“Seeing 12-foot flames around you, it’s like your body wants to hold up in a corner by the house, but the thing is, there’s nowhere to go, and I cannot describe that feeling to you where all your body wants to do is just try to find a little place to hide and find shelter and there isn’t anywhere to go, you just have to sit and wait and try to stay calm,” Snohomish’s Sammie Davis said as she remembered one of the scariest moments of her life.
Davis has spent the last four fire seasons traveling across the country fighting fires, often for weeks at a time. 2020 was her longest season to date, spending 45 days in the field.
Forest fires have gotten considerably worse in the last decade, every year seeming more destructive than the last. 2020 again broke records for forest fires, breaking the records set in 2019. From the start of the year to Oct. 16, over 46,000 fires across the western US blazed through 8.3 million acres, destroying homes, towns and claiming many lives.