Oso fire chief remembers deadly mudslide on 6-month anniversary

Monday marks the day six months ago the mountainside came crashing down on a small community in Oso, killing 43 people.

For fire chief Willy Harper, the reminders are everywhere. He says while some days it can feel like the slide was 10 years ago, at other times it feels more like 10 minutes.

“Emotionally, it’s been taxing the last six months. It seems to be getting easier, but there’s just daily constant reminders,” he says.

Harper, a volunteer like the rest of the department at the time, was among those who spoke at a small and somber memorial service at the mudslide site Sunday.

“We’ve all become a lot closer,” he says. “Communities tend to drift apart as everybody gets busy. But in this event, everybody came together to work towards the same goal.”

That goal was the painful and painstaking search for the 43 loved ones who disappeared in an instant on Saturday, March 22.

Harper says he’ll never forget working around the clock during the frantic first days in the deep muck that inundated the Steelhead Drive community, refusing to take a break as long as possible.

“We were just in it full time, digging through the pile and trying to get all of our loved ones and family members and friends recovered,” he says.

Six months later, the massive scar where the mountainside gave way looms over, but the site looks significantly different. Crews have cleared the vast majority of the rubble that buried the neighborhood, seeding it with grass and wildflowers they hope will sprout next spring.

“On the north side of the highway, there’s still piles leftover from the mountain, but there’s no debris from the homes so it’s a little easier to drive through there,” he says.

Harper admits dealing with the grief of losing 43 friends and family members has taken its toll on the community. He’s had a chaplain stationed at the firehouse to continue counseling his fellow firefighters and other community members alike.

“We’re keeping an eye on them and making sure they’re not left by themselves,” he says.

Since the slide, Harper has become a reluctant city leader. With no mayor or official city representatives, a foundation was started to pay the former volunteer full time to act as the community liaison with the county, state and feds.

Every time he steps back into the firehouse, he’s surrounded by signs, plaques, and other reminders of what happened six months ago.

“It’s OK to be reminded of it. It was a tragic event, but by remembering it, we don’t forget the 43 people that were lost that day.”

KIRO Radio’s Jillian Raftery contributed to this report.