The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

When I sit out on my deck in the evening, enjoying a beverage, I can look out on the hillside across the river and see the black skeletons of trees - lots of them. They were burned in the late summer of 2006 during the Columbia Complex Fire that burned up a big chunk of Columbia County. A couple of times this summer, I've heard one fall.

We live in an area where the threat of wildfires is very real. Last week's Times we had a story of a small fire at Devil's Slide, on the south edge of Waitsburg, that thankfully was quickly put out. This week a loyal reader in Huntsville sent us a photo of a wheat fire that sent up a scare to people living there. Luckily, it too was quickly contained.

This summer is far from over, but so far, knock-on-wood, we've been spared a major disaster. Not so, the folks in Okanogan and Chelan Counties north of us.

One fire, called the Carlton Complex, has ravaged a huge area of Okanogan County. It has burned up much of the town of Pateros.

Every day for the past couple of weeks, I've received an email from the Washington Department of Natural Resources with an update on the state's fires. (I get stuff like that because I'm a member of the beloved media, and somehow they find me.)

The email includes a colorful chart with lots of statistics on the major fires. The Carlton Complex Fire is now considered the largest in state history. It has burned more than 250,000 acres. That's almost 400 square miles. By comparison, the Columbia Complex Fire burned about 109,000 acres.

More than 300 homes have been destroyed in the Carlton Complex Fire, and 1,100 more are threatened. The fire is listed as 66% contained and, as of Monday, 15 aircraft and more than 3,000 firefighters were battling it. It's estimated that nearly $30 million has been spent fighting it so far.

Dena Wood's story on the front page of The Times this week tells of two young people from our area who have gone beyond the call of duty to bring help to Okanogan County and the town of Pateros. Mikala DeRuwe of Waitsburg and Reed Curcio of Walla Walla hauled a large snowmobile trailer full of supplies to Pateros last week that was collected by Southeast Washington FFA members.

Donations are coming from many small towns in the northwest, and from people around the world, to help the people of Pateros. Those of us who live in the rural northwest know that fires will always be with us, and another big one will flare up here some day. That's why the willingness and eagerness of all of us to pitch in and help our rural neighbors is not only commendable, but it's vitally important. Some day it will be paid back.