King County fire crews protecting homes from Palisades Fire in California
NORTH BEND, Wash. - Firefighters from Eastside Fire and Rescue and King County are in California, battling the Palisades Fire.
A strike team leader from North Bend is there now, leading a King County crew for the next 14 days to help protect homes and businesses.
Eastside Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Seth Merritt is a Strike Team Leader with Team 3 out of King County.
Merritt says his team was successful in helping to protect their assigned neighborhood from serious damage during their first 24 hours on the fire.
He says battling wind-driven fires in Washington before has prepared his team for the forecast.
"We had fire on both sides of us coming up the hillside, both sides of the neighborhood," said Meritt.
When Merritt's King County team arrived in California, he says they immediately got to work protecting the neighborhood.
"We were able to hold the fire back with removing brush and our hose lines around the structures," said Merritt.
Over an 11-hour period, Merritt's crew worked to clear not only brush, but trees and lawn furniture away from houses.
"Over the course of the night, we were preparing structures and monitoring fire behavior. The fire started to make a move towards us and right at dawn it really picked up and came towards us," said Merritt.
Around 8 a.m., the flames arrived.
"We’ve seen the 20, 50 and 100-foot flame lengths as it moves towards you, so people who may not have never seen that before, and there’s a couple, they now have a perspective of what it’s capable of," said Merritt.
He says additional strike teams from Washington and California's air attack system helped to make it a successful battle.
"It was a combined effort to be able to hold the fire back," said Merritt.
Merritt is based out of North Bend, where wind is often a factor in local fires.
"We understand these winds. We call them East Winds in Washington," said Merritt.
His experience as a strike commander on the Gray Fire in Medical Lake and the Bolt Creek Fire in western Washington also prepared him for the fight.
"We’ve seen similar fire behavior and similar wind events and that’s what we are drawing from to be better prepared as we get ready for this next round of weather," he said.
He also knows that area of California already because he's helped to fight a fire there before.
"I was here in the exact same location back in 2018 on the Woolsey fire," said Merritt.
In the last 24 hours, his team has been working in what could potentially be the future front of the fire, preparing houses about three-quarters of a mile outside the fire line.
"What’s really good for us is now we’ve had several days to get to know the area. We’ve seen fire behavior. We know what it’s capable of," said Merritt.
He says the arrival of crews from all over the country and international crews from places like Mexico will help in the fight ahead.
A spokesperson for Eastside Fire and Rescue says typically, on fires like this where aid is called in, a state like California will reimburse Washington for sending crews.
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