Othello fire chief retires

Presented plaque from city

OTHELLO - Adams County Fire District No. 5 Fire Chief Clyde Fought is retiring July 31.

Mayor Shannon McKay presented him with a plaque of appreciation for his service to the city during a Monday workshop meeting.

Fought started with the district in 1963. He took a few years off from the fire department since he began but he served nearly 40 years.

He began as a volunteer while working a construction job. Fought decided to quit and took a paid position with the fire department.

He was promoted to chief from assistant chief in 1991 when the former chief retired.

In a previous interview with the Columbia Basin Herald, he said he joined the fire department because he wanted to help people.

The chief plans to stay in the area but also plans to spend a lot of time in Pomeroy, Wash., working on a construction project.

He plans to rebuild his cabin that burned down in 2005.

Previously he was working on the cabin on the weekends and completed the floor, walls and roof since the fire, Fought said. He now plans to complete the interior of the 30-by-40-foot building.

"I want to finish my project on the hill," he said.

Fought says he won't have a lot of free time because he has a lot of burnt timber to chop down and will be helping friends and families rebuild their cabins too.

When asked what emergency call was his most memorable, he said it's too difficult to choose just one.

"At the time, they're all spectacular," Fought said.

He still recalled a few memorable events.

Fought said the department rescued a blind horse from a canal while using a fire hose as a snare to lift it out.

He remembers responding to a fire that burned a school gym in Othello several years ago. It was one the largest fires he responded to.

A brush fire covered 15 miles of land in the 1970s and required a multi-agency response to extinguish the fire, he said. It took nearly one week to extinguish the fire. There were about 30 to 40 firefighters on the scene, some working around the clock, Fought said.

With fought retiring, Assistant Fire Chief Gary Lebacken is being promoted to fire chief.