Kittitas County, WA family buys fire truck to protect business from wildfire
Kittitas County, WA family buys fire truck to protect business from wildfire
Several wildfires are closing in on homes and businesses in Kittitas County, and a family there is preparing to take matters into their own hands.
RONALD, Wash. - Many homes and businesses in Kittitas County are under evacuation notices as firefighters continue to battle the Three Queens Fire, the King Fire and the Goat Fire.
Near the Three Queens Fire in Ronald, a family that owns a small business there is preparing to take matters into their own hands if wildfire moves closer to their property.
Local business owners prep used fire engine
Shawn Parker and his family operate Cascade Playtime, an outdoor recreation rental business in Ronald that provides motorized vehicles, boats, and paddle boards to visitors. Located roughly 10 miles from the active Three Queens Fire, the business sits within a Level 1 evacuation zone.
Around this time of year, Shawn's son Bo is usually renting out recreational equipment, like boats, paddle boards and ATV's to customers at the family business. But these days, he's taken on a new role, that of a self-taught firefighter.
"Pretty fun, and this is all stuff I learned in the past four days," said Bo.
The Parker's bought an old, 1980s fire truck off of Facebook Marketplace from a man in Maple Valley about two weeks ago after watching the nearby Three Queens Fire growing larger.
"It will fully reach that tree a little bit," said Bo, showing us where the water might hit a tall tree on the other side of the property.
Bo's dad, Shawn, says he bought the truck with hopes of protecting the property.
"It’s got a 60-foot ladder, so I can squirt the trees down," said Shawn Parker, owner of Cascade Playtime.
"We can squirt to the tops of those trees from this location," said Bo, pointing to another set of trees.
(FOX 13 Seattle)
Tourism drop hits local economy
As the family keeps an eye on the fires, they're also concerned about lost business.
"They closed the lake about two weeks ago. They closed everything. No boats, no skis, no nothing," said Shawn.
For a town that relies heavily on tourism, it's been a tough month.
"They’ve never closed it before, ever the first time, they closed this whole area, everybody’s hurting," said Shawn.
Without their typical inflow of customers, the family is spending that time learning how to operate the latest addition to the fleet in order to hose down the business should the Three Queens Fire take a run at Ronald.
"Try to hunker down," said Bo. "Old equipment, it might not work perfectly, but it gets the job done."
The Parker family also has been feeding the firefighters free burgers and other food every evening when they drive past the property on the way to and from base camp.
Fire crews prepare for extreme weather
Tuesday could be a challenging day for firefighters. Fire say that the weather is trending towards extreme, hot and dry and unstable conditions near the fire locations.
Meantime, fire officials said Monday fire crews worked around the clock to tackle the three fires.
- Three Queens Fire: Crews ran air operations on the Three Queens Fire, including bucket drops
- Goat Fire: Emergency personnel installed sprinkler systems and fortified structures and bridges along the Cle Elum River drainage.
- King Fire: Firefighters worked to reduce dry brush and vegetation along Forest Service roadways.
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The Source: Information in this story comes from original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle reporter Jennifer Dowling.