MEDICAL LAKE, Wash. – This Sunday will mark one year since the devastating Gray and Oregon Road fires hit the Inland Northwest.
Nonstop Local spoke with one man who couldn’t believe his home was gone until he saw it for himself.
This is the Steege family.
Jason, the father, was at home by himself when the neighborhood was being evacuated. He was working virtually from his basement, with headphones on, not overly concerned about the evacuation notices he had received.
Jason smelled smoke, but when he drove down the block to see how close the fire was, he thought it would never reach his house.
Eventually, his wife Kristine, who was working in Seattle, convinced him to drop the dogs and cats off at a friend’s house.
Little did he know that he would never see his house the same way again. This became clear to him when firefighters had blocked off the entire road to his home.
“The first responders said you can’t go,” said Jason. “I said, hey, it’s just right there, I’ve got animals right there… He said, you don’t understand, you’re not going past this, it’s too dangerous…”
Jason looked and saw a huge cloud of smoke with flames all around the area where he knew his house was. He had only been gone for 10 minutes.
In that moment, Jason comforted his daughter before beginning to transition his mind to figuring out what was next.
First, the family traveled from all over to walk their property together.
Then they had to decide whether they wanted to stay in that location in the first place.
This was not an easy decision for them. They had lived there since 2014 and watched four of their five kids go through high school in that home.
They also have family in the area, and countless memories on that property, which is partially why they ended up deciding to stay and rebuild.
The next step was figuring out what they could afford. Thankfully, they had home insurance that helped cover the costs of temporary relocation, and because they worked remotely, they still had a steady income to support the rebuild.
According to Jason, it was the community of people and resources who helped them in their time of need, combined with their positive mental attitude, that kept them moving forward.
“All in all, we decided this was the place we wanted to probably live,” said Jason. “You go through something like this with people in the community, you see what they can do in the worst of times, and you kind of want to be a part of that, you feel a part of that…”
The Steege family says they are planning to rebuild in a way that will hopefully keep their home safer if there is another fire. Even still, they refuse to live in fear.
