Watching and Waiting: Residents React to Approaching Alder Lake Fire

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MINERAL — On Friday afternoon, Tim Milbrath is sitting in a lawnchair outside of his house on Pleasant Valley Road and watching the smoke billow up from the Alder Lake Fire as emergency vehicles zoom up the normally quiet road. 

“At times, you never know what’s going on,” he said. “We’ve had little fires before, but nothing this intense.”

From the valley floor, the mountainside is surprisingly close and looks like it’s steaming, except for a half dozen places where gray columns of smoke reach into the sky. The scent of burning wood lingers in the air. Pleasant Valley Road residents say their cars are covered with ash every morning. Several houses have their garden hoses out and the sprinklers watering the lawns. 

Officials believe the fire was sparked July 26 during a lightning storm, but it smoldered until Aug. 11 when it was finally reported. The fire was approximately 253 acres and 10 percent contained as of Friday. It is in a small island of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, but it’s being managed by officials from the Washington Department of Natural Resources and the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. There are 107 people working to combat the blaze.

Debbie Herbrand lives on a wooded lot just down the street from Milbrath. 

She said she was the one who reported the fire. She’s feeling better now than she had been in the days before, but her husband is still worried. 

“I took the photos off the walls … the insurance said to start packing,” she said. “I’m in denial.”

The Herbrands have lived on the property since 1975. They moved into their new home in 1997. 

A few days ago, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office came to her door and explained the level one evacuation that’s now in place. They don’t have to leave — evacuations aren’t necessary — but they do need to be alert. 

She can hear the trees falling at night. 

There’s a large field behind their house, which she said is concerning since the grass hasn’t been cut this season and it’s completely dry. 

“The prospect of the rain is soothing,” she said.

The prospect of high winds also in the forecast make her nervous, though. 

To be on the safe side, her son is bringing a truck that holds between 300 and 500 gallons of water. In the meantime, she is trusting the Forest Service and the DNR are successfully fighting the fire. 

“I think they’re doing everything they can,” she said. 

The Majors family drove from Silver Creek and parked along a stretch of Pleasant Valley with a broad view of the action. 

“I’ve never seen a forest fire in person — except for these … it’s crazy,” said Hardy Majors while leaning against the bed of his pickup. 

Forest Service Ranger Mark Engler flew up on Wednesday from Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky to help handle the fire. 

Typically running a visitor center, he’s one of a handful of people in the Forest Service with experience and training around forest fires who was available right away. 

He was stationed on Lillie Dale Road outside of Elbe and had an information board set up. The road offers a panoramic view of the fire just on the other side of Alder Lake. He said about 200 cars per day stop to see what’s happening. At night, he said up to 50 cars at a time line the road to see the flames at night. 

“It’s a cleaner fire,” he said, referring to the fact that the fire is burning through the thick understory of the forest and not up into the treetops. He said the Forest Service has built fire lines around it hoping it’ll burn itself out and the weather should help.

“We’re supposed to get up to an inch of precipitation,” he said of the weekend forecast. 

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Dameon Pesanti reports on East Lewis County for The Chronicle. He can be reached at (360) 807-8237 or dpesanti@chronline.com