Shawn Vestal: ‘Shock and disbelief’ after wildfire razes homes in Medical Lake

When Mike and Stephanie Zappone left their home early Friday afternoon, they noticed a little smoke in the rearview mirror. It wasn’t a particularly unusual sight this time of year.

“Oh,” Stephanie thought, “it’s a brush fire.”

Within hours, though, a wildfire had raced through Medical Lake, leveling the home where they’d lived for more than 20 years.

Stephanie described it as a “completely surreal experience.”

“You hear about this. You see it on the news,” she said. “You imagine what it might be like, but until you experience it, it’s hard to wrap your mind around.”

The home, on Stanley Drive not far from Medical Lake Middle School, burned to the ground within hours of the first evacuation warnings.

“Completely flattened” is how Zack Zappone, a Spokane city councilman who lived for most of his childhood in the home, described it. “Rubble.”

Two doors down from their home, Zack’s aunt and uncle, Kim and Jack Zappone, suffered a similar fate, seeing their home utterly leveled. The homes of two other family members appeared to have been spared.

The Zappones – a large and well-known family in Medical Lake – were still reeling from the losses on Saturday, along with hundreds of others who lost homes in the devastating Gray fire, which overtook Medical Lake with brutal speed Friday.

“I’m still in shock and disbelief,” Zack Zappone said. “Even last night, I was like, ‘Not until I see it. Not until I see photos.’ We’ve seen photos now.”

Mike and Stephanie, who are Zack’s father and stepmother, had left their home at about 1 p.m. on Friday on separate errands. Stephanie went to her mother’s in Airway Heights, to prepare for a family reunion that was planned this weekend, and Mike went into Spokane.

By around 2:30, the evacuation order was given, and Stephanie raced back to the house to save the family dogs. Embers were swirling among the pine trees, and a thick gray smoke covered everything. Neighbors were scrambling to leave, and police officers were closing down the streets.

She got her two dogs out of the garage and left without retrieving anything else.

“The material things – they’ll be replaceable,” she said. “I’m happy our dogs are alive and I was able to get them out.”

She rejoined Mike at the Medical Lake Middle School, and they spent the next few hours wondering whether their home would be spared. Stephanie said she kept a close eye on the Facebook community pages where neighbors were sharing information, photos and videos; by shortly after 6:30, they knew the home was gone, she said.

Many people who evacuated from the town were still waiting to learn how their homes had fared on Saturday. Some feared the entire town had burned, but what began to emerge was a picture of a fire that destroyed some homes and spared others.

The houses across the street from the Zappones, for example, were left standing.

For the hundreds of Medical Lake residents who escaped the fire on Friday, most of Saturday was spent wondering.

“I’ve heard both – that it’s standing and that it’s burned,” said Tamra Mabe, 55, who recently moved to Medical Lake with her two children and was staying with her mom while waiting for an apartment. “That’s the hardest part.”

Mabe was among the scores of residents sheltering at the Red Cross evacuation center at Spokane Falls Community College. Many people there had not yet heard Saturday afternoon whether their homes were still standing.

“What’s to worry about – it’s either there or it isn’t,” said 76-year-old Roger Christianson.

Christianson had left his home Friday to have lunch with a friend and then go to the airport to pick up his daughter, who is visiting from Denver. He never made it back home.

“He only has what he had on him and what was in his car,” said his daughter, Nicole Lynch.

Stephen and Michelle Mount were wondering Saturday afternoon whether the flames would pass by the fifth-wheel trailer in which they’d been living at the Sun Cove Resort on Clear Lake, south of Medical Lake.

“The fire’s right next to it right now,” Stephen said as he and Michelle fed their two dogs in the college parking lot. “It’s right there up close. It’s kind of a praying moment right now.”

Fred Tribble, of the Red Cross, said many of the roughly 70 people at the shelter were older and had specialized medical needs. Many were also renters without insurance who’d been able to retrieve little if anything before evacuating.

The shelter offered cots, water, beds and other services , and a steady stream of volunteers was bringing in donations Saturday. Those at the shelter were eager for information, which was scant.

“The only real question a client has is: Is my house still standing?” Tribble said.

Zack Zappone said his parents and aunt and uncle were spending Saturday in a state of disbelief – buying some basic items at the store, contacting insurance companies and “waiting and seeing and not knowing what’s going to happen next.”

“Recovery is more of a marathon than a sprint,” he said.

Kim Zappone was able to retrieve some documents before evacuating; Jack was at the Lakeland Village group home operating a water truck to try and protect the facility.

He said that the scale of the devastation, which is still unfolding, is hard to take in.

“Hundreds of families, here and in Elk, are all experiencing the same thing,” Zack Zappone said.

As hard as the loss is, the community response has been inspiring, he said.

“There was just an outpouring of support and people seeing a need in our community and asking how they can help,” he said. “That need is going to continue to be there, even after the fire is contained.”

Stephanie Zappone said despite losing the home and everything in it, she feels “very blessed” to have so much help and kindness from people. She said that everywhere she looked during the fire, she saw people helping in any way they could.

“Anything can be replaced,” she said. “People have been so generous. We’ve got our basic needs met, so we’ve been very fortunate.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct that it was Jack Zappone who operated the water truck at Lakeland Village.