As Okanogan County residents shared their experiences in this summer’s wildfire with county officials, some echoed themes heard last year — of firefighters standing around while fires grew out of control, and of confusion, panic and poor communication.
But — particularly compared to last year — there was also praise for effective firefighting tactics by local and state agencies and ideas for reducing fire risk in the future.
Some 50 people — most from eastern Okanogan County, which suffered the major impact in property losses from wildfire this summer — turned out for a meeting with the Okanogan County commissioners at the Agri-Plex on Thursday (Oct. 1). The meeting was called a listening session — a chance for the county commissioners and emergency manager to hear people’s stories and concerns, rather than answer questions.
“We saw things happen last year that were corrected this year, to a certain degree,” said County Commissioner Ray Campbell in his introductory remarks. “But there are still some holes.”
While there were emotional stories and charges of negligence, a main theme at the meeting was the need to reduce fuels on public and private land — in forested areas, on shrub steppe and pasture land, and along creeks — to reduce the risk of catastrophic fires in the future.
Some speakers assigned blame for the disaster. A man from Riverside who lost everything and said he “barely made it out with his life” charged that the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) had allowed the area to burn. He said he watched for days as the fire grew larger and crews dropped water on adjacent areas — but not near his home. He accused firefighters of “leaning on their shovels, watching the fire.”