Wildfire

We had an exciting day yesterday. We have been very hot and dry (no rain for three months) and have been worried about fires. Noticed smoke to the west and north of us and went to find out what was happening. A wildfire had started on the west side of Booth Hill, shown in the PIP, and burned up and over the hill, burning the cell phone towers and communications facilities on the hill as well.

When I first saw the fire it was burning down the hills toward the facility where our handicapped son lives. I could not access the facility but was assured by a policeman that the facility was being evacuated and went way around through the town of Medical Lake to find where our son was. In the town discovered that winds had whipped up the fire and it was already on the outskirts of town.

The fire burned part of the town of Medical Lake and many home and other structures to the east. The facility where our son lives was spared and no one was injured there. Our home and the neighborhood we live in were also spared, but at least one person has died in the fire and many are displaced or now homeless. The Interstate, I90, is closed and so are the roads in our area.

After finding and speaking to our son at another facility, Eastern State Hospital, where he had been evacuated, I went around to the west and south of the fire and arrived back home only to discover that we were under and evacuation order and had to get out. We already had some things ready to go, loaded the car and are now in Spokane waiting to get back home, who knows when.

An update: The fire is now very near our home on the east and north and we do not know if the house will survive. We are all safe and waiting to find out if anything will be left. 185 homes burned in the town to our north. The interstate highway is still closed for about 25 miles and all the roads in our area are closed, so there is no possibility of getting near our home or to the facility where our son lives.