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Tag Archives: wildfire

Walking Through the Fire

Many of my favorite walking areas burned this summer so most of my images these days reflect the effects of fire. I apologize if you’re tired of them. Think how I must feel, seeing this and smelling this everyday; wiping ash from the dogs’ feet before they come in on a wet day.

It will be better when the snow falls and next spring I look forward to lots of green grasses and vibrant wildflowers.

These photos are from near the start of the Cougar Flats Fire, part of the Carlton Complex.

Eerily beautiful on a sunny fall day.
Imagine how hot it burned through here.
Some areas suffered patchy ground fires and the trees survived.
These elderberries did not survive
Guthrie
New grasses sprouted this fall from areas that didn’t burn too hot.
Fall colors contrasted with burned trees.

Ed’s Images

Our friends Ed and Torre live directly across the valley from us and a little higher on the hill. They had a perfect view of the perfect storm of a fire that burned here on August 1. Torre was on the phone to me telling me to get out as I was grabbing stuff and throwing it in the truck as fast as I could. Later we kept in touch by phone as they watched our house disappear into the thick smoke and then later reappear to be saved by helicopters with buckets of water. When the smoke first covered the house there were three fire trucks from our local volunteers – Okanogan District 6! We believe they saved the place the first time as the initial fire raced across the hill.

Here are some of Ed’s photos of the helicopter action. You can see more of Ed’s work at his Flickr site.

Ken found the pilot of the orange and white helicopter that put out that burning woodpile and expressed our undying gratitude to him.

That burning wood pile had the huge potential to set the shop on fire and then the house. We are so lucky.
This one stopped the fire.

Remains

Pictures below are what remains after the Rising Eagle Road fire. It’s been nine days since it happened and we have been on a roller coaster of emotions. Elated that our house survived and is intact. In despair over losing 2/3 of the bee hives. Happy that our well did not get fried and that we have a generator to run it and keep things wet and green as much as possible. Saddened over every little lost thing we notice each day. Really happy that our insurance company is being easy to work with. We are sorry for people who have not had such results with the bureaucracy.

We think the fire fighters on the ground and in the air are the best and we are forever grateful to them. The utility workers who replaced burned up poles and strung the wires and fiber while working sixteen hour days without complaint are another set of heroes.

And we are deeply saddened by the tremendous loss of homes on the hills around us and also in other locations around the Methow Valley.

Our address sign needs a new post
We never knew we had so many rocks
Nails from the neighbors’ garage
Remains of a remote camera
Our dog cemetery – hard to believe it used to be shaded by pine trees and serviceberry
Sam’s tag
The deer are very nervous
Fire fighters returned for days to put out the remaining smokes
A single Chipping Sparrow. Normally I’d see at least two together
Killer trees?
Fire truck from Johnson County Kansas
Remains of a vacation home
I put up feeders for the birds
I’ve found several dead rubber boas – a gentle snake that lives underground for the most part
Guess what this was
Melted glass
The day after the fire a tremendous wind blew through here and toppled trees
This used to be the tiny path we walked daily. The utility workers used it to repair the power lines.
Our house in an island of green surrounded by a blacked landscape
The hummingbirds are still here. I am surprised.
Only two bee hives where Ken once had six
Wasps eat the remains of the honey from the burned hives
I loved that arching serviceberry and tall pine
My favorite aspens
Two days ago the dogs and I finally walked uphill above the fire line into the tall grasses and sage
Smoke from the Falls Creek fire

Views from our Porch

The reality is that these wildfires are going to continue til the snow falls. More than 250,000 acres have burned already and while some areas of the fires are contained, others are not. Fire managers will probably let some areas burn up to the Tripod fire where no homes or roads are threatened. Tripod burned nearly 200,000 acres in 2006 and we thought that was the biggest fire we would see around here. Other areas of the fires are being fought with forces – helicopters, water trucks and ground crews – to keep them from spreading towards Twisp, Chelan and Okanogan. Anyway, I need to get used to smoke in the air and flames on the horizon. At night, the fires are mesmerizing. It’s hard to tear my eyes away from them. Of course, after dark is the nicest time to be outside since recent high temperatures during the day have been over 100 degrees, fahrenheit.

As darkness settles in, the smoke lifts and flames become visible
Sunsets are colorful

Realities

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