Above: Looking north over 183rd Street in Rochester, a DC-10 drops red colored flame
retardant to help stop the Scatter Creek area fire in south Thurston
County on August 22. The historic Miller-Brewer House and barn were destroyed
in the fire. Photo courtesy George Ormrod.
By
Janine Gates
Little Hollywood
The Scatter Creek area fire near Rochester in south
Thurston County burned 485 total acres on August 22, prompting the temporary evacuation
of about 100 residents. It also destroyed several homes.
In the Scatter Creek Wildlife Area, the historic Miller-Brewer homestead,
built in 1860, and a barn were also destroyed. The homesite was listed on
the National Historic Register.
Fire crews from several neighboring counties helped
to control the blaze, as did the Washington State Department of Natural Resources,
which is leading an investigation of the fire.
Rochester resident George Ormrod became aware of the
Rochester – Grand Mound area fire when he heard a DC-10 fly low over his home
near 183rd Street. He went out and saw the plane dropping red
colored flame retardant.
Hopping on a scooter, he weaved around back roads until stopped by a road
block near the Grand Mound cemetery where he spoke with an emergency management
official. She informed him that the fire was four miles from his home and he did not need to evacuate the area.
A press release issued on Friday by the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) says state wildlife managers are assessing
the damage caused by the fire. The south side of the Scatter Creek Wildlife
Area in Thurston County is closed until further notice.
Owned and managed by WDFW, 345 acres of the
Scatter Creek Wildlife Area was burned, and provides a sanctuary for several threatened and
endangered wildlife species, including Taylor's checkerspot and mardon skipper
butterflies and the Mazama pocket gopher.
The wildlife area is a popular destination for
hiking, birdwatching, dog training and upland bird hunting in the south Puget
Sound area, said Brian Calkins, regional WDFW wildlife manager.
“This fire is truly a tragedy,” Calkins said. “We
put our heart and soul into restoring this remaining piece of rare native
prairie, and we know a lot of people are going to feel this loss as much as we
do.”
Calkins said fire damage will likely affect some
activities scheduled in the burned, southern unit of the wildlife area,
including upland bird hunting this fall. However, the 435 acre section of the
wildlife area on the north side of Scatter Creek was largely unscathed by the
wildfire and remains open to the public.
The WDFW will immediately begin work to restore the
burnt landscape south of Scatter Creek. Based on a preliminary estimate, that
work will cost more than $1 million.
“We're invested in the future of this area, and
we're already starting to plan recovery efforts to protect the prairie for use
by animals and people,” Calkins said. “We will be putting a lot of effort into
weed control and replanting.”
Scatter Creek is one of 33 state wildlife areas
managed by WDFW to provide habitat for fish and wildlife as well as land for
outdoor recreation.
Above:
The historic Miller-Brewer House and a nearby barn were destroyed in the fire on August
22. Photo Courtesy Hans Littooy.
Miller-Brewer
House Historic Site
Hans Littooy, of Olympia, offered Little Hollywood pictures he took on
August 16 of the Miller-Brewer House, the oldest home in Thurston County at the
Scatter Creek Prairie.
“I often go to the Scatter Creek southern unit with
my dog to enjoy the prairie elements, be it flora or landscape. Prairies are a very special landscape in
our area and unfortunately misused,” said Littooy, a retired landscape architect.
A Greek Revival style house, the Miller-Brewer home was
historically significant for its box frame construction, a method only used
during early pioneer settlement in Washington from 1855 through 1875, and was
one of the few examples left in the Pacific Northwest.
Historically, George and Marita Miller traveled north by wagon
from Oregon to take a donation land claim on the banks of Scatter Creek in the
late 1850s. The house, built by Miller, is set on open prairie land adjacent to
Scatter Creek, and shaded by a grove of native oak trees. Miller was a farmer
as well as a territorial representative.
The property was sold to Reece Brewer, an old friend
of Miller’s who had moved to Grand Mound from Oregon with his wife in 1858. Brewer
was an accomplished stockman, sold cream to creameries, and was a member of the
Territorial Legislature in 1871. He was also the local postmaster, fulfilling his out
of the house, a justice of the peace at Grand Mound, and an elected a Thurston County
commissioner in 1888 and 1890. He lost three wives to pneumonia.
In the 1960s, one of Brewer’s children, Fred, sold
the property to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (formerly the
Department of Game) which used the Miller-Brewer House since the 1960s in a
variety of capacities.
It was nominated and placed on the National Historic
Register in 1988.
Above: The historic Miller-Brewer barn
was destroyed in the fire on August 22. Photo Courtesy Hans Littooy.
Littooy said he and his family came from the
Netherlands to Iowa in 1968 and that the house and barn have
always fascinated him.
“I loved those buildings and at one time even dreamt
of replicating the old home for myself. So much for the dream….It irritates me
that we are so careless with the history of this country. This house could have
been a museum about life in the 1870s. How much more of Thurston County history
is in danger? How much is left?” Littooy said.
Above:
The barn on the property of the historic
Miller-Brewer House was also destroyed in the fire. Photo Courtesy Hans Littooy.
