the fires of 2012

World photo/Don Seabrook

Areli Solano-Arroyo, 12, left, and Tania Sanchez-Dena, 12, were among more than 200 Sterling Intermediate School students who walked to Eastmont Junior High School for lunch wearing masks to protect them from the hazardous air conditions from local wildfires.


Part of a contract fire crew from Roseburg and Medford, Ore., took a break on Sleepy Hollow Road after building a fire line down a steep hillside, tying it to a dozer line and protecting the northeast corner of the Canyon Fire in Wenatchee.

THE FIRESof 2012

For the better part of a month, ire and smoke from the Wenatchee Complex and other ires around the region threatened and shrouded North Central Washington.

As the ires waned, the damages emerged:

More than 210,000 acres blackened in Chelan, Douglas, Okanogan and Kittitas counties.

Numerous events canceled, moved or rescheduled.

A Montana tree-faller dead after sufering a heart attack as he tried to help stop the lames’ advance.

But thanks to the eforts of more than 2,000 ireighters from here and across the West, no Wenatchee homes were lost.

As rain and snow douse what’s left of the ires, Wenatchee looks back ... with gratitude.

A Wenatchee Worldspecial section

Sunday, October 28, 2012

A system of thunderstorms pummels eastern Washington, unleashing more than 4,000 lightning strikes and igniting some 100 fires, including the Canyons Fire in No. 1 Canyon west of Wenatchee. Firefighters are unable to stop it early and the blaze quickly grows

to 200 acres, forcing mandatory evacuations of 180 homes along the canyon and near the mouth of the canyon. The progression of the fire down the foothills toward the city is visible from much of the Wenatchee Valley. A statewide call goes out for more help.

Sept. 8-9: It begins with lightning

Photo by Amy Holcomb

Lightning strikes set off the Wenatchee foothills.


Lightning struck near the Cashmere fairgrounds before a Saturday night rodeo. The rodeo went on as planned as the brunt of the storm passed by. But many brush fires were just getting started.

A brush fire was bursting into No. 1 Canyon, west of Wenatchee, in this westward view from East Wenatchee.


Fires 2012D2 The Wenatchee WorldSunday, October 28, 2012

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A national ire management team is called in as ires threaten hundreds of homes on the edges of Wenatchee, Cashmere, Entiat and Lake Chelan. The ires are collectively called the Wenatchee Complex. The Canyons Fire near Wenatchee and the Poison Fire near Cashmere grow to nearly 10,000 acres combined. Evacu-ation orders spread to No. 2 Canyon and the Broadview subdivision in Wenatchee and Mission Creek Road near Cashmere. “We watched the column of black smoke from our rooftop,” said Bill Mattson, a resident of Canyons Place in Wenatchee. “That was a sobering moment.” Three ires burning north of Entiat merge into the Byrd Fire, forcing evacuations and the temporary closure of Highway 97A. Nearly 500 homes in Chelan County are now under varying levels of evacuation. “We have a Herculean task,” said ire spokeswoman Susan Peterson. “The ires are widespread and changing by the minute.” Douglas County has declared a state of emergency because of two large wildires that burned three homes and nine outbuildings. The U.S. Forest Service closes a large area between Cashmere and Mission Ridge to recreation. There are so many ires burning across the eastern Washington and the western U.S. that ire crews, air support and other resources are hard to get. So ire oicials take a defensive stand and just work to protect homes.

Sept. 10-12:With homes at risk, a call for backups


Wind pushed flames and smoke toward houses on Austin Court just west of Wenatchee when a brush fire erupted in No. 1 Canyon.

World photos/Don Seabrook

Flames approached a house near Westview Drive shortly after dawn one morning (left). With fire roaring toward Forest Ridge Drive, Crystal Holm hurriedly packed up paintings, most of them her own artwork, from the walls of her home.

World photos/Don Seabrook

A helicopter dumped water on a fire threatening the northeast corner of the Canyon Fire in the Horse Lake Road canyon (left). Within days, out-of-town firefighers settled into yurts at Confluence State Park, where a camp sprouted to house and feed the crews.

D3The Wenatchee WorldFires 2012 Sunday, October 28, 2012

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A strong weather inversion traps smoke from several wildires in the valleys between Wenatchee and Leaven-worth. Air quality in the Wenatchee area and Cashmere is declared hazardous and Cashmere students are sent home from school early. Several schools cancel outdoor sports practices and recess, and

many community events are canceled because of the smoke. People are advised to stay indoors, and to use masks when going outside. After lying over Wenatchee and not seeing it through the smoke, Gov. Chris Gregoire visits the ire camp at Wenatchee Conluence State Park. “I kept asking the pilot ‘Where’s Wenatchee?’ ” she told ire

oicials. “I couldn’t see Wenatchee. What I could see of the ires was that they were robust, they were raging, and there were spot ires all over the place.” As a result, she declares a state of emergency in eastern Washington because of the ires, and pledges all the state’s available resources to help.

Sept. 13:Then camethe smoke ...

The Canyons Fire moves west, forcing more mandatory evacuations in No. 2 Canyon west of Wenatchee but allowing Broadview residents to return home. Homes in Tripp Canyon west of Cashmere are evacuated due to the Poison Fire, and the upper end of the Entiat Valley is closed because of the Klone and Pyramid ires. The First Creek ire on the south shore of Lake Chelan starts to become a concern for ire oicials. More than 900 ireighters are now assigned to the Wenatchee Complex and

755 homes from Wenatchee to Lake Chelan are under various levels of evacuation. Additional resources are still hard to come by because of high demand across the nation. “So we’ve just been trying to herd it (ire) away from homes,” said ire spokesman Mick Mueller. “It’s not ideal. But, overall, it’s worked as a strategy. We haven’t lost any homes.”Fireighters lit up their irst large burnout along Highway 97 as a last-stand to stop the Peavine Fire’s progress to the north.

Sept. 14:Spreading flames,widening evacuations


Smoke from local fires settled in like fog on an East Wenatchee neighborhood.


A layer of smoke hung over downtown Cashmere, where the school district canceled classes for days because of the health hazards of the smoke.


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Air pollution in Wenatchee and Cashmere reaches unprece-dented levels. “For some people, leaving here may be the only solution to feeling better,” said Mary Small, a public health nurse. The inversion that is holding in the smoke is suppressing growth on most of the fires. A brief easing of the inversion temporarily clears the air but also breathes new life into fires near Cashmere, Mission Ridge and in the Entiat Valley. More evacuations are ordered west of Cashmere and firefighters begin protecting 37 recreation cabins in the Entiat Valley. New fires are reported near Leavenworth and north of Lake Wenatchee, and the Table Mountain Fire in Kittitas County starts moving closer to Wenatchee. Firefighters complete fire lines all around the Canyons Fire and evacuation orders continue to ease at the edge of Wenatchee. About 1,300 firefighters are now based out of Wenatchee.

Sept. 15-16:Unrelenting smoke chokes Wenatchee, Cashmere areas


An N95 breathing mask, respirator quickly became a fashion fixture in downtown Wenatchee.

Photo by Carl Mattheis

As smoke darkened the sky, the sun took on an apocalyptic, blood-red color, making midday seem like twilight.


The start of the Fiestas Mexicanas at Lincoln Park included dancing, smoke and masks. Tania Reyes and Cornelio Arroyo, East Wenatchee, took advantage of a live band to dance near the stage. Despite the conditions, the festival drew an enthusi-astic crowd.


Wenatchee High School’s cross country team trained inside the Town Toyota Center as they sought protection from the smoke outside. High schools in Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, and the Wenatchee Valley scrambled to find places for their athletic teams to practice.


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A Snohomish County fire crew rushed to clear brush and debris away from a vacant house at the end of Springwater Avenue in Wenata brush fire approached.

A helicopter crew pounded Wenatchee’s Canyon Fire with loads of water in the Horse Lake Road area.

Brad McDonald from Pilot Rock, Ore., hacked into a burning stump while working on the Poison Fire near Camas Meadows and Dryden. His crew was working this fire, and with other crews, expecting to perform a back burn when the Table Mountain Fire exploded, shutting down their operation.

Kyle Hook with Union Hotshots of La Grande, Ore., sawed dead trees along Highway 97 near the summit of Blewett Pass in anticipation of a wildfire approaching the roadway. The crew used the highway as a fire break as the Table Mountain fire burned about a mile away.

The crews who put iton the line


Chris Grieve, a sawyer with the Diamond Fire Crew out of Roseburd and Medford Ore., helped cut sagebrush out of a fire line the crew was building on the northeast corner of the Canyon Fire. In the background, the fire burns its way down the canyon toward them. Crews endured heat, dust, smoke and snakes as they worked in the hills around Wenatchee.

Bulldozer operator Travis Whitford, with Mountain Excavators of Cashmere, cut a fire line tying Horse Lake Road to a hand line built by a crew of 40 firefighters from Oregon, protecting the northeast corner of the fire.

A Snohomish County fire crew rushed to clear brush and debris away from a vacant house at the end of Springwater Avenue in Wenatcchee as

Kyle Hook stopped to repair his chain saw after the blade came off of the bar while he was cutting along Highway 97.

Timber faller Chris Seelye, 61, of Darby, Mont., sufers a heart attack while working on the Klone Fire in the Entiat Valley and dies on the way to the hospital. He worked for U.S. Timber Cutters and is survived by two daughters.

Sept. 17:A man lost

World photos

Don Seabrook


As ireighters work to contain ires in Chelan County, the Table Mountain Fire in Kittitas County blows up. Chunks of burning embers and debris fall on the Forest Ridge subdivision and Mission Ridge Ski & Board Resort, prompting an immediate evacuation of the upper Squilchuck to the ski resort. Wenatchee and Cashmere residents have now been breathing hazardous air for more than a week, and the Chelan-Douglas Health District declares a health emergency in the Wenatchee Valley. A smoke relief emergency center is opened. The Wenatchee Complex is now the top priority ire in the nation. There are more than 2,000 ire personnel assigned to the ire complex, including some 100 ireighters who arrived this week from Canada. The Blewett Pass highway closes intermittently and reopens with one-lane traic and pilot cars as ireighters set a series of backires to stop the now-combined Peavine and Table ires. The Stemilt Basin and Colockum are closed to recreation because of ire, and crews begin to put in hoses to protect Tall Timber Ranch and several vacation cabins in the White River drainage near Lake Wenatchee because of the Sears Fire. Elsewhere, Alta Lake State Park is closed and homes are evacuated near Pateros because of the growing Goat Fire.

Sept. 18-22:Fires cracklingaround the region

A Skycrane helicopter tapped into Beehive Reservoir to cool down hot spots on the Peavine Fire.

The Leahy Fire in Douglas County

burned more than 60,000 acres and

claimed three homes and nine

outbuildings.

Photo provided by the U.S. Forest ServicePhoto provided by Lynn Suhing


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Forest Ridge residents are allowed to return home, marking the irst time in two weeks that no homes in Chelan County are under mandatory evacuation. The ire danger is also easing up near Cashmere, Entiat and Lake Chelan, and ire crews are being sent home. Burnouts continue along Blewett Pass and near Mission Ridge to corral the Peavine Fire — the only ire still considered a possible threat to homes. All ire lines hold through winds that gust to 35 mph. Cashmere

students return to class for the irst time in more than a week after entry vestibules, new air ilters and air scrubbers are installed in schools. The air in Wenatchee and Cashmere is still hazardous, but the pollution levels are dropping. Rehabilitation of burned areas has begun, and agency oicials are making plans to stabilize burned hillside to prevent runof and looding. Elsewhere in NCW, the last residents under mandatory evacuation in the Methow Valley are allowed to return home.

Sept. 23-24:As danger eases, some return home

Occasional winds scour smoke out of the valleys, giving Cashmere and Wenatchee their irst breaths of fresh air in more than two weeks. But ire crews continue to set intentional ires to build containment lines, so smoke still chokes communities when inver-sions set back in. Air quality varies between unhealthy and hazardous, and is mostly unhealthy in Leaven-worth, Entiat, Chelan, Quincy, Winthrop and Pateros. Blewett Pass closes for several hours when a heavy inversion traps smoke from the Table and Peavine ires. The Canyons, Byrd, Poison and First Creek ires are fully contained.

Sept. 25-30:Winds sweep outvalley’s bad air

World photo/Mike Bonnicksen

Thank-you signs at the entrance to the fire camp at Wenatchee Confluence State Park.

The Canyons Fire roared through the foothills of Wenatchee and came frighteningly close to

numerous homes.

Photo by Amanda Holaday


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The U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Washington Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Bureau of Indian Afairs and Chelan County ire and police agencies provided leadership, personnel, aerial support and equipment in battling the Chelan County wildires with the help of national forests, state agencies, ire districts and private contractors from across the country and Canada.

National Interagency Incident Management Teams: Two emergency management teams from the Northwest and Southwest oversaw the ireighting efort in Chelan County for nearly a month, developing strategies, ordering in resources and then dividing them up between many ires.

WashingtonAll American Resources, EvansArtillery Concepts, LeavenworthAspen Mountain Resources, RepublicBack Country Wildire, OmakBainbridge Island Fire DepartmentBallard Ambulance, WenatcheeBatchelor Excavation, MansonBenton County Fire District 1Benton County Fire District 2Benton County Fire District 5Big Foot Transportation, RiceBlack Pine Contracting, TwispBoulder Creek Contracting, WinthropBrothers Industries (Brothers Fire),

TwispBurgess Logging, LeavenworthCashmere Fire DepartmentCascade Water Tankers, East

WenatcheeCastle Rock Fire DepartmentCathlamet Fire DepartmentC2C Liberty Wildire, TwispChelan County Fire District 1Chelan County Fire District 3Chelan County Fire District 5Chelan County Fire District 6 Chelan County Fire District 7Chelan County Fire District 8Chelan County Fire District 9Chelan County Sherif’s OiceChewack Wildire, SpokaneClassic Helicopter Corp., SeattleCollege Place Fire DepartmentColumbia Basin Job CorpsColumbia Hydroseed, Wenatchee

Columbia Valley Excavation, EntiatCowlitz County Fire District 2Cowlitz County Fire District 6Crewzers Fire Crew Transport, East

WenatcheeDepartment of Natural ResourcesDouglas County Fire District 2Early Winters Strike Team, WinthropEast Pierce Fire & RescueEastside Fire & Rescue, IssaquahEatonville Fire DepartmentEntiat Hot Shots, EntiatEphrata Fire DepartmentFemling Fire Fighting, OkanoganFirestormers, ChehalisFord Excavating and Trucking, Cle

ElumFranklin County Fire District 3Gig Harbor Fire DepartmentGrant County Fire District 3Grant County Fire District 5Grant County Fire District 10 Grays Harbor Fire District 2Grays Harbor Fire District 5Hanford Fire DepartmentHanson & Sons, CarltonHavillah Lumber, TonasketInnes Wood Products, KellerIsland County Fire District 2, Oak

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Moses Lake Fire DepartmentMount Vernon Fire DepartmentMountain Transporter, WinthropNorth County (Snohomish) Regional

Fire AuthorityNorth Kitsap Fire & Rescue, KingstonNorth Whidbey Fire DepartmentNorthern Columbia Reforestation,

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Walla WallaSnohomish County Fire DistrictGerald Scholz LLC, Tonasket S&L Services, WinthropS.E. Thurston Fire & EMSSilver Tip Forestry, ColvilleSkagit County Fire District 3Sky Runners Corp., Walla WallaSmoke Shooters, YakimaSnohomish County Fire District3Snohomish County Fire District 8Snohomish County Fire District 21Snohomish County Fire District 22,

ArlingtonSnohomish County Fire District 25Snohomish County Fire District 26Spokane County Fire District 4Spokane County Fire District 9Spokane County Fire District 10Spokane Fire DepartmentSpokane Valley Fire DepartmentStevens County Fire District 1Stevens County Fire District 6Stotts Construction, CurlewThe Road Home Inc., PeshastinThurston County Fire District 9Thurston County Fire District 12Thurston County Fire District 16Timbered Rangeland Management,

EllensburgTollefson Construction, OmakTri-State Fire Services, CashmereTryways Inc., WenatcheeU.S. Timber Cutters, North BendUpper Valley Excavating, LeavenworthWahkiakum Fire District 4

WHERE THE HELP CAME FROM


Bruce Jackson of Rockport, Texas, was among the visiting crews working the Poison Fire along Camas Meadows near Dryden. His crew was expecting to perform a back burn when the Table Mountain Fire exploded, shutting down their operation and forcing a change of plans.

Please see HELP, Page D11

A new ire breaks out on Colville Indian Reservation, destroying two homes and several outbuildings. Gusty winds hit all the ires in NCW, but lines hold tight. “The big test was the red-lag (wind) warning for the last two days,” said ire spokesman Brad Pitassi. “Fireighters did an outstanding job holding lines for us,” he added. The national ire management team overseeing the Wenatchee Complex determines that the ire lines are secure enough for them to leave and turn the ires back to local control. Fireighters camping out in tents contend with cold temperatures that dip into the 30s at night. Some irehoses freeze.

Oct. 2:

Newest fire hits theColville reservation


Efrain Ramirez pumped out portable toilets while Bruce Gerber sprayed them down at the fire camp at Confluence State Park. Because their business, Apple Valley Pumping, received the contract to service the fire camps in Central Washington, they pulled workers from other areas of the business to pump out the toilets daily.

The Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle/Al Camp

Flames climbed uphill behind St. Mary’s Mission in a fire that swept more than 5,000 acres in less than 24 hours outside Omak.


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RedmondLeonard Osburn, MonumentDon Moss Enterprises, DayvilleOutpost of Enterprise Owens Freight Lines, PrinevilleOwsley Canyon Engine Company,

OntarioPR Reforestation, SalemPaciic Oasis, AshlandPatrick Environmental, SpringieldPonderosa Reforestation Inc.,

MedfordR&R Contracting, SalemRPM Logistics, TroutdaleRahn Sanitary Service, EnterpriseRain Dance Central, La PineRogue River Fire & Water, Rogue

RiverRogue Valley Wildire, Rogue

RiverSky Research, AshlandT. Scott Dunn ConstructionTimber Lake Job Corps, EstacadaTwo Feathers, La PineUmatilla National ForestUnion Hot Shots, La GrandeUtting Construction, SheridanKeith Whitehead Reforestation,

TillamookWinema Hot Shots, Klamath Falls,Wolf Creek Hot Shots, GlideBruce Young Logging, Heppner

CaliforniaAction Sanitary, Lower LakeAztecs, Angeles National ForestCobras, Sequoia National ForestFresno, Sierra National ForestInyo Crew, Inyo National ForestDel Rosa Hot Shots, San

BernardinoPlumas Hot Shots, QuincyRogers Helicopters, FresnoScorpions, Sequoia National

ForestUkonom Hot Shots, Orleans

IdahoCroman Corp. (helicopter)For Stars Express CateringP.J. HelicoptersSalmon River Helicopters Inc.Timberline Helicopters,

Sandpoint

ElsewhereAerial Timber Applicators,

Cooperstown, N.D.Alaska Wildland Support, Delta

Junction, AlaskaAirborne Flying Service, Ariz.Augusta Hot Shots, Harrisonburg,

Va.Billings Flying Service, Billings,

Mont.Conair Group, AlaskaConstruction Helicopters Inc.

Howell, Mich.Dynamic Aviation Group, Va. Falcon Executive Aviation, Ariz.Fishlake National Forest, UtahFirehawk Helicopters, Fla.Greater Eagle Fire Protection

District, Eagle, Colo.Guardian Helicopters, Fort

Nelson, B.C.Helicopters Express Inc., Ga.Heloair Inc., Sandston, Va.Henry’s Aerial Service, Ark.Houston Air, Colo.J3 Contracting, El Paso, TexasNeptune Aviation Services,

Missoula, Mont.Pecos Valley Wildire (mobile

retardant base), Artesia, N.M.Ponderosa Aviation, Ariz.Southern Pueblos Agency, Albue-

querque, N.M.Summit Helicopters Inc.,

Cloverdale, Va.Vale Hot Shots, Vale, Colo.Wet ‘N Red LLC, Sonita, Ariz.Zuni Agency, Zuni, N.M.

HelpFrom Page D10


Kyle Hook with Union Hotshots of La Grande, Ore., worked near the summit of Blewett Pass.

Although air quality is no longer hazardous, several community are still dealing with unhealthy breathing conditions. Most ireighters have gone home, and the ire camp moves out of Wenatchee Conluence State Park after nearly a month. Fire oicials warn there is still potential for new ires to start because of dry conditions. “We have not seen wildire condi-tions this bad in October in a lifetime,” Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark said. Fire oicials don’t expect full containment of some ires until December, when they are put out by rain or snow.

Oct. 4-10:Air quality’s getting better, but unhealthy conditions linger


With homes still in jeopardy at the end of the pavement — where the farthest houses are 4 1/2 miles up No.2 Canyon — neighbors greeted a firetruck arriving from Wenatchee that was being stationed at one of their homes for fire protection. From left are Cooter and Andrea Whitaker, Dara Hickman and Jon Markel.


509-663-0075


EARLY BIRD SPECIAL!

18 MONTHSNO INTERESTFINANCING

IN STOCK NOW!Honda Snowblowers

Don’t Get Caught Out In The Cold This Winter.

HS 520 List $729

SALE $639HS 724 List $2,469

SALE $2,299

Our roots go deep in this community

and we are so very grateful that no homes

were lost in the recent fi res.

� ank you to all who made this possible!

John P. Hisey, M.A. & John D. Hisey, M.A.

“Hearing solutions for every budget.”

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and Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operatedand Operated

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509.663.3967

Fall rains bring fresh air to all NCW communities. All fires in the region are now turned over to local ranger districts and fire agencies and are in patrol status. Gov. Chris Gregoire lifts the burn ban in Eastern Washington. The Peavine Fire and others still not contained in higher wilderness areas are still smoldering, but snow and rain are quickly drowning them out.

Oct. 15 to now:

Fall — andblessed normalcy— returns to NCW


Roper Steere, 3, Wenatchee, got a closer look at some fire maps being given away during one of two public tours of the fire camp at Confluence State Park as activity slowed. Fire officials spent some of their extra time showing the public how a fire camp opperates.


As the Sage Hills recover, quail and other wildlife are dusting themselves off and trying to get back to their lives.

Stories by

Michelle McNeil


Some people run from problems

Others run to them.

THANK YOU FIREFIGHTERS

Junk

HaulersWenatchee

888-5865

Douglas County

PUDwww.douglaspud.org

E Z AUTO PARTS

REAL ESTATESERVICES, INC.

We call them HEROES.

the fires of 2012

Documents

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