Washington

With a fire burning just miles away, residents of a Washington town dig in

Published

2 years ago

August 2, 2024

With a fire burning just miles away, residents of a Washington town dig in

Sentiments like these are common during high-stress wildfires throughout the rural West. As large, intense wildfires and evacuations become more common, some residents are growing tired of uprooting their lives and are growing inured to the risk — or more confident in their own abilities to manage it themselves.

That means some people are determined to stay in their homes even when authorities say they ought to leave, particularly when there are rifts in trust between communities and those managing wildfires and emergency response.

“Especially in rural communities, we’ve started seeing a lot more folks decide to stay and defend,” said Amanda Stasiewicz, an assistant professor of environmental studies at the University of Oregon who studies evacuation decisions. “There’s a lot of mistrust going on there.”

As fire behavior grows intense because of climate change and overgrown forests, doubts can fester in rural communities as fire managers operate more conservatively than in the past.

“People were used to seeing fires attacked in different ways decades ago and now there’s a different reality,” Stasiewicz said. “Now, we’re seeing fires act more radically, make their own weather and be more unpredictable.”

This dynamic is playing out in rural communities elsewhere.

Some Northern California residents whose homes are threatened by the Park Fire — now more than 397,000 acres and the fourth-largest in state history as of Friday morning — have similarly decided not to evacuate, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. One couple told the Chronicle that they’d soured on evacuating after they had to wait 10 days to return home after the 2018 Camp Fire.

Some 94 large fires are burning across the West, which more than 29,000 wildland firefighters are working to suppress, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Of those blazes, 28 have active evacuation orders.

“When it gets like this, it’s all hands on deck, and they’re running out of resources,” said Brad Bramlett, a public information officer assigned to the Pioneer Fire.

The Pacific Northwest, in particular, is reeling this summer as some 51 major fires burn in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. A hotter and drier-than-normal spring and summer primed the landscape to burn.

As of Friday morning, the Stehekin area was under a red flag warning for dangerous fire weather, according to the National Weather Service. The Pioneer fire had grown to more than 33,700 acres and was about 12% contained.

In most years, the fire season would only have just begun.

Stehekin’s full-time population is about 85, and its residents take small-town living to the extreme. The community famously resisted telephone service into the early 2000s.

Surrounded by glaciated peaks and the clear waters of Lake Chelan, the town swells in population during the summer, as tourists take 2.5-hour ferry rides to access trailheads in North Cascades National Park that begin in Stehekin.

The Pioneer Fire began on June 8 and has been slowly creeping north. It’s burning in some of the most challenging terrain firefighters must deal with in the U.S., with steep slopes, rocky outcrops and few trails.

“As soon as I heard about it, it was, ‘OK, here we go,’” Courtney said. “We all know how dry and early spring has been. It felt like the fire season was going to be accelerated.”

Stehekin residents have been planning and preparing, Courtney said, removing brush near homes, constructing a floating dock in the harbor and holding community meetings.

Tourists were forced away on July 25, when emergency officials raised the evacuation level to 2 of 3.

Meanwhile, firefighters have flooded into Stehekin. More than 640 fire personnel are working the fire, though not all are based in the town. Johnston said she and her staff of six have served about 200 meals a day to crews.

On Sunday, emergency officials asked everyone in the town to leave.

Magnussen said emergency management officials can’t guarantee any kind of help, particularly if the boat dock — “the only way out,” as he described it — burns.

“When they choose to stay, they’re doing so at their own risk,” he said.

Courtney said she recognizes that but worries that leaving Stehekin now could mean she won’t be able to return for weeks, if not longer. She feels her self-reliant community, which is filled with people who have boats and are used to working the land, is prepared to fend off fire, for now.

Some previous close calls have also hardened her demeanor toward fire. Courtney witnessed the 2015 Wolverine Fire, which burned more than 60,000 acres near Stehekin, and last month, she joined family and friends a few miles “down lake” to save her uncle’s property after firefighters had left.

“My tolerance has gone up,” she said.

Stasiewicz said that based on her own focus groups, surveys and interviews, sentiments like Courtney’s are becoming more common in rural communities. Evacuation often carries a stiff financial cost, she said, and some rural residents worry their properties won’t be prioritized.

“We can sometimes see rural communities lose compared to more developed areas. There is this mentality, ‘Maybe we do have to take care of ourselves,’” Stasiewicz said.

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Washington

PHOTOS: Long Beach State Dirtbags vs. Washington State, Baseball

Published

7 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

PHOTOS: Long Beach State Dirtbags vs. Washington State, Baseball

The562’s coverage of Dirtbags Baseball for the 2026 season is sponsored by P2S, Inc. Visit p2sinc.com to learn more.

Long Beach State dropped a 9-7 decision against Washington State on Sunday afternoon, closing out a busy weekend on Bohl Diamond at Blair Field.

The visiting Cougars took the lead for good in the eighth inning when Long Beach Poly grad Ryan Skjonsby delivered a game-winning two-run single with two outs and the bases loaded. Skjonsby was 2-for-4 with a walk, a run scored and three RBIs for Washington State in their road victory.

For the Dirtbags, catcher Damon Valdez scored twice and had a key two-run single in the sixth to help lead a Long Beach comeback. Trevor Goldenetz had a pair of hits at the top of the order, including an RBI triple. Camden Gasser walked twice and singled, improving his on-base percentage to .574 on the season.

Long Beach State (4-7) will be back in action at home on Tuesday with an exhibition match against Waseda University from Japan. The Dirtbags will then visit San Diego State on Wednesday and open Big West play at UC Santa Barbara this weekend.

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Washington

Week Ahead in Washington: March 1

Published

19 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) – Operation “Epic Fury” — the weekend military operations carried out by the U.S. and Israel against targets in Iran — tops the agenda for Congress as lawmakers return to Washington.

Sunday, President Donald Trump said the new leadership in Iran wants to talk to the Trump Administration.

Democrats in both chambers called for Congress to return as soon as possible for classified briefings on Iran, followed by a move to vote on the War Powers Act. The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war on another country.

Congress’ return to Washington was originally delayed due to the start of the 2026 midterm elections cycle.

Tuesday, voters in Arkansas, North Carolina and Texas head to the polls for primary elections.

North Carolina and Texas are drawing significant attention, as both states are facing congressional redistricting and competitive primary races for Senate seats.

In Texas, incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R) is facing primary challenges from state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt. On the Democratic side, Rep. Jasmine Crockett is facing state Rep. James Talarico.

In North Carolina, candidates are vying to replacing retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R) . They include former Governor Roy Cooper (D) and former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley.

Also this week, the Rev. Jesse Jackson is laid to rest. He will be honored Wednesday in Washington before a final memorial service Saturday. Jackson died Feb. 17.

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Washington

Caps Fall in Montreal, 6-2 | Washington Capitals

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Caps Fall in Montreal, 6-2 | Washington Capitals

Cole Caufield scored in the first minute of the first period and added another goal later in the frame, sparking the Montreal Canadiens to a 6-2 win over the Capitals on Saturday night at Bell Centre.

Washington entered the game with a modest three-game winning streak and six wins in its last seven games. Although they were able to briefly draw even with the Habs after Caufield’s opening salvo, Caufield and the Canadiens responded quickly and the Caps found themselves chasing the game for the remainder of the night.

“I didn’t mind some of the things that we did tonight,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “I thought we created enough offensively, we just made way too many catastrophic mistakes to be able to sustain that.”

In the first minute of the game, Caufield blocked a Jakob Chychrun point shot, tore off on the resulting breakaway and beat Charlie Lindgren for a 1-0 lead for the Canadiens, half a minute into the contest. Lindgren was making his first start since Jan. 29, following a short stint on injured reserve for a lower body injury he sustained in that game.

After the two teams traded unsuccessful power plays, the Caps pulled even in the back half of the first. With traffic in front, Declan Chisholm let a shot fly from the left point. The puck hit Anthony Beauvillier and bounded right to Alex Ovechkin, who had an easy tap-in for career goal No. 920 at 13:16 of the first.

But Montreal came right back to regain the lead 63 seconds later, scoring a goal similar to the one Ovechkin just scored.

From the left point, Canadiens defenseman Jayden Struble put a shot toward the net. It came to Nick Suzuki on the goal line, and the Habs captain pushed it cross crease for Caufield to tap it home from the opposite post at 14:19.

Less than two minutes later, Lindgren made a dazzling glove save to thwart Caufield’s hat trick bid.

Midway through the middle period, Montreal went on the power play again. Although the Caps were able to kill the penalty, the Habs added to their lead seconds after the kill was completed; Mike Matheson skated down a gaping lane in the middle of the ice and beat Lindgren from the slot to make it a 3-1 game at 12:22.

Minutes later, Montreal netminder Jakub Dobes made a big stop on Aliaksei Protas from the right circle, and Suzuki grabbed the puck and took off in the opposite direction. From down low on the right side, he fed Kirby Dach in the slot, and Dach’s one-timer made it 4-1 for the Canadiens at 16:34 of the second.

In the waning seconds of the second, Dobes made one of his best stops of the night on Beauvillier, enabling the Canadiens to carry a three-goal lead into the third.

Those two quick goals in the back half of the second took some wind out of the Caps, who were playing their third game in four nights following the three-week Olympic break.

“We kill off a penalty, and then we end up going down 3-1right after the penalty,” says Caps center Nic Dowd. “Those are challenging to give up, right? You do a good job [on the kill], it’s a 2-1 game, and then all of a sudden, before you blink, it’s 4-1 and then the game gets away from you.

“And they defended well tonight; It’s tough to score goals in this League, and you go into the third period, and you’ve got to score three. You saw that [Friday] night when we played Vegas; they were able to score two, but it’s tough to get that third one. I think we have to manage situations a little bit better. It’s a 2-1 game on a back-to-back, we just kill a penalty off, or maybe we just have a power play – whatever it is – we have to manage that, especially in an arena like this, where the crowd gets into it on nothing plays. They can really sway momentum – and in a good way – for their home team.

“We just have to understand that if we don’t have our legs in certain situations, because of travel, it’s back-to-back or whatever, we really have to key into the details of the game and not let things get away from us quickly.

With 7:28 left in the third, Ovechkin netted his second of the game – and the fifth goal he has scored in this building this season – on a nice feed from Dylan Strome to pull the Caps within two goals of the Habs, who have coughed up some late leads this season.

But Montreal salted the game away with a pair of late empty-net goals from Suzuki and Jake Evans, respectively.

In winning six of their previous seven games, the Caps had been playing with a lead most of the time. But playing from behind virtually all night against a good team in a tough building is a tall task under any circumstances. And it was exactly that for the Caps on this night.

“They score on the first shift,” says Strome. “Obviously, Saturday night in Montreal is as good and as loud as it gets. They just got a fortunate bounce; puck was off Caulfield’s leg, and a perfect bounce for a breakaway. It’s just one of those things where we got down early and now they kind of fed off the momentum of the crowd.

“But I still think our game is in a good spot, and we’ve just got to keep stacking wins. Obviously, we’ve played more games than everyone so we’re going to need some help, but we’ve just got to keep stacking wins. It’s tough on the back-to-back in Montreal, but we’ll find a way to bounce back on Tuesday [vs. Utah at home] and then go from there.”

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