Three members of the Bainbridge Island Fire Department have returned to the island after helping firefighters from across the state battle the Canyon Creek Fire in Okanogan County last week.

Officials began mobilizing the state response to the Canyon Creek Fire on Saturday, July 15.

The fire, which started just after noon on July 15 — was fed by dry brush, light timber and grass — had spread to nearly 500 acres by nightfall. With buildings and crops near the town of Carlton under threat, a state mobilization was ordered and four strike teams were mobilized.

Bainbridge Island sent Brush 21 to the blaze, manned by Bainbridge Lt. Josh Foley and firefighter Kyle Nelson. Brush 21 is a specially designed rig outfitted with pumps and other equipment for battling wildland fires.

The pair joined a strike team composed of units from Pierce and Kitsap counties, said Bainbridge Island Assistant Fire Chief Jared Moravec, who gave Bainbridge fire commissioners a brief update of the mobilization late last week.

Lt. Jason Livdahl of the Bainbridge Island Fire Department was also sent to the fire, Moravec said, and he was assigned to lead a strike team from Mason County.

The three left Bainbridge in two separate deployments on July 16.

The fire eventually spread to roughly 1,200 acres, but was contained early last week.

“They were able to get control and get it mopped up,” Moravec said of the firefighters mobilized for the emergency response.

Brush 21 returned to Bainbridge late on July 18, while Livdahl returned the following day.

It was a pretty quick mobilization, Moravec said.

The deployments were the first of the fire season for Bainbridge Island.

The department has had nine requests for assistance so far this summer, but last week’s call-outs were the first that had been authorized under the fire department’s decision matrix for deployments.