Battling blazes a tradition
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YAKIMA — Like many residents of Central Washington, deputy fire chief Dave Leitch of the West Valley Fire Department comes from a firefighting family.
His father was a volunteer firefighter for more than 35 years. One uncle fought fires for 11 years, another for 33.
A couple cousins are firefighters. And now his 18-year-old son is battling blazes as well.
Since the age of 6, Leitch knew local firefighters by name, went to their picnics and, with other neighborhood children, washed the trucks after calls.
"It was probably good for them because they could sit back and relax," he said. "But we had fun."
And despite the wildfire that claimed the lives of four firefighters Monday — Tom Craven, 30, of Ellensburg, and Yakima residents Devin Weaver, 21, Jessica Johnson, 19, and Karen FitzPatrick, 18 — residents of Central Washington say families will continue to help one another fight house fires, brush fires and wildfires around the Northwest.
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It's part of their identity, part of their culture, and borne of necessity.
The acres of wild land coupled with dry, arid summers, result in hundreds of Central Washington fires each year.
"We have bigger fires and we have a lot of them," said Leitch.
Because Central Washington communities tend to be smaller in size, many don't have full-time firefighters, relying instead on volunteers. More than 80 percent of those in Yakima County are volunteers, said Leitch.
"You need to rely on each other so much. It's teamwork, literally, from lifting hoses to crawling through heat," he said.
"And whenever people have an emergency, we're there and we see what other people don't get to see ... that brings us together.
"You've been there. You've seen kids and mothers screaming."
In nearby Roslyn, firefighting started as a summer job for then-16-year-old Tony Craven, now 34.
Before long, fighting fires turned into a rite-of-passage for all four of his younger brothers as well — Tom, the firefighter who was killed Monday; twins Tim and Ted, now 22, and K.C., now 21.
Of the Craven brothers, Tony is a hotshot firefighter in Redmond, Ore.; Tim fought fires for two summers but stopped to attend Washington State University; and Ted and K.C. fight fires for the Forest Service in Cle Elum.
Ted Craven was fighting the same Thirty Mile Fire that claimed his older brother when he learned his brother was missing. He searched for him, in vain.William Craven, the family patriarch, said his three firefighting sons will continue their work.
Although Tim Craven is no longer fighting fires, he says he understands the rush of that work.
"It's you against the fire and you know you're doing something to help animals and people," he said.
Still, he says he'll dread every day his other brothers go back out "because I'll be thinking of him."
Tim Martin, a Yakima cattle rancher and apple and cherry farmer by profession, moonlights as a volunteer firefighter.
His father, Gene, was the Yakima Fire Department's deputy fire chief, and his grandfather was chief of the Broadway Fire District, now the Union Gap Fire Department.
"I guess that's the way it works," said the 23-year-old. "I always remember watching my dad going to fires and when my chance came up, I took it."
He remembers his first wildfire near Moxee, four miles east of here. "I worked all day and all night," he recalled. "It was in my blood then."
Jessica Johnson, one of the four who died, was a close friend of Martin's. He also knew Tom Craven.
"When something like that happens, you really question yourself," he said. "But I'll be ready to go again."
Gina Kim can be reached at 206-464-2761 or gkim@seattletimes.com.