Whether you’re standing in 20 inches of powder in the city, or three feet in the foothills, Sequim and Western Washington’s snowfall has become a national story for news and weather outlets.
The latest snowstorm brings many locals back to the 1996 storm that blanketed the area.
Sequim’s snow surge has kept road crews, utility workers and first responders busy responding to power outages, packed roadways and dozens of slips and falls.
Rainfall is expected to begin turning much of the snow to slush but more snow is predicted to fall throughout the week, the National Weather Service reports.
Roof collapses in Sequim
Clallam County Fire District 3 firefighters saved an 85-year-old man from being pinned under his porch roof after it collapsed on him while he was clearing snow on Monday morning.
District 3 Fire Chief Ben Andrews reports the man, later identified as an EMT volunteer for the district, called 9-1-1 himself to report his leg was pinned under the roof.
Crews responded at 9:43 a.m. to the 200 block of Sturdevant Road off Fish Hatchery Road, Andrews said, to find the roof had knocked the man to the floor, pinning him down. Deck furniture kept it from collapsing fully.
A medic and ambulance crew stabilized the patient and found him in good spirits, Andrews said.
District crews set up bracing and shoring to stabilize the remaining upright portion of the roof so medics and EMTs could safely work, he said.
Three Clallam County Roads Department employees and a Clallam County Sheriff’s Office deputy helped clear snow from the roof to help identify where the man’s leg was pinned.
Andrews said the man was safely removed about an hour from his 9-1-1 call, and medics opted to send him to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle due to his injuries.
Because of deep snow and steep conditions, fire/medic crews hand-carried the man in a stokes basket about 300 yards to a four-wheel drive SUV and drove to Fish Hatchery Road, where an ambulance took him to Sequim Valley Airport. He was then airlifted in a US Navy helicopter from Whidbey Island to Seattle.
Andrews said the man was transported in stable condition.
Further response
Andrews said fire chiefs plan to keep additional staff until the snow storms are expected to stop.
“We’re going to keep staffing up,” he said. “It slows us down when we take a patient to the (Port Angeles) hospital there and back.”
To compensate for road conditions, Andrews said Olympic Ambulance staff will remain on a main road during an incident call awaiting potential patient transport from Fire District 3 ambulances that are mostly four-wheel drive.
Over the weekend and on Monday, fire and medic crews encountered some instances where patients had to be carried from their homes to medical transports.
A majority of the Fire District’s calls, Andrews said, have been people, mostly with mobility challenges, falling and injuring ankles and wrists.
He said the number of car wrecks they’ve responded to is down from past snow incidents.
“We appreciate people not driving unless they’ve needed to,” Andrews said.
Sequim Police Chief Sheri Crain said when snow began falling on Friday the department received calls about vehicle slides, but that there weren’t many reports of property damage.
“A lot of kudos goes to (Sequim Public Works) working 12 hour shifts, and around the clock to clear roads,” she said.
Incidents remained small through the weekend, Crain said.
“People weren’t coming out unless they needed to,” she said.
Of note, two vehicles struck light poles in separate incidents and a semi-truck was briefly stuck in a roundabout on Saturday.
Sequim police haven’t added additional staffing, Crain said, and the department’s new SUVs handle the snow much better than their older Ford Crown Victorias.
Unfortunately, Sequim’s portion of US Highway 101 saw a large sum of collisions over the weekend. Trooper Chelsea Hodgson, Washington State Patrol public information officer, said of 32 collisions reported in Clallam County from Friday-Sunday, 14 were reported between Whitefeather Way and Carlsborg Road.
None involved injuries, Hodgson said, and mostly involved vehicles spinning out, hitting guardrails and/or driving off the roadway and becoming stuck.
Roads and outages
Crews with the City of Sequim, Clallam County and the Department of Transportation continue to clear main roadways despite repeated snowfall that first started its first dumping around 8 a.m. Friday, Feb. 8, and didn’t let up for about 18 hours.
City staff reported its road crews are focused on putting down sand and salt to help with the snow and ice. They’ll continue 12 hour shifts, 24 hours a day as snow continues, city staff said.
City residents are asked to clear sidewalks in front of homes and businesses.
Clallam PUD reported a majority of its power outages came and went on Saturday, Feb. 9 with residents first reporting outages in Agnew after midnight.
At its peak, more than 5,000 homes/businesses were without power across Clallam County and a portion of Jefferson County.
In the Sequim area, Agnew, Blyn, Carlsborg, Diamond Point, Lost Mountain and isolated areas in Sequim were affected.
Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
The sun peeks through the skyline along Silberhorn Road on Saturday. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
Snow covers the Sequim grain elevator on Sunday along with the statue “Benji’s Leap” by Jay Wright. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
Due to snowy conditions, crewmen with Clallam County Fire District 3 carry an 85-year-old man to an SUV in order to airlift him to Seattle for care. Photo courtesy of Clallam County Fire District 3
City of Sequim staffer Gary Butler helps clear sidewalks near the Sequim Civic Center Tuesday morning. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell
