Communities step up as wildfires devastate

As the French Creek fire burned in the night outside of Glide on Sept. 7, Abigail Malek posted to social media: “If you have friends out there, check with them to see if they need any help.” And while she helped evacuate her neighbors, offers of help flooded in.  “People started reaching out to me personally, saying ‘hey, we’ve got a truck and trailer,’ and ‘hey, we have an excavator,’” Malek says. When the Archie Creek fire, burning to the south of the French Creek fire, began to threaten the town itself, she remembered the offers for help. Through a Facebook group she created, Glide Strong, she started connecting people with resources to people with needs. 

In early September, over a million acres of wildfire were burning in the state, five other communities besides Glide were facing similar disasters, and even more fires burned out of control in the American West.