With a burn ban in force countywide and by State Parks on local ocean beaches, the Ocean Shores Fire Department had a busy summer that continues with concern over the extended recent dry spell.

Fire Dept. Lt. Corey Kuhl reports the department has been bolstered by the addition of the seven new firefighters hired under a two-year program with federal SAFER grant funding.

“We have had a very eventful summer and have been very fortunate to have increased staffing via the SAFER grant,” Kuhl said. “The seven SAFER positions have improved our ability to meet all of the different needs and emergencies of our charming community.”

For the summer, the department has had about 120 more calls than this time last year. Those include the following: 473 total 911 calls; 22 fires; 4 structure fires; 9 wildland/grass fires; 9 surf rescue calls; 9 miscellaneous fires (vehicle/garbage fire, etc.); 7 transports from here straight to Olympia with confirmed heart attacks/strokes (approximately five hours of time to transport).

Kuhl reports that 25 percent of the call volumes are so-called doubles (two at a time), and 5 percent are triples (three at a time). Sometimes (1 percent), the department even has handled four or more calls at a time.

“We have had several ‘code saves’ this summer in large part to our increased staffing, which increases the amount of calls we can respond to quickly,” Kuhl said. “I know there are some families out there that are very happy and appreciative of our increased staffing and response.”

Here are a few calls of interest over the last month:

• July 20: Structure Fire/Detached Garage; two structure engines from Ocean Shores Fire; one structure engine from Fire Dist. 7. Fire involving garage 25-by-20 and surrounding vegetation with house exposure. Garage contained full size pick-up truck and two motor scooters along with common garage items personnel effects and fuel. The fire was under control in 25 minutes and crews were met with heavy fire and smoke conditions upon entry into the garage.

• Aug. 1 Brush Fire: airport large logs on fire/lots of manpower including Dist. 7, DNR resources. Call came out after two other calls straining OS Fire Department resources. The fire took over 1200 ft. of 2 ½ inch hose and 7 hours to extinguish. Two structure engines and two brush engines from OS. One brush engine and Ambulance from Dist. 7, one Brush engine and crew from DNR.

• Aug 8: OSFD responded to a boat sinking on Minard Lake. Crews helped pump water out of the boat while preventing any oil or gas residue from spilling into the lake. It turned out to be a very labor intensive operation using five members from the Fire Department. The leak was found and arrangements were made to trailer the boat safely and have it repaired.

Aug 12: Jetty Rescue; elderly male fell on Jetty rocks crews made contact with victim on top of Jetty with obvious face and arm injuries OSFD and OSPD extricated the patient on backboard and C-collar EMS treated his injuries and transported him to Grays Harbor Community Hospital.

• Aug 12 Plane crash; E7402 responded to a downed aircraft at the south end of town in a bush area located next to a home. No victim was found/a small amount of blood was in the cockpit and on a wing. The small plane appeared to be a kit type aircraft and the pilot was gone before Police or EMS Arrived. E7402 made sure no fuel was leaking and engaged the emergency fuel shut off switch. OSPD turned incident over to FAA for investigation.

• Aug 13: Car vs. pole accident; Male subject was driving south down Ocean Shores Blvd. when he suffered a heart attack. His SUV struck and completely severed a telephone pole. He was driving with his wife and two teenage sons. All passengers restrained with no injuries. The male driver, however, was pulseless and not breathing. CPR was initiated by first on scene Police Officer Clint Potter. Fire and EMS arrived to find downed pole and CPR in progress along with distraught family screaming. EMS was able to shock his heart and get full pulse and blood pressure back in short order. Patient received Critical Cardiac Interventions en route to ER. Victim was transported to Olympia for Cardiac Care.

• Aug 16: Car vs. fence accident; female subject had fallen asleep at the wheel after a long day of work and hit a fence and was stopped by heavy vegetation. The vehicle had airbag deployment and the patient was back boarded, c-collared and transported to the hospital for further evaluation. The patient was fortunate as there was wood from the fence that had come through the windshield and just missed the driver.

Officer honored

Police Officer Potter was honored for his efforts in the Aug. 13 life-saving response at Monday night’s City Council meeting, with the audience responding with a standing ovation.

Mayor Crystal Dingler read two letters of thanks for his efforts, including one from the Fire Department”

“Officer Clint Potter responded to find a very tragic and chaotic scene. Officer Potter kept his composure and pulled the driver the driver – a 55-year-old male – out of the vehicle and began CPR. While he began CPR, there were live power lines above, along with a severed power pole and (the man’s) wife and two teen-age boys, asking ‘please save my dad.’”

Potter did CPR for over two minutes, with over 200 chest compressions before the EMS crew arrived. Shocked then by a defibrillator, the man was revived and began breathing on his own before being transported for critical care to the hospital in Aberdeen and finally Olympia.

“Officer Clint Potter’s initial CPR kept the patient’s brain and neurological function alive with each compression and primed his heart for electrical therapy.”

The man’s wife later also wrote after her husband’s bypass surgery: “Words will not ever be able to express my gratitude for what you did for my husband and my family. Last Saturday was the worst day of our lives. Your quick actions and skills saved his life.”

The City Council also presided over the swearing-in ceremony of new Police Officer Brian Lisle. Lisle previously served seven years with the Seattle Police Department and 10.5 years with the Federal Way Police Department. He also is an Army veteran.