On Aug. 31, a fire was spreading quickly just 500 yards from our home in Roy, Wash. The wind was blowing in the direction of our house and ash was falling on us from the billowing brown smoke.

A fire truck drove out on my neighbor’s pasture. It looked so tiny next to the brown smoke so far above the trees. My husband said, “There’s not enough water in that fire truck to make a dent in that fire.”

We have lived here 28 years and have never had a fire so close like this. We were getting worried that we would have to start thinking about getting our dogs, livestock and whatever we could grab out of the house.

Then a helicopter from the state Department of Natural Resources appeared. It circled the area a couple of times before landing to drop off a group of firefighters. A couple minutes later, the helicopter returned and dropped water on the fire. Another helicopter started dumping water as well.

For the next hour and a half, they flew back and forth to Lawrence Lake to get water and bring it back to the fire.

Soon the smoke was not brown, and it was just around the trees.

A fireman from Pierce County South drove over later to tell us that it was under control now. He told us the fire was started by a customer at an estate sale when he attempted to cut a disc with a cutting torch at a neighbor’s farm.

The next day I snapped a photo of the firefighters working on getting all of the embers extinguished. They were there for days, for it must have covered 30 or more acres, which included about 10 very dry stump piles that had been there for years.

We are eternally grateful for the quick actions by the South Pierce County Firefighters, Cedar Creek Inmate Firefighting Training Program and the two extraordinarily talented DNR helicopter pilots. You didn’t just save our home but our precious livelihood, too. We sure hope that all of you who worked so hard that day and the week after will see this letter of gratitude.

Linda Leeman

Ewe-topia Herd Dog Training

Roy, Wash.