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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2015
Storms knock out power for thousands BY MEGAN CAMPBELL AND DANIEL NASH ISSAQUAH/SAMMAMISH REPORTER
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A Puget Sound Energy crew member works to restore power in Sammamish Tuesday. See more stormrelated articles on page 7.
High winds and rain left thousands of Puget Sound Energy customers in Sammamish and hundreds in Issaquah without power for the better part of Tuesday, with a few hundred continuing to be affected through Wednesday. On Tuesday morning, 3,259 customers' power went out in the area northwest of the intersection of Southeast 48th Street and Issaquah-Pine Lake Road Southeast. Meanwhile, in the Issaquah Highlands near Grandview Park, 273 customers experienced outages. The outages temporarily disabled the traffic light at the busy intersection of Interstate 90 and Front Street in Issaquah, according to city communications staff. PSE initially estimated the outages would be corrected by
Tryon named EF&R interim fire chief
noon, but the number of Sammamish power customers going dark increased to 4,400 by Tuesday afternoon, with the count in Issaquah increasing to more than 400. By evening, the number in Sammamish had decreased to 3,000 while Issaquah outages increased to 550. As of 7 a.m. Wednesday, scattered remaining outages were affecting only 40 Sammamish customers and 340 Issaquah customers. The outages occurred during a National Weather Service high wind watch for the region. Forecasts had predicted a south southwest wind blowing at 29- to 32 mph with 48 mph gusts. On Tuesday afternoon, the @NWSSeattle Twitter account reported the Service had recorded a 57 mph gust at a 1,900-foot elevation point on Tiger Mountain. News Desk: 425-391-0363; news@issaquahreporter.com
READY TO MEET THE WORLD Eastside firefighter Mark Harper, firefighter Jason Stotler and Lt. Ryan Anderson pose with mother Jessica Kober, father Ryan Kober and newborn Melody in the Kobers’ Swedish hospital room after they delivered Melody in Eastside Fire Station 83 Nov. 11.
BY DANIEL NASH ISSAQUAH/SAMMAMISH REPORTER
Fire Chief Lee Soptich announced Monday that Eastside Fire and Rescue had selected Deputy Chief Greg Tryon as interim fire chief following Soptich's retirement. Soptich called the selection "right for all the right reasons." "He has the institutional knowledge, professional skills and well-tuned abilities to take on this next personal challenge and will not be one to just fill the seat,” Soptich said. Tryon, an Issaquah resident and Issaquah High School alumnus, is a 23-year veteran of the fire department who began as a volunteer at Sammamish's Station 81 in 1992. He joined the department professionally in 1994 and worked his way up the ranks, becoming deputy chief in 2011. Tryon's interim position becomes effective Dec. 1, following Soptich's Nov. 30 retirement, and will last through the selection of a permanent fire chief. Eastside Fire and Rescue leaders anticipate Feb. 1 as the date for selecting a permanent chief. "To have the opportunity to serve such an incredible organization, in any capacity, let alone as the fire chief, is truly an SEE CHIEF, 11
Courtesy of Ryan Anderson
EF&R firefighters deliver Sammamish baby in Station 83 BY MEGAN CAMPBELL ISSAQUAH/SAMMAMISH REPORTER
A Sammamish newborn was in a hurry to come into the world Nov. 11, only a few minutes after her father, eyes big
and anxious, pounded for help on an Eastside Fire & Rescue station door yelling, “My wife is pregnant,” Lt. Ryan Anderson recalled the next day. Anderson was one of the three-member crew inside when
the Kober family arrived around 11:30 a.m. They went right to work when they saw pregnant Jessica Kober outside by her car, Anderson said. There was barely time enough to bring a gurney to her and roll her inside Station 83, located off of Issaquah-Pine Lake Road Southeast, before baby Melody arrived. SEE BABY, 11
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