An apartment fire in Cathlamet, left 21 people displaced from their homes Monday morning. Crews with the Cathlamet Fire Department were called out to the building, located near Front and Main streets, around 2:15 a.m. There, they found the building engulfed in flames with “multiple power lines arcing throughout the area.”

A fire department spokesman said that flames burned through the roof of the three-story building, and the apartments were a total loss. Seven people needed medical treatment at the scene, but were released without needing to go to the hospital. One neighbor told KGW that the apartment was a low-income building that also served as a homeless shelter.

“A lot of them just came out with pajamas on or one guy you know with no clothes on no shoes … Red Cross hasn’t been there yet,” she said. Crews were able to stop the worst of the flames, and will be in the area for some time to thoroughly extinguish the building, according to the department.

KGW-TV NBC 8 Portland

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VIDEO/PHOTOS: Firefighters say a fast and aggressive response helped stop the Hidden Meadows Fire north of Battle Ground before flames reached hundreds of nearby homes.

The fire grew to about 12 acres Monday, prompting Level 1, 2 and 3 evacuation notices as crews attacked the flames from the ground and air. By Monday night, officials said the most active parts of the fire were under control. Areas previously under Level 2 and Level 3 evacuation notices were reduced to Level 1, while earlier Level 1 notices were lifted.

Crews initially arrived to find about an acre of fire moving through brush and young timber. With homes in its path, firefighters quickly called in aircraft to drop retardant and helicopters to make water drops. Crews initially arrived to find about an acre of fire moving through brush and young timber. With homes in its path, firefighters quickly called in aircraft to drop retardant and helicopters to make water drops.

KATU-TV ABC 2 Portland

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In this Talking Trucks episode, Chris McLoone and Ricky Riley walk through practical choices departments face when specifying aerial apparatus.

The post Talking Trucks: Aerial Options appeared first on Fire Apparatus: Fire trucks, fire engines, emergency vehicles, and firefighting equipment.

VIDEO: Pregnant firefighters across the nation are struggling with their departments’ reproductive health policies. A nonprofit created in Washington is working to change that.

Maia Brown has been a firefighter in Washington for 14 years. She said when she first started working, the thought that her career had any effect on her reproductive health never came to mind.

“But as time passed, something inspired me to look into it,” she said. And when she did look into it, Brown said she found that most of the research focused on male firefighters.

“But it didn’t seem like too far of a stretch to imagine that if it’s affecting the men, it’s affecting the women too,” Brown said.

The exposures at play include toxins from fighting active fires, heat, stress, sleep disruption, chemicals in cleaning supplies, and exhaust in the apparatus bay, to name a few.

So, back in 2018, Brown started a website, meant to be a placeholder for the research she could find. “Over time it’s evolved,” she said. “There’s become such an incredible community of people that are also invested in this.”

KOMO-TV ABC 4 Seattle

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VIDEO/PHOTOS: As cooler weather begins to hint at fall in Washington, fire officials warn it “couldn’t be further from the truth as far as an end in sight for wildfire season.”

Thomas Kyle-Milward, DNR’S Wildfire Communications Manager, said the Hill Loop Fire in Stevens County “popped onto the landscape last night” at 127 acres.

He said the state now has 15 large uncontained fires on the landscape with more than 800,000 acres burned so far this year.

“Washington is comfortably in the third-worst fire season from an acres burned perspective since 2015,” said Kyle-Milward. He called this year’s wildfire season very challenging, noting that the state has had multiple fires over 100,000 acres.

He also referenced the tragedy in Spokane, the structure loss there, and said Oregon is also going through a really tough fire season, which has led to stretched resources across the region and a very challenging season on the ground for firefighters and those folks behind the scenes who support them.

KOMO-TV ABC 4 Seattle

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