DATE OF INCIDENT: 5/22/2010
INCIDENT TYPE: Special Situation
INCIDENT ADDRESS: Indian Trail Road and Pacific Park Drive
CITY: Spokane
STATE: WA
ZIP: 99208
NARRATIVE: The Spokane City Fire Dept. received a request from the Washington State Dept. of Fish and Wildlife at 12:20 on Saturday, May 22nd, asking about the feasibility of using one of the Fire Dept.'s aerial devices in an attempt to tranquilize a black bear that was located high up in a tree inside the City limits. The bear was in a large pine tree located just off of Indian Trail Road near Pacific Park Drive where many curious on-lookers were gathering to watch the unusual spectacle and where people driving by on Indian Trail Road were starting to create a traffic bottle-neck by trying to get a glimpse of the animal. It rapidly became a priority to remove the bear from the highly populated area. The Fire Dept dispatched Spokane Ladder 2, housed at North Foothills Drive and Nevada, accompanied by one of the two on-duty Battalion Chiefs to the scene in order to meet with Officers of the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife and Officers of the Spokane City Police Dept., who were on scene as well, to discuss the situation and to formulate an action plan that would protect the citizens living in the area from the bear and, hopefully, result in the removal of the bear without serious injury to him. The Officers of the Fish and Wildlife Dept. already had a plan in mind and that was to put one of their Officers in the bucket of Ladder 2, armed with a tranquilizer rifle, and to have the crew of the Ladder manipulate their aerial device to a position where the Officer could get a clean shot at the bear's backside and then to consider alternatives in removing the tranquilized bear from the tree into a waiting bear pen parked in the field directly below the tree where the bear had taken up temporary residence. While the Police closed down all traffic on Indian Trail the crew of Ladder 2 positioned their Fire Apparatus across all lanes of the roadway and extended their stabilizing jacks prior to raising their ladder and its bucket. The Fish and Wildlife Officer, accompanied in the bucket by two firefighters, was lifted to a height where he could clearly see his target and after waiting patiently for a number of minutes for the bear to quit moving around he fired a dart into the bear's backside. The effect of the single dart of the tranquilizer was not having the anticipated results so it was decided to reposition the Ladder and attempt another shot from a different angle at the still awake bear. The second dart also hit its mark and after a few minutes the bear was starting to feel the effects of the tranquilizer. As plans were being talked over about possible ways to safely remove the bear from the tree should he fall asleep wedged up in the tree, the bear began to move some more and for a while it appeared he was going to try to climb even higher. The bears' coordination and his strength were now starting to fail him and any plans for trying to remove him were no longer necessary as all of a sudden he lost his grip and his footing on his perilous perch and began to fall, breaking off some small tree limbs as he was falling to the ground. A safety device to break the bears' fall that had been positioned around the base of the tree by the Fish and Game Officers early on in the incident helped as the bear hit the device and then the ground. The now sleeping black bear appeared to have no serious injuries and he was quickly picked up by Fish and Game Officers and a Police Officer and then loaded into the waiting bear pen soon to be transported to an unknown but distant location.
PROBABLE CAUSE: Black bear in a tree.
DAMAGE EXTENT: No damage.
DOLLAR LOSS: 0
FIREFIGHTER RESPONSE: 5
MUTUAL AID: None Given
For more information on this release, please call (509)625-7002 and/or check out the SFD Blog at www.spokanefire.blogspot.com
END OF RELEASE
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