Flooding forces evacuation of Stevens County fire station

A swollen creek forced the evacuation of a rural Stevens County fire station Wednesday night.

“We abandoned the fire station the night before last,” Chief Rick Anderson, of Stevens County Fire District 2, said Friday morning. “The water on the creek rose enough to a level we’ve never seen before in our lives.”

There is 4 to 6 inches of water inside the station. Additionally, Anderson said there was about a foot and a half of water up against the back side of the station. The fire station is the main office and storage area for Fire District 2, he added.

The station, in Hunters, Washington, is surrounded by water from swollen Hunter Creek, Anderson said. Much flooding is due to the Carpenter Road fires that devastated Stevens County and the Spokane Indian Reservation two years ago, he said.

Hillsides burned clear of trees and brush allow snow and rain runoff to flow unimpeded into the creek. Some homes in Hunters were threatened Thursday. But as of Friday, Anderson said there was no immediate threat to homes.

“There are some 6-foot ruts and cuts where the water is running where it’s not supposed to,” he said.

Stevens County Fire District 2 is a volunteer force of 20. Because of that, many of Anderson’s firefighters had to go back to their paying jobs on Friday.

“I just went to the high school and recruited as many kids as I could to help fill sandbags,” he said.

Fire District 1 also sent a crew to help, as did the Stevens County Public Works Department. Anderson said Friday morning that he’d just gotten off the phone with the weather service. Staff told him to expect another 0.8 of an inch of rain Friday.

Two of the district’s four firetrucks were parked in Anderson’s driveway, he said. As long as the trucks don’t freeze up, Anderson said, his crew could still respond to emergencies.

“Right now, we’re homeless,” he said.