Kevin Froese, on deck at left, of Mennonite Disaster Service, speaks during the Aug. 23 dedication of the first of 11 houses to be completed by ecumenical volunteers after last year’s Carlton Complex Fire in Washington. The house was framed by the Amish from Montana, the MDS and United Methodists finished the interior.
From left, Linda Robinson, Clint Baker and Nancy Baker are among the volunteers providing meals and shelter to residents finding refuge from wildfires at Pateros Community United Methodist Church in Washington.
Last summer, a wildfire scorched the back of Pateros Community United Methodist Church in Washington State and burned down its parsonage.
This August, as fires once again devastate the drought-plagued western U.S., the church in Pateros is open 24 hours a day to those in need of shelter, food and a place to escape the smoke.
Volunteers from throughout the denomination’s Pacific Northwest Conference, which encompasses Washington and 10 counties in the northern panhandle of Idaho, have been assisting “from Day 1,” said Jim Truitt, who has served as the conference’s United Methodist Volunteers in Mission disaster response coordinator for the past nine years.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief recently distributed wildfire-related emergency grants to both the Pacific Northwest and California-Nevada conferences.
Sparked by lightning without rain and aided by high winds and tinder-dry brush and trees, single fires in Chelan, Douglas and Okanogan counties have merged into “complex” infernos.
Even before that point, the Washington wildfires claimed the lives of three firefighters with the U.S. Forest Service and injured four others when shifting flames overtook a fire crew Aug. 19 after their vehicle had crashed.
One of them, Andrew Zajac, 26, was the son of the Rev. Mary Zajac, senior pastor at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church in St. Charles, Illinois, and her husband, Jim Zajac. The family, including his wife, Jennifer, released a video statement about him.
Richard “Rick” Wheeler, 31, was a member of First United Methodist Church in Wenatchee, Washington, where the pastor, the Rev. Joanne Coleman Campbell, comforted his wife, Celeste, after she received news of his death.
Tom Zbyszewski, 20, the third firefighter who died, had just finished his sophomore year at Whitman College in Walla Walla and was spending his second summer with the U.S. Forest Service, where his parents also have worked.
A memorial service for all three firefighters is planned at 1p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30, in Wenatchee.
Residents evacuating from those fires to the north and the Chelan Complex fire to the south have fled to Pateros and Brewster, where the Red Cross has opened a shelter.
Most of the people currently seeking shelter at the church are from the north and came with animals that aren’t allowed at the Red Cross shelter. As of mid-day on Aug. 25, three families were in residence, but the numbers fluctuate. “In 20 minutes, I could have 50 people at the door,” Lane said.
Truitt dispatched six clergy and lay persons to Pateros last week to offer support and “simply provide a presence” until the fire chaplains could arrive. He delivered some needed supplies — underwear, toothpaste and gas cards — to the church shelter over the weekend.
Part of the anxiety, Truitt said, is that it often takes a long time to learn what has been lost or saved. “The fires are so severe and the smoke is so thick the assessors simply can’t tell them the status of their homes,” he explained.
Just a year ago, the Carlton Complex fire was the largest wildfire in state history and volunteers continue to work on long-term recovery plans.
On Aug. 23, the first two of 11 houses to be rebuilt this year were dedicated even as smoke filled the air, said Truitt, who participated in the ceremony.
“The Amish poured the foundation and framed the house and the Mennonites finished the inside with some help from the Methodists,” he wrote on the conference’s UMVIM Facebook page.
The Rev. Stanley Norman —who serves as co-chair for disaster response with the Rev. Gerri Harvill — believes the Pacific Northwest Conference is better prepared because of last year’s experience.
Money from the conference’s disaster response account was used to help fund disaster case management, with Cathy Earl of UMCOR providing training to 27 individuals last October, several of whom were hired by the long-term recovery group. “That was really an important step and we’ll probably be calling on those same case managers,” Norman said.
More than 50 percent of state residents affected by wildfires are unable to secure fire insurance and receive no federal or state funds, Norman noted, so they depend on nonprofit and faith groups for assistance.