Fire agencies should respond in time of need

Where did the fire trucks go? Nowhere.

I am a retired firefighter with 35 years of service at the Cheney Fire Department. A year ago I relocated to the west side of the state.

Recently, I called back to ask some of my former crew members how they were handling the rash of statewide wildfires and to my shock and disappointment I was informed that Cheney had not sent any trucks or personnel. I was perplexed as to why the city would not send any equipment or personnel in such a dire state of emergency.

We are in a summer of unprecedented size and number of fires that have brought crews from around the nation and even crews from Australia and New Zealand. For the first time in state history, fire officials asked for volunteers because they could not get enough resources.

All levels of the fire service have traditionally been based on a system of mutual aid for the response to significant incidents and not assisting in these fires seems like a horrible injustice to the citizens of the state.

I have personally gone on many mobilization fires and the state is set up to reimburse departments for the crews responding, the backfill crews to staff the station while crews are deployed, and to pay an hourly rate for equipment that actually nets the city money in the bank.

I wonder what has changed to keep the Cheney crews from responding in this time of extreme need. I know that if I was still working I would be embarrassed and frustrated that we were not able to utilize our training and expertise to assist in battling these fires.

Apparently the city of Cheney has changed the policy regarding the response to state mobilization fires. In a time of increasing fire activity and magnitude it seems a questionable position.

Mike Ault

Belfair, Wash.