My Everyday Photos

I just looked back at some of my summer posts from before the fires started. Hikes, wildflowers, fun with friends and dogs, celebrations, camping with my husband. I am lucky to have such a good life. After the fire my life will gone on as before but with a greater awareness of the dangers of wildfires.

For others, that is not the case. Authorities are now saying that 300 homes were lost. 300 families displaced. There was already a lack of family homes in this valley. Where do these people go? Will they stay? Do they have friends and families to take them in til new arrangements can be made? It’s a tragedy.

In addition to homes for people, homes for wildlife have been destroyed. Most of the mule deer winter range burned. Where will they turn? The berry crop was destroyed. What will the bears eat? Where will the birds build nests next summer? How many animals could not outrun the fire?

Yesterday I drove to Chelan with MA and even though we’d seen countless images of the destruction, we were both taken aback by the scenes along the way.

3 ribbons meant level 3 evacuation.

Fire fighters remove hazard trees from near the highway

An old storage building next to the highway

Camping memories

Utah firefighters watch for flare ups near the mouth of the Methow River

The litter burned

So hot it cracked

The fire burned around this Native American graveyard near the mouth of the Methow

Prickly pear cacti

Some homes survived and others did not

Pateros

A neighborhood burned except for this pool

No apples to pick this year

Ash covers the ground like snow