Last week’s In This Valley related the early history of firefighting in Issaquah, including two famous fires. In part two we learn about a third fire, and examine our local firefighting agency of today.

What was the most unique fire in Issaquah’s history? Many would say it was that which burned the Issaquah City Fire Station, Feb. 7, 1980. At 8:27 p.m. Ed Schultz spotted the fire on East Sunset Way. He ran to the station and pulled the outside alarm, but “nothing happened” so he ran to Fire District 10’s station, across Sunset. They called the alarm.

Quoting David Jepson in The Issaquah Press – “Lt. Doug Lindsay, of the city fire department, led the crew trying to open the front bay doors so the burning trucks could be moved outside… Unable to open the red-hot doors of the bay, firefighters entered through a trap door that leads to the hose tower. Once entrance had been gained, the fire was extinguished almost immediately… (Fire Chief Tony) Singleton said he doesn’t know the names of the firefighters who entered the trucks — which started right away — and drove them into the street.”

Destroyed were the station’s workshop, where the fire started, and 60 percent of the truck-bay area. Four fire trucks were “in a body shop for repair” and all hoses, firefighter apparatus, firefighters’ tools and gear were destroyed. Smoke damage spread through the department’s offices. Damage was estimated at $150,000, a significant sum in 1980s dollars.

Fire District 10 loaned a truck and an aid car, and received city fire calls for four days until the city’s fire communications system was repaired.

“We are all very upset and unhappy,” Singleton added. “We feel as much loss about losing our fire station as someone would about losing their own home. We are standing up pretty well under all the flap and hee haw of it… jokes from people who think it’s funny make it hurt worse.”

Like most of Issaquah, this article’s author went by the ruined station the day after the fire, to take a look.

I talked to Doug Lindsay on Apr. 7, 2010, reminiscing about that fire we both remember. (Lindsay’s father, Bob Lindsay, grandfather Bill, and uncle Earl, all volunteered with the Issaquah Volunteer Fire Department. Doug Lindsay became a battalion commander before he retired a few years ago).

Doug described waves of flame rolling out of the station’s rear workshop, heat and flames rising up to the fire bay’s ceiling, the melting florescent lights raining debris onto the trucks below. He told me it took eighteen months to rebuild and replace all that was lost. During that time, relations between IVFD and Fire District 10 became close.

Meanwhile, the fire’s cause was under investigation. In Jepson’s article, “The first thing Singleton said he did was ‘call the King County Fire Marshal, so an independent, unbiased office could investigate the fire. I don’t want anyone accusing me of whitewashing this thing,’ Singleton said.”

The County Fire Marshal initially determined the cause of the fire was a short in an AM radio left plugged in, in the storeroom. That determination was made by the date of that first Issaquah Press article about the fire, Feb 13, 1980.

Investigation continued into the station fire, and also into a series of 15 “suspicious origin” fires that had occurred since April, 1979. Issaquah Police Chief Dag Garrison, Police Sgt. Ed Mott, and Fire Chief Tony Singleton conducted that investigation. I stirred up old memories when I talked to Dag Garrison this year about the fire and investigation.

“Fireman charged with setting Feb. 7 fire station blaze” headlines David Jepson’s June, 1980 article in the Issaquah Press. “A volunteer for the Issaquah Fire Department has been charged with arson in connection with the Feb. 7 blaze… (He) was charged May 31 with three counts of arson, but is suspected of starting 15 fires and calling in two false aid calls since April, 1979.”

The other fires the volunteer was charged with were at an Issaquah “Shell Station” and in “an abandoned truck.”

“During the course of the investigation, he acknowledged causing eight fires and calling in two false aid calls… The fire station fire was originally believed to have been started by a faulty radio, but that theory was discounted after Issaquah Police found similarities between that fire and several other smaller fires in this area, said Police Chief ‘Dag’ Garrison.”

Although he originally pleaded not guilty, the suspect later pleaded guilty to three counts of reckless burning. “The revised plea, which carries a milder sentence, was negotiated in the King County Prosecutor’s office,” Jepson wrote. He received a deferred sentence. Enough said.

Fire District 10 and the Issaquah Fire Department merged January 1, 1999, to become Eastside Fire and Rescue (EFR). EFR also includes the North Bend Fire Department, Fire District 38 (Carnation and Snoqualmie to North Bend) and the City of Sammamish.

EFR has 15 stations; nine are staffed 24/7/365 by a minimum of three, but usually four or five, dedicated firefighters. There are six volunteer stations.

EFR employs 123 firefighters, and 24 support staff. One hundred trained volunteers freely offer their capabilities and dedication.

Another staffed station is in planning, to be located near the Issaquah Park and Ride.

I obtained current information through an interview with Kelly Refvem, Chief of Maintenance for EFR. Kelly began volunteering for the Issaquah Volunteer Fire Department as an Issaquah High School student. Later he helped fight the Issaquah fire station blaze. I also talked with Lee Soptich, EFR chief. I am in awe of all of them, and I learned far more stories than I can write.

Mary Scott is a docent at the Issaquah History Museums.