Three Bainbridge firefighters are east of the Cascades today, battling wildfires that erupted over the weekend.
Bainbridge Fire dispatched a water tender crewed by Lt. Sequoia Jones and firefighter Matt Phillips to a large fire outside Wenatchee Sunday evening. Firefighter Jason Livdahl was sent to join a Mason County strike team. He will likely be assisting with a fire in Lincoln County, Bainbridge Assistant Chief Luke Carpenter said. Livdahl is training to become a strike team leader.
The firefighters were dispatched as part of a statewide response, coordinated regionally by North Kitsap Fire & Rescue. Carpenter said Bainbridge units were requested at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday and were en route within two hours.
Lightning sparked scores of wildfires in central Washington Saturday. The largest, west of Wenatchee, spread over 500 acres and forced the evacuation of 180 homes Sunday, according to the Associated Press.
Kitsap County received a much-needed dousing of rain Sunday night, but the precipitation fell west of the Cascades.
“The good news is we got rain here, but the bad news is, not a drop of it made it across the mountains,” Carpenter said.
Bainbridge Fire will post updates it receives from firefighters east of the mountains on its Facebook page.
