PORT TOWNSEND — A strike team from Jefferson and Kitsap counties deployed to fight wildfires in California has been assigned to the Kincade Fire.
The Puget Sound-area crew arrived Tuesday and reported to the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, which serves as a base camp for the 5,000 personnel on the scene.
Two of the crew members are from East Jefferson Fire-Rescue (EJFR) and a third is from Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue.
They joined regional personnel from the Bainbridge Island Fire Department, Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue, North Kitsap Fire Rescue and South Kitsap Fire and Rescue.
All have national certification in wildland firefighting, EJFR assistant chief Ted Krysinski said.
EJFR Chief Jim Walkowski said the regional crew began a 24-hour shift at 7 a.m. Wednesday in one of the divisions with fire containment and suppression as their main objective at the Kincade Fire.
“The division they’re working in, I can see fire and smoke from the pictures they sent,” Walkowski said. “They’re definitely working in a division that’s still hot.”
The Sonoma County fire had burned 76,825 acres and was 30 percent contained, according to a 7 a.m. update Wednesday from the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
Another update was expected after press time Wednesday evening.
Walkowski said the easiest way to visualize containment is to draw a box and work from the outside to the inside.
“The wind is significant,” he said. “Those embers are picked up, and they’re usually blowing across the containment line into fuels that haven’t been burned yet.”
The biggest part of the crew’s job will be to build those containment lines and make sure they don’t have “spotting,” which Walkowski characterized as something outside of their control.
The Kincade Fire began about 9:30 p.m. Oct. 23, Cal Fire reported.
As of the organization’s Wednesday morning update, the fire had destroyed 206 structures and damaged 40 more. Two injuries to fire personnel or civilians had been confirmed.
There were 93 crews with 5,001 assigned personnel, Cal Fire reported. It said the number of apparatus included 27 helicopters, 592 fire engines, 67 dozers and 48 water tenders.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, Cal Fire said.
The San Francisco Chronicle provided live updates throughout the day Wednesday, some with comments from Pacific Gas & Electric spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian.
The newspaper also has an interactive map that tracks many of the active California wildfires, including the Kincade Fire.
PG&E confirmed at least 55 incidents of reported equipment damage related to high winds last weekend, and Sarkissian said that damage could have ignited fires, the Chronicle reported.
The regional strike team arrived at the Kincade resource staging area about noon Tuesday, Walkowski said.
“There are numerous strike teams staged at this location which are awaiting in-processing and a fireline assignment,” he wrote in a Tuesday email.
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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at bmclean@peninsuladailynews.com.
