From ‘girl yard’ to ‘hellish landscape’: Omak family loses multiple structures to fire

Melody Miller and her late sister Rilla Kells spent years building paradise.

The pair lived on Kells’ property off Greenacres Road – Miller in her RV and Kells in her house. They enjoyed sharing time with each other building a “girl yard” until Kells died in 2023.

They built a dog pen and fencing, gardened each other’s yards and added different ornaments and knickknacks to lighten the place up.

“Seeing how happy it made Rilla just was amazing to watch,” Miller said.

Today, almost all of it is gone.

Their property includes one of seven homes destroyed by the Greenacres fire. The 921-acre wildfire north of Omak kicked off Monday afternoon and as of Friday is 95% contained.

Miller’s son Chris Long set up a GoFundMe to raise money for her process of starting over. So far, they’ve raised more than $2,600.

“It’ll go to fund mainly another camper or another permanent fixed residence of some kind to be able to rebuild her life,” Long said.

Miller had just began the first day of her vacation when she heard a Level 3 evacuation notice on her scanner.

She had 20 minutes to flee her property, leaving with just the clothes on her back, two cats and one dog.

She and her son returned to the property, devastated at its condition.

The land is unrecognizable, a “hellish landscape,” Long said.

“I was wandering around like I’ve never been there before,” Long said. “The entire landscape changed.”

As he took in the destruction, he noticed swarms of birds flying around the property looking for the birdhouses Kells built. They’re now reduced to rubble by the fire.

“And I’m just thinking, ‘Wow, you guys lost things too,’ ” Long said. “It’s not just humans that lost things. Everything did.”

The fire burned Miller’s RV, Kells’ husband’s house, their barn, their chicken coop and two wells. It also took lots of tools Long was storing on the property, as well as his son’s bike.

The greatest tragedy by far for Miller is the loss of her late sister’s house. Kells’ children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren no longer have the relics and memories it stored.

Since she doesn’t own the property, Miller isn’t sure if she wants to rebuild in the same location.

“Everything happens for a reason,” she said. “Maybe the reason is it’s time to move on and continue my life.”

For now, she is sheltering at a motel with the help of Okanogan County Community Action.

She credits her community for providing “overwhelming” support, especially from her workplace Home Depot, which she refers to as her “orange family.”

“We have a large amount of the community all the way to Idaho trying to help us out,” she said. “Hopefully at the end of this rainbow I will secure full-time housing for myself.”