Fourth busy for fire crews

GRANT COUNTY — With the sun still shining bright, the men gather around the conference table.

Most people will be celebrating Independence Day with family and friends, but the firefighters of Grant County Fire District No. 5 are preparing for an evening with the flames. These dozen firefighters and paramedics are gearing up for one of their busiest nights of the year, a white board against the wall naming their truck assignments. They are among many throughout the state and country who will be working tonight on this Fourth of July.

Pat Hochstatter is a commissioner with the fire district, but tonight he is also firefighter, and a driver of one of the district's 15 tender trucks. The 46,000-pound rigs carry 3,000 gallons of water on the back.

"In the district, there's very little areas that have hydrants," Hochstatter says as he points to the different tender rigs, "so, you know, we just bring our own."

From the back of the truck cab back, Hochstatter says the tender trucks are built entirely by the district. They sit beside fire trucks and rescue units that fill the station's bay garage.

The conference table meeting is one that doesn't happen most days, but the firefighters plan out their strategies on busier days like this and Memorial Day weekend. Following the meeting, the firefighters wait.

The men had been called out to one fire earlier in the afternoon, and about 15 minutes after the meeting they are called to another. As the Multi Agency Communications Center dispatch tone thunders through the hall, the men are quick to sprint to their assigned rigs.

The fire is a brush fire near an outlying fire district station, and is put out shortly before the firefighters arrive on scene. On the way back, Hochstatter elaborates how close-knit the district is, and he says they have to be for the situations they respond to. When they walk into a structure fire alongside their fellow firefighters, they know they have to back each other up.

Hochstatter himself first started with the district while an explorer with the Boy Scouts, and has been a volunteer ever since. Many of the district's residents are Big Bend Community College students who come in as volunteers as part of the district's residence program. For them, it's all about the adrenaline.

"You just get hooked," Hochstatter says.

They later get called to a few more brush fires that are out upon arrival before they let loose their first drop of water. As they travel to and from the station, they see the city being covered in dozens of bright explosions hovering over the night sky. On the way back from one call, they stop and see orange flames in a field. The fire is on the city/county line and Moses Lake Fire Department personnel also later arrive on scene.

The flames soon finds themselves face to face with the tender truck. Each of the rigs is equipped with a front nozzle in its cab that allows firefighters to douse the flames at 255 gallons a minute. Hochstatter is able to distinguish the flames without even getting out of the cab. That fire is one of the biggest of the night for the district. They also later respond to one in the early morning hours Tuesday.

After he puts the fire out, Hochstatter heads back to the station and fills the tender truck back up with water. The firefighters are ready for additional calls, and watch the neighborhood illuminate the sky while they wait.