Carlton Complex Fire, one year anniversary section

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Methow Valley News

PUBLISHED WEEKLY SINCE 1903

T WISP, WASHINGTON

VOL . 113 NO. 10

W W W. METHOW VALLEYNEWS.COM

JULY 15, 2015

$1

The longest year ...

Photo by Steve Mitchell

The Carlton Complex Fire created an eerily beautiful show at night, even as it ravaged huge chunks of Methow Valley acreage.

On the anniversary of the Carlton Complex Fire’s outbreak, a community looks forward

By Marcy Stamper

The Carlton Complex Long Term Recovery Group (CCLTRG) has come a long way since representatives from social-service agencies, relief organizations, mental health providers, and concerned citizens began meeting in the earliest days after the fire — even before the electricity came back on in July 2014.

As it has learned more about people’s needs — and as needs change — CCLTRG has hired key staff and started work on eight of the 11 homes in their first phase of rebuilding. The group plans to build 40 homes for people with insufficient resources to recover on their own.

With an executive director, a reconstruction project manager, a volunteer coordinator, and a development and

communications coordinator, plus a phalanx of volunteers — 678 since last fall, and 3,520 volunteer hours in June alone — CCLTRG is helping hundreds of survivors get back on their feet.

The organization also collaborates with two disaster case managers, who work directly with survivors to create customized recovery plans. The case managers are under the direction of Room One and the Okanogan County Community Action Council.

An unmet-needs roundtable, which generally meets every other week, picks up where other resources have been exhausted. Room One has earmarked 65 percent of their fire-recovery fund to unmet needs.

Individual needs are brought forth confidentially by the case managers.

The roundtable consists of representatives from Room One, The Cove,

Community Action, the Community Foundation of North Central Washington and other organizations.

CCLTRG committees focus on all aspects of recovery. While housing may be the most visible need, there are also groups working on public safety and communications, infrastructure and power distribution, business continuity and economic development, and agriculture and land restoration.

CCLTRG is dealing with a highly complex situation, where every individual and every case has a different dynamic, said Carlene Anders, executive director of CCLTRG. “Everyone was hurt in some way or another,” she said.

While everyone — even those not directly affected by the fire — suffered some trauma, experience from See RECOVERY, A10

Fundraising update

CCLTRG has raised enough money to build housing for 11 of the 40 families and individuals that have been identified as unable to get back into a safe, stable housing situation on their own.

Materials for the houses are bought by CCLTRG. The recovery group also pays for some services, such as licensed electricians and plumbers and site preparation, and buys supplies at local lumberyards, said Anders. Many businesses and contractors have agreed to provide a discount, she said.

W h i le C C LT RG b u d ge t e d $90,000 for each house, as it negotiated discounts for materials, it appears that the final cost could even be $20,000 or $30,000 less, said Anders.

CCLTRG has already raised $1.3 million, and a campaign tied to the first anniversary of the fire is intended to help raise the remaining funds for phase 1 of the rebuilding.

An anonymous donor has pledged

to match up to $250,000 in contributions. As of Tuesday (July 14), the campaign had raised $152,059, meaning twice that much will go to the rebuilding campaign.

The group is trying to raise an additional $4.3 million to cover the remaining homes to be built over the next several years.

To donate, contact the Community Foundation of North Central Washington at www.cfncw.org/fire. They have two funds. The North Central Washington Fire Relief fund supports survivors of the Carlton Complex Fire through the unmet needs roundtable. The CCLTRG fund goes toward rebuilding houses. The Community Foundation has waived its administrative fee for contributions to both funds.

You can also follow a link at www. carltoncomplexrecovery.com. Contributions are always welcome, but the $250,000 matching-fund campaign expires at midnight Saturday (July 18).

Page A2

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Methow Valley News

Resilient landscape Nature is making an impressive comeback from the ravages of fire Photo courtesy Pacific Biodiversity Institute Volunteers working with Pacific Biodiversity Institute are conducting field studies to assess the impacts of the Carlton Complex Fire on the landscape and wildlife of the Methow Valley.

By Ann McCreary

One year ago, the Carlton Complex Fire laid siege to the Methow Valley and surrounding areas, leaving a smoldering, ashen landscape in its wake.

In the immediate aftermath of the wildfires, many people found it hard to imagine that the natural world could ever recover from such a devastating assault.

But nature began demonstrating its amazing resiliency almost as soon as smoke cleared.

The first shoots of native grasses and shrubs emerged from the ground within two weeks, and charred hillsides became verdant with bright green grass and flowers after the fall rains.

Sp r i ng t i me p ro duc e d a bounty of new vegetation in many burned areas, as the soils benefited from a flush of nutrients released into the soil from burned plants.

“On the shrub steppe hillsides, the native bunchgrasses,

arrowleaf balsamroots, lomatium and other wildflowers came back extraordinarily well early this spring,” said Heide Andersen, stewardship director for the Methow Conservancy.

“In many areas you could see a greater density of wildflowers in a burned area compared to an adjacent site that was unburned,” she said.

“I was really pleased with how well things recovered in the fall and this spring,” said Peter Morrison, director of Pacific Biodiversity Institute (PBI), a Winthrop-based conservation and research organization. “It surpassed my expectation, and I think it did for a lot of people.”

That recovery could suffer if the pattern of unusually hot and dry weather that has so far marked summer in the Northwest persists. In any case, Morrison said, it will take a year or more to really assess how the ecosystem will respond to the dramatic alterations created by

the Carlton Complex Fire.

“If we’d had a cool, wet summer, that would have promoted ecosystem recovery. The heat itself is hard on things. A lot of it will depend on the rest of the summer, and on fall and winter moisture. Next spring and summer is when we get to see the long-term impacts” on ecosystem recovery, said Morrison, who has studied the impacts of wildfire for many years.

The Carlton Complex Fire was a complex event, a huge firestorm that swept down the Methow Valley to Pateros in mid-July, burning over the Loup Loup Summit and into the Chiliwist area.

The Carlton Complex also included the Rising Eagle Fire, which began Aug. 1, the Little Bridge Creek Fire, which ignited Aug. 2, and the Upper Falls Fire, which began Aug. 3.

“The effects of the fires were very complex and varied in different areas,” Morrison said.

Humans often try to define the outcomes of disaster as “bad or good,” but it’s not that simple, he said.

Not necessarily detrimental

Photo courtesy Pacific Biodiversity Institute Despite significant damage from the fire to their habitat in the Methow Valley, western gray squirrels — like this one photographed by a wildlife camera in the burned area — have been found in areas where large pine trees survived the blaze.

In an ecosystem like the Methow Valley and surroundings, where fire has always played an important role, fires aren’t necessarily detrimental. In fact, biologists and conservationists predict the changes on the landscape will, in many ways, make the ecosystem healthier in the long term.

The majority of the land burned in the Carlton Complex — more than 60 percent according to a PBI survey — was shrub steppe vegetation, comprised of grasses and shrubs like bitterbrush and sagebrush.

Working With You

Over decades, largely due to the human activities of livestock grazing and fire suppression, those shrub steppe lands have become increasingly dominated by shrubs. The large and prolific bitterbrush and sagebrush were one reason the Carlton Complex burned so intensely.

“This shrub steppe hadn’t burned in a long time. Having that kind of shrub density contributed to the ferocious nature of this fire,” Morrison said.

The Carlton Complex “reset the shrub steppe to more like it was 100 years ago. The shrubs will take a lot longer to recover, but the native bunchgrasses and perennial herbs are coming back like gangbusters,” Morrison said.

That change is likely to mean good news for a species of bird that was once abundant here, but has declined to the point that it is almost never seen — the sharptailed grouse. The bird is listed as a threatened species in Washington state.

Old-time valley residents told stories about “waiting until there were so many grouse lined up they could shoot several with a single bullet,” Morrison said.

“Hunting took its toll, but I think it was a change in habitat conditions” that led to their decline here, he said.

“Sharp-tailed grouse like grasslands,” and the Carlton Complex Fire created a lot more of that habitat when it burned the shrubs, said Scott Fitkin, wildlife biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). “The fire actually improved sharp-tailed habitat” and may help the bird recolonize here, he said.

Another threatened species in the Methow Valley — the western gray squirrel — may also benefit in the long term from

““On the shrub steppe hillsides, the

native bunchgrasses, arrowleaf balsamroots, lomatium and other wildflowers came back extraordinarily well early this spring.”

— Heide Andersen, stewardship director |for the Methow Conservancy

the fire, despite the fact that a significant portion of its habitat was burned. The squirrels have already shown impressive resilience.

The core population of western gray squirrels in the Methow Valley was found in the lower valley — Black Canyon, Squaw, McFarland and French Creek areas, based on studies conducted by PBI and WDFW. “Almost all of its habitat was hit by the fire at varying levels of severity,” said Morrison. “The fire couldn’t have been planned to have a bigger impact. We went out [to the squirrels’ habitat] right after the fire and we immediately started seeing that they survived,” he said.

“Some areas were burned black and those won’t be habi-

r love, Sending all ou pport strength and su by to those affected plex the Carlton Com

”

tat for squirrels for decades or maybe 100 years,” Morrison said. “There were other patches of mixed [tree] mortality or tree survival, and squirrels seemed to be persisting in those areas.”

The squirrels like to live in large pines with relatively open ground beneath. In many areas the lack of regular wildfires has allowed smaller trees and shrubs to fill in around the big pines.

Last summer’s wildfires cleared out much of that understory.

“The squirrels obviously took a pretty severe hit, but in areas where they are surviving the habitat may be better. The population may drop for a while and then rebound,” Morrison said.

WDFW and PBI are conducting a three-year, statewide survey of western gray squirrels.

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Methow Valley News

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

““After the fire we were concerned with

losing winter range forage … but we had a really wet fall with more green-up than I’ve seen since I’ve been here. That was a real boost for the animals.”

— Scott Fitkin, wildlife biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

“Hopefully after this three-year effort we will have a better understanding of the overall distribution and relative abundance of the squirrels,” Fitkin said.

Deer herd did well

The valley’s large mule deer population may face challenges resulting from the loss of so much of the vegetation that supports them, but the herd survived the first winter after the fire quite well, Fitkin said.

“After the fire we were concerned with losing winter range forage … but we had a really wet fall with more green-up than I’ve seen since I’ve been here. That was a real boost for the animals,” Fitkin said.

Because the winter was so mild, with low snow accumulation, the deer “were able to forage on that well into winter,” he said. As a result, the herd had a better-than-average survival rate for fawns, based on WDFW surveys. Fitkin said about 53 percent of last year’s fawns survived the winter, compared to an average of 48 percent.

“That kind of fawn survivorship is probably an indication of a healthy herd,” he said.

Anticipating potential starvation among the herd if the winter were normal or severe, last fall WDFW authorized additional permits to hunt does to reduce the population and the pressure on the winter range. Fitkin said about 1,900 permits were made available, but the number of deer actually taken is still being calculated.

In combination with the good fall grazing and mild winter, the reduced herd numbers may have contributed to the apparent health

”

of the herd, Fitkin said. Even with the reduced numbers, however, browsing by deer took a toll on new growth in areas where aspen, cottonwood, wild rose, serviceberry, snowberry and elderberry were trying to gain a foothold after the fire, he said.

WDFW will likely issue more permits than usual for does again this fall, Fitkin said. “The winter range concerns will continue for a couple of years.”

A hot dry summer could exacerbate the loss of shrub forage for the herd, Fitkin said. “Some of the nice upper elevation meadows will dry out earlier than usual,” he said.

Drought conditions have also hampered efforts by local conservation groups and property owners to reseed areas to reduce flooding potential and prevent the spread of noxious weeds.

The Methow Conservancy led a campaign last fall to spread seed on disturbed areas including fire lines, burned riparian areas, and areas that already had weed infestations.

“Unfortunately, with our lack of precipitation this spring and summer, the seeding hasn’t been as successful as we would have hoped,” said Andersen. “Our staff has been recommending to any landowners with burned property to wait until the fall to continue any reseeding efforts.”

created widespread damage to homes, properties and roads in several drainages.

In addition to destroying vegetation that holds soil on hillsides, the wildfire burned so hot in some areas that scorched soils were chemically changed and have become water repellant, further adding to the erosion potential.

“There’s no way to predict if it [the burned area] will stabilize in three years, five years — I’ve heard in some cases as long as eight years,” said Craig Nelson, director of the Okanogan Conservation District.

In June the Conservation District completed construction of 13 flood diversion structures — mostly large dikes — on properties that were identified as being at risk from future flooding. The work was conducted through a federal Emergency

Watershed Protection Program at no cost to property owners who chose to participate.

Ironically, one property on Texas Creek was inundated by mud and debris just days before work on the flood diversion was scheduled to begin.

New rainfall gauges have also been installed within the perimeter of the Carlton Complex Fire by the National Weather Service in an effort to provide more sitespecific information and early warning about potential flash flooding.

Even with this additional technology, landowners whose properties may be at risk of flooding will need to “remain vigilant” for at least three more years, Nelson said.

“Know that even if it’s not raining on your head, but raining elsewhere in the watershed, you could get a flash flood,” he said.

Page A3

Photo by Marcy Stamper Purple fireweed grows next to a charred stump near Loup Loup Pass.

More threats this summer

The threat of unstable slopes and more flooding continues this summer, after one of the few significant rains of the season produced flash flooding in Texas Creek and other parts of the valley in May. Floods last August

Photo courtesy Okanogan County Conservation District Michael and Valerie Sarratt’s Benson Creek property was severely flooded after last summer’s fires. Throughout the winter, layers of sand and ice built up along Benson Creek, threatening to push water into their house and shop. The Emergency Watershed Protection program provided for construction of a 400-foot-long crushed rock dike to divert flows away from their house. The stream channel was re-routed, which required installing a bridge to provide access to the house and garage. The Okanogan Conservation District will help revegetate the stream banks and pasture areas.

Stronger than

Fire

Help us fund Phase II of our reconstruction effort The Carlton Complex Long Term Recovery Group—a countywide organization of representatives from the Methow and the other burn areas—is in the closing days of a campaign to fund Phase II of our reconstruction effort.

Every dollar donated by midnight, July 18, will be matched—up to $250,000.

By the time we have successfully funded all four phases of our campaign,

we will have built 40 homes for fire survivors who can’t afford to rebuild on their own.

The first 11 homes are already under construction and nearly fully funded, thanks to a small army of dedicated volunteers and generous donors.

FEMA denied us; many folks have said we’ll never be able to do it, but we’re on a mission—to prove that:

Together, we’re stronger than fire.

Donate online at www.carltoncomplexrecovery.com/donate OR Mail your check, made payable to Community Foundation of North Central Washington, 9 S. Wenatchee Ave., Wenatchee, WA 98816.

Be sure to write CCLTRG in the memo line.

Page A4

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Methow Valley News

Photos by Marcy Stamper This house on the Loup, left, is a tangible symbol of recovery and adaptation in a landscape still visibly scarred by the fire. This flag, right, was planted with pride and resolve in the burned landscape, visible to travelers heading over the Loup last summer and fall.

New foundations

“

If anything is impacting our communities more — economically, socially and community-wise, in terms of schools, of employees for parks — it’s because people can’t find a decent place to live. The problem is, affordable housing is missing.

Rebuilding has begun, but much remains to be done

By Marcy Stamper

One year after 300 houses and 260 other structures burned in the Carlton Complex Fire, there are many outward signs of recovery and rebuilding.

Drive around the valley, over the Loup, or up the roads to the drainages devastated in the blaze, and you’ll see hillsides dotted with new construction.

Many of the immense piles of fire debris have been cleared, but some people still need help carting away the piles of mangled metal, drywall and ash.

Other aspects of the long route to recovery are less obvious — and less streamlined.

Some survivors say their rebuilding has stalled after they hit a hitch with insurance settlements;

some have not even begun construction. Others are struggling because the fire piled onto already precarious economic or health circumstances. And some people are only now recognizing they need help.

As of June, the disaster case managers with the Carlton Complex Long Term Recovery Group (CCLTRG) had about 75 open cases, but they were still getting three or four calls each week from people contacting them for the first time, said Jon Wyss, chair of CCLTRG. “Every time it rains, we get a new client,” he said.

Despite the progress in rebuilding, relatively few houses are actually finished, so people are still renting or staying with friends or family.

Photo by Marcy Stamper Some fire survivors would not be in safe, stable housing situations without help from the CCLTRG. The group’s executive director, Carlene Anders, showed the progress volunteers have made on a three-bedroom house in Pateros.

Methow Valley News PUBLISHED WEEKLY SINCE 1903

101 N. Glover Street • P.O. Box 97, Twisp, WA 98856 (509) 997-7011 • FAX (509) 997-3277 editor@methowvalleynews.com www.methowvalleynews.com Don Nelson, PUBLISHER/EDITOR Marcy Stamper, REPORTER Ann McCreary, REPORTER Laurelle Walsh, REPORTER•PROOFREADER Darla Hussey, PUBLICATION DESIGN Rebecca Walker, OFFICE MANAGER Sheila Ward, SALES ASSOCIATE Tyson Kellie, SALES ASSOCIATE Dana Sphar, AD DESIGN•PRODUCTION Jay Humling, DISTRIBUTION

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As of the end of June, the Okanogan County Building Department had processed building permits for 67 houses and 27 manufactured homes for people who lost their homes in the fire.

The department has also issued permits for 43 garages and outbuildings.

The long-term recovery group has started work on eight of the 11 houses it is building in phase 1 of a program to house people who had no other resources. The first foundations were poured at the end of April and volunteers are now working on interiors for seven of the houses, according to Carlene Anders, executive director for CCLTRG. Those houses are dispersed throughout the fire zone, from the Methow Valley to Pateros to the Chiliwist, said Anders.

They are being built mostly for older individuals or couples, all of whom were uninsured, said Anders. Even though they had lived in their homes for decades, many of these people were not able to buy insurance because their house was too far from a fire station or off the grid, she said.

Some CCLTRG clients are contributing financially or helping with labor, but some are not able to provide either, said Anders. “In the first phase, these are folks that just flat need help,” said Anders. “They would otherwise be living in unsafe conditions.”

The group estimates they will build 40 houses over three years.

They have also helped situate

two families in manufactured homes, said Anders.

The long-term recovery group is offering houses with one, two or three bedrooms, from 560 to 1,100 square feet. Clients must be willing to accept one of these houses, but they do have some choices, such as the location of the porch and types of flooring and cabinets, said Anders.

As it raises additional money, CCLTRG will confirm arrangements with other clients. The organization anticipates moving ahead with the list for phase 2 — probably 15 more houses — at the end of the summer, said Anders.

Everyone is carefully vetted by the disaster case managers and the CCLTRG board, including a verification of income and legal documents, said Anders.

“Identifying the people for phase 1 was pretty easy,” said Anders. “People were sleeping on drywall — it was very clear.

There is no way these people could recover without assistance.”

Still, it has been hard to tell people they’ll have to wait longer for help. “If I have to stay with friends for one more winter, that’s OK — but it’s getting awful small,” Anders said one client told her.

Some fire survivors have left the area but hope to return if they can find suitable housing, said Anders.

Insurance — some help, some hassles

People who had insurance — a

Editor’s note: We’re doing things a little differently this week to create room for coverage of the one-year anniversary of the Carlton Complex Fire’s outbreak. The entire first section of the paper — the “A” section — is mostly devoted to one-year-later stories. We’re focusing on where the community is now and where it’s headed, as opposed to recapping the events of last summer.

The wrap-around photo and story design we are using is unusual as well — I got the idea from a recent story in the New York Times sports section, to give credit where credit is due.

I thought it was a dramatic look and that we could do something like it. The panoramic photo is

by Steve Mitchell, taken during last summer’s fires.

Our regular news and feature sections, as well as the What’s Happening calendar of events, are in the “B” section of the newspaper.

In a way, this week’s coverage

is a continuation of the stories we told in Trial by Fire, the magazine we published last fall. We have only about 200 copies of Trial by Fire left, so if you would like a copy before they’re gone, call our office at (509) 997-7011

— Carlene Anders, executive director of CCLTRG

”

little over half of the total who lost homes in the fire — have been able to draw on financial assistance for temporary housing and a settlement to help with rebuilding or buying an existing house.

Many homeowners reached a speedy settlement with their insurance company, but some have encountered hurdles.

Charlie McCarthy, who lost his home on the Loup, had to hire an attorney and his own appraiser to get what he considered a fair settlement. Haggling with the insurance company delayed the start on his new house. “It was not a pleasant experience — I’ve barely started rebuilding,” said McCarthy.

In the meantime, McCarthy, his wife, and his two children have been moving from one rental to another.

McCarthy is using the opportunity to put his house in a safer spot on his property, out of the path of potential flooding from Frazer Creek. “The house would have flooded if it hadn’t burned,” he said.

McCarthy, a smokejumper at the North Cascades Smokejumper Base, was deployed on

a fire in Idaho when the Carlton Complex Fire came through. “It was pretty shocking — it’s pretty ironic that you’re on a fire when your house burns down,” he said.

He had thinned the trees around his house and always thought his house was pretty safe. In fact, he lost only about 10 percent of his timber to the fire, he said.

The destructive flood and mudslide that swelled Frazer Creek were even more surprising, said McCarthy.

The Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation raised more than $1 million from state, federal and tribal sources to build bridges across the creek to replace driveways and culverts too small for the vulnerable creek, according to Chris Johnson, the foundation’s president. The foundation has already installed six bridges and will put in another four. In addition to preserving access to houses, the project restores fish passage in Frazer Creek and will revegetate the riparian area.

Without the bridges, area residents would no longer be able to access their homes, since the creek has flooded several times since the first severe flood last

or drop by. Some materials from the magazine are included in this section.

We’ll be writing one-year-later stories of one kind or another the rest of the summer and into fall, as the crises that came after the initial

fires created a long-form narrative tale of how a community endures and recovers from disaster. As always, we appreciate your assistance and feedback.

— Don Nelson

FIRE

T HE M ETHOW VALLEY ’S SUMMER OF DISASTER

PERSONAL ECONOMIC PATH TO STORIES IMPACTS R ECOVERY A supplement to the Methow Valley News

FREE

FIRE

Photos: left, Jack Kienast; right, Marcy Stamper One year later, a better view: the home featured on the cover of Trial by Fire escaped the flames.

Methow Valley News

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Photo by Marcy Stamper These homeowners whose house burned in the Rising Eagle Road Fire have made substantial progress in rebuilding.

summer, said McCarthy.

Su s a n Sp e i r a n d D ave Hopkins, who lost their home on Finley Canyon, decided not to rebuild but instead to buy an existing house.

“It’s such a long haul on Finley. There’s no infrastructure anymore,” said Speir. While they had assistance cleaning up the site, there is still a lot of broken glass and debris on the property, and it was too physically and emotionally exhausting to tackle it, she said.

“I can’t imagine what would have happened if we hadn’t found a place to live,” said Speir, who said that the cost of rebuilding the entire infrastructure — water, septic, power — was prohibitive.

Their insurance settlement enabled them to buy and remodel a smaller house. “We’re very lucky, in some ways,” she said.

Friends were extremely generous with furniture and other household supplies, said Speir.

But even buying an existing house wasn’t easy. They made

two offers but withdrew them after structural issues were discovered.

“We’re good here — it’s a big house with a big yard. We’re tired,” said Speir. “Our desire is just to sit still. Down the road, we may rally to build something there [on Finley Canyon].”

Renters struggling

For renters — even the small percentage who had insurance — the situation remains bleak. Insurance covered their personal belongings, but not the structure they lived in. While they may have received financial help or vouchers for rent, the traditional network of resources that CCLTRG has provides little substantive help for these people, said Anders.

“Helping renters has been the toughest thing of all. The VOADs [Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster] say it’s always the toughest,” said Anders.

For example, CCLTRG can

Photo by Marcy Stamper The Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation got funding to replace inadequate culverts with bridges over Frazer Creek after it flooded last year, ensuring safe access for property owners—and habitat for fish.

Become a neighborhood volunteer LEADER. Are you and your neighbors prepared for the next disaster?

Get trained and learn everything you need to know to help get you and your neighborhood Methow Ready.

With much gratitude

Page A5

“

If I could choose to do it over, I would have my place back without the disruption, but I’m looking at it as an opportunity to make something good out of the bad.

— Charlie McCarthy, smokejumper who lost his home in the Carlton Complex fire

”

our communities more — economically, socially and community-wise, in terms of schools, of employees for parks — it’s because people can’t find a decent place to live. The problem is, affordable housing is missing,” said Anders.

A lot of these people have been assisted through the unmetneeds roundtable, which they turn to after the disaster case managers have exhausted all other options, such as volunteers, grants and donated materials.

The housing situation also put some people on even shakier ground — some lost their jobs because they had to relocate after losing their home.

CCLTRG has helped some renters find new rentals but, with a shortage of rentals and restrictions on assistance, that too has been difficult, said Anders.

Rent vouchers available through Okanogan County Community Action Council can only be put toward apartments and houses that rent for $500 a month or less, and these are increasingly hard to find.

Com mu n it y Act ion ha s applied for grants for two multi-family affordable housing projects, but there is nothing definitive at this point, according to CCLTRG. Despite his fr ustrations, McCarthy realizes his family is comparatively fortunate. “If I could choose to do it over, I would have my place back without the disruption, but I’m looking at it as an opportunity to make something good out of the bad,” he said.

build houses only for people who have lost their primary residence and have a clear title to the land.

These criteria don’t let them help a landlord rebuild rental property.

One family who lost their rental in the fire said they had contacted “everyone and anyone who could help” — the Red Cross, volunteers, the county sheriff. “There were lots of promises, but it seemed like a lot of hogwash,” said a family member who declined to be identified.

They spent two months living in a tent and have moved more than once since then, and are now making do in a travel trailer.

The disaster-relief people told him that if he can buy property, he can get on the list for a house, he said.

Another family of five has been living in one room since their rental home burned. They too are frustrated that they haven’t gotten the help they need from the disaster case managers.

More than one person reports that some landlords have raised rents by hundreds of dollars a month and that some vacation homeowners wanted to charge $2,000 or more.

The main thing CCLTRG can offer renters to help them obtain long-term housing is through an agreement worked out with Washington Federal bank for loans with low interest rates and reduced fees. If people can qualify — and buy land — they may be eligible for one of the CCLTRG houses, said Anders.

“If anything is impacting

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Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Methow Valley News

Beyond the trauma Emotional stress is a community-wide challenge and an individual experience

By Ann McCreary

Her first feelings after narrowly escaping the firestorm that destroyed her Finley Canyon home last July 17 were a sense of surrealism, followed by shock.

For a brief time, Susan Speir said, she felt angry that she and her husband hadn’t been officially warned to evacuate before the wildfire roared over the ridge and into the canyon.

She has also experienced guilt feelings about the family heirlooms and antiques that she had been entrusted with — and lost — when the fire took away everything.

But her overriding emotion in the weeks and months after the fire is gratitude.

“This event has been a privilege and a gift in many ways, because it has moved us forward into levels of awareness we would not have had,” Speir said in a recent interview.

“In all natural disasters, and when there’s trauma, it brings the community closer and brings out people’s kindness and generosity and compassion. I think everyone’s awareness of the connections we have is the gift of this event,” she said.

One year after the Carlton Complex Fire, and the flash f loods that followed, residents are still grappling with the impacts on their lives and a range of ensuing emotions.

Many people acknowledge feeling edgy and anxious as the weather becomes hot and dry, when winds are gusty, when a thunderstorm threatens, or when they hear a siren.

While some people were left without homes or livelihoods, others experienced relatively

little direct impact from the fires. But perhaps because of that community connection that Speir described, it seems almost nobody in the fire-impacted area emerged from last summer emotionally unscathed.

“I’ve talked to quite a few people who have had significant losses, as well as those who have not. I’m amazed at how many people who did not experience significant losses are reporting similar anxieties as those who did,” said Lisa Spitzmiller, a Winthrop psychologist.

“We, as a community, experienced that very devastating situation. We all went through this experience together. Even if you didn’t experience loss, you know someone who did, or helped someone who did, and you saw the devastation,” Spitzmiller said.

Hayley Riach, a disaster case manager employed by the Carlton Complex Long Term Recovery Group, has worked with 130 people since she began assisting fire survivors last summer.

Working out of Room One in Twisp, Riach currently has 60 open cases and new requests for assistance continue to come in.

For many, the disaster is ongoing, she said.

“We see clients brand new to case management as other cases are completed. The general community may have moved on from the event. But the people who lost homes or infrastructure or livelihoods are still in it,” Riach said. “A lot of folks are just getting their foundations poured.”

Riach helps clients with an array of needs, such as temporary housing; employment; assistance in rebuilding wells, septic and other types of infrastructure; arranging “muscle power” to

Photo by Ann McCreary Becky Studen lost her family’s home in the Carlton Complex Fire.

Emotional Highs

help with clean-up or other work; and providing emotional support.

She said she and other case managers have been impressed by the resiliency of disaster survivors.

“I would say some of the things we were expecting were sadness and grief and regret. We were expecting fear and anxiety

“

In all natural disasters, and when there’s trauma, it brings the community closer and brings out people’s kindness and generosity and compassion. I think everyone’s awareness of the connections we have is the gift of this event.

— Susan Speir

”

with increasing temperatures and smoke this summer. It’s really stressful for everyone, I think.

What I’m seeing in general is bravery and courage and great coping skills,” Riach said.

Different responses

“Each of us has a different makeup in terms of resiliency,” said Sue Peterson, a licensed mental health counselor associate who helped facilitate, with Oori Silberstein, a support group at Room One for fire survivors.

In assisting people who have experienced trauma, many counselors use a model that identifies three phases of recovery, Peterson said.

The first phase is establishing a sense of personal safety again and managing strong emotions resulting from the traumatic event.

The second phase is “working through the trauma, taking time for self reflection … processing emotions,” Peterson said.

In this phase people are asking, “‘How do I come to terms with these things I’ve lost? How has it impacted me and my relationships?’”

The third phase “is coming to terms and moving forward” after the trauma, she said. “It’s integrating it into your life, and finding out ‘who I am’ after this event. It does alter us, changes

Photo by Marcy Stamper In the aftermath of the fire last summer, Susan Speir searched through the rubble of her Finley Canyon home.

Despite losing her home and possessions, Speir said she’s grateful for the strong sense of community connection and new perspectives on life she has gained since the disaster.

our perspective.”

With the one-year anniversary of the fire, and being in the midst of another fire season, it’s natural for people to experience strong emotions, Peterson said.

“It might raise hyper-vigilance again, reactivity to smoke, to sirens. It’s not a step backwards, it’s a part of the process,” Peterson said. “It’s important for people to understand what they’ve survived, and the strength that has taken.”

Becky Studen, who lost a home on Upper Beaver Creek last summer, said she was feeling “super strong — up until the Wenatchee fire happened. It really triggered for me the chaos and uncertainty of last summer.”

Studen is a yoga instructor, and through her teaching she tries to help students learn how to focus on the present, rather than the past or future. She said focusing on the present moment, accepting that she can’t necessarily control events around her, and cultivating gratitude has helped her cope with the losses and changes in her life over the past year.

“I know that there’s uncertainty in everything and I can

Honeymoon

Community Cohesion

Reconstruction A New Beginning

Heroic Pre-Disaster Warning

Disillusionment

Threat

Setback

Impact

Working Through Grief

Inventory

Coming to Terms

Anniversary Reactions Emotional Lows

Trigger Events Up to One Year

After Anniversary

Zunin/Meyers, as cited in Training Manual for Mental Health and Human Service Workers in Major Disasters, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2000) The emotional phases of disaster: individuals and entire communities can go through the same cycle.

find peace in staying as present as I can. I can’t control what happens, I can only control how I react,” Studen said.

She said her children have had very different responses to losing their home. Her 14-year-old

said. “There are periods of time that feel like you’re standing on a firing range and it’s all just coming at you. There were times when I just had to sit and could not move forward.”

She credits Room One’s fire

“ Everybody has their own process. I’ve

learned a lot from my kids. We did lose our home, but we realized that home is about relationships. We miss our own home but we’ve created a new one.”

— Becky Studen

son wanted to go see the house almost immediately after it burned; her 9-year-old daughter only recently said she wanted to visit the site.

“Everybody has their own process. I’ve learned a lot from my kids. We did lose our home, but we realized that home is about relationships. We miss our own home but we’ve created a new one,” Studen said.

She said finding gratitude “for all the support, the love, and the community support throughout” has been very helpful. “Everybody can find something to be grateful for, even it is ‘I’m breathing, I’m upright,’” Studen said. Cultivating gratitude has been shown to release hormones that reduce stress and lower blood pressure, she said.

“I still have my moments when I cry, realizing the anxiety about what can happen is real,” Studen acknowledged. “A year later, I still feel sad. I give myself time to continue to grieve.”

‘Decision-making fatigue’

Recovering from the disaster, especially for people who had significant losses, is made more difficult by what Speir calls “decision-making fatigue.”

People faced with trying to find a new home, dealing with insurance, rebuilding a home, and repairing damage to property, can feel overwhelmed.

“A huge source of stress is how many little and big choices they have to make — from tiny stuff to what really matters,” she

”

survivors support group for assisting in her ongoing recovery, and said the experience of the past year has helped her gain new perspective on what is important in her life.

“At 60-some years of life, you are still growing and changing,” Speir said. “My intention is to try to focus on the things that matter and not be consumed by the things that have no lasting value.”

She said the loss of her material possessions — the “evidence” of her life — made her realize that “when all of that goes and you’re still there, you have that sense of history … that there’s something bigger and there really is continuity.”

During a recent visit to their burned-over home site, which is still being cleared of debris, Speir said she and her husband, Dave Hopkins, witnessed an example of that continuity. Bluebirds that had nested by the back door of the house for the past 10 years had returned this year.

“As we sat on the only remaining structural element [of the house] left, a concrete and stucco patio bench, mama bluebird showed up with a worm for her babies who were nesting in the exposed holes in the concrete blocks … where the foundation wall had been. As we sat there and watched her come and go and looked at the beautiful clouds overhead, the message was pretty clear — ‘home is home.’ We are still all connected to this beautiful, sacred place.”

Methow Valley News

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Carlton Complex

¹

#387

Progression Map August 4, 2014

Ruby

! .

Created: 20140804 Rocky Mountain Team 1 2 Miles

Dollars and sense

Ê

221-BPC WA-NES-534

Winthrop

! .

Brown Lake

Cougar Flats

! .

Loop Loop (historical)

! .

! .

Twisp

! .

M Bar J Ranch Mobile Home Park

! .

Olema

! .

Stokes

Ophir

French Creek

! .

Wakefield ! .

Golden Hike

Paradise Hill

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Thompson (historical)

Monse

! .

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Methow

! .

Brewster

! .

Virginia City . (historical) !

Rocky Butte

Carlton Complex - Progression Date

Growth Total Acres

! .

Pateros

! .

2014-07-15, 1728, 1728

Downing

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2014-07-16 2359, 2679, 7276 2014-07-16, 2869, 4597 2014-07-17, 33361, 40637 2014-07-18 0100, 127126, 167764

Bridgeport

2014-07-18 2054, 47394, 215157

! .

2014-07-20 0048, 22746, 237903

Starr

2014-07-20 2209, 6438, 244342

! .

2014-07-21, 6806, 251148 2014-07-23 0213, 118, 251266

Dyer

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2014-07-23 2144, 226, 251492 2014-07-25, 25, 251517 2014-07-26, 137, 251654 2014-07-27, 152, 251807 2014-07-28, 219, 252026 2014-07-29, 672, 252698

Azwell

Greens 2014-07-30, 1050, 253748 Hollywood Landing Beach 2014-07-31, 1204, ! . 254952 ! .

Shrine 2014-08-01, 2929, 257881 Beach ! .

! .

2014-08-03, 779, 255164

Note: Perimeters are approximate and may change due to more accurate mapping.

Map courtesy Carlton Complex Incident Command Post The massive territory covered by the Carlton Complex Fire was documented in a progression map.

Following the fire A progression map that was updated daily during the Carlton Complex Fire graphically demonstrated the explosive break-

out on July 14 – 15, 2014, shown in dark blue, and the fire’s continous expansion for the next several days. The fire eventu-

Call it a hard-earned lesson — harder for some than others — about preparedness and the vagaries of nature.

The Carlton Complex Fire’s impact on the Methow Valley economy was in some cases instant, severe and lasting; in others, moderate and repairable, if not entirely recoverable. And some were only inconvenienced or interrupted.

All of which makes it difficult to distill a single answer to the question of how Methow Valley businesses were impacted by the fires. It depends on whom you ask.

Looking forward, however, just about everyone you ask has the same answer: We’ll be more prepared next time.

In the meantime, by some indicators the valley has rebounded remarkably well, especially in the critical category of tourism.

“Through a combination of circumstances and events, we are recovering well,” said Julie Muyllaert, vice president of the Winthrop Chamber of Commerce, member of the Methow Valley Long Term Recovery (MVLTR) organization, and co-owner of Methow Cycle and Sport in Winthrop.

The circumstances and events included: • State money contributed to a short-term burst of marketing last fall, aimed at the Seattle market with the intent of convincing people to visit the Methow.

• A heavy snowfall around

“

Malott

! .

! .

For Methow Valley businesses, the bottom line is disaster preparedness

By Don Nelson

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Carlton

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Thanksgiving last year established enough of a base to ensure Nordic skiing would be viable into the spring.

• The North Cascades Highway opened unusually early, and visitors took advantage of that to begin filling up local rooms before May.

are exacerbated in an economy that is already susceptible to disruption.”

Echoing Muyllaert, Stork said that the valley was “very lucky” that, overall, the economy pulled out rapidly.

But the broader picture doesn’t necessarily reflect what happened on a case-by-case basis to local businesses.

The eight days in July “It can be somewhat 2014 when the valley was without electricity was a difficult to sort our gut-punch for some local businesses. Restaurants long-term [economic] saw food go bad. Cenchallenges in the tral Reservations reported that it had to cancel and Methow versus our refund thousands of dolfire-related lars worth of reservations.

Sun Mountain Lodge took vulnerabilities. Those a $1 million hit in lost vulnerabilities are business and inventory.

None of those things are exacerbated in an recoverable, especially if economy that is they were not covered by insurance. already susceptible to Henc e t he cu r r ent emphasis on readiness and disruption.” preparedness. “The crisis — Amy Stork, executive brought to the fore what director of TwispWorks we all knew … about the and MVLTR committee member need to have a reserve in place,” Stork said. “You can’t buy a $400 generator if you don’t have some• Before a run of 90-degree- thing in reserve.” plus days descended on the val“I feel that people are very ley, tolerable weather continued aware and vigilant,” Stork added. to lure tourists.

“They are doing things to be pre• Rebuilding has created pared. The lessons of last year non-stop work for many val- are not fading away.” ley residents in the construction Indeed, the lessons are now industry, as anyone who’s tried to being applied in a valley-wide hire a contractor might tell you. effort to make long-term eco• Meanwhile, the Winthrop nomic development planning and Twisp chambers of com- not just an idea but a reality. merce, and other tourism- The Twisp and Winthrop champromoting organizations in bers are teaming up to gather Okanogan County and North ideas — from residents and busiCentral Washington, kept pound- ness owners — for economic ing away with the message that development in the Methow Val“we are open for business.” ley. They have also been con“It was very intentional, and ducting their own research into very lucky,” Muyllaert said. But, what employers and employees she added, “we are still recover- need to create a healthy local ing.” economy.

“The fire was an impetus to do Wake-up call that project,” Stork said.

Kristen Smith, marketing director for both the Winthrop Pressing needs Chamber of Commerce and Stork said that long-standing, Methow Trails, said that the fires persistent challenges to meaningwere a reminder about what can ful economic development were happen in a place that depends identified quickly: the need for a on predictable winters and sum- more year-round economy, and mers for its livelihood. the need for affordable housing.

“We learned a lot, and now “We have this beautiful amewe are more realistic about this nity-driven economy,” Stork said. being our climate,” Smith said. “But we need a way for people to “We hope businesses are taking live here.” what they learned and impleThe valley can take advanmenting it.” tage of its strengths — notably its “For our community, it was ability to work well as a commua wake-up call about where we nity — to develop an economic live,” said Amy Stork, executive development plan that could director of TwispWorks and also cushion the impact of future a MVLTR committee member. disasters, Stork said. The longFor all that, by some measure- term recovery organization’s ments it may appear that nothing work so far “has been an incredproblematic happened. ibly cohesive effort,” she said.

“Ironically, 2014 was a recordThe Methow Valley has been breaking year” for Winthrop in selected as a pilot site for a new terms of hotel/motel occupancy initiative called the Local Investtaxes and retail sales tax col- ment Opportunity Network lected, Smith said.

(LION), which is designed to The trend is continuing in help businesses that need cash to 2015. Year to date, hotel/motel launch or expand. tax revenues in Winthrop are up LION connects businesses 24 percent over 2014, while retail with individuals willing to lend sales taxes are up 17 percent over them money for an agreed-upon last year. “And those are really interest rate, or even for products winter numbers,” Smith said. or store coupons, according to “It’s just crazy.”

Jordan Tampien, a community Smith believes that the hard- economic development specialist core base of Methow Valley fans with Washington State Univerwill find a reason to get here if sity (WSU) Extension, which is they can, despite the potential for coordinating the program. LION nature to intervene in their out- facilitates meetings between door activities. businesses seeking financing “Last year, there was smoke and those interested in investeverywhere [in the Pacific North- ing, as well as overall education west], she said, “so you might as for businesses and investors, said well go to a place you love.”

Tampien.

Stork said last summer’s chalAll the recovery efforts point lenges may have a positive con- to an encouraging underlying sequence in that they highlighted strength in the Methow Valley, the valley’s urgent need for eco- Stork said. “Something so large nomic development planning. can really shake your sense of “It can be somewhat difficult community,” she said of the fires. to sort our long-term [economic] In the Methow Valley’s case, challenges in the Methow versus Stork said, disaster instead has our fire-related vulnerabilities,” solidified the community’s mostStork said. “Those vulnerabilities important connections.

”

Valley Life

Page A8

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Bob Spiwak

Mazama

Aug. 1, 2014 promised to be a busy day. The fires had been pretty much quelled, and the rains had not yet come to create their own devastation. I was on my way to the new Gamble Sands golf course near Brewster for a golf media event, a prelude to the course’s grand opening the following day.

Since I was driving down-valley, my friend Cathy in Everett

asked me to check on her large motor home parked on her property a mile north of Methow.

The property is at the bottom of a grade and the RV was parked 20 feet or so above the Methow River. Next to the dirt road leading to the river was a deep ditch going down the hill.

En route, the sight of charred properties contrasted with fields of greenery that the fire had not consumed all the way down from Carlton. Such was not the case when I turned into my friend’s driveway for my first close-up view of what the fire had done. The ditch was utterly scorched all the way to the river. On the other side, an asparagus field had been destroyed.

At the bottom of the grade I was surprised to see the motor home still standing, apparently unscathed, whereas a travel trailer behind it was totally burned. Taking some closeup photos, I was amazed that my friend’s rig was seemingly

untouched, yet on the riverbank below everything was charred.

Looking closer, I could see where the fire had gone underneath the vehicle between the front and rear wheels and then resumed its charge to the river… the vagaries of fire.

From here, it was on to Alta Lake golf course. The road goes up a fairly steep hill, and to the left was what I remember to be a vineyard with acres of grapes.

It had not been spared. The road makes a turn at the top of the grade, and forks left and right, the latter going to a string of homes across from the fairway.

The other road goes to the clubhouse, with homes overlooking the course. Most of the homes had burned down — only a chimney remained of one — yet a couple seemed unscathed. As I remember, there were three destroyed cars along the way.

A few hundred yards further, the motel adjacent to the club-

house seemed to be unscathed but the clubhouse was gone, and next to it the clean-up crew was busy with a backhoe piling the remains of the golf car fleet into a large, blackened mass. The green fairways contrasted with the blackened rough.

Then it was off to Gamble Sands, through the devastation in Pateros and the north side of Highway 97. The fire did not get to the course. After some food and preliminary speeches, we went out to play.

Hours later, after finishing the course, I drove our golf cart to the collection area. Before I was even out of the cart, a course employee I knew ran up to me to say that I could not get home because the highway had been closed — another fire south of Winthrop (the Rising Eagle Road Fire, it turns out). I called home and Ms. Gloria suggested I might make it by taking the TwispWinthrop Eastside Road. It

Methow Valley News

Photo by Bob Spiwak At Alta Lake Golf Course on Aug. 1, 2014 ,the contrast between fairway and rough, burned and unburned, was plain to see.

worked. Across the way, the new fire was visible, and from a spot near the airport I could tell it was in the vicinity of Hoot ‘n’ Holler.

There was a long line of cars on the road, as people had stopped to watch the fire across the valley. It seemed unreal that after

two weeks the fire had jumped back 40 miles. Obviously it had to be a new conflagration, and subsequently was determined to be human-caused.

It was not a happy day, and somehow did not seem right to be playing golf. It still does not.

back to the region.

The Carlton Complex Fire is in the mop-up and containment phase. The fire camp is relocated to Twisp-Carlton Road.

Hank Cramer is chosen to head the Methow Valle LongTerm Recovery Organization; Room One is designated as the coordinating agency.

viduals against the state of Washington for damages caused by the Carlton Complex Fire.

The summer of 2014: a timeline July 14

A lightning storm and resulting strikes set off initial blazes around the region, notably around Texas Creek Road, Stokes Road, French Creek and Cougar Flat. In an unrelated event, a well-known fruit stand on Highway 153 is destroyed by fire.

The Lone Mountain 1 Fire starts above War Creek. It burns most of the summer, threatening the Twisp River drainage.

July 15

Evacuations and road closures begin in what is being called the Carlton Complex Fire, at the time consisting of several separate fires in the Methow Valley, notably in the Texas Creek and Gold Creek areas east of Carlton.

Smoke fills the valley as fires increase in intensity.

From the Methow Valley News: “It’s kind of looking like one of those long drawn-out fire seasons. By mid-fire season, we’re all going to be competing for resources,” said Mick Mueller, a public affairs officer for the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.

A Washington state Type 3 management team is assigned to the fire.

July 16

A Type 2 management team is assigned to the fire and a firefighters’ camp begins to spring up at the Methow Valley School District campus on Twin Lakes Road.

July 17

The Carlton Complex Fire explodes into an unstoppable fire front that consumes about 123,000 acres in one day, nearly half the final total acreage covered by the fire.

As expected, the enti re Methow Valley loses electrical power because of damage to Okanogan County Public Utility District transmission lines over Loup Loup Pass. The outage leaves 3,600 PUD customers and 3,500 Okanogan County Electric Cooperative customers without power. At the same time, Internet service and some telephone land lines are interrupted, and cell phone service provided

by AT&T becomes unreliable or nonexistent. Most users of Verizon Wireless are still able to use their cell phones.

A community meeting to discuss the fires is held in the unlighted Methow Valley Community Center, and draws a standing-room-only crowd. First responder and agency representatives including Peter Goldmark, state commissioner of public lands, address the crowd and provide incident maps showing the fires’ spread, but are able to provide only general information. Fires can be seen burning northeast, east and south of Twisp from downtown.

Meanwhile, the fire has blasted over the hills east of the Methow Valley at a ferocious speed and descended as a firestorm on Pateros, where evacuation is under way.

State highways 153 and 20 into the Methow Valley are closed, leaving Highway 20 to the west over Washington Pass as the only way in or out of the valley by vehicle. Flight restrictions are in effect because of the fire and smoke.

In one day, the Carlton Complex Fire has gone from less than 45,000 acres to nearly 168,000 acres. What was once four separate fires is now one huge conflagration with a “donut hole” of unaffected land in the middle.

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July 18

Twisp is put on Level 2 evacuation alert as fires sweep over Balky Hill, Beaver Creek and Finley Canyon.

The opening of Twelfth Night at The Merc Playhouse is postponed, and the Methow Valley Chamber Musical Festival is canceled. The Winthrop Rhythm & Blues Festival goes on as planned.

July 19

Highway 153 is re-opened to traffic.

July 22

The Carlton Complex Fire reaches 250,136 acres (390 square miles), making it the largest wildfire in Washington state history and the top-priority fire in the country.

From the Methow Valley News: “This is nothing short of a national disaster. I’ve never seen anything like this, of this magnitude, with this type of infrastructure damage we have.” — Rex Reed, deputy commander of the Washington Incident Management Team stationed at Liberty Bell High School.

July 25

The Okanogan County PUD power line over the Loup is repaired, and electricity restored to most of Methow Valley. But some customers south of Carlton remain without power.

Aug. 1

The Rising Eagle Road Fire, west of Highway 20 between Twisp and Winthrop, explodes over hilly terrain beginning around 2 p.m., apparently caused by a spark thrown from a vehicle rim after a flat tire. It burns more than 500 acres and destroys 10 homes. A massive firefight-

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ing effort on the ground and in the air contains the fire, but not before it threatens the fire camp at Liberty Bell High School and forces evacuations and road closures in surrounding areas.

Highway 20 is closed during the firefighting efforts.

Aug. 2

A ferocious windstorm moves through the valley, toppling trees across roads and onto buildings.

The storm causes more power outages.

Little Bridge Creek Fire starts west of Twisp and raises concerns because of its proximity to Twisp River and Sun Mountain Lodge. Parts of the fire are also visible from the Mazama area.

Officials begin to compile information about fire-related losses as the basis for an application for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to be submitted to Gov. Jay Inslee by Aug. 6. Local groups begin making plans for long-term recovery efforts.

Aug. 3

Upper Falls Fire starts near Falls Creek in the Chewuch River drainage area northwest of Winthrop.

Mid-August

FEMA approves disaster declaration for public assistance to help repair public infrastructure damaged in the Carlton Complex Fire. But FEMA later denies a separate request for funds to help individuals, even after the governor appealed the decision.

The State Department of Commerce approves a $150,000 grant to help the Methow Valley and Okanogan County mount a marketing campaign to encourage tourism and draw visitors

Aug. 21

Torrential rains and resulting mudslides destroy or damage a dozen homes in the Benson Creek area, along Highway 153 between Twisp and Carlton, and on Frazer Creek along Highway 20. Fields are covered with mud and outbuildings destroyed as well. Three of the Wenner Lakes dams, between Benson Creek and Finley Canyon, collapse.

State highways 20 and 153 suffer mudslide damage and both are closed for repairs.

Highway 20 is soon opened to single-lane traffic with a pilot car. Highway 153 repairs are slowed by a dispute between the state and a property owner over an easement necessary for work to continue. The state seeks condemnation of the land in dispute and eventually figures out a work-around that allows the road to be re-opened. The Highway 153 closure and a detour by way of Twisp-Carlton Road cause an enormous economic hardship at the Carlton General Store.

Aug. 25

The Carlton Complex Fire is declared contained.

Oct. 13

Highway 153 between Carlton and Twisp is re-opened for traffic.

Oct. 17

Claims are filed by 65 indi-

Oct. 21

A cracked supporting column forces closure of the Methow River bridge at Carlton, and the road is closed again. Emergency repairs allow the road to be reopened on Oct. 23.

Oct. 22

The Okanogan County commissioners hold a public meeting to gather information regarding the management of the Carlton Complex Fire. They invite the public to express concerns or commendations about the performance of various agencies during the fire.

Nov. 20

The state Senate Natural Resources & Parks Committee holds a hearing about the state’s most severe recent natural disasters, the Carlton Complex Fire and the Oso mudslide. Okanogan County Commissioner Ray Campbell, Twisp Mayor Soo Ing-Moody and Pateros Mayor George Brady testify and ask for financial support to rebuild infrastructure and housing.

Campbell criticizes the Washington Department of Natural Resources for negligence and failure to save homes.

Dec. 11

A 4-foot diameter culvert installed to try to contain runoff from the Leecher Creek drainage becomes plugged with mud and debris brought down by heavy rain and sends water over Highway 153 again. The highway remains open as Washington State Department of Transportation works on repairs.

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Methow Valley News

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Sally Gracie

Twisp

Methow Valley News editor Don Nelson gave us suggestions for writing about last summer’s fires for this week’s anniversary issue. A fragrant bouquet

Ashley Lodato

Winthrop

Page A9

of Bonnie Stephens’ flowers, purchased at the farmers market, helps reduce my anxiety as I recall “memories, thoughts, people — just general observations about how it felt and how it feels now.” As I write about how it feels now, I take frequent breaks to “smell the lilies.”

Did I go to the farmers market last year when the valley was burning? I have no recollection.

I think there was a market but I don’t remember being there.

There are plenty of “this time last year” going around this week, though last week’s weather, so similar to the fire weather last July, has been replaced by cooler temperatures and some rain. That rain seems

only to fall in Mazama and Carlton. Nothing from the sky but a minute or so of sprinkling has touched the ground here in Twisp.

The change of weather has dissipated the smoky haze present in the valley last week.

This anniversary week of the Carlton Complex Fire will not present the same fire conditions as were present last year. Still, friends here are crossing their fingers. Some, making clear they don’t want others to suffer as the Methow Valley did, are saying NIMBY (not in my back yard — or my front yard either).

As of this writing, 10 fires are burning in the state. The Douglas County Complex near Waterville

is 22,000 acres and 55 percent contained; last year a quarter of a million acres burned in the Methow Valley.

When the valley was burning, this newspaper kept me busy and informed. I only left the house to report around town. I went to interview Alex and Christina Lopez, owners of the only eating place in town that stayed open (but for one night) during the power outage. Each morning I went to Cinnamon Twisp Bakery, where owner Katie Bristol continued to serve coffee and baked items on the sidewalk out front, and people shared the news of houses lost and horses rescued. I met Rob Brooks and his cantankerous dog for the first time at the bakery. I saw Kim

Cazneau for the last time before her death at the bakery. I met my “sister”-to-be (in a Merc Playhouse production) Ronda Bradeen at the Twisp Valley Grange when she helped open a Red Cross shelter there. That shelter later moved to the Methow Valley Community Center.

As I moved around town, I came to know the harrowing stories of just-in-time escapes as properties were destroyed and animals were rescued or lost. I stayed away from Facebook after someone posted the story of the badly burned bear cub, Cinder.

That story disturbed me as much as any, and I don’t know why.

My home was safe, but I seemed to take on the grief of

others.

I gained a new respect for the staff of Methow Valley News during the fires. I was astounded when I watched Darla Hussey post copy via her cell phone when the power was out. Marcy Stamper and Ann McCreary worked in near darkness to produce stories that later won national press awards.

Today as I reread the papers from July and August 2014, I am amazed at how quickly the fires grew, were just about contained, and then started up again at Rising Eagle. Our newspaper reminds us in vivid prose just what those weeks were like. We were so fortunate to have this news of record last summer.

It began as so many wildland fires begin, spreading quickly through the parched grass and trees, throwing up great white pillows of smoke against bluebird skies. It was kind of beautiful, actually, if you didn’t know what lay ahead, which of course we didn’t. It was, after all, July, and there were often fires in July. As the fire sped toward power lines the news spread: there would be no electricity after Thursday.

We filled bathtubs and water jugs; we charged up phones and dug out flashlights; we bought

batteries and ice. We would be roughing it, we heard, for possibly a couple of weeks. The ideal way to rough it: still with most of the comforts of home. Not yet scary, it was kind of exciting.

We dug into freezers, served up what was left of the ice cream, pulled out rapidly thawing meat and lasagnas long forgotten. We pooled resources with friends and held nightly neighborhood potlucks.

With no email to check, cell phones dead, no way to vacuum the house or do laundry, we suddenly had time on our hands. We

used that time to connect with people, driving to the Winthrop Barn or the Methow Valley Community Center in Twisp to get updates, to find out who still had a land line, to learn what others were packing in their grab-and-go bags.

We didn’t believe that we would ever have to grab and go, though. They (whoever “they” were) had always put the fires out in the past, and surely this time would be no different.

This time, however, it was different. Three times everything changed overnight. Fire, wind,

and water destroyed in a matter of hours what families had worked years to build, decadesold forests, drainages shaped by millennia. Excitement turned to disbelief, then fear, then heartache. We awoke each day to the unthinkable: more friends’ houses gone, more livestock missing, more of our beloved landscape devastated. Homes, animals, photos, gardens, landscaping, vehicles — every hour, more loss.

A year later, here’s what remains: a tangle of insurance negotiations, waves of profound

grief, memories of places irrevocably changed, nostalgia for the irreplaceable, nightmares, terror at the sound of helicopters and sirens, grab-and-go bags still packed and waiting by front doors. But also scores of volunteer builders, a generous network of support, new beginnings, an unrelenting recovery effort, and a wide circle of friends and neighbors who haven’t forgotten what some in our midst have lost.

What remains is hope, which may not sound like much, but for now it’s enough.

Joanna Bastian

Lower Valley

When I think back to Thursday, July 17, 2015, I distinctly remember the scorching heat. It felt hotter than the temperature displayed on the thermometer, and every gust of wind was

as though someone had opened an oven door. The hot wind delivered chunks of blackened, smoking ash — drifting into the grass and trees all around our home.

What really stands out in my memory that day was an argument with my neighbor. Our thought processes were not the same. He wanted to stay and fight. I did not want to be trapped in an inferno. I was trying to offer help in preparing him and his wife to leave; he was trying to offer to save my house.

I am sorry to say that the conversation did not end well, with our tempers and voices raised, and angry words exchanged. It was the last conversation I ever had with him. I think about it all the time.

At 1 p.m. the fire jumped the line.

With a furious wind of hot ash and burning embers it seemed Gold Creek was engulfed in seconds. There was no time to help anyone. There was only time to

leave.

Forty-eight hours later we came back home to a different landscape, and a changed neighborhood. My neighbor had died of a heart attack while protecting his home.

There was no time for introspection.

For days on end, we constantly chased spot fires. Tree stumps burned underground, the smoldering root systems igniting dry bushes above ground. Just as we paused for a breath, another smoke plume or flame would have us running up the hill with buckets of water from the creek. Anger was the only thing that kept me going. I don’t think I’ve handled a shovel so furiously in my entire life.

Two months later the ground began to heal. Green grass covered the blackened meadow, shoots sprouted from burned out flowerbeds. I found it difficult to be sad about the burnt landscape. This was a natural disaster — raw power that we

could not control. I could be afraid, or I could be in awe. I chose the latter.

In the rare instance of downtime, I updated Facebook with banal minutia: Two big events today. One, power was restored back to our irrigation and two, our roof blew off.

The day I can flip the switch on the coffee maker and have a fresh cup followed by a shower in my own house will be a day of jubilation. It’s the little things. I also miss refrigeration.

I’m still in my pajamas at work. Why? Because I’m about to take a shower.

Why? Because I don’t have running water at home.

So why am I still in my pajamas and didn’t get dressed like a normal person?

Because I have no clean clothes. Why? Because the laundromat is overrun with clothes from 5,000 firefighters every day.

Photos by Joanna Bastian A year later, wildflowers and other new growth have reclaimed the scorched garden near Joanna Bastian’s home.

FIRE B y Th e N u m B e r s Washington State’s Largest Wildfires 2014 Carlton Complex 268,764 acres * 1902 Yacolt Burn, 239,000 acres **

1910 Great Fire of 1910 burned 3 million acres in Washington, Idaho and Montana**** 1871 Great Michigan Fire burned 2.5 million acres ***** 2008 Northern California Lightning Series burned 1.5 million acres****** 2014 Carlton Complex burned 268,764 acres* * DNR **Historylink.org ***The Seattle Times ****NPR.org *****The Forests of Michigan by Larry Leefers ******California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

Valley Life Contacts

Mazama: Bob Spiwak, 996-2777 or badwater@centurytel.net

Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire.

— “Fire and Ice,” Robert Frost

Homes lost per school district

Fire suppression costs: All agencies:

$ 69.4 million

Methow Valley

Department of Natural Resources:

$ 25 million

Pateros

36 homes lost Value: $4,974,000

Recovery & restoration costs:

131 homes lost Value: $14,674,600

Brewster

Estimate for federal lands:

$ 1.5 million

Estimate for state & private lands:

$ 2.8 million +

1994 Tyee Creek Fire in Chelan County 210,000 acres ***

United States’ Largest Wildfires

(Life with no power/running water going on week #4).

For the Methow Valley News, I covered the lower valley, collecting personal stories. As people talked, I took their photographs, hoping to capture a real portrait that had feeling, not a stiff pose.

Hearing other people’s stories put all of our losses, including mine, into perspective. For some stories I was meant to just listen, not share. From my journal notes during that time, I found this entry: I raised the camera as he spoke about the 10-foot flames that raced towards his house that day. I softly pressed the shutter button to capture the look on his face.

As the camera clicked, we looked at each other. “My wife told me she had cancer that same day.” One horror eclipsed by another.

We can protect ourselves from fire with safety measures and homeowners insurance. But there are some natural disasters in life that have no escape routes. Like heart attacks and cancer.

One year later, and the meadow and hillside are covered with far more wildflowers than in previous years. Familiar trails are different, with a raw beauty.

Fresh green bushes and wildflowers sprout in the midst of a black and white landscapes, trees and rocks forged into new art by last summer’s fire.

I remember our neighbor, with a new understanding of why he opted to stay while we all escaped. Just as I thoughtfully consider a landscape changed by nature, the Carlton Complex Fire also taught me to consider the complexities of being human.

17 homes lost Value: $2,819,900

Okanogan

53 homes lost Value: $5,392,400

Structural Losses

Was it covered?

Structures Burned (numbers include Rising Eagle Road fire) 239 54 97 + 163 553

Infrastructure

Single-family homes Cabins Shops & garages Outbuildings Structures lost

Value of structures lost

Damage to roads, water systems and power lines, including cost of labor:

Carlton Complex: . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 28.0 million Rising Eagle Road: . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 1.5 million Total value of structures lost: . . . . . . $ 29.5 million

Winthrop: Ashley Lodato, 996-3363 or ashleylodato@alumni.stanford.edu

Uninsured losses: 44% Insured Losses: 56%

$35 million

Twisp: Sally Gracie, 997-4364 or sgracie@centurytel.net

Lower Valley: Joanna Bastian, (509) 341-4617 or MethowJoanna@gmail.com

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Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Methow Valley News

Looking east from from Signal Hill Ranch between Twisp and Winthrop, the Carlton Complex Fire could be seen raging over the Balky Hill area and beyond, driving a tower of smoke into the skies as it advanced.

Photo courtesy Liz Johnson

RECOVERY

From Page A1

other disasters suggests that if a community can maintain solid support over the next three to five years, the whole area emerges healthier and more sustainable than before the crisis, said Jim Shelley, a Mennonite Disaster Services (MDS) volunteer with decades of experience, who is helping with rebuilding.

CCLTRG expects to be in place for at least three years, said Anders.

Volunteers are vital

While CCLTRG has a solid infrastructure in place, the organization rec-

To volunteer:

People don’t need special experience to volunteer.

Kathy Power, the volunteer coordinator for CCLTRG, can be reached at (509) 429-3133 or kathy@ reawareness.com.

Those interested in working with the Mennonites should call Kevin Froese at (360) 460-0406.

ognizes the vast scope of what it’s trying to accomplish. “It would have been devastating without the volunteers,” said Anders.

Volunteer groups with expertise in managing disasters and in various phases of rebuilding — from framing to roofing to managing crews — have devoted countless hours and actual cash to help fire survivors.

MDS is one of the key participants, with project managers here for seven weeks at a time to coordinate specific construction projects. They manage volunteers who donate anywhere from a day to a week of their time. Some are retired, some donate part of their vacation time, and others are students on summer break.

The first managers, Robert and Sally Unrau, just completed their volunteer shift this past weekend, handing over the reins to Jim and Karen Shelley. Both couples, from the Boise area, bring years of experience working in disasters, from hurricanes to floods to fires. They create a daily schedule to track the volunteers and the jobs.

Established in 1950, MDS has evolved and grown more efficient, said Jim Shelley. They developed standardized house plans that they can adapt to local building codes.

“We can take any volunteer willing to learn and bring that person up to speed in about two days,” said Robert Unrau, who retired from a career as an architect and now devotes much of his time to helping in disasters.

Two young women from the Amish community in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, traveled cross-country by train to cook for the Mennonite volunteer crews.

“We don’t come to convert, but to share, said Kevin Froese, vice chair of the Washington MDS region. “Our faith is very important to us. One of the reasons we do this is because of who we serve,” said Karen Shelley.

One of the most fulfilling aspects of the work is that they usually get to know the people they’re building houses for.

“One of the most important things we do as volunteers is listen to stories, to the emotional trauma of disaster. That’s part of their healing,” said Karen Shelley.

“People would have given up,” said a fire survivor who was sharing dinner with the Mennonite volunteers. Because so much of the work is physically and emotionally exhausting — people could be hauling rocks or replacing fences — they get energy from working with volunteers, which in turn helps others, she said.

Not only does the work benefit the

Photo by Marcy Stamper Volunteers from Mennonite Disaster Services shared a relaxing dinner last week at their improvised Brewster headquarters, but still used the time to strategize about how they could make the best use of their crews.

client, but it also helps the volunteers.

Jim Shelley described volunteers who arrived shy and withdrawn and left feeling competent and animated.

They see the same effect on the clients. “Seeing the client relationship with the volunteers — there are tears every single week,” said Anders. “The kindness empowers the homeowner.”

“One client told us, ‘I’ve never had so

many real friends in my life,’” said Jim Shelley.

“It’s both exhilarating and draining.

There’s no way to describe the feeling of helping someone who’s been through so much trauma,” said Sally Unrau. Despite the energy and fulfillment they get from their work, “We’re ready to kick back in our recliners and watch nonsense TV,” she said.