might spark first. They were forced to throw the debris downhill because of the steep slope.
More Washington crews were pulling up to incident command. Among them were about 40 firefighters and 10 fire engines from Kitsap, Mason and Thurston counties. They were directed to join those working near Mandeville Canyon Road as the fire moved through the dry and explosive brush.
“When some of those bushes go up it’s (a) pretty good whoosh,” Central Mason Fire Capt. Mark Frazier said. “You get a couple of them together — it has that jet engine sound.”
From the front line, the flames were severe. The smoke burned firefighters’ eyes and noses.
“It was wild,” said Tyler Griffith, a firefighter with Bothell Fire. “It was a complete wall of flames that just came up over that canyon. And it happened really quick.”
As the fire climbed up to the back of some properties, firefighters doused the flames with their hoses. Helicopters made continuous water drops.
Without the air support, the crews could have lost the upper hand, Merritt said.
No homes in the canyon have been officially reported as damaged or destroyed by the fire.
Bracing for what’s to come
Chris Harvey, a public information officer with Cal Fire, witnessed the Washington crews as they fought back the flames.
“I cannot overstate how lucky we are and how fortunate we are to have so many out-of-state resources,” he said. “It contributed significantly to this success of saving that neighborhood.
“… Unequivocally, having those crews there, saved those houses along the top edges of those streets.”
Fire officials reported late that Saturday that crews had managed to stop the fire from pushing downhill into Mandeville Canyon.
Some Washington crews have since been helping to snuff out hot spots. Others were rinsing the red fire retardant dropped from planes off homes or were preparing other neighborhoods for the potential arrival of fire.
They’re bracing for the next wave of winds.
“We’re safe. We’re working hard. We’re happy to be here,” Frazier said. “The communities have been fantastic. So far, so good. We’re just trying to make our area proud, and we’re here to help.”
This story includes reporting from The Associated Press. Isabella Breda reported from Seattle.
