VIDEO: As wildfires continue burning across western Washington, local firefighters are asking the public to use a recently-released tool by the Western Fire Chiefs Association (WFCA). The WFCA Fire Map shows active and recent woodland fires in the western United States and Alaska. “It’s more real time.
- PUB DATE: 10/20/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KIRO-TV CBS 7 Seattle

Officials on Wednesday said the Nakia Creek fire is the “number-one priority fire in the nation” because of its potential risk to life and the resources needed to put it out. Though evacuation orders have been dialed back for some of the 40,000 people who had to leave their homes this week, “we’re not out of the woods yet,” said Dave Larson, deputy incident commander for the Oregon Department of Forestry, the agency that has taken charge of the firefighting efforts at Larch Mountain in Clark County.
- PUB DATE: 10/20/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Portland Oregonian, Hillsboro Argus, Oregon Live.com

The Great Washington ShakeOut took place Thursday at 10:20 am across the state. It was a chance for people to take cover and prepare for when an earthquake or tsunami hits. The Washington Emergency Management Division said 120 Washington tsunami sirens along the inner and outer coast were tested using the real wailing sound of a tsunami warning.
- PUB DATE: 10/20/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 Seattle

By Alan M. Petrillo

Queen Creek (AZ) Fire and Medical Department has opened two new fire stations — Station 2 and Station 5 — both designed by Perlman Architects of Arizona Inc.

Vance Gray, Queen Creek’s chief, says that several years ago the department had identified a prototype station to serve the community’s needs. “We determined by working with Perlman Architects of Arizona that a just-over 13,000 square-foot building, with three apparatus bays, and 10 dorm rooms is the model and prototype fire station that will satisfy Queen Creek well into the future,” Gray points out.

Gray says the department used the prototype layout to construct Fire Station 1 in 2017 in the town’s downtown, but added a Battalion Chief’s quarters to the station. Also in 2017, the department opened Station 3, a neighborhood station that slimmed down the prototype to a two-bay station. Station 4 was completed in December of 2020, followed by Stations 2 and 5 this year, all three of them to the model prototype, he notes.

Ken Powers, principal at Perlman Architects of Arizona, says that Queen Creek’s Stations 2 and 5 “have identical floor plans that follow the prototype, but are

Bedford’s Capital Expenditure Committee met Wednesday to review the fire department’s six-year capital plan, TheBedfordCitizen.org reported. There are several six-figure items, and the biggest is targeted for fiscal year 2025: a fire engine priced at $890,000.

It will take about a year-and-a-half to build and prepare it, a fire official told the committee. By the time the new engine is in service, the apparatus that it is replacing, a 2007 Pierce model, will be more than 19 years old, the report said.

Farther down the six-year plan are replacements for the department’s two ambulances, each priced at $375,000, as well as $102,000 in other rescue equipment, according to the report.