The Carlton Complex Long Term Recovery Group (CCLTRG) has come a long way since representatives from social-service agencies, relief organizations, mental health providers, and concerned citizens began meeting in …
Carlton Complex Anniversary Section
Resilient landscape
One year ago, the Carlton Complex Fire laid siege to the Methow Valley and surrounding areas, leaving a smoldering, ashen landscape in its wake. In the immediate aftermath of the wildfires, many people found it hard to …
Beyond the trauma
Her first feelings after narrowly escaping the firestorm that destroyed her Finley Canyon home last July 17 were a sense of surrealism, followed by shock. For a brief time, Susan Speir said, she felt angry that she and …
Dollars and sense
Call it a hard-earned lesson — harder for some than others — about preparedness and the vagaries of nature.
The Carlton Complex Fire’s impact on the Methow Valley economy was in some cases instant, severe and lasting; in …
Following the fire
A progression map that was updated daily during the Carlton Complex Fire graphically demonstrated the explosive break-out on July 14 – 15, 2014, shown in dark blue, and the fire’s continous expansion for the next several days. The fire eventually ranged over nearly 270,000 acres, the largest in Washington state history, and destroyed more than 500 structures. […]
The summer of 2014: a timeline
July 14 A lightning storm and resulting strikes set off initial blazes around the region, notably around Texas Creek Road, Stokes Road, French Creek and Cougar Flat. In an unrelated event, a well-known fruit stand on Highway 153 is destroyed by fire. The Lone Mountain 1 Fire starts above War Creek. It burns most of […]
Lower Valley: July 15, 2015
By Joanna Bastian When I think back to Thursday, July 17, 2014, I distinctly remember the scorching heat. It felt hotter than the temperature displayed on the thermometer, and every gust of wind was as though someone had opened an oven door. The hot wind delivered chunks of blackened, smoking ash — drifting into the grass and […]
Winthrop: July 15, 2015
By Ashley Lodato It began as so many wildland fires begin, spreading quickly through the parched grass and trees, throwing up great white pillows of smoke against bluebird skies. It was kind of beautiful, actually, if you didn’t know what lay ahead, which of course we didn’t. It was, after all, July, and there were […]
Mazama: July 15, 2015
By Bob Spiwak Aug. 1, 2014 promised to be a busy day. The fires had been pretty much quelled, and the rains had not yet come to create their own devastation. I was on my way to the new Gamble Sands golf course near Brewster for a golf media event, a prelude to the course’s […]
