Fire suppression

Firefighting and how we do it

Fire Suppression has two primary areas of focus that require very different equipment, training and strategy.

Structure fires require the expertise of firefighters that have knowledge and equipment that allows the flow of large volumes of water, search and rescue of occupants trapped inside a building, and the removal of harmful gasses and smoke.

Wildland fires require a completely different set of skills although brush fires will often result in structure fires that are in its path of destruction. Wildland fires depend on a fast attack of smaller trucks that have all terrain capability and the firefighters that wear a completely different set of protective gear. You won’t often see your firefighters wearing the heavy clothing and breathing apparatus. You will see them in much lighter gear with small hand tools and small hose lines along with bulldozers and aerial water drops when needed.

Structural firefighting

The firefighters of the Grays Harbor Fire District #2 are cross trained in multiple disciplines, and the delivery of fire suppression services is just one of these disciplines. In addition to fighting residential, commercial and wildland fires, firefighters are called upon to control destructive water leaks, investigate suspicious odors, help with storm damage, perform complex rescues, and much more.

A fire engine serves as the platform for delivering these services. Besides being outfitted with fire hose, water and pumps, a fire engine carries a diverse assortment of other tools. These include hydraulic rescue tools, chain saws, specially designed wrenches and hand tools, pry bars, hammers, absorbent material, traffic cones, air monitors and much more. Every day the firefighters inspect and maintain their equipment to ensure that it is ready to perform when you need it. In addition, more complex equipment is maintained either through outside vendors or specially trained firefighters.

Wildland Firefighting

When the wildland season starts your district firefighters are busy training and putting out brush fires. Wildland has its own challenges that we don’t see on the structural side. Many of these fires happen in remote areas of the district that our primary fire engines can’t go. So to meet the needs of the public Grays Harbor Fire District #2 deploys 3 seperate specialized Brush trucks outfitted with equipment just for wildland firefighting. When called we also deploy to large scale fires across the state and have even sent crews down to the southern parts of Oregon. District #2 has a long history of being a leader in the wildland arena in Grays Harbor and will continue to work hard to meet the service demands of the Wildland/Urban interface.

Our apparatus

Structural Engines

  • E211
  • E212
  • E221
  • E231

Water Tenders

  • T211
  • T212
  • T241

Brush Units

  • B211
  • B231