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Grant County chiefs describe large water‑shuttle operation and interagency effort that supported Trout Fire response
Summary
Fire and emergency managers described a two‑week response to the Trout Fire that included a large water‑shuttle operation supplying helicopters and structural protection efforts. County and volunteer crews said they moved nearly 1 million gallons to fill dip tanks, protected homes with sprinkler systems and reported no injuries among responding
Grant County's emergency and fire leadership described a two‑week response to the Trout Fire that included an unusually large water‑shuttle operation to supply helicopters and extensive structural‑protection work near residences.
Fire Chief Groves reported that from June 20 to June 26 the countycoordinated water shuttles and drop‑tank operations moved an estimated 913,200 gallons of water to fill helicopters' dip tanks and "pumpkins" for repeated aerial water drops. He credited local engines, a sky crane, interagency structural‑protection teams and volunteers for deploying sprinkler systems and other measures to protect homes. "Throughout those two weeks we had 0 injuries, 0 accidents," Groves said.
The airport manager told commissioners that the field supported tanker operations (more than 117,000 gallons of jet fuel delivered during the incident), and that heavy tanker traffic contributed to taxiway pavement damage requiring emergency repairs; state grant funding later covered an ARFF truck purchase and the airport secured emergency repair funds.
Emergency manager Scott said FEMA's hazard mitigation plan had been approved but still required formal county adoption, and that the county planned to submit an Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) notice related to post‑fire flood risk; he said several mitigation grant processes are pending with FEMA and NRCS. The county manager and commissioners discussed the EWP approach and stressed the importance of coordinating with the local soil and water conservation district to avoid duplicated efforts.
Fire commanders and county staff described sprinkler deployments near houses that stopped flames from destroying structures in some areas and praised the efforts of local and visiting personnel. Chief Groves estimated roughly $8,000 in equipment repairs tied to fire operations and said more than 1,300 man‑hours were contributed by volunteers. The board asked staff to continue coordination with FEMA, NRCS and state agencies on hazard‑mitigation and post‑fire runoff work.
Provenance: public presentation and county operational reports recorded in the transcript (see provenance).
