MARK JEWELL
Associated Press Writer
BENTON CITY, Wash. (AP) -- Kristen Peck had seen other summer wildfires on nearby Rattlesnake Mountain, but this time, high wind brought the blaze right to the front door of her mobile home.
The 17-year-old summer lifeguard just had time to grab a blanket and an album of photographs of her mother, who died when she was 3, before the flames closed in Wednesday night.
``We watched it come over the hill. I just saw this wall of fire and it was clear that there wasn't anything ... that was going to stop it,'' Kristin said. ``That's when we decided to leave.''
With the acrid smell of smoke lingering in the air, Kristin returned to the mobile home, which was charred and crumpled Thursday, and shot hoops in the driveway basketball court 20 feet away.
At least 25 homes have been destroyed by the fire, which began Tuesday and raged across the dry sagebrush of the nearby Hanford nuclear complex. About 7,000 people were driven from their homes, but state and federal officials said there were no known releases of radiation.
Kristin's father, electronics worker Marty Peck, 43, said he estimated the flames moved toward his home at about 40 mph.
``You could see it jetting toward us. It was smoky and you couldn't see the flame until it got right here. And then it exploded on the pasture,'' he said, sipping water from a neighbor's well. His own was destroyed.
``It was just a fireball two or three times taller than our house,'' he said. ``I thought we were goners.''
The flames leapfrogged through grassy fields near this community of 2,110, leaving a checkerboard pattern of blackened waste and untouched greenery. By Thursday afternoon, the fire had receded behind Rattlesnake Mountain, and only a trace of smoke in the sky to the northeast suggested it still burned at the Hanford nuclear reservation.
Just half a mile from the Pecks' property, Kelvin Church, 40, and his wife and five children lost everything _ including ducks and chickens the kids had raised to show at the Benton-Franklin County Fair.
Church, surveying the wreckage of his mobile home and barn, said he is unemployed, has no insurance and hopes he might be eligible for post-fire assistance.
A firefighter hosing down nearby hotspots approached Church and offered his hand.
``I wish we could have done more for you,'' he said.
Church shrugged.
``It's OK,'' he replied. ``These things happen. You did your best.''
Related
AP Stories are Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
