Orcas Fire Chief report
Published 11:41 am Thursday, July 26, 2012
by KEVIN O’BRIEN
Orcas Fire Chief
Over the course of the Independence Day holiday week from July 3 through July 8, we responded to 29 alarms: 21 were EMS and eight were fire.
Missing Person
On June 28, Orcas Island Fire and Rescue was dispatched to a report of a missing adult male who had been missing since 9:30 a.m. the same day. The man was last seen walking his dog in the Eagle Lake area. The search for the man included the help of the San Juan deputies, San Juan Fire Orcas Fire EMTs and firefighters, Orcas Fire Auxiliary, D.E.M., San Juan Emergency Radio Amateurs and community members. The man, in stable condition, was found along the beach by the San Juan Dist. 3 fire boat “Confidence.”
House Fire
Just before 4 p.m. on July 5, seven apparatus and 24 members of Orcas Island Fire and Rescue responded to the 1400 block of North Beach Road for a structure fire that was reported by an observant OPALCO crew. The first arriving units reported smoke and flames showing on the west side of a single family wood frame house. No occupants were home at the time and the crews quickly extinguished the blaze. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the San Juan County Fire Marshal.
Marine rescue
On July 5, we were called to assist the San Juan County Sheriff and U.S. Coast Guard in a marine rescue near Vendovi Island. An adult male resident of Bellingham was reported to have sustained a traumatic injury on his recreational fishing boat in the Point Lawrence area off Orcas Island. After a search including a Coast Guard Helicopter, the patient was found near Vendovi Island with a critical traumatic injury. The patient was treated, stabilized, and transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bellingham by a Coast Guard vessel in the care of an Orcas paramedic and two emergency medical technicians.
News and events
CPR instructors Jaylin Peacock, Bob Phalan, Cameron Fralick, Alan Stameisen and Jennifer Corbin attended a Resuscitation Academy in Seattle hosted by King County EMS. Our group was noted by the hosts to have excellent skill levels.
The Sept. 11 Memorial Committee is in the “research and development phase” and has met several times in the last two months with the goal of creating a plan for a monument location and design for the OIFR girder artifact. The committee would like to have a first phase of ground work and basic beam mounting completed by September.
Future fundraising includes a chicken dinner during the “Fly-In” weekend. To date, the committee has raised $700 with an initial goal of $5,000.
We assisted in a state-wide emergency management drill where two army chinook helicopters landed at Eastsound Airport to deliver “practice provisions.”
San Juan County DEM Assistant Director Dave Halloran has written and submitted an “Assistance to Firefighters Grant” for the purchase of new radios. On January 1, 2013 the FCC will require emergency responders to use “narrow band” radio frequencies.
OIFR staff has met with leadership of Lahari to discuss a possible partnership in a home safety survey program.
Staff members attended a “mass casualty” drill at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bellingham. The drill brought together regional and state-wide leaders in emergency response, public health, and hospital care for a simulation of an outbreak of a highly contagious and lethal virus.
We rendezvoused with the Bellingham Commander and crew members of the US Coast Guard to discuss how the two organizations could work together in situations requiring EMS transport, rescue, and other events.
The department is currently seeking volunteer EMTs and firefighters to begin recruit classes starting this fall. Call Chief O’Brien or Division Chief Val Harris at 376-2331 for info.
