Fire District 19 fined $86,000 by State Labor and Industries for unsafe rope rescue

Published 1:30 am Monday, July 27, 2026

EVERETT — Snohomish County Fire District 19 is appealing multiple Labor and Industries citations issued in March involving a rope rescue after a man attempted to rescue a dog last year.

Fines from the citations total $86,904. The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries violation paperwork describes the rescue as unsafe for the four individuals who performed it. The event took place in August 2025, Chief Keith Strotz said in an interview Friday.

Fire District 19 sits south of Stanwood and northeast of Arlington. It protects an entirely unincorporated area, including the census-designated community Silvana.

“The Chief, acting as the incident commander, required firefighters to perform a technical rope rescue that required technical level capability, not the operational capability the fire department operates at,” the citation says. “He ordered three firefighters and an Administrative Assistant to conduct a technical rope rescue of a man and a dog.”

The drop was 15 feet down to where the man and dog were located, which was above another approximate 100-foot drop, the citation says.

The man in his 50s went down the embankment to rescue the lost dog, Strotz said. The dog had been barking for 8-10 hours, he said.

“I looked at the situation. I didn’t believe it was unsafe at all. I didn’t believe we were breaking any laws,” Strotz said. “So, we went down and we pulled the man, which was the homeowner’s son-in-law, up the embankment with the dog.”

The dog went to the vet with only minor injuries, he said.

“It was a happy story. Everybody was high-fiving, and then all this happens,” Strotz said.

The conditions were good, so it seemed like a “perfect training opportunity,” he said.

“I knew our folks were not certified in rope rescue but I didn’t believe this was a rope rescue operation. We used rope to be safe, but I felt it was more of a training exercise for us,” Strotz said. “What I did wrong is I didn’t have a certified rope rescue person there to oversee it.”

Strotz also admitted, because it was a real rescue, it wouldn’t have been legal even with a properly certified expert overseeing it.

“If we set up training the next day and put the same person over the hill and had a certified rope rescue person there, it would have been perfectly legal, and that I believe,” he said.

The administrative assistant who took part in the rescue is also a firefighter, Strotz said.

“She plays two roles,” he said. “So her being an administrative assistant had nothing to do with this. She’s a firefighter.”

Anyone involved in a high-angle rescue must be trained to do it, said Dina Lorraine, Department of Labor and Industries spokesperson, in an email Monday.

“Our assessment is solely based on who is performing the work at the time of the incident,” she said.

Strotz did not know when the appeal would be final but it’s getting close, he said.

“We believe it’s going to cut the fine more than in half,” Strotz said, “which is going to be a win-win for everybody.”

Settlement agreements vary and are negotiated on a case-by-case basis, Lorraine said.

Strotz takes full responsibility for the mistake and the department will buy new, better safety equipment, he said.

“One hundred percent, I made a mistake,” Strotz said. “I didn’t know I was making the mistake, but I did, and it’s water under the bridge. And we’ll learn from this, and we’ll be a better department.”

The citations require, along with payment of fines, proper rope rescue training and documentation proving the training took place sent to the Department of Labor and Industries.

Taylor Scott Richmond: 425-339-3046; taylor.richmond@heraldnet.com; Bluesky: @btayokay.bsky.social