MEDICAL LAKE, Wash. — Cool rain is a blessing for crews on the front lines of the Gray Fire in Spokane County.
To date the fire has burned more than 10,000 acres southwest of Spokane and northwest of Cheney.
For homeowner Del Reiber the rain is nice but it’s too little too late.
“It’s bittersweet because, man, we could have used this a few days ago,” Reiber said.
There’s not much left of his Medical Lake home in a community he’s lived in since 1997. His family is down, but their attitude couldn’t be better.
“Look, things happen in life. You just have to deal with It. You have to take the good with the bad. This is the bad but I’ve had a lot of good things happen to,” Reiber said.
Good has been hard to come by since the Gray Fire sparked Friday. The fire spread so quickly it jumped the interstate. In that time it’s devoured more than 10,000 acres and believed to have destroyed 185 homes – most of those in Medical Lake.
“Well it’s tragic, it’s just like, how much of this could have been possibly preventable,” said Spokane resident Tom Schmelzer. “It was a hot, hot, hot fire."
Damage from the fire at times seems random, perhaps cruel, as some homes were leveled while others were untouched. The Reibers are coming to terms with a total loss.
“It was a nice home. But it can be rebuilt. A lot of things can be replaced – the tough thing is the memories,” Reiber said.
Memories that were turned to ash and on Tuesday were soaked by rain. People are hopeful the fires will subdue, so that rebuilding can begin.
The Reiber’s say they’re not going anywhere.