When wind gusts had suddenly doubled, it turned a small, containable fire into a large and violent one.

And the smoke was so thick, uh, some firefighters drove off the road, and consequently, operations to fight the fire ceased, and the fire was unabated straight down towards town, very, very rapidly, pushed by heavy wind gusts.

So I knew that the highest priority that I would have as the public works director would be to provide water resources to the firefight.

And to do that, I needed as many wells as I could operating.

The Okanogan Complex fire burned over 12,000 acres in less than 24 hours.

I remember standing there, you know, I'm nine months on the job, one arm in a sling, knowing just how close we came to losing who knows what.

I mean, businesses, downtown, residential areas.

I actually just prayed and like it was a miracle.