Skip to main content

The Night Of The Fire In Pateros, Washington


It's been a pretty rough few days. The fires in our area started I believe the 14th and we spent a few days under a cloud of smoke. Thursday morning the smoke was extremely heavy in Pateros when I left for work. By early noon the reports were not good on the fire being stopped. I had several folks say that the orchards surrounding Pateros would most likely keep it out of the town. Sometime late afternoon in Chelan the wind had picked up and was blowing very hard. As hard as I tried I could not get away from the office, looking back I should have just walked out. I left Chelan at 6 PM Thursday the 17th and by the time I was within a mile or two of Pateros I could see the flames dancing on the hill above the orchard behind our home. It was not good, I had time to change my clothes, move vehicles out of the driveway so fire trucks could reach our home and start moving animals. I managed to get my horse, and my dogs down the hill to the street and loaded. Somewhere in between all the panic and confusion I managed to get my nephew to unplug and grab all my hard drives of my pictures and my laptop. Other than that I walked out with just the cloths on my back and my cowboy boots just in case my horse tried to crunch my toes while loading. By the time we got down to the front street Warren the water towers had burnt up and there was no source of water for any of the town folks to even try to protect their homes if they wanted to. Our evacuation notice came somewhere between one of my trips up and down our driveway. Basically a get out now or be arrested evacuation notice. No fire trucks went up our drive, we didn't see an fire trucks in town until the hardware store that is across the highway and close to the river start burning. We were very blessed, even though our house is a pile of burnt rubble and metal, and most of our sheds and barns are in the same condition, we are safe and sound. I made two trips into the house, one to make sure my nephew or someone grabbed my hard drives and computer and one was a wasted trip to stand in my bedroom door way and my studio to look at all my personnel belongings and wonder what I need to take. Time wasn't on our side and with the panic and the fire racing at a extreme rate my mind would not function, it pretty much had shut down on anything but getting out safely. I wondered if I should grab my backpack, or several backpacks, should I grab cloths, but when it got right down to it I left with pretty much nothing, thinking it was all replaceable in my mind. Looking back I wished I would have grabbed a few things, so much lost, so much that can't be replace, quilts from my grandma, photo albums all kinds of things that I will never have again. We are very thankful to have family that lives close by and family members that their homes were spared in the fire. Pateros and Alta Lake look like a waste land, so much devastation. The community has pulled together with the help of other folks and the donations have rolled in. The Pateros School is a bee hive of activity, and the City of Pateros is working long hours to help the people. It will take time and lots of work to get back on to our land with a roof over our head. So many decisions that have to be made, very stressful time, and all I want to do is head to the mountains to soak in some views that are not black by the fire. Some day soon I will get back out there and enjoy the views, sites and smells. We continue to pray and think about all the folks that have lost their homes and the folks that are still in the line of the fire.

The following photo's were taken in June, I believe on a hike through the Beaver Creek, Pipestone Canyon area in Twisp. Such a beautiful place, from some pictures I saw online recently, not sure that it will be this beautiful for a long time. I still have many pictures of spring hikes to post, not sure when I will get them caught up or if I will this year. My priority's have changed, getting a roof over my head and my folks is going to take top priority.
Labels:

Comments

  1. EmmaJuly 23, 2014 at 9:16 AM

    Gorgeous photos. So clean and fresh looking! ! Such a rough time! !

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cutthroat Trail.......Snowshoeing North Cascades Highway

I have a confession to make, I have been having some winter blues. Not sure if they can be officially called winter blues due to we have had little to no winter. I have been very impatiently waiting for the snow to arrive, it comes, blows through, makes the ground white, then its gone. The last few days we have been sitting at temperatures in the 40's. What is up with winter. One thing I can say for sure is I am very thankful for the few trips we made up highway 20 before the silver star gate was closed. Our trip to Cutthroat Trail was back in November, when we had visions of winter coming to the valley very soon. The snow was nice and fluffy and deep. Pleasant day to get out and enjoy it, one of those days where your not sure if the clouds where going to allow the blue sky to show it self or not. We parked right off the highway with a couple of other cars and Snowshoed up the road to the trail head. Wasn't very long and more hikers, cross country skiers, and furry
3 comments
Read more

The Places We Can Go

Life goes on, things change, storms of life come and go.  One thing that always remains the same is the feeling and quiet peace I feel from being in the mountains.  This was a spur of the moment overnight trip.  It was so needed and such a beautiful time.  Left the house around 2:30 PM, traffic was so slow heading up Hwy 20, lots of folks heading out of Mazama.  Arrived at the trail head a few minutes before 4 PM, and we were off down the trail in a few minutes.  Three quarters of a mile down the trail a bee or some kind of flying ant decided to bite my nieces eye lid, talk about hysteria for a moment.   I was pretty sure our trip was over, but we were able to move on with a very cold creek soaked multipurpose face mask.  The sun was sinking fast and the wind was howling by the time we reached the top.  Made some quick decisions on the best place to park the tents, and we set up camp.  It was truly an incredible evening, hiked around a bit and watched the sun slip behind the mountains.
Post a Comment
Read more

Carlton Complex Wildfire, Pateros Washington

The last few weeks have been crazy busy. I spent last weekend moving my animals back home to a mostly burnt out barn yard. We had a small patch of trees and garden space that escaped the fire, which was where my dog pens were located. So they were able to return to a fairly normal life. The horse pen was kind of a hit and miss burnt area, since there wasn't a whole lot of vegetetaion in it the fences took most of the heat. The metal panels got a nice rusty color to them, with some serious scorch marks. Besides my horse having red smudge colored marks on his nose from the fencing he seems to be adjusting to his return home. We have found temporary living close by so it has made taking care of my animals easier, and a stress off of where we be this winter. The town is slowly getting the debris removed and homesteads cleaned up. Lots of piles of rubble and cut down trees piled up in the city lot areas. I understand that Okanogan County and the Confederated Tribes Of the Co
1 comment
Read more