Wildfire evacuees wonder if they’ll have a home to return to

There’s plenty of uncertainty for the hundreds of people evacuated from the Taylor Bridge fire who don’t know if they’ll have a home to go back to.

Cle Elum resident Sean Regis says it’s nerve wracking watching the smoke billow from several miles away.

“It’s tough just sitting here watching the smoke and every ten minutes you’ll see black smoke and it’s like there goes somebody’s house you knew and hoping it’s not mine,” he tells KIRO Reporter Chris Sullivan.

But Regis says he has no regrets building his home in an area so vulnerable to wildfire.

“If something happens you just rebuild. It’s what we have insurance for.”

For others, the big question is whether to even watch the flames engulf dozens of homes in the area.

“I’m kind of debating whether it’s better to sit here and watch it go up in smoke or not to know about it and leave,” says evacuee Doug Brown.

Plenty of people in the clear are pitching in. Sullivan caught up with Howard and Teri Weaver and an Ellensburg couple who set up a barbeque to feed firefighters and evacuees once they found out their home was safe.

“My heart goes out to these people that have lost everything and we can’t give that back to them. But man, we can make sure they try to stay healthy,” Teri Weaver says.