A 25-foot-square fire near the base of Port Angeles’ Ediz Hook was the largest blaze, caused by fireworks on the North Olympic Peninsula over the Independence Day weekend.
“Really the most notable fire was that on Ediz Hook, but nothing was compromised, no structures were ever endangered,” Port Angeles Fire Chief Dan McKeen said Monday.
“Overall, it was a relatively mild Fourth of July. From our perspective that is partially due to the moist weather we’ve been having.”
The fire, which started about 10 p.m., was put out quickly by a Port Angeles Fire Department crew, McKeen said.
No personal fireworks can be legally discharged anywhere in Clallam or Jefferson counties except in Forks.
Personal fireworks may be used until noon today in Forks.
In 2009, relatively dry weather had fire departments fretting about problems.
Several incidents exploded in every district throughout the North Olympic Peninsula, but no major structures burned last year as a result of fireworks.
This year with wetter weather, it was fairly quiet, McKeen said.
‘Extraordinarily calm’
The Port Angeles Fire Department also put out two other small fires, McKeen said.
“Those were very, very small incidents,” he said.
“It was extraordinarily calm.”
He said the Port Angeles department stayed busy with medical calls that were not related to Fourth of July celebrations.
Sequim-based Clallam County Fire District No. 3 had four minor incidents, said firefighter Stephanie Gates.
“Three of them were out before we even got there, and the other was a 3-foot by 3-foot fire in some bark of a tree that was very small and was put out very quickly,” she said.
Gates also attributed the lack of incidents to the wet weather.
“It was fairly windy this weekend, so we were somewhat concerned, but we were lucky,” she said.
Clallam County Fire District No. 1 Chief Phil Arbeiter in Forks said he had no incidents in his jurisdiction.
Clallam County Fire District No. 5 Chief Trish Hutson in the Clallam Bay-Sekiu area also reported no incidents throughout the weekend as a result of fireworks.
Jim Johnson, chief of Clallam County Fire District No. 4, did not return calls for comment, but no calls about fires appeared on the incident log as recorded by Clallam County dispatchers.
Jefferson County
No fireworks-related fires were reported in Jefferson County.
“I’m very happy to report that we had no incidents at all,” said Brinnon Fire District Chief Bob Herbst.
East Jefferson County Fire-Rescue also was quiet.
“We were pretty lucky this year not to have anything to report,” said Lt. Chris Kauzlarich.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
