Bishop and Firefighter Aids Community in Oregon Road Fire Recovery
News Story by Cassy Benefield | FāVS.News
Firefighter Carl Raymond received a text from the city asking for Spokane Fire Department volunteers to come in on their day off. It was Aug. 18. Unsure what it was about, he didn’t respond.
About 10 minutes later came this text, “Medical Lake is on a level three evacuation. You are needed.”
He and other firefighters jumped into action.
“That conveyed to us that it was not another regular request to fill vacancies and that there was something major going on,” he said.
He noticed that Battalion Chief Darin Neiwert called in extra firefighters that day, more than the original six or so requested.
“That’s what saved Elk in some ways,” Raymond said, even though what became known as the Oregon Road Fire in Elk, Washington, had yet to begin.
Elk was important to Raymond because that area belongs to the Riverside ward, the congregation he oversees as bishop for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He volunteered for this role — something akin to a pastor in Protestant churches — in April.
What he didn’t know about Elk when Medical Lake caught fire in what became known as the Gray Fire, was that members of his congregation would also be subject to their own level 3 evacuations.
He didn’t know he would be helping fight their fire.
Raymond’s Aug. 18 “Off-Duty” Work Day Begins
Roughly, two hours after Medical Lake’s fire began, around 3 p.m., Raymond hurried into his car. He drove 45-minutes to Fire Station 17 on Spokane’s north side, picked up his gear and rushed to Station 8 by the Community College of Spokane.
He was tasked with covering medical calls in the city while most firefighters covered the Gray Fire.
While there, he heard an address in Elk that was familiar to him on a radio call.
“I’m like, holy cow! I’ve got people who live right there!” Raymond said, referring to the families and friends belonging to his ward who were in the path of the Oregon Road Fire.
That fire started at 4:13 p.m. almost four hours after the Gray Fire in Medical Lake, while Raymond covered Station 8.
The National Weather Service gave out a Red Flag Warning that day due to the high winds and low humidity, which intensified the burn damage and its speed. A total of 10,817 acres burned in the Oregon Road Fire and 10,085 acres burned in the Gray Fire.
Both wildfires were instigated by humans and caused the death of one person.
He followed a “spiritual prompting” after he heard that address and called families in his ward, he said.
Still, he needed to go out on minor calls in the city during this time. Eventually, he got the call to go and fight the Elk fire with his truck as a fire equipment operator and paramedic.
“I’m like, how coincidental is this, that I come to work, I hear and recognize the address and I am able to start calling people that I know and then now I’m being sent to fight this in my own area?” he said.
He didn’t believe it really was a coincidence, he said.
Fighting the Fire
The drive to Elk took 30 minutes, and Raymond used that time to continue making calls and learning the status of his congregants.
Once there, he went on radio silence because he had to switch attention to protecting the fire crew.
He saw the fire cross roads, exist on both sides of roads and winds swirling and changing the fire’s direction quickly.
He helped civilians by creating barriers between them and the fire so they could exit their properties or haul some of their things off their property.
Some civilians didn’t have that option and had to exit quickly. One particular group tried to haul large equipment into the back of their trucks, and he could see it was taking them too long.
“I just started screaming at these guys, ‘Get out, like now!’” Raymond said knowing that had they stayed any longer, they would not have made it. “And they’re like, ‘We’re hurrying’ and I’m like ‘Hurry faster!’”
He ended his shift on the fire at 2:30 p.m. the next day, not getting home until 7:30 p.m. — over 28 hours after he first came in.
Before fighting the Oregon Road Fire, Raymond remembers forgetting to call one family.
He believes God had his hand in this because not calling them may have saved their lives. It definitely saved their home, he said.
The Forgotten Call
Brian and Nancy Steele, 72 and 71 respectively, moved into Brian Steele’s childhood home in 2015 to help take care of his mom before she passed away in 2022. Most of their things were still in the barn waiting to be officially moved in.
One of the delays to finish moving in was Nancy Steele’s cancer diagnosis in June, roughly two months before the fire.
She remembers feeling weak and shaky, recovering from her treatments, on Aug. 18, and still in her pajamas when her husband first smelled smoke.
He assumed it was coming from Canada’s wildfires, but a while later he saw more smoke and noticed it coming from Oregon Road.
They weren’t panicked, having seen fires this close before and being nothing to worry about. They were on alert, however, gathering some necessary things to rush out of the house with if need be.
Then a phone call from a neighbor and seeing the trees in front of their grassy lawn surrounding their long driveway engulfed in flames led them to stay and fight for their home.
“There was no driving out,” Nancy Steele said, going on to describe that within that next hour, with the strong winds, the fire had moved much closer to their home, burning their barn, an old chicken coop and more trees.
“It was amazingly fast,” she said.
The heat of the fire near their home was at least 1,500 degrees because it melted two aluminum canoes into a 100-pound puddle, Brian Steele said.
Tender Mercies
Without much choice with the fire all around them, the Steeles stayed and battled the fire as it got near their home until their well water ran out.
“And so at that point, we said, well, we’ve done the very best we can and we left it in the Lord’s hands,” Nancy Steele said.
The house remained intact.
Brian and Nancy Steele see God’s tender mercies in the events of that day including Raymond’s forgetfulness in calling them.
Had Raymond contacted them earlier, they said their home would have been engulfed by the fire. Because they stayed and spent nearly two hours fighting the fire on the trees near their home and putting out the embers on their roof, their house did not catch fire.
As far as possibly saving their lives, they explained this had to do with their long, narrow driveway surrounded on both sides by trees, all of which went up in flames like matchsticks. At just the right time and a little earlier, they could have been trapped in their driveway as the trees caught fire with no way to get out, they said.
For Brian Steele, all the details of that day are now part of his testimony to God’s goodness, mercy and love.
“I knew how much we had been blessed,” he said. “If we had been called I don’t know if we’d have made it out but this home would be gone. There’s no doubt about it.”
Elk Strong
Raymond’s roles as bishop and firefighter didn’t stop when the fire was contained.
Raymond estimates 14 families in his ward lost their homes, two lost everything but their homes, about eight experienced property damage and several saw the fire stop a couple hundred feet from their homes.
“I probably had 70-80 families in the evacuation zone with at least 50 in the direct path,” he said.
He continues to serve those who live in his ward who are members of his Church or not, with fire recovery needs, adding to his roles a rebuild committee volunteer in Elk Strong, part of Spokane’s Long-Term Recovery Group.
The Oregon Road Fire burned 384 structures, 126 of which were primary residences.
Raymond estimates 70 or more families were uninsured, some of whom were renting. He said, about 40-50 families are living in RVs that need to be winterized. Even victims who are insured have had problems with their insurance companies and have needed help.
It’s just been a nightmare scenario, he said.
“There’s just a lot of people that are just struggling to make it,” Raymond said. “And I think that’s what we need to remind people that there’s still that need out there. And then remind people too that there are lots of good people that are helping. Not enough that we don’t need more help. We definitely need more help.”
Long-Term Recovery
Jeanna Swanson oversees New Hope Resource Center as its director. The Center serves about 70 of the families affected by the fire.
She works with Raymond, directing the money raised or granted to Elk Strong for the supplies needed for construction and other projects the fire victims need help with.
“Given the high percentage of the Elk fire victims that were not insured this is going to be an ongoing process probably for the next three years,” Swanson said. “That’s what the Long-Term Recovery Group is saying.”
Swanson and her Center provide fire victims clothes, housing items, hygiene necessities and financial assistance, such as money for fuel to run generators that keep RV’s warm.
And at the same time, Raymond and other Elk Strong rebuild volunteers help with putting up roofs, preventing soil erosion under a shed used for shelter, replacing electrical boxes and more.
“Carl is one of the most selfless people I have met. And the work he does, I’ve seen some pictures, it is top-of-the-line,” Swanson said. “I’ve heard people describe him as a perfectionist, and he does it with a smile on his face, and with kindness.”
Acknowledging the Savior’s Hand
Raymond, 54, married to his wife, Caroline Raymond, for almost 34 years with whom he shares four adult children, knows his schedule is full, especially now during the Oregon Road Fire recovery efforts.
He works two, sometimes three, 24-hour shifts a week as a firefighter, volunteers at least 10 hours a week as bishop of his congregation and undertakes about 20 hours a week with the Elk Strong rebuild committee, helping fire victims get through the winter.
Yet, even through all that, he makes time for his family, who he values most, and for encouraging his congregation to acknowledge the savior’s hand through his words and deeds.
“If we just look for those opportunities to see his hand. And I think like that’s one of the things that helps us build not just our testimonies, but our relationships with the savior is acknowledging his hand.”
And he said, people in his ward, like the Steeles, who were affected by the fire, can use the fire as a way of building their testimonies and growing their relationship with the savior.
“I try to tell people in my ward, I’m not saying that God or the savior, either one of them, caused the fire, but they’re going to use it for their good,” Raymond said. “And so just reminding people that his ways are not our ways, and that he can still make good things out of bad things. And that he can still bless our lives, even when we think we’ve lost everything.”
Want to Help or Need Help? Contact the Following:
- Salvation Army Spokane, 509-325-6810
- New Hope Resource Center (Elk Wildfire), 509-467-2900
- Country Church of the Open Bible in Elk, 509-292-8770
- Innovia Wildfire Relief, 509-808-5504 (This shows more resources including for Medical Lake)
