Supply depots, volunteers help fire victims cope

Neighbors helping neighbors

Mike Maltais/QCH Wanda Christmann helps fire victims find what they need among the stack of supplies donors have provided at the Okanogan fairgrounds.

Livestock owners load hay donated at the Okanogan Fairgrounds.

Joey Peletier, left, and Nathan Tienzkham volunteer at the Colville Tribes Senior Center.

Trevor Caswell, left, and Abbey Christmann help with the donated animal feed supplies.

Posted Monday, September 28, 2020 3:41 pm

Mike Maltais Staff writer

OKANOGAN – It seems that, in every emergency or disaster, there is a select number of selfless, community-minded volunteers who appear, as if by magic, to do the vital work that always comes in the wake of loss. That spirit is on the job at the Okanogan County Fairgrounds and the Colville Tribes Senior Center where wildfire victims who suddenly find themselves in need can find a helping hand and sympathetic ear.

Just hours after the Cold Springs Fire started around 10 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 6, livestock from ranches in the path of the fire began arriving at the Okanogan County Fairgrounds where manager Naomi Peasley began checking in arrivals and assigning spaces.

Word of the conflagration spread fast and before midweek supplies from near and distant donors began arriving at the fairgrounds. Wanda Christmann of Okanogan with the help of daughter Abbey and Okanogan High School student and FFA member Trevor Caswell, showed up to help receive and segregate supplies and help fire victims find and fill immediate needs to keep families functioning.

A partial list of donors recorded by Christmann by week’s end included:

Gambler 500

Okanogan FFA

Omak FFA

Larry E. Robinson

North 40 Outfitters

World Vets

Republic Boy Scouts Troop

Watch This Freight (WTF)

Calaway Trading

Walden Farms

Wenatchee Valley Humane Society

Duncan Family Farms

Mana Wildfire Logistics

Omak Feed and Supply

Okanogan Valley Lumber

Snohomish County Cattlemen’s Association

Black Sheep Tees

Squamish Tribe

24/7 Property Maintenance

Emergency Equipment Solutions

With the Cold Springs Fire burning through a portion of the Colville Confederated Tribes Reservation, groups sprang into action to help survivors whose homes and possessions were lost in the disaster.

Keller resident Faith Zacherle with the River Warriors Society of Nespelem set up shop at the Tribal Senior Center along State Route 97 and began taking in food and household supplies to replace those lost in the fire. Also helping Zacherle is Wenatchi Wear in Wenatchee and the group representing Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Supplies quickly filled part of the empty building that was once the original tribal casino.

“We were on the ground the day after the fire started,” Zacherle said. “We help anybody.”

Zacherle can be reached by phone at 509-634-1570.

Zacherle said families from Disautel to Bridgeport lost everything in the refrigerators and freezers and many are on fixed incomes.

“The list includes 22 families right now on the reservation, 11 are tribals and 11 are not,” said Zacherle. “We try to help the non-tribals a little bit more because eventually the tribe will step in and help the tribal members.”

Zacherle’s group has helped book motel rooms for displaced fire victims and updates a daily checklist of which families need what for deliveries.

“We help anybody,” said Zacherle. She can be reached by phone at 509-634-1570.