Ross got a couple of draft horses and set about logging the land with horsepower.“We wanted to homestead and live in the woods and live that rural lifestyle,” he said. The burned remains of trees stand near the site of the 2017 Spromberg fire in Leavenworth. Get Tri-Cities Breaking News alerts from NBC Right Now.A daily newsletter focused on providing important and timely news for Tri-Cities, Yakima and surrounding communities.Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Cyclists ride through Icicle Canyon. Managed burns are the exception rather than the rule.“The large percentage of these fires, the proper response is going to be to get in there and hit it hard and put it out,” Rivera said.Prescribed burns are manmade fires set to enhance the landscape only when conditions are just right.Many people understand the science behind prescribed burns but complain when they interrupt their vacation plans, the biggest complaint being the smoke they generate.Wildfire smoke is inevitable regardless of humans’ intervention, Rivera says.“We need to accept that smoke and we need to be proactive and live with less smoke on our terms more often, or we can let Mother Nature take care of herself, and there could be huge columns of smoke that we’re going to live with for weeks,” Rivera said. Frank, in touch by cell phone, was hopeful Marianne and the horses could ride it out.“I was just saying, ‘Sit tight, sit tight,’ when the fire spotted to the east,” Frank recalls. “I have to ask the question, ‘If not now, then when? “We had romantic ideas. However, since then, we’ve enjoyed beautiful sunny … The burn probability is highest west of Highway 97 over Blewett Pass and in the Chumstick Canyon, about four miles outside Leavenworth, where Frank and his wife Marianne have a horse ranch offering sleigh rides and hayrides.“It’s like we have a bullseye on us for fire potential,” Frank said.The popularity of Leavenworth as a tourist destination has escalated decade by decade since the 1960s, as the city poured lodging tax revenue — $1.9 million in 2018 — back into advertising its “Bavarian Jewel” to the wider world.In one high-profile promotional video from 2011, the town’s mascot Woody Goomsba is surrounded by dancers in butt-high dirndls gyrating to a Bavarian-themed rap number. For the Franks, their neighbors and Leavenworth, it could have been far worse.“We feel like we had the angels of the heavens watching us that day,” Marianne said. Or, click the logo or here to link to a full screen version. They bought 120 acres in the Chumstick Creek watershed outside Leavenworth. The Franks' property south of the abandoned shake mill was dense with dry underbrush. The burned remains of trees stand near the site of the 2017 Spromberg fire in Leavenworth. O’Brien, with Chelan County Fire District 3, points out trees growing close to some structures. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..LEAVENWORTH, WA – Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) fire crews and one helicopter have been deployed to fight the Alpenhof Fire burning southwest of Leavenworth. The cause of the fire is under investigation.Currently, there are 20 personnel deployed to the fire with DNR air assets on standby as needed. It was burning hot. The fire was started at the site of an old lumber mill and spread into the surrounding forest.An escape route for wildfires is blocked off along a mountain community in Icicle Canyon in Leavenworth, Washington. Click on the map and use the + and - keys to zoom in and out. In the back of Frank’s mind were the Hatchery Creek and Rat Creek fires of 1994 that surrounded Leavenworth, along with two other major fires in the region, burning thousands of acres, and causing the evacuation of thousands living in the vicinity. Between them, Ross Frank walks with an easy rhythm, lean and fit, wearing a weathered cowboy hat.He looks fully the part of the Western homesteader he dreamed of being back in the 1970s in Ann Arbor, Michigan.Ross and Marianne Frank moved to Central Washington in 1974. The city of Leavenworth’s population is around 2,000; 5,000 live in the greater Leavenworth area.Leavenworth, in the foothills of the Cascades, is overdue for a major fire, the last being the Hatchery Creek Complex Fire in 1994. Click on icons to find current wildfire infomation. See current wildfires and wildfire perimeters in Washington on the Fire, Weather & Avalanche Center Wildfire Map. Winds NNE at 25 to 35 mph. The … Leavenworth was stylized into a Bavarian town to promote tourism in the '80s, and someone has played the alphorn from this balcony every morning for nearly 30 years.Tourists enjoy the downtown Bavarian themed business center. Tourists snap selfies in front of ornate buildings bedecked with balconies, turrets, flower boxes and murals of German folk in lederhosen. In the back of Frank’s mind were the Hatchery Creek and Rat Creek fires of 1994 that surrounded Leavenworth, along with two other major fires in … Embers can travel a mile or more, O’Brien said, igniting structures and potentially starting a firestorm within the town.Traffic studies show about 1.5 million people each year pass through or stop in Leavenworth, traveling on Highway 2, the only highway in and out of town. The fire burned 18 acres before it was contained. “I’m a huge advocate for letting fire play its natural role where it’s practical, logical, feasible,” Rivera said. “We were under a state of siege for weeks,” Frank recalled. The Inciweb website provides information on large wildfires burning throughout the nation, including Washington.
Ross got a couple of draft horses and set about logging the land with horsepower.“We wanted to homestead and live in the woods and live that rural lifestyle,” he said. The burned remains of trees stand near the site of the 2017 Spromberg fire in Leavenworth. Get Tri-Cities Breaking News alerts from NBC Right Now.A daily newsletter focused on providing important and timely news for Tri-Cities, Yakima and surrounding communities.Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Cyclists ride through Icicle Canyon. Managed burns are the exception rather than the rule.“The large percentage of these fires, the proper response is going to be to get in there and hit it hard and put it out,” Rivera said.Prescribed burns are manmade fires set to enhance the landscape only when conditions are just right.Many people understand the science behind prescribed burns but complain when they interrupt their vacation plans, the biggest complaint being the smoke they generate.Wildfire smoke is inevitable regardless of humans’ intervention, Rivera says.“We need to accept that smoke and we need to be proactive and live with less smoke on our terms more often, or we can let Mother Nature take care of herself, and there could be huge columns of smoke that we’re going to live with for weeks,” Rivera said. Frank, in touch by cell phone, was hopeful Marianne and the horses could ride it out.“I was just saying, ‘Sit tight, sit tight,’ when the fire spotted to the east,” Frank recalls. “I have to ask the question, ‘If not now, then when? “We had romantic ideas. However, since then, we’ve enjoyed beautiful sunny … The burn probability is highest west of Highway 97 over Blewett Pass and in the Chumstick Canyon, about four miles outside Leavenworth, where Frank and his wife Marianne have a horse ranch offering sleigh rides and hayrides.“It’s like we have a bullseye on us for fire potential,” Frank said.The popularity of Leavenworth as a tourist destination has escalated decade by decade since the 1960s, as the city poured lodging tax revenue — $1.9 million in 2018 — back into advertising its “Bavarian Jewel” to the wider world.In one high-profile promotional video from 2011, the town’s mascot Woody Goomsba is surrounded by dancers in butt-high dirndls gyrating to a Bavarian-themed rap number. For the Franks, their neighbors and Leavenworth, it could have been far worse.“We feel like we had the angels of the heavens watching us that day,” Marianne said. Or, click the logo or here to link to a full screen version. They bought 120 acres in the Chumstick Creek watershed outside Leavenworth. The Franks' property south of the abandoned shake mill was dense with dry underbrush. The burned remains of trees stand near the site of the 2017 Spromberg fire in Leavenworth. O’Brien, with Chelan County Fire District 3, points out trees growing close to some structures. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..LEAVENWORTH, WA – Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) fire crews and one helicopter have been deployed to fight the Alpenhof Fire burning southwest of Leavenworth. The cause of the fire is under investigation.Currently, there are 20 personnel deployed to the fire with DNR air assets on standby as needed. It was burning hot. The fire was started at the site of an old lumber mill and spread into the surrounding forest.An escape route for wildfires is blocked off along a mountain community in Icicle Canyon in Leavenworth, Washington. Click on the map and use the + and - keys to zoom in and out. In the back of Frank’s mind were the Hatchery Creek and Rat Creek fires of 1994 that surrounded Leavenworth, along with two other major fires in the region, burning thousands of acres, and causing the evacuation of thousands living in the vicinity. Between them, Ross Frank walks with an easy rhythm, lean and fit, wearing a weathered cowboy hat.He looks fully the part of the Western homesteader he dreamed of being back in the 1970s in Ann Arbor, Michigan.Ross and Marianne Frank moved to Central Washington in 1974. The city of Leavenworth’s population is around 2,000; 5,000 live in the greater Leavenworth area.Leavenworth, in the foothills of the Cascades, is overdue for a major fire, the last being the Hatchery Creek Complex Fire in 1994. Click on icons to find current wildfire infomation. See current wildfires and wildfire perimeters in Washington on the Fire, Weather & Avalanche Center Wildfire Map. Winds NNE at 25 to 35 mph. The … Leavenworth was stylized into a Bavarian town to promote tourism in the '80s, and someone has played the alphorn from this balcony every morning for nearly 30 years.Tourists enjoy the downtown Bavarian themed business center. Tourists snap selfies in front of ornate buildings bedecked with balconies, turrets, flower boxes and murals of German folk in lederhosen. In the back of Frank’s mind were the Hatchery Creek and Rat Creek fires of 1994 that surrounded Leavenworth, along with two other major fires in … Embers can travel a mile or more, O’Brien said, igniting structures and potentially starting a firestorm within the town.Traffic studies show about 1.5 million people each year pass through or stop in Leavenworth, traveling on Highway 2, the only highway in and out of town. The fire burned 18 acres before it was contained. “I’m a huge advocate for letting fire play its natural role where it’s practical, logical, feasible,” Rivera said. “We were under a state of siege for weeks,” Frank recalled. The Inciweb website provides information on large wildfires burning throughout the nation, including Washington.
Ross got a couple of draft horses and set about logging the land with horsepower.“We wanted to homestead and live in the woods and live that rural lifestyle,” he said. The burned remains of trees stand near the site of the 2017 Spromberg fire in Leavenworth. Get Tri-Cities Breaking News alerts from NBC Right Now.A daily newsletter focused on providing important and timely news for Tri-Cities, Yakima and surrounding communities.Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Cyclists ride through Icicle Canyon. Managed burns are the exception rather than the rule.“The large percentage of these fires, the proper response is going to be to get in there and hit it hard and put it out,” Rivera said.Prescribed burns are manmade fires set to enhance the landscape only when conditions are just right.Many people understand the science behind prescribed burns but complain when they interrupt their vacation plans, the biggest complaint being the smoke they generate.Wildfire smoke is inevitable regardless of humans’ intervention, Rivera says.“We need to accept that smoke and we need to be proactive and live with less smoke on our terms more often, or we can let Mother Nature take care of herself, and there could be huge columns of smoke that we’re going to live with for weeks,” Rivera said. Frank, in touch by cell phone, was hopeful Marianne and the horses could ride it out.“I was just saying, ‘Sit tight, sit tight,’ when the fire spotted to the east,” Frank recalls. “I have to ask the question, ‘If not now, then when? “We had romantic ideas. However, since then, we’ve enjoyed beautiful sunny … The burn probability is highest west of Highway 97 over Blewett Pass and in the Chumstick Canyon, about four miles outside Leavenworth, where Frank and his wife Marianne have a horse ranch offering sleigh rides and hayrides.“It’s like we have a bullseye on us for fire potential,” Frank said.The popularity of Leavenworth as a tourist destination has escalated decade by decade since the 1960s, as the city poured lodging tax revenue — $1.9 million in 2018 — back into advertising its “Bavarian Jewel” to the wider world.In one high-profile promotional video from 2011, the town’s mascot Woody Goomsba is surrounded by dancers in butt-high dirndls gyrating to a Bavarian-themed rap number. For the Franks, their neighbors and Leavenworth, it could have been far worse.“We feel like we had the angels of the heavens watching us that day,” Marianne said. Or, click the logo or here to link to a full screen version. They bought 120 acres in the Chumstick Creek watershed outside Leavenworth. The Franks' property south of the abandoned shake mill was dense with dry underbrush. The burned remains of trees stand near the site of the 2017 Spromberg fire in Leavenworth. O’Brien, with Chelan County Fire District 3, points out trees growing close to some structures. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..LEAVENWORTH, WA – Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) fire crews and one helicopter have been deployed to fight the Alpenhof Fire burning southwest of Leavenworth. The cause of the fire is under investigation.Currently, there are 20 personnel deployed to the fire with DNR air assets on standby as needed. It was burning hot. The fire was started at the site of an old lumber mill and spread into the surrounding forest.An escape route for wildfires is blocked off along a mountain community in Icicle Canyon in Leavenworth, Washington. Click on the map and use the + and - keys to zoom in and out. In the back of Frank’s mind were the Hatchery Creek and Rat Creek fires of 1994 that surrounded Leavenworth, along with two other major fires in the region, burning thousands of acres, and causing the evacuation of thousands living in the vicinity. Between them, Ross Frank walks with an easy rhythm, lean and fit, wearing a weathered cowboy hat.He looks fully the part of the Western homesteader he dreamed of being back in the 1970s in Ann Arbor, Michigan.Ross and Marianne Frank moved to Central Washington in 1974. The city of Leavenworth’s population is around 2,000; 5,000 live in the greater Leavenworth area.Leavenworth, in the foothills of the Cascades, is overdue for a major fire, the last being the Hatchery Creek Complex Fire in 1994. Click on icons to find current wildfire infomation. See current wildfires and wildfire perimeters in Washington on the Fire, Weather & Avalanche Center Wildfire Map. Winds NNE at 25 to 35 mph. The … Leavenworth was stylized into a Bavarian town to promote tourism in the '80s, and someone has played the alphorn from this balcony every morning for nearly 30 years.Tourists enjoy the downtown Bavarian themed business center. Tourists snap selfies in front of ornate buildings bedecked with balconies, turrets, flower boxes and murals of German folk in lederhosen. In the back of Frank’s mind were the Hatchery Creek and Rat Creek fires of 1994 that surrounded Leavenworth, along with two other major fires in … Embers can travel a mile or more, O’Brien said, igniting structures and potentially starting a firestorm within the town.Traffic studies show about 1.5 million people each year pass through or stop in Leavenworth, traveling on Highway 2, the only highway in and out of town. The fire burned 18 acres before it was contained. “I’m a huge advocate for letting fire play its natural role where it’s practical, logical, feasible,” Rivera said. “We were under a state of siege for weeks,” Frank recalled. The Inciweb website provides information on large wildfires burning throughout the nation, including Washington.
“And when you look at a fire history map, we’re the last significant green area in the region here." “When my wife saw it, she made her own call.”“I literally sat on the front porch because he was at the fire and watched it jump across the highway into the trees over there, at which point I said, ‘The horses are out of here,” Marianne said. Let’s just say you’ll never look at a nutcracker again in quite the same way.The town center is bustling, even on a weeknight. That could mean hazy, if not smoky, conditions in the area in the days ahead. "It’s like taking the garbage out every Sunday night for the garbage collector,” he said.On a national basis, he’d like Congress to devote resources to a systematic fire resilience program in national forests.“It took us 120 years to make this situation; it’s probably going to take 100-plus years to turn it around,” he said.
Ross got a couple of draft horses and set about logging the land with horsepower.“We wanted to homestead and live in the woods and live that rural lifestyle,” he said. The burned remains of trees stand near the site of the 2017 Spromberg fire in Leavenworth. Get Tri-Cities Breaking News alerts from NBC Right Now.A daily newsletter focused on providing important and timely news for Tri-Cities, Yakima and surrounding communities.Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Cyclists ride through Icicle Canyon. Managed burns are the exception rather than the rule.“The large percentage of these fires, the proper response is going to be to get in there and hit it hard and put it out,” Rivera said.Prescribed burns are manmade fires set to enhance the landscape only when conditions are just right.Many people understand the science behind prescribed burns but complain when they interrupt their vacation plans, the biggest complaint being the smoke they generate.Wildfire smoke is inevitable regardless of humans’ intervention, Rivera says.“We need to accept that smoke and we need to be proactive and live with less smoke on our terms more often, or we can let Mother Nature take care of herself, and there could be huge columns of smoke that we’re going to live with for weeks,” Rivera said. Frank, in touch by cell phone, was hopeful Marianne and the horses could ride it out.“I was just saying, ‘Sit tight, sit tight,’ when the fire spotted to the east,” Frank recalls. “I have to ask the question, ‘If not now, then when? “We had romantic ideas. However, since then, we’ve enjoyed beautiful sunny … The burn probability is highest west of Highway 97 over Blewett Pass and in the Chumstick Canyon, about four miles outside Leavenworth, where Frank and his wife Marianne have a horse ranch offering sleigh rides and hayrides.“It’s like we have a bullseye on us for fire potential,” Frank said.The popularity of Leavenworth as a tourist destination has escalated decade by decade since the 1960s, as the city poured lodging tax revenue — $1.9 million in 2018 — back into advertising its “Bavarian Jewel” to the wider world.In one high-profile promotional video from 2011, the town’s mascot Woody Goomsba is surrounded by dancers in butt-high dirndls gyrating to a Bavarian-themed rap number. For the Franks, their neighbors and Leavenworth, it could have been far worse.“We feel like we had the angels of the heavens watching us that day,” Marianne said. Or, click the logo or here to link to a full screen version. They bought 120 acres in the Chumstick Creek watershed outside Leavenworth. The Franks' property south of the abandoned shake mill was dense with dry underbrush. The burned remains of trees stand near the site of the 2017 Spromberg fire in Leavenworth. O’Brien, with Chelan County Fire District 3, points out trees growing close to some structures. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..LEAVENWORTH, WA – Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) fire crews and one helicopter have been deployed to fight the Alpenhof Fire burning southwest of Leavenworth. The cause of the fire is under investigation.Currently, there are 20 personnel deployed to the fire with DNR air assets on standby as needed. It was burning hot. The fire was started at the site of an old lumber mill and spread into the surrounding forest.An escape route for wildfires is blocked off along a mountain community in Icicle Canyon in Leavenworth, Washington. Click on the map and use the + and - keys to zoom in and out. In the back of Frank’s mind were the Hatchery Creek and Rat Creek fires of 1994 that surrounded Leavenworth, along with two other major fires in the region, burning thousands of acres, and causing the evacuation of thousands living in the vicinity. Between them, Ross Frank walks with an easy rhythm, lean and fit, wearing a weathered cowboy hat.He looks fully the part of the Western homesteader he dreamed of being back in the 1970s in Ann Arbor, Michigan.Ross and Marianne Frank moved to Central Washington in 1974. The city of Leavenworth’s population is around 2,000; 5,000 live in the greater Leavenworth area.Leavenworth, in the foothills of the Cascades, is overdue for a major fire, the last being the Hatchery Creek Complex Fire in 1994. Click on icons to find current wildfire infomation. See current wildfires and wildfire perimeters in Washington on the Fire, Weather & Avalanche Center Wildfire Map. Winds NNE at 25 to 35 mph. The … Leavenworth was stylized into a Bavarian town to promote tourism in the '80s, and someone has played the alphorn from this balcony every morning for nearly 30 years.Tourists enjoy the downtown Bavarian themed business center. Tourists snap selfies in front of ornate buildings bedecked with balconies, turrets, flower boxes and murals of German folk in lederhosen. In the back of Frank’s mind were the Hatchery Creek and Rat Creek fires of 1994 that surrounded Leavenworth, along with two other major fires in … Embers can travel a mile or more, O’Brien said, igniting structures and potentially starting a firestorm within the town.Traffic studies show about 1.5 million people each year pass through or stop in Leavenworth, traveling on Highway 2, the only highway in and out of town. The fire burned 18 acres before it was contained. “I’m a huge advocate for letting fire play its natural role where it’s practical, logical, feasible,” Rivera said. “We were under a state of siege for weeks,” Frank recalled. The Inciweb website provides information on large wildfires burning throughout the nation, including Washington.
