Residents rally in wake of Cold Spring/Pearl Hill fires

QUAD CITIES – If one could have seen through the thick cloud of smoke from the Cold Springs/Pearl Hill fires that blanketed much of the Quad Cities during the past week he would have seen a buzz of activity by neighbors helping neighbors and valiant citizens both doing their jobs and volunteering wherever there was need.

Utility crews worked round the clock to repair fire damage and get electric service restored to homes, businesses provided food, schools provided shelters and fire camps, helpers distributed blankets, municipalities supplied masks for fire victims and water for firefighters, searchers looked for the lost and injured, and on and on.

The fire than began at Cold Springs east of Omak just before 10 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 6, was pushed by a near-gale force south wind and covered some 30 miles in six hours, jumping the Columbia River near Bridgeport at 3 a.m. Sunday morning and sparking the Pearl Hill Fire. Together the firestorm consumed more than twice the acreage burned by the 2014 Carlton Complex wildfire. As it passed through the Colville Reservation the Cold Springs Fire destroyed 27 homes along the Cameron Lake road corridor alone according to a source at Nespelem Electric. Outbuildings, livestock, fences, and pastures were also lost.

Reservation rancher Paul Knapp, who will turn 84 in November, decided to take a stand and try to save his house against the approaching flames. After moving vehicles onto some green space but lacking electric service to power his water well pump, Knapp extinguished embers with a shovel as they landed in vulnerable areas. While neighbors’ homes on either side of his were lost, Knapp’s gamble to remain saved his residence.

Several hundred fruit workers evacuated from Bridgeport were transported to Brewster where they spent Monday evening, Sept. 7, on a soccer field adjacent to Brewster Middle School. Volunteers including Rebecca Terrones and Heather Carrington distributed blankets to those who spent the night sleeping in the open before a Red Cross shelter was available at nearby Brewster High School the next day. The local McDonald’s Restaurant donated 400 sandwiches to help feed the displaced workers, said Brewster Boys and Girls Club Director Jamie Sluys.

The Bridgeport and Mansfield residents were issued Level 3 (Get out, now!) evacuations. The Pearl Hill Fire curled around Bridgeport from the north and east destroying more than a dozen homes on the city’s east and south perimeter. Mansfield High School served as a shelter for its citizens as the fire burned by on the town’s east flank sparing homes within the city limits.

Okanogan County Commissioners issued a Declaration of Emergency on Tuesday, Sept. 8. Governor Jay Inslee declared a statewide fire emergency on Wednesday, Sept. 9, and visited Bridgeport on Saturday, Sept. 12, as part of a multi-city tour of fire damage.

At its monthly meeting last Wednesday, Sept. 16, the Brewster City Council approved a Declaration of Emergency giving the city authorization to distribute supplies to fire victims. When a spot fire on Dyer Hill directly south and across the river from Brewster rapidly expanded Friday night, Sept. 11, the city provided water to the Bridgeport and Fire District 15 units that battled the blaze.

As of this writing Saturday, Sept. 19, online updates on inciweb (inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7161/) report the Cold Springs Fire as 85 percent contained and Pearl Hill Fire (inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7169/) at 94 percent