Our View: Emergency brings out best in community
Spokane Valley Mayor Rich Munson had a long day Thursday when wildfire chased hundreds of his constituents from their homes. Nevertheless, he came away with an uplifting conclusion, given the difficult circumstances.
“You can say, without qualification, the people of this region care about each other,” he said the next morning.
From his on-the-ground assessment through the trying night, the mayor had praise for the way public safety personnel executed their first-responder role, for disaster-relief agencies such as the Red Cross, for residents and merchants who contributed toys, food, money and toiletries to those in need – and for the anxious and displaced families who kept up positive attitudes at the evacuation shelter set up for them at University High School.
In some ways, that last example is the most impressive of all. It isn’t easy for people who are directed to leave their homes and belongings to sit it out calmly, not knowing if they’ll discover they’re homeless when the smoke clears, accepting officials’ reassurances rather than unleashing their frustration in angry outbursts. It isn’t easy to be rational when your nerves are racked and your heart is breaking. That these evacuees could do so, while remaining appreciative of the professional and volunteer efforts going on around them, was a victory for community over chaos.
Spokane isn’t the only place where disaster produces this bonding phenomenon, and it isn’t the first time it’s happened here. But when the next wildfire or ice storm or flood strikes, residents will have this memory as a model for how to behave.
In time there will be conversations about the lessons learned this week. About land-use policies and evacuation routes. About interagency coordination. About housing developments coexisting with nature. As a result, in all likelihood, preparedness will be incrementally better the next time – just as this reaction was better than the last.
But for now, when spot fires are still being doused and ashes remain warm to the touch, the commanding attitudes are those of relief that this fire caused no deaths or injuries, of compassion for more than a dozen families who lost their homes, and of admiration for the selfless actions demonstrated by so many residents, both public servants performing their duty with practiced professionalism and private citizens guided by a caring spirit.
At one point during the fire, Munson related, two public safety workers came upon a car in which six people were at risk. The car was escorted to a clearing where its occupants were able to wait out the fire in safety.
Call it heroism. Call it competence. Call it both.
Whatever you call it, the community’s collective grief was reduced because of community members’ commitment to one another.