This morning, the California team that has overseen the suppression of Spokane’s wildfires will head home. Local officials such as Fire Chief Tom Williams have praised the manner in which they’ve coordinated the effort. California team members have raved about the treatment they’ve received here.
Incident commander Tom Clemo told a community meeting at Shadle Park High School this week that it was a happy accident that his team was assigned to Spokane.
Tom Clemo: We were headed to Baker City, Oregon. We arrived there on the 31st or 30th, somewhere in there, and our mission was to take over the Fox Fire and Powder River fire from Southwest Incident Management Team Two. There are 38 complex incident management teams in the country. We’re one of them.…