Editor,

The 32 members of the Republic Volunteer Fire Department want to express sincere appreciation and gratitude to the members of the Whidbey Island community. Thank you for all of the relief efforts, donations and countless volunteer hours contributing to fire relief in the communities of Republic and the Ferry County area.

This year’s wildfires scorched a total of 334,000 acres of forest land in Ferry County alone and comprised a higher total in Okanogan County.

The epic fires were of a magnitude that was unprecedented in size and threat. Fire departments from 30 states responded to the Republic area and for a time, we were the number one fire priority in the nation.

Our volunteer fire department members took vacation from their jobs and manned the station, planned with our type one incident teams and built fire lines in anticipation of events.

Our community was surrounded by two massive fires, the North Star Fire and the Stickpin complex. Many residents of Republic evacuated as a result of the extremely poor air quality — we had many days of smoke as thick as dense fog and daily ashfall on our cars and houses.

Your Whidbey Island community sent semi-trucks of respirators, food, sandwiches, clothing and personal care items to aid and give moral support to the firefighters. Your response to our crises was overwhelming and you have our thanks and gratitude for all that you have done.

Our fire department would like to thank the following individuals and businesses for spearheading the donation effort: Mike and Cindy Hammet, Greg and Ann Abrahamse, Rhonda and Bob Severns, Larry Burton, Petite Hunt, Zoey Abrahamse, Henry and Sandi Fox, Mike Hahn, U-haul-Dave Lasman, 7-11, the Wassinger family, Whidbey Coffee, Corey Oil, Whidbey Auto, Coupeville Bank, Safeway, Haggens, Sears, Walmart, Home Depot and the hundreds of individual donors who contributed through donations and elbow grease.

We hope that we have not left anyone out.

If we have left anyone out or misspelled names you have our sincere apologies. Thank you from the Republic Volunteer Fire Department. You have a great community and should be proud.

With regards,

Andre Ciais, fire chief

Ferry-Okanogan Fire District No. 13

Republic Volunteer Fire Department