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A chimney is all that is left standing of a house that has been in the Ewing family for five generations. The house was destroyed by the Carter Canyon wildfire on Saturday, July 30. An undamaged outbuilding on the property sits in the background.
Burned out debris sits on property on Carter Canyon Road on Monday, Aug. 1. Three homes were destroyed in the Carter Canyon wildfire that started Saturday.
A downed powerline transformer sits on property on Carter Canyon Road on Monday, Aug. 1. Power and water infrastructure are among the damages residents report occurred when a wildfire raged through the area Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Firefighters saved the home of Michelle Schaneman Perkins, though other family members saw their homes destroyed. From the charred grass and tree lines, Perkins said they could see how close the fire got to their home, their hot tub and even their chicken coop.
For families affected by the Carter Canyon wildfires, the weekend was emotion-filled as they watched flames surround their rural neighborhoods for the second summer in a row.
Cassy Eskam, together with her husband and children, live on the family ranch at the base of Carter Canyon Road. Last year, the Vista Trend fire damaged the family's pastureland on Robidoux Road.
Around 200 firefighters continue to battle a wildfire in the Carter Canyon area that has so …
When Eskam's father, Todd Ouderkirk, and other neighbors first heard about the fire, she said, they started making a game plan to defend against the fire. She said her dad is often at the ready and started discing near a dam west of the properties.
"Every time I hear there's a fire, it scares me," she said. "We have barely gotten any rain out by us this year. I prayed over and over for them to please get (the fires) contained before it spreads to our farm."
Unfortunately, the discing ended up being for naught as the fire advanced up the eastern side of a hill.
“It all happened super quick,” Eskam said. “The wind changed and the east fire spread very fast.”
The family had been stationed at the end of the driveway, watching the fire, when law enforcement notified them they needed to evacuate about 10 p.m., about four hours after the fire started. She had already started packing, just in case, and they grabbed a few other items. Her parents took vehicles and tractors to a nearby hay field in an effort to move them away from the fire. The family's dogs were quickly grabbed and the Eskams had to move lambs, which her children are scheduled to show this week in fair.
Four hours away, Michelle Schaneman Perkins felt hopeless as she and her husband learned that their home was being threatened by the wildfire while they were out of town.. They had traveled to Colorado to take their son to the airport and learned about the fire through family and neighbors. Most of the communication they received indicated that their home, and the homes of other family members, had been destroyed.
For Perkins, this news became particularly emotional due to the longstanding ties that her family had to the homes that have stood for more than a hundred years, in some cases, on Carter Canyon Road.
Perkins’ great-grandparents, Emerson and Daisy Ewing, homesteaded on Carter Canyon Road in 1910. Her grandmother, Goldie Ewing Wilson Bixby, lived in the house that stood for four generations until it was destroyed Saturday.
“Most of it was the original house,” Perkins said. It was renovated in the 1970s, and after her grandmother’s death, the family rented it until recent years when they stopped due to needed maintenance.
“All that stands now is a chimney and a wood-burning stove,” Perkins said. Though the family believes they may have gotten most important mementos out of the home well before the fires, she said, they worry that they didn’t get everything that may have had sentimental value.
Perkins and her husband live across the road in a house that had once been her parents' home. With the couple in Denver, she said, they had no idea what they were coming home to, expecting the worst. They were having dinner when they received a text or call from neighbors about the fire. In one text, she said, a neighbor advised her husband he had tried to get to their home to turn on water at the house to keep the flames at bay.
“‘It was just too bad,” she said he told them. He couldn’t get to the home.
The couple immediately got into their vehicles, she said, went to a hotel to pick up their belongings and returned to Gering. After a stop at the Gering Fire Station, where she said they were told that their home was likely gone, they slept in their pickup truck until heading out, hopeful they could check on it.
Remembering that drive to her home breaks Perkins as she sobs, telling the story.
"I told my husband, I don't think I can take it," she said. "I don't think I'll be able to handle it."
At that point, she said, all she could think about were the items she had been given from her grandmother and other family members that she feared had been destroyed in the fire.
"My grandma was a big historian," she said. "We have a family tree that traces back to the coasts and documents that one of our family members was killed by Indians. ... I have kept every single document (given to her by her grandmother). I even have things like my great-great-grandfather's Bible and my grandmother's Bible. I must have like 20 family Bibles. All I could think of was those Bibles going up in smoke."
As they traveled down Carter Canyon Road, she said, they could see their home was still saved — it stood out with the "ugly yellow house roof because my dad liked yellow." But they looked to the right to see her grandmother's home had been destroyed. Other family members, such as her second cousin David Ewing, also live in nearby homes that had been passed down for generations. The home that David lived in with his wife, Carolyne, was also destroyed.
Fire officials reported a third home had been destroyed Saturday and several homes sustained damage.
Like Perkins, the Eskams and the Ouderkirks also returned Sunday morning to find their homes still standing. But next to a cabin on the family property, they could see charred grass and trees just feet away. They are still holding their breath until the fire is completely contained.
As of Monday, fire officials were reporting the fire to be only about 33% contained and some estimates were that more than 15,000 acres had been burned.
For many of the families, like the Ouderkirks, the fire is also threatening their livelihood, with cattle ranched in the canyons. On their Carter Canyon property, buildings including a barn and supplies such as hay burned. On Sunday, they found themselves again watching the fire with bated breath as the approaching fire endangered property on Robidoux Road. Fortunately, on Monday, Eskam said, they returned to find tractors and everything intact, and her mom and dad got back to work, relocating the tractors and other things back to the family ranch.
Perkins and her husband are staying in their fifth-wheel camper as the fire took out their well and some of their water lines. Damage can't be fully assessed until power is returned to the area. They are also working with their insurance.
Having grown up knowing many of the families who live in the area, Perkins expressed appreciation for the firefighters who have saved her home and others. She said she also credits the grace of God.
"I believe that everything happens for a reason, god is in control," Perkins said, saying she is thankful for family and friends who were able to evacuate the fire safely and helped each other. "I just thank him. God really looked over us."
She said she, family members and the community have also heard from people offering generous help to those impacted by the fire. She has been passing along those resources to her cousin, and a GoFundMe has also been started for his family. While Perkins and her husband were fortunate, the fire destroyed David’s home. A GoFundMe has been set up for David and his wife, Carolyne, as they rebuild: https://bit.ly/3zpIGv5.
Locally, Firefighter Ministry has also reached out to families impacted by the fire. Organizer Carissa Schank said anyone affected by the fire can contact her at 308-631-9674. The organization, which is a nonprofit under the Oregon Trail Community Foundation, is also accepting donations online at https://www.aplos.com/aws/give/OTCF/Firefighter-Ministry.
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Maunette Loeks is the digital news editor of the Star-Herald. Contact her at 308-632-9054 or by email at mloeks@starherald.com.
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A chimney is all that is left standing of a house that has been in the Ewing family for five generations. The house was destroyed by the Carter Canyon wildfire on Saturday, July 30. An undamaged outbuilding on the property sits in the background.
Burned out debris sits on property on Carter Canyon Road on Monday, Aug. 1. Three homes were destroyed in the Carter Canyon wildfire that started Saturday.
A downed powerline transformer sits on property on Carter Canyon Road on Monday, Aug. 1. Power and water infrastructure are among the damages residents report occurred when a wildfire raged through the area Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Firefighters saved the home of Michelle Schaneman Perkins, though other family members saw their homes destroyed. From the charred grass and tree lines, Perkins said they could see how close the fire got to their home, their hot tub and even their chicken coop.
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