With a slow salute and pipers playing, the East Pierce Fire & Rescue family welcomed Dan Packer home Wednesday at the Tacoma Narrows Airport.
Packer, 49, of Lake Tapps, died Saturday while fighting a wildfire in Klamath National Forest in Northern California. He had deployed to the site the day before.
JANET JANSEN/The News Tribune / A DC-3 firefighting plane delivered Dan Packer's body from Northern California, where Packer died after a wildfire overran his unit Saturday.
The U.S. Forest Service DC-3 firefighting plane carrying Packer’s body set down on the runway about 3 p.m. A cordon of more than 100 firefighters stood waiting for the orange-and-white plane.
So did an East Pierce medic vehicle dressed with somber blue-and-black bunting and the fire service’s Maltese Cross in black and gold cloth.
East Pierce interim Fire Chief John McDonald and Packer’s widow, Marylee, stepped from the plane first. They had flown to California earlier Wednesday to bring the body back.
With McDonald’s arm around her shoulders, Marylee Packer walked between the two lines of firefighters. Her sobs pierced the sudden quiet of the taxiway.
Eight members of the East Pierce wildfire-fighting team, each wearing a yellow flame-retardant shirt, a red helmet and dark wool pants, slowly wheeled Packer’s flag-wrapped coffin to the medic unit.
Packer had been their instructor.
Two bagpipers from the Tacoma Fire Department Pipe and Drum Team played a Welsh lullaby.
A white Hummer stretch limousine brought other members of Packer’s family to the airport. They gathered together in grief.
Then, with Bonney Lake Police Department motorcycles in the lead, a procession of East Pierce fire vehicles and two buses filled with firefighters made the journey through Gig Harbor and Tacoma to Powers Funeral Home in Puyallup.
As they passed through Gig Harbor, firefighters and equipment from the Gig Harbor-Peninsula Fire Department lined up on John Avenue to salute Packer. They flew an American flag from an extended ladder.
The University Place Fire Department saluted the procession as it passed under the Jackson Street overpass on Highway 16. An American flag also hung from an extended ladder.
East Pierce firefighters and Packer’s family were still in shock over the loss of their leader known throughout the state and beyond. They asked to not be interviewed.
To further honor Packer, Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg directed that all flags on county buildings be lowered to half-staff.
Ladenburg urged other local governments, agencies and residents to do the same.
The flags will stay that way until Aug. 8, the day after the formal memorial service that is expected to draw hundreds of firefighters from throughout the Northwest.
While East Pierce firefighters and staff paused to honor Packer, firefighters and equipment from other Pierce County departments throughout the area filled in at East Pierce’s stations.
Mike Archbold: 253-597-8692
Memorial for Fire Chief Dan Packer
When: 2 p.m. Aug. 7
Where: Christian Faith Center, 33645 20th Ave. S., Federal Way. The public is invited to the service.
Memorials: In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made at any Washington Mutual location to the Fire Chief Dan Packer Memorial Fund. Checks can be mailed to: East Pierce Professional Firefighters, PO Box 7500, Bonney Lake, WA 98391.
West Coast 911 firefighter news source - The News Tribune, Tacoma WA
San Jose police are searching for a man in connection with a homicide early today after finding a woman’s body on fire inside a house near downtown.Officer Enrique Garcia would not disclose any details about the man. And he added that the manner and cause of the woman’s death will be determined after an autopsy performed by the Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office.
A second woman was stabbed as part of the same incident, he said.
Details were still sketchy about what happened this morning. Before dawn, police had blocked off access to the home in the 1000 block of East Taylor Street near 23rd Street, a residential area of mostly single-family homes. As of 7:30 a.m., the coroner had not yet arrived, and police cars and crime scene trucks dotted the neighborhood.
Just before 2 a.m., police responded to multiple reports of a woman covered in blood. Officers arrived to discover a woman suffering from non-life-threatening stab wounds standing distraught outside on a sidewalk. She directed police to a house about 100 yards from where she was standing on Taylor Street. Inside, officers found a second woman on fire. That woman is now dead. It is the 21st homicide of the year in San Jose.
Fire crews responded and quickly knocked down the flames.
At the time of the incident, both women were inside the house, along with two or three children, Garcia said. The children were taken to a hospital because of smoke inhalation.
West Coast 911 story source - Silcone Valley Mercury News
Ventura officials have negotiated a new labor contract that would give sworn firefighters raises and a costly pension upgrade at a time of struggling city finances.
Officials say the enhanced benefits unveiled Wednesday are necessary to recruit and retain a work force in an area where other agencies offer sweeter compensation packages.
But promising more money won’t guarantee firefighters will stay, critics say, and it will commit taxpayers to spend thousands more on a state retirement system at a time when the city has struggled to balance its checkbook.
The biggest change in the contract is that it would give firefighters one of the richest pensions the state system offers. In pension shorthand, it’s known as “3 percent at 55,” because a rank-and-file firefighter can retire at age 55 with a pension equal to 3 percent of his or her last year’s pay multiplied by years of service. If a firefighter began work at age 25 and retired at 55, that would be 3 percent times 30 years — or a lifetime pension equaling 90 percent of the final-year salary.
Current plan is 2% at 50
Ventura currently offers 2 percent at 50 years. Oxnard, following some other agencies, adopted the more lavish “3 at 50″ in 2005. The Ventura County Fire Department, the largest fire agency, which serves several cities, uses an independent retirement system and offers 2 percent at 50 but allows a person’s final-year figure to include base pay, on-call pay, vacation cash-outs, shift differentials and some other benefits. Added up, it’s considered the equivalent of 3 percent at 50, said Jenny Roney, the city of Ventura’s human resources director.
The Ventura City Council will consider the proposed contract on Monday. The union, the Ventura City Firefighters Association, already has agreed to the terms.
If approved, the pension increases would take effect July 1, 2009, at an additional annual cost of $570,000. Salary increases and bonuses would take effect Jan. 1.
It was like something out of an old movie, but it really happened last night in San Leandro: A woman jumped from her burning, second-story apartment and was caught by four strong neighbors holding a blanket.
“It’s common seeing people helping others during a fire,” Alameda County Fire Battalion Chief T.J. Welch said. “But I don’t know the last time I ever saw someone jump into a blanket.”
The middle-aged woman, who was not identified, jumped 18 feet onto the blanket. She was taken to Eden hospital for a medical checkup, but apparently was not injured, Alameda County Fire spokeswoman Aisha Knowles said.
The fire began when a deep fryer malfunctioned in her apartment at 184 Callan St. in central San Leandro. The other occupants of the apartment escaped, but the woman did not.
She broke out a window and began screaming, Knowles said. A neighbor, Mark Montoya ran barefoot back into his apartment, grabbed a blanket, got the help of Mario Sanchez, 16, a San Leandro High football player and two others. They each held a corner of the blanket and the woman jumped, landing safely in the blanket, Knowles said.
Firefighters were on the scene within three minutes of the alarm, Knowles said. But they credited two other apartment residents, Lincoln Taukave and Tyari Washington, for using fire hoses at the three-story apartment building to try to knock down the fire before firefighters arrived.
The fire was confined to the unit, Apartment 210. But there was smoke and water damage to four other apartments, Knowles said. It took firefighters 20 minutes to extinguish the blaze. Damage was estimated at $500,000.
Fifteen residents were displaced and although the American Red Cross was notified, a majority found temporary housing with family and friends, Knowles said.
5:34 a.m. Auto repair shop fire, 716 Stewart Ave, building was destroyed, $200,000 damage, no injuries, cause under investigation. E1,201,4, T1, R1, HR44, CB8, AR1, B1, PIO1, 6i2, 6i7, 6i11
I was on 2nd in engine (E201). E-1 crew (first in) pulled the 2 1/2 pre connect off the rear of E-1 and went to the “A-B” side of the structure. We (E201) pulled a second 2 1/2 off E-1 and attacked the fire from the “A” side until T-1 opened up agarage door on the “D” side of the building. Then we moved our attack to the “D” side garage door. E-1 set up the snozzle and blasted the fire from above. This was a defensive fire that was quickly under control with 2, 2 1/2 hand lines and the snozzle. As usual, station 1 units handled the fire and canceled the balance.
“General information about the incident: Old building which is an auto repair shop was fully involved upon arrival. Fuel and chemicals typically found inside an auto repair shop enhanced the fire. No nearby buildings on that side of the street. Fire completely destroyed the building and two auto inside the shop. Cause of the fire is under investigation. There were no reported injuries.”
BALDY MESA — As this perilous fire season continues, many rural areas of the Victor Valley are not serviced by full-time firefighters. Several areas are serviced by San Bernardino County Fire stations manned by paid-call firefighters.
Paid-call firefighters are usually training to become full-time firefighters and use this opportunity to gain hands-on training.
Paid-call firefighters Joel Jensen, 20, left, Grant DeRose, 22, center, and Grant Osuna, 21, go through their equipment at station 16 located in Baldy Mesa. Some San Bernardino County Fire stations are manned by paid-call firefighters. Reneh Agha / Staff Photographer
“I started as a fire explorer at the age of 14 and kept on going,” said Grant Osuma, 21, who has been a paid-call firefighter at the Baldy Mesa station for two years.
As a matter of fact, all of the firefighters at the station are paid-call.
Paid-call firefighters are usually used in rural areas where they lack the tax base and population to support a full-time force, according to fire officials.
“These guys are out there serving their community every day in locations where we may not have the chance to have full-time firefighers,” said Otto Schramm, spokesman for county fire.
Paid-call firefighters must go through training, which includes wildfire and structure-fire training and life-saving techniques.
Osuma plans to attend paramedic school soon to get closer to his goal.
In San Bernardino County, about 400 firefighters receive paid-call wages, according to county Fire Chief Pat Dennen. Those wages can range from a little more than minimum wage up to about $14 an hour, depending on certification and longevity.
While the majority of paid-call firefighters, like Osuma, are looking for a career in firefighting, there are a few who do this on top of their regular jobs.
“We have a few of those guys who serve a few weekends and evenings in order to serve their community,” said Osuma, who works at the station four to six days a week.
“It takes amazing dedication to do what they do for the amount they get,” said Otis Warner, 72, who lives in Phelan. “Especially those who don’t have to be there with the economy the way it is.”
Reaching a milestone in their fight against the Basin Complex blaze, fire officials have little time to celebrate.
Sunday evening, 37 days after the massive fire was sparked by lightning June 21, officials declared the fire fully contained and started sending crews on their way. But the crews aren’t going home. Instead, firefighters are headed to other blazes still burning around the state, including the Telegraph Fire near Yosemite National Park in Mariposa County.
California Conservation Corps member Chris Stidham and Kern County Fire engineer Martin Hernandez pack up gear as firefighters scale down the Basin Complex Fire camp on Monday at Carmel Valley and Tassajara roads. (DAVID ROYAL/The Herald)
“They are off to the battle again,” said David Olson a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. “There’s minimal rest and a lot of work.”
At the peak of the Basin Fire, more than 2,000 firefighters from across the country were working on the blaze as it threatened Big Sur, forced hundreds from their homes and shut down the tourist community for a week between July 2-8.
The fire has scorched 162,818 acres, or 254 square miles, in and around Los Padres National Forest and Ventana Wilderness, destroying 26 homes and 32 other buildings.
“Once you get a fire that is large in size, that magnifies the difficulty of putting it out,” Olson said.
Firefighters also had to work in rugged terrain, complicating their efforts. The east side of the fire was especially difficult to battle because of limited access, high winds and erratic fire behavior.
The fire in Mariposa County continues to grow. Firefighters are facing a tough time getting this wildfire contained so far since the terrain is so difficult. The number of firefighters that have arrived to assist now nears 2,000.
It’s not yet known exactly what happened Saturday, when Dan Packer, a Pierce County fire chief, went missing — and is now presumed dead — in a California wildfire. But it’s clear Washington state lost someone who was respected throughout the state for his ability to bring people together.
“He’s an icon for the Washington state fire service,” said Brian Schaeffer, assistant chief for the Spokane Fire Department. “We all looked up to him.”
Packer, former head of the Washington Fire Chiefs Association and chief of East Pierce Fire & Rescue, went to Northern California on Friday to supervise a team fighting a fire in Klamath National Forest. On Saturday he went to survey the fire and develop a plan to fight it but never returned, said Davida Carnahan, spokeswoman for Klamath National Forest.
He was the second Washington firefighter to die in the past week. On Friday, 18-year-old Andrew Palmer, a recent graduate of Port Townsend High School, died in his first day on the fire line in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, which adjoins Klamath National Forest. Palmer was reportedly hit by a tree.
Packer, 49, was perhaps best known for successfully merging a number of small fire departments into East Pierce Fire & Rescue. It wasn’t easy to convince small cities to give up their independent departments, but he convinced them it would lead to better service.
“He was always very forward-thinking,” said Jeff Jensen, a deputy chief in the Tacoma Fire Department and member of the Washington Fire Chiefs Association board.
“He always had service to citizens as his No. 1 issue, and I think that’s what’s allowed him to bring those organizations together.”
Schaeffer said Packer was equally effective bridging the gap between volunteer and career firefighters and between those who work in cities and those who fight wildfires.
“It’s not an anomaly, but it’s rare to find someone from the west side [of the state] that is involved with wildland firefighting,” Schaeffer said. “He’s fought fires all over the country, and he’s been doing it for a long time.”
“I hope we’re able to maintain the standards that he had,” he added. In the Spokane area, he said, all the fire chiefs are “just collectively devastated. I just can’t begin to explain it.”
According to a statement released Sunday by Gov. Christine Gregoire, Packer was overrun by the fire after an unexpected shift in the wind. However, Carnahan said that account had not been confirmed.
The intensity of the fire and limited visibility have hampered the ability to recover the body, Carnahan said, but “we believe that victim is probably Daniel Packer.”
MARIPOSA - Hot weather hampered efforts to contain a fast-moving wildfire near an entrance to Yosemite National Park that had already destroyed 12 homes and forced the evacuation of nearly 200 others.The blaze had charred more than 26,000 acres since Friday as wooded slopes ignited amid the hot, dry conditions that have plagued California for months. Besides the homes destroyed, the fire had also engulfed 27 other buildings.
Orange County Firefighters Tyler Johnson, left and Mike Reinhold look at fires burning across the Briceburg mountains along side the Merced River Sunday, July 27, 2008 in Briceburg, Calif. An out-of-control wildfire burning Sunday near an entrance to Yosemite National Park has destroyed eight homes and threatened thousands more as flames forced authorities to cut power to the park. (AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian) ( Gary Kazanjian )
Officials ordered the evacuations of 195 homes under immediate threat, but some residents defied orders and stayed to protect their property. About 2,000 homes faced at least some danger from the fast-spreading flames, said Wayne Barringer, a state fire spokesman on the scene.
Most of the evacuated homes are in the town of Midpines, about 12 miles from the park. The southern edge of the blaze was as little as two miles from Mariposa, a town of about 1,800 residents.
“My house is about 100 yards from some fire right now and that’s freaking me out,” said John Romero, who answered his phone Sunday evening during a break from digging trenches and clearing brush with a little tractor.
Romero said his brother, Tony Romero, has an adjoining property with a 50,000-gallon swimming pool. The brothers planned to pump water from the pool to defend their homes if the fire advanced that far.
