Staff Report

Stephen Mair, Mercer Island Fire Department battalion chief/assistant fire marshal, was part of a task force that was called to Cle Elum on June 26 initially to help protect property that was near a large brush fire. There were four or five brush fires occurring simultaneously, thus stretching thin the resources on the east side of the mountains.

“As we got closer, the task had changed to backfilling the fire station. This changed due to the smaller incidents getting resolved and those newly available units responding to the one larger incident,” said Mair, adding that the task force worked for a few hours at Kittitas Fire District 7’s Fire Station 73. The medic unit handled the one call that came in during backfilling.

The task force consisted of two battalion chiefs, a medic, two fire engines and three brush trucks. Joining Mercer Island on the task force were Kirkland Fire, Eastside Fire and Bellevue Fire.

Mair was called to join the task force at about 1 p.m. on June 26 and returned to Mercer Island at around 6 p.m. that night.