PORT TOWNSEND — The Puget Sound-area strike team that was sent to battle wildfires in California got diverted to another blaze as they were headed home over the weekend.
Firefighters traveling north from wine country in Sonoma County on Sunday were sent to the Ranch Fire southwest of Red Bluff in Tehama County, Calif.
“The fire is actively burning and definitely progressing and growing quickly,” said Jim Walkowski, East Jefferson Fire-Rescue chief.
The strike team includes two members from East Jefferson Fire-Rescue (EJFR) and one from Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue.
They joined fire personnel from districts in North Kitsap, Central Kitsap, South Kitsap and Bainbridge Island last week and had been fighting the Kincade Fire, the largest active incident monitored by the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
Two members of East Jefferson Fire-Rescue and one from Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue are part of the Washington Strike Team 5 that has been sent to the Ranch Fire in California. The wildland fire is burning southwest of Red Bluff in Tehama County. (East Jefferson Fire-Rescue)
The Ranch Fire started Sunday and had burned 750 acres by Monday afternoon. It sits on the eastern edge of the Mendocino National Forest and was about 15 percent contained, Cal Fire said.
“They just got enough resources on the scene today to see if they can engage with the firefight,” Walkowski said. “They’re just trying to stop the forward progress of this fire.
“It’s very, very active. Definitely not something we’re going to be mopping up.”
Walkowski said firefighters are working to protect structures and ensuring people get evacuated.
“It’s pretty significant fire danger not unlike some of these larger fires [in California],” he said. “The good news is it’s not in an urbanized area. There is some structure protection, but definitely not like the ones they were at south of there.”
Walkowski estimated the strike force likely will be on the scene for three to five days.
The team was dispatched Oct. 28 through an emergency management assistance compact with a brush engine from EJFR as part of a five-engine group.
The Jefferson/Kitsap team initially was assigned to the Kincade Fire and asked to work the containment lines. Their focus shifted later in the week to protecting structures, most of them residential.
The Kincade Fire had burned 77,758 acres and was 80 percent contained as of Monday morning, Cal Fire said. Its cause was still under investigation.
“Repopulation planning efforts are in the final stages as evacuation warnings are currently in place for portions of Sonoma County,” a Cal Fire report stated Monday. “The field damage inspection process is 100 percent complete. Crews will continue their progress as they mop up and construct more containment line.”
Cal Fire reported 374 structures destroyed in the Kincade Fire and another 60 damaged. There were four confirmed first responder injuries.
As many as 5,000 firefighters and other personnel were assigned to the Kincade Fire earlier in the week, but that number had dropped to 3,246 by Monday morning.
Cal Fire still expected full containment by Thursday.
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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at bmclean@peninsuladailynews.com.
