Burning Down the House- Wenatchee Wildfire 2015
Hold tight, wait 'til the party's over, Hold tight, we're in for nasty weather
There has got to be a way,
Burning down the house
Well my little town made the national news this week. Not really for the reason I wanted it to.
So a little setup-
I was actually working on Sunday of the fire up on Lake Chelan and got back to Wenatchee at 3:00 pm. As I drive into town I could see smoke from the NW that had that look of a fire. At the time I was thinking glad it was over there.
Then it all changed. The wind shifted and we now had smoke right where I live which the NW part of Wenatchee. A few hours later I am looking out our back window and I see the flames cresting the hill behind our home.
(Fire coming down hillside)
My wife starts packing a bag and getting the animals ready to head over to friends in East Wenatchee. I am going to stay and watch what happens.
Within the hour the fire is moving steadily southward across the hillside and creeping a little lower. I start packing a bag, load a few items into the truck and turn my truck around in the driveway so I can leave as quick as possible. We are now on a level 3 alert and police are telling everyone to leave.
Then the fire comes barrelling down the hill very quickly, I watch as the flames now have reached the canal behind our house which is just about 60 feet away from our home. I have quite a few trees around the house and the hillside below the canal on my side has some brush that if it catches fire it all over.
At this time I decide it time to go and now the question is will I have a home in the morning?
I start to drive to our friends house but I could not help myself and I went across the Columbia to a neighborhood on the hill above the Columbia that I know I could see my home from using my monster binoculars that I have for home inspections.
(Warehouse fire in Wenatchee)
Armed with the binoculars and a camera I start to watch only to have my view obscured by what is now a massive structural fire in the city warehouse area. The smoke from this fire is blanketing my view.
(Fire eruption in Warehouse)
From my vantage point I can see three homes burning just north of my home. I keep looking for glimpses through the smoke to see if my home is still standing. I do this for several hours and a little after midnight I head to our friends house still not knowing if my home is still standing.
(This shot is blurry but this is two homes burning.)
The next morning around 7:00 my son get to our home first and lets me know it is still standing but there are a few spot fires in the back yard. I arrive about an hour later and start surveying the surrounding area. I am thinking the firefighters stopped the fire in my backyard and I am so grateful.
(The arrow at the bottom is my house)
Then walking around I notice all my hoses are gone and I tell my son well that is just mean. Someone stole all of my garden hoses. That just seemed so weird to me. So I walk over to my neighbor’s house to evaluate their damage and see all my hoses. That starts me wondering what really happened.
(where the fire stopped, my home in the background)
Later that morning I am talking to father of my neighbors son and he starts to tell me a tale that I still am a little in awe of.
As it turns out the reason my home stands today was not firefighters but two young men. My neighbor’s son and one of his friends snuck back to their home about 10:00 pm to grab a few items and see what was going on. When they arrived they saw their whole backyard in flames and these two young men decide to fight the fire. As they are fighting the fire some other neighbors heard them and before long there is ten more neighbor all battling the flames in our backyards.
One neighbor runs around and is grabbing hoses to help fight the fire, hence why my hoses were gone. When I talked to the neighbor's son Ryan and he tells me that they fought the fire from 10:00 pm to 3:00 am. These young men are heroes to me. They did what was most likely an incredibly stupid thing, but in the end they probably saved several homes from burning. That is the power of being young, invincible and not really understanding the gravity of the situation.
(Hillside in the morning)
As a former emergency responder and training with firefighters I know how dangerous and unpredictable these types of fire can be, yet when I was younger I was the same way, so I actually totally understood.
To all my neighbors that turned a deaf ear to the authorities I cannot thank you enough. My wife will still get a little teary eyed when thinking about it.
So here is a little photo montage of my neighborhood I took that morning after.
(Firefighters mopping up)
“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”
Christopher Reeve
NCW Home Inspections, LLC is a Licensed Washington State Home Inspection service located in Wenatchee Washington serving Chelan County, Douglas County, Kittitas County, Okanogan County and Grant County Washington and the cities of Wenatchee, Leavenworth, Cashmere, Oroville, Cle Elum, East Wenatchee, Quincy and many more…
Your Wenatchee and Chelan Professional Real Estate, Home and Structural Pest Inspection Service
Instructor- Fundamentals of Home Inspection- Bellingham Technical College
www.ncwhomeinspections.com 509-670-9572
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