Today's headlines:
- Spokane heads into its post-wildfire recovery period. The disaster assistance center that was open for a week has closed its doors.
- People are headed home to view the damage. They’re picking up supplies from the Red Cross to protect themselves.
- We’ll look at some of the other fires burning around Washington.
- We’ll introduce you to two new voices here at Spokane Public Radio.
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Spokane’s disaster assistance center at Shadle Park High School has closed its doors. But some participants say they will continue to offer services.
For example, the Red Cross says it will have volunteers available to help wildfire survivors. It’s looking for more. You can inquire at Red Cross dot org.
The Christian non-profit group Samaritan’s Purse is looking for people who want to help wildfire-affected homeowners recover lost or damaged belongings. The organization has set up a Spokane base at Life Center Church on Government Way.
At a community forum in Mead this week, Sheriff John Nowels urged people not to hesitate if they need help.
“Probably the most important thing you can do for yourself as a victim is to get in contact with the Long Term Recovery Group, who will have people assigned to you, almost like a social worker, but a caseworker for this really arduous process that will help you navigate this whole process of recovery," he said.
The Washington Insurance Commissioner’s office will sponsor a wildfire claims workshop next Monday at Spokane Falls Community College. That will start in Building 24 at 1 pm.
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As displaced residents are returning to their homes this week, the American Red Cross is distributing personal protective equipment and tools that those who lost everything may need to sift through the rubble.
The organization has also sent out vans in devastated neighborhoods. This week they are stopping at homes that have burned. They are dropping off shovels, rakes and sifters. They also leave blue bins filled with gloves, masks, water bottles and eye drops, along with a variety of other items.
Red Cross worker Diane DiBernardino was in the area of Wind River Drive on Wednesday, just off of Nine Mile Road.
"We’ve dropped off these thousands of bins and sifters. So when the homeowner comes back, it’s there waiting for them. And we’ve had some show up. This place just opened up I think yesterday. They finally lifted the order for people to get in. So not everybody is back yet. But we’ll leave them a rake and a shovel and stuff they need to start," she said.
DiBernardino said the crews are going to be out for at least the next few days, stopping in neighborhoods that have seen damage. Look for the white vans with large red crosses on them.
For a comprehensive guide to cleaning up after a wildfire, visit “After a Wildfire” on the Spokane Regional Health District website or the City of Spokane’s website.
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U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum came to Spokane yesterday to see the damage caused by the major Spokane fires.
He was joined by Washington U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, the head of Washington’s National Guard and other dignitaries.
They talked about the need for the federal government to declare the area as a major disaster area. Washington is already collecting some short-term federal relief money, but state officials say more will be needed to help Spokane with rebuilding.
Cantwell says the group also talked about how to change federal policies to lower the chances that future fires cause damage to urban areas.
One logistics note: tonight’s community meeting planned to brief residents about the Spokane fires has been cancelled. It was scheduled for 6 pm at Shadle Park High School. The last of four meetings was held last night at Mead High School.
As we said earlier, the Disaster Assistance Center at Shadle Park has now closed.
Evacuation shelters for those who lost their homes or who are not ready to go back are still open at the Spokane Convention Center and Jenkins High School in Chewelah. The animal shelter and RV grounds at the Spokane County fairgrounds remain open as well.
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The Spokane fires are all nearly fully contained. Crews are also making progress on some of the more established fires in Washington, three of which have burned more than 100,000 acres.
The largest of the three is the Sinlahekin, burning west of Tonasket in Okanogan County. It's has covered nearly 154,000 acres and is a little more than a third contained. Officials say they're making nice progress all around the fire's perimeter. They say the weather helped yesterday by bringing in air that was a bit more humid.
The Kaiser Canyon fire near Nespelem is now nearly three-fourths contained. It's the second largest at 138,000 acres.
Fire officials say lightning touched down yesterday at the northern end of the third largest, the Little Giant fire burning in both Okanogan and Chelan counties. It has burned about 127,000 acres and is about 5% contained.
One of the most active fires is the Three Queens in Kittitas County, which continues to grow in size. It is burning 3,300 acres. The flames are straddling both sides of the north end of Lake Kachess, a popular recreation area just east of Snoqualmie Pass.
Many areas of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest are closed to the public, including a 50-mile stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail along the King and Kittitas county line.
At a community meeting in Cle Elum Tuesday, Nancy Barker, the head of air operations for the firefighting team, said planes and helicopters have dropped more than a quarter million gallons of water.
“So there’s a lot of water going on the fire. Again, I’m buying time for those firefighters to get in there and put the fire out," she said.
Thunderstorms are predicted later for remainder of the week along the eastern Cascade slopes.
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I’m Doug Nadvornick, here with two of my new colleagues, Audrey Nelson and Lisa Leinberger, both reporters. We start with Lisa.
Lisa Leinberger: I am from Spokane, Washington. My family moved here when I was four. I attended Spokane schools. I went to Ferris High School. I went to Eastern Washington University, where I achieved a degree in journalism.
DN: What made you want to get into journalism?
LL: You know, it was funny. I really enjoyed writing a lot in college. But I took a class on what your next job's going to be, what you should major in at Eastern, and I hadn't really done much with it. And the teacher was like drilling us all as to what we're going to major in.
But the first thing that popped into my head when she got to me was journalism. She said, OK, here's who you talk to. I'm like, OK, phew. And I got in and I loved it. It was so much fun. I got to talk to people. I got to go different places and see different things that I ordinarily wouldn't get to see.
DN: And you went to write for the Spokesman Review. What did you write about?
LL: Yeah, I wrote for the Voices section. It was neighborhood news. Came out once a week on Thursdays. I wrote for the Valley Voice. I covered a lot of education in the Valley and basically, anything that popped up during slow times in the summer. Another colleague and I would write about one-of-a-kind jobs. I wrote about people who pluck the stingers out of bees so that they can use them to help people with allergies. I wrote about a lady who ran a goat farm and used their milk to make cheese and dairy products. That was a lot of fun, too.
Basically, I got to write about anything I wanted to and meet all the little corners of your neighborhood and find out what they're about.
DN: So you're now working here. Tell me why you wanted to work at Spokane Public Radio.
LL: Well, you know, at my last job, I learned how to do podcasts and edit sound and I really enjoyed that. And when it came time to look for a new job, I thought, you know, this would be fun. I could play with the sound again and edit sound again. And it'll combine with my first love of journalism, too.
DN: Okay. Audrey, you come from Western Washington. A little about yourself.
Audrey Nelson: I do, yeah. I grew up mostly on Bainbridge Island, Washington, and then lived in Seattle for a year and did freelance radio and print reporting there and just moved to Spokane this past week.
DN: So what attracted you to the journalism field?
AN: Well, I've always been an NPR nerd specifically. I was one of those kids that would come home from school, lie on the floor, turn on NPR and listen.
So I knew I loved the news and I knew I loved audio in particular. And then in college, I got into writing for a features magazine and I also got involved with the school paper. I went to Wesleyan University and wrote and did a podcast for the Wesleyan Argus. And at that point, I just really loved talking to people, learning as much as I could and ended up getting a summer internship with the Kitsap Sun, which is a print and digital paper in Western Washington and knew that was what I wanted to do.
DN: And as I asked Lisa, what was the allure to coming to Spokane and working in public radio here?
AN: I had visited Spokane a number of times and actually really liked the city from what I saw of it. So when I heard that there was an opportunity here within Washington, I got really excited that it was in a place I knew something about. It was in a place with a really diverse region of coverage, a lot of different things to talk about here, a lot of different people. And I wanted to stay in Washington. I wanted to do radio in Washington and talk to people here. And this was a great opportunity to do that.
Audrey Nelson and Lisa Leinberger are new Spokane Public Radio reporters. We will introduce you to another new reporter in September. More on that later. You’re also becoming acquainted with Jordy Jones, our new Morning Edition host.
As their voices become more familiar, we’ll welcome your feedback of our basically all-new news staff at news@kpbx.org.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Lisa Leinberger, Gary Davis and Doug Nadvornick, today’s producer and host.
Web support is provided by Anna Gyure Havlek.
