The past week has been challenging for firefighters and communities. Around 30 wildfires continue to burn in Oregon and Washington.
The 37,000-acre Canyon Creek Complex south of John Day, Oregon ballooned Friday and consumed at least 26 houses. Now, residents are returning to find rubble where homes once stood.
Elliott and his wife are staying with family while they figure out their next steps. What's left of their house sits in a small canyon along a stream. The fire ripped through here fast and hot on Friday after winds kicked up to 20 miles an hour.
"You could put all the water you had on this and it would never even slowed it down," said Elliott.
The Canyon Creek Complex consumed a majority of the houses in this area. Officials said all the residents made it out, but several horses, cows and pets were reportedly caught in the flames, and there were several charred deer carcasses by the side of the road.
A few miles up the canyon, Tina Couey walked up the driveway of her mother's home, looking for her mom's Calico, "Baby." The cat disappeared while they were rushing to evacuate. The fire melted or charred everything on their property.
"It's just devastating," she said. "There's just not enough time to get it all out."
Her daughter, Megan Long and she helped her elderly mother evacuate before the fire enveloped their land. They escaped with some photos and documents, but lost the house.
"Your whole life is gone," said Long. "My grandma has lived there for fifty plus years. And for that all to be gone is just a feeling you can't ever even imagine until it happens."
Couey walked over a pile of rubble. It was once a vintage camper that she had restored. The exterior was surrounded by rocks that she collected though the years. She picked up a blackened spoon and sifted through the ashes to find some of her special rocks. They're some of the only things that didn't burn.
"I'll do a total rock salvage up here," she said. There's not much besides the rocks to salvage. Coey said her mother hasn't been up to see the wreckage yet, because she's still distraught.
"And it's just land, but it was our land," she said. "And now it's worth nothing."
Couey said she'll come every day to check for Baby.
"I think it was so hot and fast through here that I think the house got her," she said. "She's gone."
Still, she left out a silver bowl of cat food next to the blackened rubble, just in case Baby is nearby.
Amanda Peacher
/Tina Couey leaves food for her mother's cat, Baby, that was lost when the Canyon Creek Complex fire ripped through the community Friday.
Amanda Peacher
/Tina Couey holds rocks that she collected over the years and surrounded a vintage camper that she had restored. The Canyon Creek Complex destroyed the camper as well as her mother's home.
Amanda Peacher
/Deer and other animals were lost in the Canyon Creek Complex when the fast-moving fire rapidly expanded Friday due to 20-mile-per-hour winds and hot, dry conditions.
Amanda Peacher
/Dean and Betty Elliott look over the remains of their charred house. The Canyon Creek Fire destroyed their home of 53 years.
Amanda Peacher
/Tina Couey leaves food for her mother's cat, Baby, that was lost when the Canyon Creek Complex fire ripped through the community Friday.
Amanda Peacher
/The Canyon Creek Complex is burning at 37,000 acres after 20-mile-per-hour winds Friday.
Amanda Peacher
/Tina Couey walks through the remains of her mother's home and property after the Canyon Creek Complex fire moved through the area Friday night. She and her family have lived here her whole life. "Devastation," she said. "There's no other word for it."
Amanda Peacher
/Air tankers make drops in attempt to slow and control the Canyon Creek Complex. About 300 firefighters are in the area to control the fast-moving fire.
Amanda Peacher
/Rubble from a house burned in the fire.
Amanda Peacher
/The Canyon Creek Complex Fire burns just a few miles out of John Day.
Amanda Peacher
/Copyright 2015 Oregon Public Broadcasting
