And now, worse
Before this week, the Carlton Complex Fire of 2014 was the largest in Washington state history. The brutal destruction of landscape and structures, the painful impact on hundreds of lives, made it not just big but also an enduring nightmare.
But the much smaller Twisp River Fire — officially now Branch 3 of the new record-holding Okanogan Complex Fire — will for one reason be remembered as even worse. We lost people, young men who understood and accepted the challenge and potential sacrifice that went with putting on their firefighting gear. Tom Zbyszewski, Richard Wheeler and Andrew Zajac died in the fire; Daniel Lyon was severely injured.
Those of us who count on firefighters’ dedication and bravery to protect us can hardly imagine what that must be like. After all, how many of us go to work each day knowing that, because of the nature of our job, we might not come home that night? Shame on us if we ever lose sight of that.
There have been many firefighter heroics in the past week that saved lives and property, and those won’t be forgotten. But they won’t be remembered the same way that the death of heroes will. They are names to the rest of the world. To us, they were friends, neighbors, family, three-dimensional human beings who helped define what it means to live in the Methow Valley. These losses hurt and will not quickly fade away. They are personal, intimate, an emotional gut-punch to a community that has already taken more than its share.
For many of us, the tragedy of the Thirty Mile Fire more than a decade ago still resonates with shock and grief. The Twisp River Fire re-opens that wound and once again moves us to appreciate why we live here, and at the same time understand what living here might bring. Even now, we are but one lingering ember and a gust of wind away from another reality check.
The Carlton Complex Fire tested us in the extreme, and we did not back down. There is resiliency in rebuilding. The Twisp River Fire will test us in different ways. There will be investigations, questions raised, lives altered, assumptions challenged. Some people may think hard about whether they want to continue living here, full-time or part-time. It’s worth remembering that the three men who died were protecting something they thought was worth saving. Ultimately, we must honor that sacrifice with our own commitments to the Methow Valley’s future.
Tommy Z.’s legacy
Few of us fully inhabit our lives, especially in ways that endear us to others.
In just short of 21 years on the planet, Tom Zbyszewski managed to do both.
Tom was a brilliant student, an actor, a martial arts expert — and a firefighter. He was equally proud of and enthused about all those parts of his life. Some people choose to only pursue things they think they might do well. Tom instead strove to excel at everything he chose, with passion and joy.
He was also a kid barely out of his teens, which is how many of us may think of Tom as opposed to the accomplished young man he had already become. His boyish grin was quick, and genuine. And now, etched in our memories.
Any loss of one so young, so bright, so promising is unfathomable to a close-knit community like ours, where individual triumphs are celebrated as shared achievements. Tom was one of ours, he was us, and he loved being of the Methow. Growing up here, he never saw anything but the possible.
A week after he died fighting the Twisp River Fire, Tom’s passing is beyond unfathomable. We fail in searching for words to describe the void. Years from now we will feel the same way, because by fully inhabiting his own life he forever enriched ours. That is Tom’s profound gift to us, and we will treasure it always.
About our front page and this week’s banner
When first responders fall in the line of duty, their colleagues often wear black armbands, or place a “mourning band” across their badges, to commemorate the dead. This week, we placed a black bar across the banner at the top of this week’s page A1, and our Facebook banner, to honor the three firefighters who died in the Twisp River Fire. We are a community in mourning, and offer our deepest condolences to the families, friends and co-workers of those we have lost.
