SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — A group of Spokane firefighters found themselves part of a unique rescue mission last week: going fishing for two dozen koi in a wildfire victim’s pond!
The crews from Valley Regional Fire Authority and Moses Lake were on hotspot patrol in the Indian Trails neighborhood when they saw two sisters with pool nets in a backyard, so they walked over to see if they needed help.
Alyssa Wicks and her sister explained that this was their grandparent’s house and backyard that burnt down, and her grandma had a koi pond.
“She really cared for them; they were like her pets. On hot days, she would even put ice chunks in the pond to cool them down,” Wicks said.
The pond had been burned over, sitting just feet from the home that was torched. It was full of ash and debris from the Old Trails fire.
The firefighters immediately got to work, saying they were up for a challenge since there weren’t any hotspots around to monitor.
Some of that crew even took off their boots and climbed into the pond to help drain the water, while others wrangled the fish.
The sisters had a kiddie pool with them, which the crews used to scoop up water out of the pond to drain it.
It took about an hour, but they were able to get about 20 koi fish out. Weak but alive, the fish were loaded up into a cooler to take home.
Valley Regional Battalion Chief Jordan Gustafson said this is all part of a day’s work.
“We are getting koi fish out of ponds, helping evacuate people’s families if they need it, just helping people whatever they need, being a human Swiss Army knife,” Gustafson said.
The firefighters say they are happy to help with whatever people need, no matter how odd the scenario.
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