ELK, Wash. – One year after the Oregon Road Fire destroyed homes and changed hundreds of lives forever, as the charred trees still stand, unsung heroes across the Inland Northwest are helping neighbors rebuild and recover.
In the small, rural town of Elk, Washington, neighbors were once separated by acres of lush fields and trees, but those seas of green are now replaced with the grim reminder of the scorching flames from August 18, 2023.
Rose Hutchinson and her son Brandon will never forget that fateful Friday.
“Words can’t say what we have been through,” Hutchinson said. “To me it seems still like a nightmare. I would never imagine that this would ever come.”
The unforgiving Oregon Road Fire took the Hutchinson’s home, their shop, their shed, and all the necessities inside – food, clothing, shoes, etc. But more importantly, what hurts the most, was the loss of all the things they will never be able to replace.
“My dad passed away two years ago, and I had a little earn of his, I couldn’t even grab that,” Hutchinson said.
Family photos, prized possessions, all gone. The only part of Hutchinson’s property that survived the brutal flames was her garage – but even that was damaged.
“People can say I’m sorry, [for] what you’re going through, but they really down deep inside don’t know because they have never lost their house and all their life,” she said.
But times are getting easier, day by day, as Hutchinson’s property is rebuilt, drill by drill, board by board. Thanks to friends, like Carl Raymond.
“I’m just out trying to serve,” Raymond said.
“I would say he’s my best friend,” Hutchinson said.
The two have known each other for years, but the reason Raymond has spent the winter, spring, and now summer helping Hutchinson rebuild, repairing parts of her property, like the garage, stems from his deep connection to helping others.
Raymon is Hutchinson’s bishop in Elk, serving the Riverside ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He also happens to be a firefighter with the City of Spokane.
On August 18, 2023, Raymond was on the fire lines. First, he was sent to the Gray Fire, which broke out not long before the Oregon Road Fire, in Medical Lake.
“I could see what side the smoke was going to, so I knew where the wind was blowing,” he said. “So, when this popped off, I heard the address come over the radio, and I was like, ‘what?’”
Instantly, the firefighter, bishop, helper at heart, knew trouble was approaching his friends in Elk.
“I just started calling people because I know a lot of people that live here, and when I started looking through our addresses, it was overwhelming,” Raymond said.
Names and faces flooded his mind of all the friends whose lives were changing forever in the blink of an eye, but also in what felt like a slow burn.
“Just the amount of total loss between friends I knew and friends from the church, just people I knew in the neighborhood – it was pretty crazy to stop and think about that,” he said.
So, when groups like Elk Strong and the New Hope Resource Center partnered with the Spokane Region Long-Term Recovery Group to help victims rebuild, Raymond didn’t give jumping in a second thought.
He’s not officially representing anyone, but in his words, “by association, you’re always representing something, for better or worse.”
“There is something about serving in the trenches with people, that builds bonds. There’s been people of all walks working together and it’s built relationships, and it spanned the gap of misunderstanding before,” he said. “And so, it’s been great to be a part of that, to see that, see people supporting each other, and just trying to help each other.”
The trees might be charred, and a donated RV might be home for a while, but day by day, life is coming together again for Hutchinson and her son. And for many families, just like them.
Hutchinson hopes by the end of the year, their new home will stand again, in a new light.
“My son here, he gives me a hug every day, [and says] we’ll make it mom,” Hutchinson said.
