Pateros wildfire: Starting over
By Christine Pratt, The Wenatchee World, Wash. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
In the coming months, The World will continue to check in with fire victims to ask about their successes and difficulties as they move forward.
The Brownlee family lost more than a home when almost an entire city block in
A few days after the fire,
"It had all the heirlooms from the family, from
Behind this house, Brownlee's brother and sister-in-law,
The ashes were still smoldering as the four Brownlee descendants sorted through the ashes in this home, looking for ties to their Scottish and German ancestors.
"Dr. (
Brownlee is a truck driver, and was in
"I knew this house would always be in the family," he said. "I never dreamed we'd lose it in a wildfire. Living in town, you just don't think like that," he said.
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Kerry and Tim Harvey,
Aware of the fire, the Harveys checked in with their sons at about
Their sons didn't get a chance to grab anything, she said.
Instead of recounting her own losses,
Brandton had just graduated from
Harvey said she had kept her sons' rooms like they were when they went off to college, and figured they'd move their things out when they settled down. She remembered their athletic awards, Letterman jackets, and other documentations of their accomplishments.
And the house itself -- "It's the only home they've ever known," she said.
Despite all the loss, the Harveys said they've been so grateful for all the help that friends have offered. "You find out how large your community really is. It reaches all the way to
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He was manning a road block listening to the radio traffic when he learned that the fire had jumped
But Shook said he stayed focused on work. There were people who wanted to bypass the roadblock and get back to their homes. It was his job to prevent them from endangering themselves.
Sgt.
Lindquist said it was tough to go home and find his house had burned down. "It's hard to lose everything. I've never lost everything before," he said, but added, "We will rebuild, and we will survive."
Shook said he learned while he was still working that his house was gone. "As soon as you think you're OK, you go back and take a look at the absolute devastation -- there's nothing left," he said. "There's so much you take for granted -- it's all not there anymore."
But, he said, he believes the experience will make him a better trooper, with more empathy for fire victims. "I'll be able to tell people, 'I know what you're going through.'"
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Smoldering ember
They finally left the scene in the morning to get cleaned up. While away, a smoldering ember they didn't catch caught one of the houses on fire. It spread to another, and two of the six homes burned.
One of the homeowners,
They plan to rebuild, Hall says. "I can't see us going anywhere else," he said. "It was surreal. We're better off than a lot of people, because we have another place to stay."
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"Everybody out!"
The night on the fire, she had 10 tables filled with customers when authorities issued a Level 3 advisory, the most urgent.
"I told all employees and customers, 'Everybody out. Don't worry if you haven't paid, just get out. You've got to go. You've got to get out of here, now,'" she said, remembering that night days after the fire.
She, the restaurant's lead chef and a server watched from the complex's convenience store as the fire crested the hill and bore down on residential
"We walked outside the store and couldn't see 10 feet in front of us, because the smoke was so bad," she said. "It was awful. I was crying."
She evacuated to
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Jennifer is a dispatch supervisor for the
When the deputy returned to tell her the house was gone, Johnson said she couldn't believe it. "I thought it would go around my house. We've always been told we have a good green-belt," she said of her large yard on one side and a wide wrap-around driveway protecting the rest of the house.
Later that day, they went out to see the wreckage. "We came up and saw the tractor, and said, 'It's still there! And the wood -- it's still there!" she said, describing the 12 cords of firewood neatly stacked in one corner of the property, and John's tractor, untouched by fire, right where he left it in the middle of the driveway. "I thought, 'How can we be smiling? The house is gone," she said later. Also unburned: a field of barnaby thistle right next to their yard.
The Johnsons were not insured because of the high cost given by insurance companies that wouldn't believe the house was part of a fire district, Johnson said. She did have mortgage insurance that will pay their remaining debt. Johnson said regular house insurance wouldn't replace the things she truly cared about anyway, like the glass horses her daughter gave her every year.
Johnson said she's grateful that her daughter, Jenna, was visiting from the coast help her husband evacuate their horse, and grab a few things, like her father's paintings, their photo albums, birth certificates and passports.
As for rebuilding, she said, "We're done with the Chiliwist."
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But perhaps hardest of all was losing the house she and her fiance were renting in the
Hamshaw said she only had time to grab some antique jewelry, some photos and her medications. She also took her dog but was so busy, she forgot about her 17-year-old cat until it was too late.
She also lost her wedding dress and the invitations she was making.
The support she has seen from this community will not bring back all the things she lost. But it certainly feels good to know so many people care.
"You can't believe the love that has come from everyone," she said.
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Reach
Reach
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(c)2014 The Wenatchee World (Wenatchee, Wash.)
Visit The Wenatchee World (Wenatchee, Wash.) at www.wenatcheeworld.com
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Wordcount: | 1943 |
Unspeakable pain: As many suffer in silence, a local initiative seeks to lift the shadows
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