Medical Lake, Elk residents rebuild from devastating wildfires one year ago

It has been a year since flames swept through the southern and northern ends of Spokane County destroying 366 homes and thousands of acres.

For the families who lost everything though, it feels like yesterday.

“It’s not ‘That fire that happened a year ago.’ They’re still living through the trauma of it,” said Jennifer Thomas, executive director of the Spokane Long Term Recovery Group helping people victimized by the fires. “It’s as raw and fresh as it was 365 days ago.”

Of the people who lost their homes, about 20% have returned and another 5% have decided to move away from the fire zone. About 50% have started rebuilding, Thomas said.

Still, 25% of people who lost their homes are “stuck,” Thomas said. They are living in RVs or in a temporary rental with an uncertain future.

A drive through Medical Lake illustrates the issue.

A handful of contractor trucks dot the shoulders of neighborhood roads marking homes under construction. Nearby, crisp lawn furniture and stickers on a homes’ windows show just how freshly completed it is.

Past green fields dotted with blackened sticks that just last year were pine trees mark what was once a robust forest. On the shores of Silver Lake construction is full steam ahead on some properties with others freshly completed. The occasional for sale signs stand next to the road with a few properties seemingly in the state they were the day of the fire – burned out vehicles, twisted metal and all.

Near the northern community of Elk, charred trees still dominate much of the landscape with low-lying vegetation replacing the black ashes on the forest floor. Stick-built and mobile homes have replaced some of the vacant, black and gray properties from one year ago. Melted metal remains are still littered about.

Elk residents say they have tried to overcome frustrations with home insurance and building permit delays to rebuild their homes and properties ravaged by the wildfire.

This week The Spokesman-Review interviewed six families affected by the fires.

John and Cindy Altheide

When John and Cindy Altheide built their home down the street from Hallett Elementary School, they were thinking about the future: retirement, accessibility and community.

Never in their wildest dreams did they expect to be rebuilding the exact same house five years later.

The Altheides were some of the first people to return to their property after the fire. They quickly bought an RV and moved back home.

Pretty immediately, they couple knew they wanted to rebuild what they had lost.

While they could quickly rebuild the home, they couldn’t rebuild their collections. John collected beer steins while Cindy had amassed 1,200 cookie jars. The church pew the couple had gifted John’s parents for their 25th wedding anniversary, among other heirlooms, were gone too.

Ever practical, the couple contacted the same builder who said he could rebuild their home.

The couple moved back in seven weeks ago with a few minor changes.

After the new bed was delivered, Cindy excitedly went to grab some sheets, only to realize the couple didn’t have any. A quick trip to the store followed and the couple slept for a full eight hours for the first time in a year.

For months, John has gone to grab a screwdriver or Cindy has tried to find spatula, only to realize they don’t have one.

“The delivery people come like every day,” Cindy said. “It was the month before we moved in, Amazon does a little summary ‘You ordered 76 items last month.’ ”

Even things as small as safety pins need to be purchased.

“How can a person be this old in life and not have a safety pin?” Cindy said with a chuckle. “My mom was a quilter, never in my life have I bought safety pins.”

Cindy has begun collecting again, with a handful of cookie jars gracing shelves in her front room. The church pew has also been replaced, but not the sentimental history.

While mourning the loss of the items collected over decades was expected, the couple got emotional mainly over the way people treated them over the last year.

Cindy got the bid for pouring asphalt on their circle drive and it looked familiar.

“It was the exact same amount to the penny as what we built five years ago,” Cindy recounted as tears shimmered in her eyes. “I said it’s not right because I know you have expenses and she said ‘We’re committed to doing that for our customers.’ ”

Those moments with contractors, city inspectors and neighbors showing support and love over the last year have meant the most, the couple said.

“It’s an awful thing that pulls the neighborhood together,” John said of the last year.

Peter and Valerie WoelkPeter Woelk, who is rebuilding his home on his Casey Lane hillside, said the Oregon Road fire changed his perspective on what he values most.

He looks forward to having coffee on his deck with his wife, Valerie, and the hummingbirds. He said he’ll soon have a new kitchen where they can cook the food they grow in their garden.

“What I need is what I’m comfortable with,” Woelk said. “I don’t need a house full of things that I see once a year. I want something that I’m gonna use all the time. I want something that I can enjoy all the time.”

The Woelks have been married 25 years and completed their Elk house in 2012. They lived there until the fire swept through. The blaze destroyed their residence, garage, well-house and outbuildings. Two motorcycles and a boat also were lost.

“It leveled everything,” he said. “The only thing we came back to were a few green trees.”

Now 69, Peter Woelk said he was in disbelief looking at the burnt trees and black forest floor.

“You look at that and you go, ‘Man, that’s devastating, but it’s not the same feeling as when you’re standing in your ashes.’ ”

He said he hoped to have been moved into the new house by the spring, but obtaining building permits and completing asbestos tests took longer than expected, which has been frustrating.

Woelk, who retired after working more than 30 years at Kaiser Aluminum in Spokane Valley, said he hopes to have the house finished next month. He and his wife have lived with family in Chattaroy since the fire.

The couple’s home insurance is covering most of the cost of the new home.

Their neighbors are also rebuilding their homes and shops.

“It’s a wonderful feeling,” Woelk said. “Our community, our area, is coming back.”

Ben and Joyce Cabildo

The last Ben and Joyce Cabildo saw of what was supposed to be their retirement home was it going up in flames on their Ring camera.

After the fire, the couple stayed with friends. Ben Cabildo, a longtime community organizer and activist who founded the Asian Hispanic African Native American (AHANA) business association, said he felt lost shortly after the fire.

It took months but in early 2024, the couple finally decided against rebuilding. While they loved their close knit community on the shores of Silver Lake, it was painful to think about returning.

“It’s also kind of disappointing and depressing to go back to Medical Lake,” Cabildo said. “So we decided not to do it.”

The couple was limited in what they could rebuild, Ben Cabildo said, having to stick to the original footprint of the home.

At 75, Cabildo also wanted a one-story home. They used their insurance money to buy a new home in Spokane Valley, where they have lived for the last few months.

“I’m trying to acclimate,” he said. “We live in the Valley now. It’s a nice area, close to shopping, quiet neighborhood.”

The couple also decided to join the lawsuit against Inland Power in hopes of holding the company accountable for ignoring complaints about a malfunctioning light pole that an investigation found sparked the blaze, Cabildo said.

“I’m kind of mad at them for disregarding the complaints of the residents,” he said.

The hardest loss, Cabildo said, was the memorial garden for the couple’s late daughter Sableu. Cabildo plans to do a small garden in the couple’s new home.

Robert and Jen ParkerThe Oregon Road fire was a rough start to Robert Parker’s 44th trip around the sun. Unfortunately, it was only the beginning of what would be the toughest year of his life.

The day after celebrating his birthday, the fire destroyed Parker’s double-wide mobile home, where he lived with his wife, Jen. His shop, wood shed, animal barn and walk-in cooler, which held his meat processing equipment, were also lost in the blaze.

He saved a couple of his vehicles and his RV, in which he and his wife have been staying since the fire.

Parker, who turned 45 Saturday, said he used part of his insurance money to build a pole barn, which will house the RV they’ll continue to stay in. He said he wants to convert the building into a permanent dwelling when he has the funds.

In the meantime, Parker said they’ve used up their insurance money and he’s living paycheck to paycheck trying to pay regular bills and finishing the pole building.

Parker works as a truck driver hauling ash each day from the Spokane Waste to Energy Facility to an Oregon landfill.

He said their RV and newly installed pumphouse froze during the winter, leading to more problems, including replacing the pumphouse again.

“This last year has just been a financial nightmare,” Parker said.

He credited the Salvation Army, New Hope Resource Center, local missionaries and the Federal Emergency Management Agency for providing him materials, volunteers and financial assistance.

The Montney family

When Jessie and Scott Montney’s home burned down during the Gray Fire, they quickly pivoted to the positive.

Working in insurance, they knew their coverage well, they could both keep working during the rebuilding process and while the road was long it was possible.

“I feel like once we got past the initial shock, it was a big to do list,” Jessie said.

Now, the couple expects to move into their new home just days after the one year anniversary of the blaze.

The first few weeks after the fire, the couple and their teenage son lived in an RV at Scott’s office. Then they moved into a short term rental.

The family was already under contract to build a shop on their property when the fire came, so they moved forward with those plans. The shop was complete days before Christmas and the family moved home, parking a fifth wheel inside.

They figured they have to put another manufactured home on the lot and were ready to sign the contract when Jessie looked at some Lexar floor plans. A few days later, Scott sent her the same plan and the couple knew it was perfect.

Lexar Homes offered a discount to people who lost their homes in the fires, making the switch possible for the Montneys.

While they aren’t quite moved in yet, things are slowly returning to normal. The family is traveling frequently for son Garrett’s BMX racing. Their three dogs are jumping in the pool on hot summer days. Jessie has a couple of chickens clucking around and Scott just built temporary steps for the house without having to run to the hardware store to replace a tool lost in the blaze.

One member of the family, Nike, Jessie’s 30-year-old horse, died earlier this year. The pair’s last adventure together was Jessie riding Nike out of the neighborhood as the fire rushed toward their home. She spent her last few months on Busy Bee Ranch with her friends, Jessie said.

The next step for the Montneys is making their property feel like home.

“It’s beautiful in here but it doesn’t feel lived in,” she said. “So making it feel like a home.”

The Wheeler familyMark Wheeler thought his house might be spared when the Oregon Road fire started.

“All of a sudden, the wind changed and it came with a vengeance,” he said.

The blaze destroyed the two-story home he and his family built 20 years ago. His shop, pumphouse and outbuildings were lost as well.

Wheeler, 63, lives with his wife and two grandchildren.

Wheeler also lost a rental home in Elk; his brother lost three rental homes in Elk; and another brother lost a home in Medical Lake from the Gray fire.

A blue mobile home now sits on Wheeler’s property. Wheeler said his insurance covered less than half the cost of his new $230,000 home. He had to dip into his retirement to help cover some of the remaining cost.

He said “outrageous” prices for everything have made the last year extremely difficult.

“I don’t see how people can afford to move on,” said Wheeler, who worked in lumber mills before retiring.

He said he considered moving elsewhere after the fire, but decided it was cheaper to stay. They’ve stayed in a Spokane rental the last year and recently moved into the mobile home.

Wheeler said they still need to pay for excavation work for the landscaping and finish the pumphouse. He said he’s not sure how he will afford the excavation.

“It’s just devastating right now,” he said.

He said building permits caused huge headaches, but he was appreciative of the help provided by New Hope, the Salvation Army, neighbors and friends.

“We sure got a heck of a good community,” Wheeler said.