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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.

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  1. EmmaJuly 23, 2014 at 9:16 AM

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

    ReplyDelete

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