When Wildfire Consumed Us

Five years ago, a prophetic email landed in Cody Rohrbach’s inbox.

By at least one metric, the Gray fire on the West Plains was the second-most devastating Washington has ever seen.

Three months ago, Hallett Elementary resembled a picture book, nestled in a grove of ponderosa pine trees and marshy wetlands. The first-graders could look out their classroom windows to see nature and wildlife: squirrels scurrying along the dirt and birds whistling through the air.

Flames raged on either side of the road, scorching trees and sending embers into the smoke-filled air.

Everyone knows governments move slowly.