ELK, Wash. — The Oregon Road Fire continues to frustrate homeowners who lost everything.
As clean up begins, some believe the unnecessary costs of the fire are starting to add up. One of those residents, Annie Patrick, had her home burnt to nothing.
Annie called her home God's grace.
"Because it was His grace that allowed us to buy a 10-acre parcel with a creek going through the middle," she said. "It was more than I ever dreamed."
Once she rebuilds her home, she plans on calling it God's Grace Rises from the Ashes.
"God only knows what my future plans hold, but I will be on this property 'til the end," Patrick said.
But all future plans are on hold until a certified asbestos abatement company can safely remove the debris. All because of one positive asbestos sample from her basement. Patrick said her tester told her all of her property must be treated as hazardous material.
"You tested 40 and only one spot?" she asked. "Couldn't that just have been an object? Why is my whole place contaminated? Those are questions that aren't getting answers. Expensive. You know, one and you're done."
Patrick said insurance money spent on testing and removal will put her back on money for rebuilding, and she would rather handle the problem quickly than drag it out and wait.
"I think I should be able to bury my asbestos on property for free," she said.
While Spokane County Emergency Management hears homeowners' frustrations, Public Information Officer Gerry Bozarth doesn't recommend burying asbestos.
"There are other toxins in that and that will eventually get into the groundwater so we can't have people doing that," Bozarth said.
The county is working to take some of the burden off fire-affected homeowners and is trying to secure state funding for debris management for uninsured homeowners needing to pay for asbestos testing. If funding is available, insured homeowners may also be eligible.
"If people do not have the funding to dispose of that properly, that is what we're working on right now so people don't have to do things like that," Bozarth said.
Money may be secured in the next few weeks, according to Bozarth.
Patrick has been living in Idaho since the fire. But this weekend, she's set to receive an RV she plans to park on her old property. She told KREM 2 she will spend the winter in her RV, waiting until she can rebuild.
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