THIS....IS WHAT MAKES AMERICA EXCEPTIONAl!

THIS….

IS WHAT MAKES AMERICA

EXCEPTIONAL!

    

     There is nothing that gives as much joy as that which galvanizes people for a common cause that is both correct on its own merits and needed doing…NOW! The fire situation in the West has been so critical with official units often unable to deal with the catastrophes that have occurred in the last weeks. When professional fire fighter LEADERS admit they have never seen such destruction in their 30 years of experience, they are revealing is it is MORE than they can handle. So, maybe the time has come to let those who have the most to lose help run the show…… There is too much elitist thinking in fire suppression these days….

     The Boundary County, Idaho newspaper “The Herald” is a "politically correct" paper most of the time. But here we have an example of the paper being correct on its merits! It unabashedly shows what people can accomplish when the need is there, the cause is right and the oxen are in the mire! 

The article follows:

BONNERS FERRY – Boundary County was on high alert Aug. 14 when, due to high winds, the Parker Ridge Fire went out of control, jumping the Kootenai River, and growing to a more-than-6,000 acre inferno. However, in classic Bonners Ferry style, the community responded with quick action and all the help they could give. Farmers from the Kootenai Valley stepped up to help fight the fire. Farmer Erik Olson said his crew from the Olson Valley Ranch, Tim Dillin and the Houcks crew, Lynn Jantz and his crew, Brian Morter, Roger Morter and their crew, the Amoth crew along with many of the volunteer fire departments in the county, helped keep the fire away from their lands and from reaching the Farm to Market Road.

     “If your neighbor is on fire, you go help them,” Olson said. “Everything we had on fire was north of Copeland.”

      The group used their tractors, water trucks, and “anything that moved dirt,” to battle the flames working late into the night.

      “We had a lot of courage and a hell of a lot of luck that night on our side to get it out,” Olson said.

     One structure, an abandoned building that had more “historic” value than anything else was the only structure lost that he knows of.

     Kary Maddox (the fire’s Public Information Officer) said this group was instrumental in fighting the fire that jumped Westside Road and the Kootenai River on Friday.

     Olson said that the bottom areas are fire free, however, a small change in the weather or other shifts could bring the fire back into the valley. Maddox said they were also grateful for about 22 people in the California Hot Shots crew arriving to help battle the blaze. Many of the fire fighters traveled from across the state to help fight the Parker Ridge Fire. At its peak, the Parker Ridge Fire had just under 100 firefighters on the scene.

     Help from the community also came from residents. A Red Cross shelter was set up Friday night for evacuees. Residents also volunteered to shelter pets and livestock until evacuees could return home. But since most evacuees found shelter with family and friends, organizers Lisa Carle and Shellie Smith decided to use the shelter area to organize a potluck to benefit the fire fighters working in their area. Community members cooked everything from chili to spaghetti and lasagna to feed the fire fighters between shifts. Enough food was collected that the fire fighters were fed on Sunday.

     “We are grateful to the fire fighters who have worked so hard this season in all of the fires across the land especially here in Boundary County. We are also grateful for the over 100 community members who stepped up to help provide and feed wonderful meals to these workers the last nights,” said Carle on her Facebook page. “It truly was amazing and the (fire) fighters were extremely grateful. We wish we could take the time to individually thank each of you publicly, but please know that your kindness has made our hearts swell with pride to be a part of this community!”

     “It was really sweet and touching.” Maddox said. They used Facebook for good. That’s how they networked it.”

     As of August 19, crews have held the Parker Ridge Fire to about 6,139 acres. The blaze is still 0 (zero) percent contained. Stubble fields will be burned today as a fire suppression strategy. Both day and night operations continue as crews work on the north and south flanks of the fire by shoring up the “corners” of the fire near Long Canyon and Parker Creek. They are constructing hand and dozer lines, and are currently burning “fuel pockets” in the fire interior, Kary Maddox said.

     Monitoring, reassessing strategies, and looking for vantage points to engage the fire are in Tuesday’s plans, Maddox said in a press release. There is no end in sight for the fire as weather has been hot, she added.

      “We need some weather on our side. There’s none in the forecast, which is unfortunate,“ Maddox said. “These natural disasters are unpredictable.”

     There are still 117 personnel working the fire. Still assigned to the fire are one heavy and one light helicopter for bucket drops……….

…..END OF OUR FEATURED ARTICLE.

 

        Wallace Nyberg and Mike Sheppard of Hall Mountain Volunteer Fire Department are among the many firefighters batting the Parker Ridge Fire.

 Photo and caption from the Bonners Ferry Herald

BLOGGER'S NOTES: THIS ARTICLE WAS EDITED AND TRUNCATED FOR CLARITY BY THE BLOGGER. FOR INSTANCE, "PARKER RIDGE FIRE" IS NOT A COMMON NOUN, SO THIS WAS BROUGHT INTO CONFORMITY, "MADDOX" WAS NOT INTRODUCED WITH FULL NAME AND TITLE, SO THIS WAS CORRECTED, "ZERO" WAS ADDED FOR CLARITY, THE WORD "FIRE" WAS ADDED FOR CLARITY AND FAIRGROUND INFORMATION AND FIRE REGULATIONS IN EFFECT WERE NOT INCLUDED.  THE PICTURE ABOVE WAS EDITED FOR ESTHETIC PURPOSES BY THE BLOGGER BUT CAPTION IS LEFT AS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN.

Posted and Commented on by

Harald Hesstvedt Scharnhorst

             August 2015