Crews from Banks Fire District were among numerous responding agencies who drove to the aid of the Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District Sunday to help them battle a commercial fire Sunday.
As the early Sunday morning fire grew at a hotel in Cannon Beach, local fire authorities on the ground, already aided by a number of local fire agencies, made the decision to upgrade the first alarm fire to a second alarm. That decision drew several additional neighboring fire agencies, including Banks Fire, the only Washington County agency that ended up making the trip to the coast, to the scene.
Cannon Beach fire authorities said that thanks, to the aid of their firefighters and the resources from eight additional firefighting agencies, the fire was contained to a single room at the Tolovana Inn.
“Our mission in the fire service is to protect the lives and property of those we serve and their guests,” said Banks Fire spokesperson Scott Adams in a social media post.
“In our statewide (and beyond) mutual aid system, we often get to help those even further out,” he added.
Banks Fire spokesperson Mitch Ward said that Banks Fire was dispatched at 2:49 a.m. Sunday, and spent 20 minutes there before being cleared and returning home.
“It’s also nice to know that when we have a large event, like our Hwy 26 house and wildland fire this last summer, our brothers and sisters are there for us too,” Adams said.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
