I'm watching coverage of the devastating fires that broke out Saturday in Spokane, Washington, where my daughter lives, thinking that this is a living nightmare. My daughter's neighborhood is safe for now, but 65,000 other residents have been evacuated, 700-1,100 structures have been affected and there is still zero percent containment of the three fires.
They broke out Saturday and high winds whipped them through bone dry vegetation, across the Spokane River and into neighborhoods in northwest Spokane. (My daughter lives in the southeast.)
Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to ash, and the flames continue.
Residents reported that it took four, five hours to evacuate because of thousands of cars trying to get out at once.
Power was turned off to parts of the city over the weekend, forcing those residents to choose between opening their windows to lessen the stifling indoor heat while temperatures outside were around 90 or keep the windows closed because outside air was filled with ash and toxic particles. I think some power is still turned off.
Thousands of firefighters have been deployed from across the country and Canada. Fighting this monster is the number one fire priority in the nation because so many neighborhoods are in the fire's path rather than it only threatening open land. It's burned more than 8,000 acres as of Monday morning. Today on the news, a fire official said it's likely to continue burning for weeks.
Somehow, this Little Free Library survived while the woman above stands before the destroyed house that had been her grandmother's.
A small bright spot is that donations for the victims have flooded in. My daughter responded to a call for pet food, toiletries and clothing, but when she tried to drop them off at the Red Cross they turned her away because they were flooded with donations. She was able to leave them at another drop-off spot, but it too was overflowing.
I have plane reservations to visit her in less than two weeks, but I'm not sure if I'll go. The air quality across the city is dangerous and fires might still be burning. I'm also planning to stay at a rental because my daughter's bathroom is torn up for repairs, but I'd rather free up that rental for a displaced family.
