‘Going to be OK.’ Prosser dairy family lose their home but find comfort in faith, family
KENNEWICK – When Lavonne Boogerd looked out her window Labor Day evening, she could see only a few feet into her yard.
All afternoon, escalating winds had whipped up loose dirt and mixed it with smoke drifting through the area east of Prosser, increasingly obscuring the sky and fields.
Boogerd then heard sirens coming closer on the Old Inland Empire highway.
What she didn’t know until it was too late is a spark from a wildfire a mile away ignited a sagebrush field near her house and her family’s Spring Creek Dairy.
By 4:20 p.m., her yard was on fire and they were trying to stop it with hoses.
Less than 30 minutes later, Lavonne grabbed her purse and ran out her front door for the last time.
The blaze
Fire Chief Seth Johnson, with West Benton Fire Rescue, told the Herald they aren’t sure what sparked the blaze that tore through about 800 acres between Prosser and Benton City on the holiday.
Early speculation points to sparking power lines in the windstorm.
The Boogerds manufactured house was not the only home damaged, but it was the only one destroyed in that area. The same blaze also burned down a nearby railroad trestle that spanned the Yakima River.
Lavonne and her husband Jim Boogerd had lived in that house since 2008, when they took over operating the adjacent dairy.
Despite the extensive damage, no one was hurt, and all their horses and cattle also were spared.
“It jumped over the dairy and our daughter’s house but then landed somewhere on Hess Road,” Lavonne said.
She likened the fire to a tornado touching down and damaging some areas but not others.
“To me that’s very bizarre, it was one of the most bizarre days,” she said.
When they couldn’t save the house, the Boogerds and their adult daughter, Alyssa, rode around the rest property looking for other possible fires.
Firefighters appeared just minutes after the fire spread to the house and began working to contain the blaze from spreading.
Neighbors rallied with water trucks and hoses to douse trees and to keep other houses protected.
“At one time I thought it was out and I thought I had the front half of my house,” Lavonne said.
But the home continued to burn through the night and into the early morning.
No matter how much water they poured on it, the house kept burning, she said.
The aftermath
The rubble was still smoldering Wednesday morning when the insurance adjuster arrived.
Jim and Lavonne sifted through the ashes, melted glass and metal for any remnants they could salvage.
Jim found an old milk pail that had been in his family for generations. Lavonne found pieces of her Precious Moments collection.
“The thing about it is, the fire can’t take your memories,” Lavonne said.
More than anything, the Boogerds are thankful their family is safe.
The night of the fire, Lavonne texted and called everyone she could to let them know they were OK but that they needed prayers.
“Prayers are the only thing that got us through,” she said through more tears.
“We lost our house, but we’re OK.”
The couple is staying in a mobile home on their daughter’s property on the other side of the railroad tracks that run past the dairy.
The community has rallied to provide everything they need from office supplies to razors.
“When you’re a part of a community and you’re working with a community, and you’re a part of a church, you’re never alone,” Jim said.
The Boogerds are members of Grandview Nazarene Church and say their faith and the prayers of support they have received from the community have helped bolster them.
“I had a peace, that peace that surpasses all understanding, and that’s prayers,” Lavonne said.
“That’s the power of God.”
As the Boogerds begin the process of cleaning up and building anew, Lavonne said they will continue to find comfort in faith and family.
“I know it’s going to be overwhelming, I might have my tears, I might have my hard times, but we’re going to be OK. We are just going to be OK,” she said.