by PETER NEHLSEN, fire chief, Washington Island Fire Department
After a fire call it is customary for a Fire Chief to write up a report reflecting upon the dry facts of the call. However, the first reflection that keeps coming to my mind was the generosity of our community. I would like to offer you a reflection on the generosity and contributions made by our island community and the greater community of Door County.
A small, isolated fire is an easily contained task for a fire department. A structure fire, such as one’s home, is a bit trickier but also something that can be confined. The fire call we faced the week of Oct. 20 was exponentially more dangerous. A forest fire is a much greater threat to lives and property. In this case, if this fire had spread onto Coffee Swamp, firefighters would have been fighting to contain the spread until winter snowfall. Houses and other structures in its path would have probably been lost or at least in danger.
Such was the call that came at 9 pm Sunday night to the Washington Island Fire Department (WIFD). Soon thereafter, a mutual aid assistance call was made to all 10 mainland Door County fire departments. Participation in a mutual aid call, like the fire departments themselves, is voluntary. Nine county fire departments showed up to Northport with their assortment of fire equipment including utility terrain vehicles (UTV), brush trucks and thermal imaging drones, while the 10th department spread out over the county to provide fire protection to the whole county. Many in those volunteer fire departments did not return to their homes until afternoon the next day.
The Washington Island Ferry Line ship captains were roused from sleep, answered the call and ferried firefighters and equipment to the island through the night.
I have also been reflecting on those Islanders who actively sought an opportunity to assist us that night and even before.
Decades of Island generosity and fruits of fundraising efforts were on full display, as the majority of the WIFD equipment and apparatus was purchased through donated money from our community.
Back in 2020, the Island Adventure Co. donated to the Washington Island fire department its first and only UTV. It was with this UTV that our fire department was able to first access the difficult terrain and stop the fire from spreading. Jeffrey Mann jumped into action with the DPW’s pay-loader to push in access roads, while Tony Young used his skid-steer to smooth out new paths for equipment access. The Washington Island REA brought in their own equipment to help dig out hotspots and move downed trees. Tom Jordan delivered fuel to our fire trucks as they were running out of fuel. Joey Cornell and Steve Ervin, who had originally reported the fire, helped guide firefighters through the dark woods and even pitched in to help extinguish some of the fires. In the middle of that night, E’lise Haller thought to bring food to a bunch of exhausted firefighters and keep us going. What a life saver.
Al Johnson’s in Sister Bay delivered Monday breakfast for all the firefighters on scene. The Point Grill followed with lunch while WISCO kept us all awake with coffee. The Red Cross made yet another trip to our island this year and delivered much needed food and water.
WIFD received assistance from so many sources that it is impossible to list everyone; however, their contributions were no less important.
Of our own volunteer firefighters, many worked over 30 hours to ensure the island was safe. Many took shifts for days to watch for hotspots (as of this writing, hotspots are still popping up and firefighters continue to monitor and extinguish these flare-ups). Of our Public Safety partners, Washington Island Police Department and Door County EMS, who stayed on scene to keep us safe and provide rehab for the exhausted firefighters, there are very few places in the world where police, EMS, and Fire work so well together.
One can often hear others rhapsodize about supporting one’s community and how important it is, but as they say, actions speak louder than words. Those actions of Island and county community support were on full display Oct. 20-21. With these reflections I conclude this reflection with both pride and humility to say – thank you.
