LAKE MCMURRAY, Wash. — A volunteer fire department in Skagit County is cleaning up after they responded to a fire at their own building.
The Lake McMurray Volunteer Fire Department caught fire around 3 a.m. on Tuesday. The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office is investigating it as arson.
The Lake McMurray Fire Station has been in the same building for around 60 years, and the 20 volunteer firefighters who work here respond to all kinds of emergencies.
Lake McMurray depends on its volunteer fire department since the closest paid department is more than 20 minutes away.
“You know, it's not just fires. We respond to medical calls, auto accidents, and just about anything you can think of,” said Chief Stuart Kranick of the Lake McMurray Volunteer Fire Department.
But Tuesday morning, the volunteer firefighters received a call they never expected: their fire station was on fire.
"It was through dispatch,” said Kranick. “So, we got a call, just like any other call, but it was our own address."
One of the volunteer firefighters for Lake McMurray was first on the scene and started fighting the fire with equipment from the garage. Multiple other departments responded quickly as well.
Their fire station was heavily damaged, with the office area destroyed and the other areas of the building also damaged. Their engine and ambulance were covered in soot, but luckily were not damaged. They lost many of the electronics and paper records that were in the office.
“This all burned all the way up through to the to the roof diaphragm,” said Kranick, showing KING 5 the damage to the fire station.
Soot covered their engine and ambulance, but thankfully, the vehicles were not damaged. On Friday, cleaning crews were getting soot out of the inside of the trucks.
The fire chief and the sheriff’s office said the fire started in a port-a-potty on the side of the building.
“Obviously, port-a-potties don't catch themselves on fire,” said Kranick.
A woman who has lived next door to the fire department for 44 years called 911 when she saw the fire.
“I just started hearing this crackling and popping and it took me a minute to figure out what I was hearing,” said Marilyn Olson, who called 911. “So then when I got up and looked out the window, that's when I saw the blaze.”
The station had a porta potty because its pipes burst in January, flooding its bathroom. In addition to the pipes bursting and the fire, the station has had other recent bad luck.
Back in December, their fire engine had mechanical issues and could no longer be used, and within the past two years, they had thousands of dollars of fire equipment and tools stolen in a burglary.
“It's been really challenging. I don't know,” said Kranick. “It's been a frustrating time for us and we're doing the best we can do to be positive and, you know, try to keep going.”
Kranick said that when their engine had mechanical issues in December, the Conway Fire Department loaned them an engine temporarily. And just last Wednesday, the Darrington Fire Department donated a fire engine to Lake McMurray for the department to have permanently.
Kranick said it is unclear if they will be able to repair the building or if they will have to rebuild. But with the help of neighboring fire districts, they will keep going and keep serving during this time.
“We don't want people to think that we're not going to come when they call us, you know,” said Kranick. “We might be a little bit slower, we might be a little bit delayed, but we're definitely going to be responding and we're going to be doing our best to serve the community even throughout this.”
Since their building cannot be used, the department is holding their meetings and keeping their engine and ambulance at Camp Korey so they can continue serving the community.
The department does have insurance on the station but said if people want to support them, they are welcome to contact them and give donations.
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