Dear Orcas Islanders,
The two suspicious fires that occurred yesterday morning, July 19, at the Olga Artworks and the carriage house on Willis Lane, as well as the suspected arson house fire in the Willis Lane neighborhood on June 6, come as tragic events for all of us on Orcas Island.
We at Orcas Island Fire and Rescue are putting forth our greatest efforts to determine how these fires started, to discover who may have information about them, and to prevent any future fires of this nature from occurring again.
A team comprised of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Fire Arms, the San Juan County Fire Marshal, the San Juan County Sheriff, OIFR, Lopez Fire and EMS, San Juan Island Fire and Rescue, and our great community of Orcas Island will be working together to discover what happened.
We ask that as a community you are vigilant and alert to any suspicious behavior or activity in your neighborhoods and to call 911 if you see anything of that nature.
If you have any information regarding the fires, please contact Fire Marshal Paul Turner at (360) 376-2331.
We are grateful for the hard work and dedication of our OIFR Volunteers and Auxiliary members, your great efforts make the difference!
Special thanks to our island partners Lopez Island Fire and EMS and San Juan Island Fire and Rescue for their help at the fires.
To this great community of Orcas Island and the Olga/Obstruction Pass neighborhood, your help at the fires and salvaging the contents of the Artworks is greatly appreciated.
We will work to provide you with the most accurate information possible about the events. We are planning a town-hall informational meeting about the fires on Monday, July 22. The time and location will be confirmed later today.
We are a community working together, thriving together. We are neighbors helping neighbors.
With respect and care,
Kevin K. O’Brien
Fire Chief/CEO
Orcas Island Fire and Rescue
Thank you to all of you for your response and care in handling these fires. Each and every person, paid or volunteer, went above and beyond in their attention to these sad events. It would have been so much worse without all of you stepping in. Let us hope that it is not arson; that would be devastating news to our island community.
We would like to thank the wonderful responders to the fire that occurred on Willis Lane early July 19th in Olga. We were the couple that were on vacation, staying in the beautiful beach cottage that was adjacent to the carriage house that burned. I called 911 in a panic as we had intense fire, at 3:00 AM in a dark and foreign area to us, and we were blessed by the responders quick response. I would be very proud if I were a member of your community. Please do not forget the owners of the vacation property in your prayers. It is scary to be an owner of property that I feel was deliberately set on fire.
Like we told the people on the scene: I am traumatized by that mornings event (we are home now in Central WA) but my heart goes out to your community as you have a problem on your hands and I pray to God that this is resolved. It is a most glorious piece of earth and for a “devil” to feel the need to torment and cause harm is terrible. Our thoughts are with you and God Bless each of you. PS – We WILL NOT let this deter us from coming back to visit.