According to an annual report from the Office of the State Fire Marshal and Washington State Patrol, East Pierce Fire and Rescue responded to more than 6,000 incidents last year.

The report was released last month to the public via the Internet.

East Pierce Fire and Rescue personnel responded to 6,385 incidents which resulted in $1.9 million in property and content loss.

The Buckley Fire Department, according to the report, responded to 1,028 total calls and $1 million in damage or content loss.

In the county overall, fire departments responded to a total of 101,456 calls resulting in $27.7 million in losses.

Data was collected from 28 fire agencies throughout the county.

In Washington, 11 of the 39 counties have populations of more than 100,000, which represents 83 percent of the state’s total population. In 2008, approximately 86 percent of the incidents occurred in the more densely-populated counties.

Statewide, 412 agencies responded to 599,057 incidents with damage and content loss pegged at $227.8 million.

“In 2008, there were over 24,000 fires resulting in 45 deaths reported by the Washington State Fire Service,” said State Fire Marshal Michael Matlick. “Fires have a devastating affect on our communities.”

In the first 71 days of this year, 18 confirmed fire fatalities had been reported to the Office of the State Fire Marshal, an increase of 157 percent increase compared with the same period last year.

The report is available online at www.wa.gov/wsp/fire/data/nfire.htm.

Reach Dannie Oliveaux at doliveaux@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/courierherald or 360-802-8209.