OCLTRG holds 2020 wildfire home dedications

MONSE – Nine-hundred-and-sixty-three days after he lost his home to the 2020 Cold Spring wildfire James McCraigie was handed the Certificate of Occupancy to his newly rebuilt home in a dedication ceremony held last Friday, April 28, by the Okanogan County Long Term Recovery Group (OCLTRG).

McCraigie’s was one among more than 100 homes lost in the Labor Day weekend fire that included the Pearl Hill portion of the same blaze that jumped the Columbia River into Douglas County.

The weekend of dedications began with a luncheon and presentations at the Pateros Brewster Community Resource Center (PBCRC) on Friday, April 28, before gathering at McCraigie’s house at Monse. The next day homes were dedicated in Bridgeport and Coulee City before returning to the PBCRC conference room.

“We’ve given a home to everyone who qualified,” said OCLTRG Executive Director Carlene Anders. “And who wanted to move through that process, which is really kind of a miracle.”

That process is long and detailed and begins with a case manager like Lead Disaster Case Manager Jessica Farmer who mentors each applicant through the interview, fact gathering, qualification, and approval phases.

Anders said it’s important that people understand how long that process takes.

“That is exactly why it’s called ‘long term recovery’ across the country,” said Anders. “It does not happen overnight.”

Anders had a reminder for those who assume that by now most of the fire victims have recovered their losses.

“People are literally living in cars, sheds, tents, trailers until they get a home – if they get a home,” said Anders of the remaining need. “We know people in that situation that are not coming out of that situation, because they have not chosen to move forward or can’t move forward in their own recovery.”

Anders added that the fire survivors whose homes were rebuilt by OCLTRG volunteers are still in their homes or they have since passed away and their families are still in those homes.

House recipients of the 2014-15 Carlton Complex and Okanogan Complex fires signed five-year agreements with OCLTRG to remain in their new homes. Those from the 2020 Cold Spring and Pearl Hill fires signed three-year agreements.