The worst wildfires in Washington history deserve a historic outpouring of support.

Our Mission

Our mission is both simple and challenging: to collaborate and provide coordination and recovery services to those individuals, families, businesses and communities that were adversely impacted by the 2014/15 wildfires and mudslides across Okanogan County, while also planning efficiently for strategic investments and actions to insure Okanogan County and it’s communities are better prepared for future disasters.

For our region's most vulnerable residents, that means building a home for those without the resources to rebuild by themselves. Of the more than 400 homes destroyed in the fires, over two-thirds were considered a primary home. Only forty percent were completely covered by insurance.  

Some people assume that our government, at some level, will help take care of the survivors. Unfortunately, FEMA repeatedly denied individual aid. 

Devastating almost a million acres of land, leveling homes and outbuildings, destroying vehicles, machinery, pets and livestock, wildlife and crops, the disasters didn't end when the relief crews pulled out. Recovery takes time, and we are depending on the generosity of people like you to help us carry on that process. 

The Okanogan County Long Term Recovery Group has created a process for working with fire survivors so that each is supported in developing a plan for recovery. For those whose needs include rebuilding a home, the criteria to qualify include:

1. Having clear title to the property on which the home is to be rebuilt

2. Losing one's uninsured or under-insured primary residence in the Carlton Complex or Rising Eagle fires or resulting mudslides

3. Living in the new home as primary residence for at least five years upon completion

4. Completing the DCM (Disaster Case Management) process

5. Agreeing to build one of the OCLTRG-approved floor plans

6. Willing to proceed with only permitted and regulated building standards

7. Playing as active a role as is physically and mentally possible with regard to filling out the necessary paperwork, on-site coordination, signed releases, providing vital information, etc

8. Contributing one's own personal resources as determined by DCMs for the project (i.e., if insured, must apply insurance proceeds to the rebuild)

9. Being recommended by the DCMs and approved by the OCLTRG Board.

We believe some 40 residents will qualify for new homes they could not otherwise find or afford. Please join us in rebuilding these homes--lifting walls, roofs, and spirits--so that come next winter, no one will have to endure the cold through the plastic walls of a tent or the fiberglass frame of a trailer. You will be rebuilding more than houses - you will be rebuilding lives.