Skip to footer

‘I have my life': Residents take stock amid insatiable fires

The Okanogan Complex of wildfires on Sunday was measured at about 374 square miles. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's office says more than 200 homes have been destroyed.

|
Brian Skoloff/AP
Steve Surgeon surveys the ruins after he lost everything he owned except his home in a wildfire on the outskirts of Okanogan, Wash., Sunday. He said he stayed as the fire raced over a ridge and barreled down toward his home, flames lapping just feet from his back porch. Surgeon estimates he lost more than $100,000 worth of property, including his shop, his motorcycle, several cars, a travel trailer, and all of his tools

As firefighters battle massive blazes in Okanogan County in northern Washington state, some residents are being forced to reassess what they hold dear.

Steve Surgeon, a mechanic and scrap-metal seller told The Associated Press on Sunday that he lost everything except for his home on the outskirts of Okanogan. He stayed in his house while flames were just feet from his porch.

"I'm alive," he said. "I shouldn't be, but I am — and that's what matters."

Mr. Surgeon estimates he lost more than $100,000 in property in fire, but he is happy for being alive.

“I have my life and I have my home," he said. "Everything else can be replaced."

A series of ongoing wildfires in Washington have destroyed more than 200 homes, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's office announced on Sunday.

The Okanogan Complex of wildfires on Sunday was measured at about 374 square miles and was estimated to be about 10 percent contained, fire spokesman Dan Omdal said.

But the good news is that some of the smoky haze that had blanked the area began to dissipate on Sunday, enabling officials to lift restrictions on air travel and allow more fire tankers to drop water and chemical retardant on the blaze from above, according to Suzanne Flory, spokeswoman for the US Forest Service.

She also added that the air quality, which has been dangerously bad, will improve as the smoke cloud lifts.

Still, Sarah Miller, a spokeswoman with Okanogan County Emergency Management, says that residents have been warned to stay ready to leave at any time.

Currently, more than 1,000 people are fighting the Okanogan blazes and President Obama has signed a federal declaration of emergency for the state. On Wednesday, three young firefighters were killed battling the blazes near Twisp in Okanogan County and four were injured.

Firefighters have come from around the country as well as from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to fight the fires burning through the West. As The Christian Science Monitor’s Brad Knickerbocker reported on Saturday:

Contingents are scheduled to arrive this weekend from Australia and New Zealand. Five wildland fire suppression crews from Ontario, Canada, and air tanker groups from Saskatchewan and Alberta are supporting fire suppression efforts in the Northern Rockies of Montana and Idaho.

Local officials in Okanogan have downgraded some evacuation notices, allowing some people to return to their homes, but thousands still remain under evacuation.

This report contains material from The Associated Press and Reuters.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to ‘I have my life': Residents take stock amid insatiable fires
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2015/0824/I-have-my-life-Residents-take-stock-amid-insatiable-fires
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe