Two Getchell volunteer firefighters left Friday for Eastern Washington to join the battle against the Fischer fire near Leavenworth.
The two from Snohomish County Fire District 22 will relieve another crew from the same district that has been there for a week fighting the blaze, which has burned 15,830 acres about four miles southeast of Leavenworth.
Aaron Bontrager and Sherry Ogard will replace Brian Gronemyer and Roger Sullivan on the district’s brush truck, a firetruck designed for wildfires.
About 1,581 firefighters and dozens of firetrucks, bulldozers and 11 helicopters are on the lines. The fire has destroyed one home and damaged another house and a shed. But 473 homes and 29 outbuildings are still in its path.
Getchell firefighters are trained in fighting wildfires shortly after joining the fire district, Fire Chief Travis Hots said.
“The threat is always there,” he said. “We have had (wildfires) in our own back yards.”
Those include one recent fire in a steep canyon near Granite Falls, and another near Darrington.
“Every year we get some,” he said, although those in Snohomish County haven’t been as large or voracious as the wildfires burning in Eastern Washington.
“It’s an excellent learning opportunity, sending our people to Eastern Washington to work on the mop-up. It’s a big confidence builder,” Hots said.
It’s Ogard’s first wildfire, but Bontrager has worked several local brush fires.
They’re taking tents, sleeping mats, maps, a GPS unit, flashlights and freeze-dried foods including scrambled eggs and bacon, beef stroganoff and lasagna.
“I’ll bet that’s to die for,” Hots quipped. “But when you’re really, really hungry and you break one of these out, it doesn’t taste too bad.”
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