Shoreline Firefighters Recall Fight Against Jolly Mountain Fire

Pictured l to r: Firefighter Nate Etherington, Firefighter Gabe Mannix, Paramedic Rich Sewell, and Capt. Brian Gibb

ROSLYN, WA - Last week, four Shoreline firefighters spent every day cutting brush in the sweltering heat while battling the massive Jolly Mountain wildfire, which was threatening to destroy historic Roslyn and Cle Elum. The team returned to work last weekend protecting Shoreline, but they are thankful for the time they got to spend helping Eastern Washington residents.

The firefighters - Capt. Brian Gibb, paramedic Rich Sewell, and firefighters Gabe Mannix and Nate Etherington - took a Shoreline engine truck out to the area last week to join the hundreds of other firefighters battling the wildfire. During their rotation, they worked alongside firefighters from Everett and South King County.

For five days, the firefighters worked on cutting fire lines. That back-breaking work involves cutting down trees and clearing brush to create a fuel-free line the fire can't cross. They worked 16 hour days each day and were able to clear three miles of fire line. They spent nights camping in tents alongside other firefighters.

Each day, they would drive their engine into the forest as far as it could go and then hike the rest of the way to the front line - all while wearing full wild-land firefighting gear and carrying chainsaws and other equipment.

The Jolly Mountain fire broke out on Aug. 11 after a lightning strike, according to the state's wildfire monitoring system, Inciweb. About 800 firefighters were working to contain the wildfire, which as of Wednesday was burning across some 33,000 acres. The fire was about 15 percent contained on Wednesday, up from 0 percent when the Shoreline firefighters first arrived. The expected final containment date is Sept. 15.

The scariest part for Etherington was seeing homes in the woods, surrounded by fuel like dry brush, that he knew would be destroyed should the wildfire grow bigger.

But the work the Shoreline and other firefighters have done likely saved historic Roslyn and other towns. Some residents of the area began returning home as recently as Tuesday after being evacuated at the end of August.

And the residents certainly knew who to thank.

"Every night when we drove out of the Cle Elum Ridge and through town, there were hundreds of people there thanking us," Etherington said. "It's pretty amazing the gratitude they showed toward us."

Images via Nate Etherington