On Friday, October 3rd, South Pend Oreille Fire Rescue was alerted to a hazardous materials incident in the City of Newport. SPOFR responded and found approximately 300 gallons of a toxic substance on the ground, running East into Oldtown, Idaho. Due to the quick efforts of the affected business and SPOFR Engines 11 and 31, the spill was quickly contained and the area cordoned off. Cleanup efforts were overseen by the WA State Dept of Ecology and a contracted company. This incident illustrates the diverse nature of calls SPOFR responds to, and highlights our response model where we can dedicate two fire engines to an incident and still keep ALS ambulances in service! This was a unified command incident between West Pend Oreille Fire (ID) and SPOFR and was a great exercise in Pend Oreille and Bonner County command/emergency management teams coming together!
Public Information Officer
SPOFR
