By Liv Stecker
As landowners in rural Stevens County, Carolyn and Jim Williams experienced first hand the tragic effects of wildfire when the flames raced through more than 100 acres of their property during the Marble Valley Fire in 2015. The lightning caused fire was one of several in the tri-county area that tore through the countryside over a short period of time. While residents in the Arden area raced to save their homes and valuable property, firefighting resources were stretched thin on the Carpenter Road, Gold Hill, Stickpin, Renner Lake, and the Graves Mountain Fire, creating a patchwork of smoke over Northeastern Washington. One resident died from heart failure in the fight to save his land on the Carpenter Road Fire, and many other local people faced grave losses.
For the Williams, the Marble Valley fire hit much closer to home than any of us would care to imagine, and the lessons learned by both private landowners and firefighting agencies in 2015 are still unfolding. Carolyn Williams wanted to make sure that her grandchildren would remember both the real danger of fire season, but how to be prepared and what recovery from the devastating effects of fire looks like. In her self-published book titled The Marble Valley Fire in Arden, Williams chronicles the events of the fire, as she drove home from Spokane to find her husband battling frantically to save their property, and the experience of watching their entire neighborhood ravaged by the flame front. “I wanted something for my grandchildren to not forget - for them to know what to do during a fire, the danger, and what to do with the timber after.” Williams explains.
For many local property owners, the tragic fire season of 2015 was life altering and Williams offers a first hand glimpse into this experience from the perspective of a landowner and long time Stevens County resident. Many local volunteer fire departments are still recovering from the toll that the summer of 2015 exacted on their equipment and personnel. New training is in place, and new programs sponsored by the state and federal government to boost preparedness levels for such events, as we saw resources statewide tapped out and unable to cover all of the new fire starts.
Using a collection of images from the fire and the recovery, Williams published her book using mypublisher.com, and has made copies available for sale at Coffee & Books in Town Center at 298 S. Main in Colville. There is also a CD with more images of the heavy equipment and logging operations during the recovery period after the fire.
