Chelan County to place water tanks in wildfire-prone areas as early as this summer

CHELAN COUNTY — Chelan County has taken a major step forward in a years-long project to reduce firefighting response time in rural areas.

The Board of Chelan County Commissioners recently awarded a $523,886 bid to Illinois-based company Frac Tanks Inc. for the delivery and potential placement of up to 20 refurbished shipping containers, which will be used as water storage tanks. Holding approximately 21,000 gallons of water, the tanks will be strategically placed in wildfire-prone areas that don’t have fire hydrants.

Once the contract is signed, county officials expect the first tank will be delivered as early as two weeks.

The water tanks will be placed on a mix of public and private properties in some of the county’s most wildfire-prone areas. Ten storage tanks are expected to be installed in the Leavenworth and Lake Wenatchee areas this summer; seven will be placed within Chelan County Fire District #3 and three will be located in Lake Wenatchee Fire and Rescue’s boundary area. Up to 10 more tanks will eventually be procured and placed in other parts of the county, such as the Manson, Chelan, Entiat and Malaga areas.

“It's focused around minimizing our tender turnaround times,” said Chelan County Fire District #3 Deputy Fire Chief Mike Smith. 

A typical water tender can transport about 2,000 gallons of water to a scene. When that tender empties, firefighters can lose critical time driving to the nearest hydrant, refilling and returning to the fire.

In rural parts of the county, this turnaround time can be exacerbated by the large distances between hydrants. For instance, a fire along Leavenworth’s Chumstick Highway could take a tender upwards of 45 minutes to refill, according to previous Echo reporting. 

According to Smith, the district is working to secure tank locations that would keep water tender refills within about eight miles round trip.

In some areas where trips currently take about a half hour, Smith said the tanks could reduce turnaround times to between five and 10 minutes. As additional tanks come in, the district hopes to further shorten travel distances to about four to five miles.

“It will have a pretty big impact in some of these areas,” Smith said.

County officials said the project could help lower home insurance rates, or prevent homeowners from losing their home insurance.

The project is about four years in the making. It utilizes a mix of funding, including nearly $900,000 in federal funds from Congresswoman Kim Schrier’s Community Project Funding, $100,000 from Chelan PUD, $32,000 from the county’s Rural Counties Taxes and additional county funds.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media