Lots of opportunities for wildfire donations

MOSES LAKE - Joni Parks said nobody really expected the fire to burn into the town of Pateros. At least nobody in the little group watching from Watson Draw Road the night of July 17.

The fire, now known as the Carlton Complex, was burning on the back side of the hill behind town. Dramatic, but previous fires have burned to the top of the hill. Among the crowd watching the fire was Joni's daughter Shannon Hampe. "She looked up and said, 'There's the fire right there,'" Parks said.

"Right there" was about 500 feet. "The wind was just right. Just sucked it right into town," Joni said. The family had minutes to leave. "We got out with just the clothes on our backs," she said. "Very surreal."

The fire skipped Joni's neighborhood - although the flames changed direction three times, she said - but didn't spare Pateros. About 35 houses were destroyed in town. The fire jumped state Route 153, traveled over a ridge and destroyed most of Alta Lake State Park as well as many of the private residences there.

That was at the south end. The fire burned about 25 miles north during July 17 and 18, and has destroyed an estimated 150 homes to date.

A number of Columbia Basin-area businesses and individuals are collecting donations to help people impacted by the fires. Most are going to being accepting donations for at least the next few weeks.

A lot of donations already have gone north, but rebuilding is going to take a long time. "They still need kind of everything," Ben Justesen, owner of JRCC in Moses Lake, said. Justesen and his crew made three trips in four days. The company does a lot of business in Okanogan County; the Pateros School District is among its customers, and "my guys wanted to help," he said.

Eagle Home Mortgage in Moses Lake, along with other company offices, is collecting donations and will continue taking items through the end of the month at least, Clark Schweigert, sales manager in the Moses Lake office, said.

Northland Communications is accepting donations through Aug. 1, according to company employees. Moses Lake Steel and its office in East Wenatchee, Columbia River Steel, do a lot of business in Okanogan County. "Most of those people are our customers," owner Steve Rimple said. They'll be taking donations through the end of the month.

Individuals have hauled loads north - the names of Issax and Summer Jimenez, Josie Ritter, Don and Doni Rhyne were posted on the Herald's Facebook page. Traci Redford hauled a load of hay. "It was an amazing sight to see," Traci wrote. "Pateros had a church that was standing, however, everything around it was completely burned, to include the shrubs in the front."

Items needed right now, Joni said, include ice and generators. "They're still looking for generators. Any kind of camping equipment." At Northland, they have a lot of clothes, so they're looking for school supplies, toys, puzzles and games, along with bottled water.

Bottled water and non-perishable food is being accepted by everybody who's collecting. "Any food, period, is good," Ben Justesen said. The refrigerators and freezers at Pateros School are working, Parks said, so fresh food can be accepted.

Justesen said his company is looking for over-the-counter medications, first aid supplies, "underwear of all sizes is good. Definitely personal hygiene products."

JRCC is accepting disposable plates and silverware, baby supplies, diapers, blankets and sleeping bags. At Moses Lake Steel they're accepting all of that, plus soap and toothpaste, dog and cat food, baby items. "The things you don't think about every day," Rimple said.

Justesen said trips will continue for a while, since it's going to take a while for Pateros to rebuild.

The town is already bouncing back. Parks said she has seen people who lost their homes making donations to others.

The weekend of July 18 traditionally is the Pateros town celebration, the Apple Pie Jamboree. People were busy, so Jamboree 2014 was canceled. But the namesake apple pies were already baked, Joni said, and would've been spoiled by the time electricity was restored. So Pateros residents held an impromptu party Saturday, Parks said, with barbecued hamburgers (the only way anybody in town had to cook food) and the pies for the grand finale.