A fund has been established to benefit the family of Mike Beery, a 29-year-old East Jefferson Fire Rescue firefighter who died in an 800-foot fall Friday, Jan. 10 while climbing Mt. Rainier.
Beery is survived by his wife, a 6-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter, now helped by the Mike Beery Family Fund, First Federal Savings, P.O. Box 351, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
The Port Angeles resident was on a three-day glacier trip with one of his best friends, fellow Jefferson County Fire District 1 firefighter Ryan Tillman. It was Beery's third ascent of the mountain. About 6:15 a.m. Friday, Tillman was able to contact 911 to report the accident that occurred on Gibraltar Chute. Mt. Rainier National Park rangers responded, but Beery could not be revived. Tillman was uninjured and evacuated from the mountain.
The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
Beery graduated from Sequim High School in 1993 and has been actively involved with the fire service since, reported spokesperson Patrick Young from East Jefferson Fire Rescue. Mike was a member of the Clallam County Fire District 3 (Sequim) Explorer program, leaving in 1995 to work with a fire department at a science research facility in Antarctica. He then worked in both Cheyenne, Wyo., and Sequim as an EMT/firefighter.
Beery was hired in September 2000 as a firefighter/EMT for Jefferson County Fire District 1 (Tri-Area/Marrowstone). That fire district is currently in the process of consolidating with two other Jefferson County fire departments to form East Jefferson Fire Rescue.
Mike is described as an exceptionally caring man who made a difference in people
