PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County officials and fire chiefs agreed that banning fireworks before the Fourth of July was the right decision and that it was somewhat successful overall.
Still, some fireworks-related fires were reported.
“This year, people seemed, in general, much more aware of the hazards, ” said East Jefferson Fire Rescue (EJFR) Chief Bret Black. “Even the people we did contact to remind them to put out the bonfire or put out the fireworks were much more compliant than in the past.”
Jefferson County Fire Marshal Phil Cecere presented an update on the Fourth of July weekend on Monday to the board of county commissioners.
“The sheriff’s office responded to 163 calls for service, which included the 38 (related to) fireworks,” Cecere said. “This is from July third through the fifth.”
A structure fire in Glen Cove was caused by fireworks, Cecere said.
“When we got there, the storage building was nearly fully involved,” Black said. “The crews had exposures to the two adjacent houses, one is the property owner and the other was a neighbor. I understand that both of those houses sustained some exterior damage.”
The storage building was a total loss, he said.
Cecere said the people involved in lighting the fireworks responsible for the blaze had prepared and wet the area.
“So they knew it was dry,” he said.
The vegetation is deceptively dry right now, even if it looks green on top, Black said.
“There’s a lot of dead material that’s really dry, under the salal, and it’s ready to burn,” he said. “We saw that on the Beaver Valley fire the day before that.”
Wetting an area down in preparation for fireworks or a wildfire is not likely to be effective, Black said.
“The amount of energy that fire is putting off is going to evaporate that water almost instantaneously,” he said. “Probably a similar paradigm for fireworks. Fireworks are burning much hotter actually than typical brush fires. That water might appease you in a comforting way, but it really isn’t doing anything.”
A fire in the 500 block of Dosewallips Road also was caused by fireworks, Cecere said.
“We actually had a large tree that was fully engulfed,” he said.
A Brinnon Fire Department post from 11:45 p.m. Friday night said crews were working on the 30-foot by 50-foot fire and that state Department of Natural Resources firefighters were en route to support the effort.
An update to the post at 8 a.m. Saturday morning said the fire was 100 percent contained.
The Brinnon Fire Department also received support from Quilcene Fire Rescue, according to the post.
EJFR also received some false alarms in Port Ludlow.
“People called in. They thought they saw a brush fire or unknown fire. Once we got there, we observed an illegal bonfire, canceled the rest of the resources and asked them to put it out,” Black said. “They complied in every instance.”
A quarter-acre burn on Hood Head, which burned down a cabin, is 100 percent under control, Black said. To his knowledge, the fire was not fireworks related, he added.
“(Sunday) around 3 p.m., we got several 911 calls of a dark black column of smoke coming from Hood Head,” he said.
A cabin, the source of the fire, was burned down, Black said.
There is no road to the island-like peninsula, Black added.
Hood Head is not in any fire district, Black said. It is a state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) responsibility area.
“They requested our assistance with one of our fire rescue boats,” Black said. “We took out about a dozen people (Sunday). They got a helicopter. They made a bunch of drops on the site (Sunday) evening.”
DNR personnel remained on the island to put out hot spots, with EJFR supporting with its shuttle, Black said.
“I feel it was a correct decision to go to a high fire danger,” Cecere said.
Cecere was out responding to calls until 1 a.m. Saturday, he said. It was a first for him in his three Independence Days at the county, he added.
Cecere thanked local firefighters and law enforcement for their efforts.
“The true unsung heroes here are our Jeffcom personnel,” he said. “It’s just amazing what those folks do.”
Cecere requested that the county commissioners share what kind of feedback they are hearing from constituents following the fourth.
Commissioner Heidi Eisenhour said she spoke to a number of people living in the Irondale neighborhood near Irondale Beach County Park, where informal displays have traditionally been held.
“They said, ‘Well, there were far fewer people down on the beach,’” she said. “There were far fewer cars on the road. Usually there’s cars all the way up to Irondale Road or almost Irondale Road.”
Typically, the beach has been busy from about 2 p.m. through the night, Eisenhour said.
“I got some very specific feedback that from 10 to midnight, that was when all the fireworks were going up, and there were a lot of people down there.”
At Gardiner Beach, there was some confusion from people who seemed to think Gardiner was in Clallam County, Cecere said. People were polite and relocated to Clallam County, he added.
Area people expressed appreciation for Cecere’s presence at the beach, he said.
“I appreciate you being out in Gardiner,” commissioner Greg Brotherton said. “I didn’t talk to anyone out in Gardiner. I usually get about 25 contacts and didn’t get one. So I think your presence was probably part of that as well.”
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
