Nile-Cliffdell Fire & Rescue Dist #14

10/17/2026

🚒 MEET AUNT MARY — TENDER 11! 🚒

Every fire truck has a story. This one has a name, a legacy, and a whole lot of horsepower!

Over the past several weeks, Tender 11, affectionately known as “Aunt Mary,” has been hard at work supporting prescribed burning operations on Bethel Ridge. And if there was ever a place to demonstrate what this truck is capable of, it’s the rugged mountains above the Nile Valley!

🔥 GOOD FIRE. HEALTHY FORESTS. STRONGER COMMUNITIES.

Prescribed burning is an important part of responsible forest and wildlife management. When conducted under carefully planned conditions, prescribed fire helps reduce hazardous fuel loads, improve forest health, restore natural ecosystems, and create healthier wildlife habitat.

These operations also help reduce the potential severity of future wildfires, protecting our forests, firefighters, and the communities we serve.

We’re proud to support these important land management efforts and the agencies working to keep our forests healthy.

🔥 CURRENT PRESCRIBED BURNING OPERATIONS

Current prescribed burning operations are taking place in and around the Carol Flats area on Bethel Ridge. Residents and visitors may notice smoke in the surrounding area as crews continue their work when weather and conditions permit.

For more information about these prescribed burns, including their purpose, benefits, and planned burn areas, visit the News section of our new website at www.nilefire.org.

🚒 NOW, ABOUT AUNT MARY…

Aunt Mary isn’t your ordinary water tender.

She’s a Freightliner tanker-pumper capable of transporting thousands of gallons of water while also providing pumping capabilities for active fire suppression.

Equipped with a front bumper-mounted monitor, a deck gun, and a full complement of firefighting hose, she can deliver serious water where it’s needed most.

Add all-wheel drive and locking differentials, and you’ve got an absolute animal in the mountains!

Making repeated trips to the top of Bethel Ridge and back, Aunt Mary has demonstrated exactly why having capable, purpose-built apparatus is so important in a mountainous fire district like ours.

❤️ SO, WHO IS AUNT MARY?

The story behind her name is just as special as the truck herself.

Tender 11 came to Nile-Cliffdell Fire & Rescue through the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Federal Excess Personal Property (FEPP) Program, which helps place surplus federal equipment into service with fire agencies.

But acquiring the truck was only the beginning.

Aunt Mary needed significant repairs before she could become the dependable, mission-ready apparatus our district needed. Those repairs required funding that can be difficult to find in a small, rural volunteer fire district.

That’s when Matson Fruit Company stepped up.

Through their generous financial support, Matson Fruit helped fund the much-needed repairs that made it possible to put this truck into service.

In recognition of that generosity, Tender 11 was named “Aunt Mary” in honor of the matriarch of the Matson family.

It’s a name that represents much more than a piece of firefighting equipment. It represents family, community, generosity, and the lasting difference that people and businesses can make when they choose to support their local fire department.

And we couldn’t think of a better way to honor that support than to put Aunt Mary to work doing what she does best!

From the Matson family’s generosity to the mountain roads of Bethel Ridge, Aunt Mary is a reminder that great things happen when communities come together.

To Matson Fruit Company, Washington DNR, and everyone who helped bring Aunt Mary into service, thank you. Your support continues to make a real difference in our ability to protect lives, property, and the lands we all care about.

After weeks of hauling water up and down Bethel Ridge, one thing is certain:

Aunt Mary may have a sweet name, but she’s an absolute beast in the mountains! 💪🚒

Nile-Cliffdell Fire & Rescue
The

10/15/2026

🚒🔥 BIG NEWS FROM THE FIGHTING 410s! 🔥🚒

WE’RE LIVE! 🌐

Nile-Cliffdell Fire & Rescue is excited to officially announce the launch of our brand-new website!

👉 www.nilefire.org

For a small, all-volunteer fire department serving one of the most beautiful—and challenging—areas of Yakima County, communication and community engagement are incredibly important.

Our new website is more than just a place to learn about your fire department. It’s a resource designed to better connect our community, our visitors, and the firefighters who proudly serve them.

Here’s what you’ll find:

🚒 Meet the Fighting 410s – Learn about our department, our firefighters, our stations, and the apparatus that keep us ready to respond.

🔥 Public Safety & Emergency Information – Important resources including wildfire preparedness, burn restrictions, and emergency information.

🧗 Training & Technical Rescue – See how we’re expanding our capabilities to meet the unique challenges of our mountain community.

👨‍🚒 Join Our Team – Interested in becoming a Fighting 410? Learn how you can volunteer and make a difference.

❤️ Support Your Firefighters – Discover ways to support our department through donations, fundraising, merchandise, and our Firefighters Association.

📅 News & Events – Stay connected with department announcements, community events, and what’s happening throughout the district.

Built for our community. Dedicated to those we serve.

Our mission has always been to protect the lives, safety, and property of everyone who lives in or visits our district. This website is another step toward fulfilling that commitment.

We’re proud of what we’re building here, and we’re excited to share it with you.

Take a look, explore the site, and let us know what you think!

And please SHARE THIS POST to help us spread the word!

🌐 www.nilefire.org

Nile-Cliffdell Fire & Rescue
The Fighting 410s

Ad Liberandum. 🚒🔥

10/10/2026

🚒 THE FIGHTING 410s KEEP RAISING THE BAR! 🧗‍♂️

Another milestone reached. Another capability gained. Another step forward in serving our community.

This week, members of Nile-Cliffdell Fire & Rescue successfully completed their Technical Rope Rescue Operations certification!

Following a full week of intensive classroom instruction, hands-on training, and challenging field exercises, our firefighters return home with new skills, greater confidence, and expanded capabilities to respond to the unique emergencies we encounter here in the mountains of Chinook Pass.

From steep terrain and remote wilderness rescues to vehicle accidents over embankments and other complex technical rescue incidents, these are the situations where specialized training, equipment, and teamwork can make the difference between life and death.

For a small, all-volunteer mountain fire department with limited financial resources, achievements like this don’t happen by accident. They happen because of dedicated firefighters willing to invest their time, organizations willing to share their expertise, and partners who believe that the size of a department should never determine the quality of rescue its community receives.

This week also represents another significant milestone in the continued development of the Yakima County Technical Rescue Team — our ongoing effort to bring agencies, personnel, training, and resources together to build a coordinated technical rescue capability throughout Yakima County.

We have some important people to thank:

🚒 City of Yakima Fire Department — Thank you for hosting this week’s training and helping create opportunities for firefighters across our region to develop these critical skills. Your partnership and commitment to regional cooperation are deeply appreciated.

🧗 rescue3international , Rescue Source — Once again, you’ve delivered a truly best-in-class educational experience. Outstanding instructors, a dialed-in training format, and exceptional coursework and instructional materials. Your commitment to developing capable, confident rescue professionals continues to make a lasting impact on our department and our region.

🔴 CMC: Rescue, Safety, Access — Thank you for helping turn our vision into reality. For a small, underfunded volunteer department, acquiring the equipment necessary to develop a legitimate technical rescue capability is an enormous challenge. Your willingness to support our mission is helping us overcome those obstacles and build something that will serve our community for years to come. We are incredibly grateful.

And finally, to our Fighting 410s who put in the work this week — congratulations! Your commitment to training, professionalism, and service is what makes this department what it is. Every new skill you develop makes our entire team stronger and our community safer.

We’re not finished building. Not even close.

Different patches. One team. One mission.

FIGHTING 410s — AD LIBERANDUM!

10/05/2026

The DNR will be doing prescribed burns this week, in case you had questions about the smoke. 🚒

YAKIMA, Wash. - The Washington State Department of Natural Resources has announced that they will be performing a prescribed burn near Yakima on Monday, October 5.

09/26/2026

Help us wish this Fighting 410 a Happy Birthday. Captain Iverson you are the definition of a servant. Your selfless servant leadership drives our department to be better. Your continued service as US Army Reservist, your service to public safety as a Washington State Trooper and of course your service to our community as Captain of the Fighting 410s; you show us all what commitment beyond self looks like.

Happy Birthday Capt!

09/20/2026

Help us wish this Fighting 410 a happy birthday. Firefighter EMT Clark, thank you for your service to the community while serving our department. Thank you for the service to the state while serving as a member Helitack.

Your laughter and lightheartedness combined with your technical medical and fire capability make us a stronger department

Happy Birthday Olive!

09/11/2026

September 11, 2001 — We Remember. 🇺🇸

Twenty-five years ago, our nation experienced a day that changed us forever.

Today, the Fighting 410s pause to remember the 2,977 lives lost on September 11, 2001. We remember those aboard the aircraft, those working in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and every innocent person who left home that morning expecting it to be just another day.

We remember the firefighters, law enforcement officers, EMS personnel, dispatchers, military members, and ordinary citizens who answered an extraordinary call.

Some ran down stairwells toward safety.

Others ran up.

They did so knowing what waited above them. They did it because somewhere up those stairs was someone who needed help.

That is service.

We also remember that the cost of September 11 did not end when the smoke cleared. In the years since, countless first responders, recovery workers, survivors, and their families have continued to bear the physical and emotional consequences of that day. We remember them, too.

For those of us privileged to serve our communities today, September 11 carries a particular responsibility. The patches are different. The uniforms are different. The communities we protect may be thousands of miles apart. But the promise is the same:

When someone needs help, we go.

Here in our little piece of the mountains, that is a promise the Fighting 410s work to keep every day. We train together. We answer together. We look after our neighbors. And when the tones drop, we go—not knowing exactly what waits for us, but knowing someone called because they needed us.

September 11 reminds us why that matters.

Today, we remember the lives that were taken.

We honor those who answered the call.

We stand with the families who still carry their absence.

And we remember a nation that, in one of its darkest moments, chose to stand together.

May we never forget.

— Chief Ryan Clark
Yakima County Fire District -Cliffdell Fire & Rescue | Fighting 410s 🇺🇸

09/09/2026

Help us wish this Fighting 410 a happy birthday! Lieutenant DeCicco, we could not do it with out you.
Lt. DeCicco is :
A) a solid fireman
B) a great EMT
C) a dutiful leader
D) all of the above

Yep, D it is. Happy birthday Lt. Have an amazing day

09/07/2026

Happy Labor Day!

Travel safely today. 🚒