Sunday, October 28, 2012
A Wenatchee World special section
THE FIRES of 2012
World photo/Don Seabrook
Part of a contract fire crew from Roseburg and Medford, Ore., took a break on Sleepy Hollow Road after building a fire line down a steep hillside, tying it to a dozer line and protecting the northeast corner of the Canyon Fire in Wenatchee.
For the better part of a month, ire and smoke from the Wenatchee Complex and other ires around the region threatened and shrouded North Central Washington. As the ires waned, the damages emerged: More than 210,000 acres blackened in Chelan, Douglas, Okanogan and Kittitas counties. Numerous events canceled, moved or rescheduled. A Montana tree-faller dead after sufering a heart attack as he tried to help stop the lames’ advance. But thanks to the eforts of more than 2,000 ireighters from here and across the West, no Wenatchee homes were lost. As rain and snow douse what’s left of the ires, Wenatchee looks back ... with gratitude.
World photo/Don Seabrook
Areli Solano-Arroyo, 12, left, and Tania Sanchez-Dena, 12, were among more than 200 Sterling Intermediate School students who walked to Eastmont Junior High School for lunch wearing masks to protect them from the hazardous air conditions from local wildfires.