CHELAN COUNTY NOTES FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETING LAST NIGHT The source to acknowledge is Plain Hardware FB page, https://facebook/pages/Plain-Hardware/172467309268. Scroll down to the report on 19 July mtg. Meeting in Plain. Thanks to all who attended. Very full! Photo: Meeting in Plain. Thanks to all who attended. Very full! LikeLike • • Share Tim McElravy and 11 others like this. Rob Whitten Chumstick Wildfire Stewardship Coalition 9 hours ago Summary from tonights public meeting in Plain (buckle up, its long): The Church was full to the rafters (literally) with an estimated 200 people in attendance. Members of Pacific Northwest Team 3 began the meeting by introducing Mick Lamar, CCFD9 Chief, to rounds of enthusiastic applause. Chief: I love this community and I love the fire service. Thank you Chief thanked the community for responding so well during the Level 3 evacuation. Representatives from the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest were introduced (Mike Balboni, Forest Supervisor; Kyle Cannon, Acting District Ranger for Wenatchee River Ranger District; Mick Mueller, Forest Public Affairs Officer, as well Bob Stoehr and Michelle Ellis). Also introduced were Ken McNamera with the Department of Natural Resources and John Wisemore with Chelan County Sheriff. Ed Lewis, Incident Commander with Pacific Northwest Team 3 was the first speaker. Ed thanked the community for being welcoming. He noted that one of the first things that happen when a new fire is discovered is a complexity analysis. During this process, folks are looking at the values at risk from the fire and what resources may be needed. Ed noted that PNW Team 3 is a Type I team (the highest level team, for the most complex incidents) and one of the best groups of professionals available for this type of incident. There are 50 members of the team and they are a blend of agencies and skills. The team was already in our neck of the woods dealing with the Mills Canyon Fire outside of Entiat - which was a good thing as they quickly leveraged resources on the Chiwaukum incident. The PNW Team 3 highest priority is life safety - of the public and of the firefighters. Ed then introduced Randy Johnson with Operations. Randy began with the Mills Canyon Fire - it has burned a footprint similar to the 1988 Dinkleman Fire. There is still work to do there and folks are still assigned to that incident. Kelly Mountain is another fire the team is managing. It is remote and tough to get to - they currently have smokejumpers working the fire. Kelly Mountain saw some growth this afternoon and it is now estimated at 80 acres. The team will be taking over management of the Duncan Fire as well. It is north of Kelly Mountain and is estimated at 800 acres. The fire is in remote, challenging terrain. Randy then moved to the Chiwaukum fire, reviewing its history (detected on Tuesday, large growth on Wednesday, less growth Thursday and today. Randy reiterated the priority of safety. The growth on Wednesday (the day of the large column and extremely active fire behavior) could be attributed to everything lining up. The winds, topography, fuels, and weather all came together to create the significant growth we saw Wednesday. Spot fires did cross the Hwy on the first night but they were caught. Crews continue to patrol to hold the fire on the west side of Hwy 2. They are working to create a catchers mitt around the fire by looking for places they can tie the fire off from Hwy 2 on the north and south sides. Structure protection divisions continue to prepare for the contingency of the fire crossing the Highway. Randy noted We dont want to be across the highway, but we really dont want to be across the highway unprepared. Today was another good day. The fire has moved into the old Hatchery Creek burn area (1994) where there is less fuel. There was a bit of a column picking up in the afternoon - that activity was largely on the SW corner of the fire. John Wisemore from Chelan County Sheriffs Department noted the lowered evacuation levels in Ponderosa, the Camp 12 area, River Rd (all of those have moved to Level 2). The Highway 2 corridor remains on a Level 3 evacuation notice, Chumstick remains on Level 1. Chumstick road is open. Questions were asked about the long-term management of the fire. The Team noted they were working to keep the fire as small as they could but without building ineffective line. The fire is still 0% contained, but that does not mean there is no line in - to the contrary, there is some good line and crews continue to work on putting in more. Annie Schmidt from the Chumstick Wildfire Stewardship Coalition spoke about the need for residents to prepare. Debbie Newell was identified so residents could contact her to continue the phenomenal Firewise work already underway in Plain. Doug Pendleton of the Ponderosa was also identified for the same purpose. Annie reiterated the need for residents to prepare now - both their property and their personal evacuation plan. Know the 5 Ps (People, pets, pills, papers, and photos) and get a plan! After the Fire information was distributed as well to encourage residents to know their post-fire flood risks. There will be another public meeting at Cascade High School in Leavenworth at 6:30 PM on Saturday.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 19:43:37 +0000
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