Why is the Quillayute Airport Important?
With Highway 101 being the one road in and the one road out, Forks and its surrounding communities are easily isolated when a natural disaster occurs. We live on the edge of several geologic fault zones.
Most geoscientists are reluctant to make predictions, but those who are willing to do so estimate the likelihood of a Cascadia event happening within the next 50 years at somewhere between 10% and 37%.
Shaking intensity is predicted to be most severe along the outer coastline.
The tsunami flood zone is predicted to completely inundate the lower Village in La Push and extend six miles upstream past the confluence of the Quillayute and Bogachiel rivers.
In Port Angeles, it will completely flood Ediz Hook and downtown.
In Seattle, the tsunami will reach to the base of Smith Tower and completely cover Harbor Island.
Tacoma's port district will be completely engulfed and likely rendered inoperable.
In Grays Harbor, coastal communities from Copalis Beach to Grayland will be badly damages. Further inland, the tsunami will reach lower elevations from Hoquiam to Cosmopolis and extend up the Chehalis river as far as Mox Chuck Slough.
The aftermath will bring cleanup efforts for hundreds of thousands of tons of debris.
Most, if not all, of the bridges in the Forks area will be damaged or destroyed. It will be weeks to months before road travel to Port Angeles and beyond will be restored.
Communications will be down.
Power and water systems will be down.
Just within the 3 Rivers and La Push communities, as many as 4,000 visitors and 1,100 residents will be stranded.
The Quillayute Airport is our best hope for support and recovery -- not just for the greater Forks and La Push communities, but for the entire west coast of Washington.
The 3 Rivers Fire Department (CCFD6) applied for and received an $87,270 grant from the Washington Department of Commerce to study the feasibility of building a solar / battery microgrid installation at the Quillayute Airport that would support both emergency services and potential commercial services. This report will be available at the Quillayute Airport for Community Resilience website (www.QA4CR.org), which is another asset that has been made available by the Department of Commerce grant.
The study confirmed the status of the Quillayute Airport as an important staging point for emergency response and recommended a solar array, battery storage, and a backup generator to enable the facility to provide adequate power during times when grid power is unavailable.
As vital as the Quillayute Airport is to recovery after a major event leaves us isolated, whole community recovery and resilience depend upon education and individual preparation. Here are a few websites to get you started:
Quillayute Airport for Community Resilience
City of Forks Quillayute Airport Master Plan
Clallam County Emergency Management
Washington Emergency Management Division
The Airport must become more than an emergency operations asset. It needs daily use to support its continued operation and fulfill its role in supporting the local economy. What other light manufacturing options make sense for the Airport?
How might the local economy improve if daily flights were scheduled between the Quillayute and Fairchild airports? How would it improve if executive jet owners were regular patrons of the airport?
The sky's not the limit for the Quillayute Airport. The only limit is our imagination and our collective will to make improvements happen.
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