2026 Summer Update

Good day, good neighbors,

As members of your volunteer fire department, the Board of Directors and I would like

to wish each and every one of you a safe, healthy year!

After the destructive windstorms we had late winter/ early spring we have our hands

full just with cleanup. Many trees were toppled on roads and houses, and many of us have been spending time trying to clean and pile for future burning.

One of my goals for the summer of 2026 is to be prepared and provide the best

protection to our community. Here are some of the Board’s projects that will be carried into this year from last year:

1. Volunteers spent a good part of one day clearing brush and downed timber above the Shields’ property. We can work to get the beach pump running and set another standpipe on both sides of the draw to provide quicker and easier reliable water flow to that end of the beach. This is the Board’s number one goal.

2. With the two donated tanks the board has decided that one will be set up on the southern edge near the forest service/ Miller line to provide fire suppression along that perimeter. This tank will be fed by our hydrant in the meadow and supported by the Hyer family’s system that was recently put in by the family.

3. We continue to work with the Pine Cove community to find a common area that makes sense to place our other donated tank so we can provide quicker and better response should we have to. For our friends in Pine Cove please speak with your fire board members as we need and value your input about these safety efforts.

Last year at this time I wrote: “We also hope to work with the forest service to create a fire break along that southern ridge to provide ourselves with further protection”.

This spring, led by board member Don Holland, we were able to spend an informal day

with Panhandle Supervisor Andrew Skowlund in Pine Cove/Kilroy Bay. In other words, we met on “our turf”, not in the office. Board members Doug Peters, Jim Miller, Don Holland, volunteer Terry Hyer and I toured Andrew around our community and the road over the hill to Granite creek. He was very impressed with what the community has been able to accomplish as far as fire preparedness and structure protection. All of us felt that it was a great meeting and having seen things first-hand Andrew now has a stake in the community!! Soon after our meeting Don Holland received a message from Andrew stating that work on the road system from Clark Fork to Kilroy would start in the fall.

I hope you can visualize the good things that are happening and could be happening

“firewise” for the Kilroy Bay-Pine Cove communities, but we still need your help to protect it. The department will always welcome new volunteers to help prepare for the upcoming fire season. Your donation, whether it is time or money (hopefully both!) are the “backbone” to our success in achieving the goals of making Kilroy Bay and Pine Cove as safe as we can. We’d like to see you become involved. Everyone is welcome!

Your donations make all this possible. This year we are again asking you to chip in

$200 or anything you can afford. Please make checks payable to KB&PC VFD and mail to

Nancy Kvamme

1750 N Harvest Parkway

Liberty Lake, WA 99019-5245

This week, we are all witnessing fire season happening. The Upriver fire in the

Spokane Valley and the Gold Run fire in the Silver Valley. People’s lives being torn apart.

Homes destroyed. I ask everyone to take extra caution on use of equipment (saws, vehicles, etc). Stay on designated roads and also be careful with firearms. Projectiles can lead to sparks. And for obvious safety reasons please refrain from open fires. Use caution with charcoal or gas fires and BBQs. Make sure you have buckets, water hose and shovels nearby. Please be extremely careful with 4th of July celebrations. We are closely watching when the forest service closes all campfires and will be following their example at that time, and that will mean no open flame.

Be safe, enjoy the summer, and we hope to see you all this summer.

Thanks, and stay safe!

Tim Martin

Volunteer Fire Chief