Uncertainty reigns for fire evacuees

REGIONAL- Shortly after he was evacuated, Wayne Pasmick had a brief opportunity to go back to his house. He prepped the site, removing ladder fuel and other easily-burned vegetation around the structure. He even chainsawed off his wooden entry deck, attempting to prevent embers from starting a structure fire. Then he asked himself an impossible question.
What to take?
He already had the important documents and photo albums, but what else? “Where do I start? Where do I stop?” Pasmick said. He grabbed some clothes, boots, and his favorite pair of skis. Then he left.
Pasmick is one of many who have left their houses behind since fires began sweeping through the area in the wake of the July 6 lightning storm. At the time he spoke to the Timberjay, the Camp Fire was just four miles from his house. “I’m trying to remain positive,” he said.
Yet, with ongoing dry, hot, and windy conditions, it’s unclear when he will be able to return home. “I don’t have a timeline,” Pasmick said. “I am not in the driver’s seat. I am at the mercy of the fire and the wind.”
Pasmick and his wife recently bought a 6-by-12-foot trailer, which they converted into a camper. They planned to use it for travel as they enter retirement. Now it’s providing a roof over their heads and a place to cook and clean. “I feel fortunate,” Pasmick said about the trailer. It’s allowed him to bounce between his friends’ driveways.
“Now we’re staying in a ready zone with people who are also preparing to go,” Pasmick said.
Pasmick said he felt nothing but support from the Ely community. Everywhere he went, people offered help, places to stay, places to shower.
It’s a sentiment also felt by Bria Schurke, one of the founding members of Ely Community Response, and another evacuee.
Schurke said she prioritized passports and medication when evacuating. And when she left, she made sure to bring a Costco-sized box of diapers for her toddler. Her husband Willy Vosburgh was already conducting towboat evacuations of campers in the Boundary Waters. “It’s confusing,” she said. “What do I need? What do I not need?”
“We went from Ready to Set to Go in less than two days,” she said. “It was very quick.”
Schurke encouraged those in ready and set zones to prepare. That includes packing a bag, but it also means organizing and cleaning your house. It helps to know where everything is. “There is no excuse now not to get ready,” she said.
“The first few days people were allowed back, but now they are very strict,” Schurke said.
She is currently staying at her parents’ property on White Iron Lake, a zone that recently received a “Set” designation. She said she is reorganizing her life in a new home, a life where most of her belongings don’t leave her car. It’s unclear how long she’ll have to stay. “There’s no crystal ball,” she said. “You gotta take it day by day.”
Schurke expressed gratitude for the Happy Days Learning Center, which has stepped up to support parents who have evacuated with their children. “It’s been really wonderful how Ely has come together,” she said.
The uncertainty for evacuees is exacerbated by the realization that the fires could continue to pose a threat until the snow flies this winter. At a city council meeting Tuesday night, Shane Sturgill, the operations section chief with the Southern Area Complex Incident Management Team, reminded the community that, “It is still early in your fire season.”
While fire teams have made headway, especially in their efforts to lay containment lines along the Echo Trail, Sturgill said weather is the most important player. “Nature started these fires, and nature will put them out,” he said.
“Everybody pray for rain,” Pasmick said.