Crossposted from the KCSO Newsletter

On the evening of Sunday, Aug. 6, just before 7 p.m., Marine Unit Deputy Matt Martin and Deputy Alex Thomas were making a routine patrol and safety check on Lake Sammamish. During their rounds, they observed a significant plume of smoke forming along the lake’s western shoreline. Sensing a potential danger, Deputies Martin and Thomas went to investigate and located the beginnings of a small brush fire.

Responding promptly, they moored their Marine boat at a dock and immediately acted, utilizing both lake water and their equipment to extinguish the flames. By a fortunate twist of fate, a proactive onlooker from a nearby social event swiftly joined the effort, employing buckets to battle the flames. Coincidentally, this selfless individual happened to be none other than Deputy Connor Paczosa, an off-duty KCSO Deputy who, after a recent viral post, is now fondly known as “the llama guy.”

The combined efforts of this water-wielding trio and several other active bystanders led to the successful containment of the fire before the Bellevue Fire Department arrived. Their collaborative and swift response prevented a potentially hazardous fire from escalating. Great job!

Needing to find a new home for a beloved pet is sometimes a difficult reality. While Regional Animal Services of King County strives to ensure surrendered pets have the best possible stay at the Pet Adoption Center, shelters are still a stressful place for animals. That’s why RASKC has partnered with Home To Home, an online interactive pet placement platform, to help people find new homes for their pets.

Home To Home is easy to use. People needing to rehome a pet can visit kingcounty.gov/HomeToHome to register for the service and post a profile of their animal, including pictures and a brief description. Interested adopters can also visit the website to register and search for a new pet. Once a match is made, the current guardian can share information directly with the potential adopter about the pet. Read more.

Does your unincorporated community have the services it needs? Do you need more summer camps, food banks, or tutoring services? Complete the Community Needs survey to help plan and prioritize future spending for your neighborhood. Fill out your survey today at https://publicinput.com/CommunityNeeds.

The Community Needs survey is your opportunity to tell us how you want to see funding spent and what services you need to see in your community. Through the Community Needs survey, we ask neighbors what they want and need from their local government to support them as they build strong communities. This feedback helps us create a more effective and efficient program that responds more directly to local priorities and builds everyone’s strengths so that the neighborhoods thrive together. Take the survey.

Check out the latest Recovery Plan Annual Report to learn more about how King County is investing its federal Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery (CLFR) funds to ensure an equitable recovery for everyone in our community. This annual performance report is required by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and describes the County’s use of over $430 million in CLFR funding. This year’s report includes 107 programs that range in focus from homelessness response, public health response, equitable economic recovery, community resiliency, Jobs and Housing, and County operations. Learn more.