King5 broadcast a story on the sanctuary last night that you can watch here: http://bit.ly/OC11Wc
To fill in a bit of information: in addition to the incredible work of the firefighters, the chimp house was safe because it was designed to withstand fire and because there was a defensible perimeter around the building, allowing the firefighters to do their job easily. There was no time to evacuate seven chimpanzees and we knew this situation might arise, which is why we made the decisions we did about the building construction and the perimeter around the building. (UPDATE: read a full explanation of why we didn’t evacuate the chimpanzees in the Why We Stayed blog post written by J.B., Director of Operations.)
We were also lucky because helicopters were nearby due to another fire, which allowed them to respond very quickly – this is probably what saved the caregiver house and the other older structures on the property that were not designed from the beginning with fire-resistant materials. The sanctuary property is very close to the river on the other side of Highway 10. The easy access to water meant the helicopters could quickly refill their buckets. And because we were very close to the beginning of the fire, it hadn’t gained the momentum that it had later on. So, it was a combination of having a safe building for the chimps, being prepared with a plan, having a quick response from the local Kittittas County Fire Department (we love you!), and a bit of luck that left not only the chimps safe, but also all of the structures standing on the property, even though the caregiver house did catch fire on the roof and one side (see photo below):
Speaking of luck and a great response, below are a couple of photos of the mop-up crew from Snohomish County. These three guys have been looking for and taking care of hot-spots and flare-ups on and around the property for the last few days. They took their lunch break yesterday at the chimp house, where Jamie “baptized” them with some cooling water (see the water droplets in the second photo).
The sanctuary sends big thanks to all of the firefighters for their continued and tireless work on the Taylor Bridge fire. We hope the fire gets under control soon with no further loss of property.
Looking towards the charred earth on Young’s Hill:
The view on Young’s Hill the day after the fire (luckily the structures survived!):
Snohomish firefighters watching volunteer Connie serve Negra and Jody lunch:
You can help the sanctuary by making a monetary donation that will allow us to continue to clean up the property and take care of the chimps. You can also send us gift cards for Safeway, Costco, Lowes and Home Depot. Just mail them to: CSNW, PO Box 952, Cle Elum, WA 98922
The Cle Elum Seven Chimpanzees have been through a lot in their lives – some were captured in Africa as infants, most were used as breeders and had their children taken away, and all were used for biomedical testing. Our mission is provide them with the best care within our power – thank you so much for contributing to their continued well-being!
Wow! Amazing and lucky that the climbing structures survived!
When will you be able to let the chimps out again? Will you have to clean up first?
Although the fence is largely intact, it will need a few repairs before we let the chimps out again. The fence posts that got charred will need to be reinforced but thankfully they don’t seem like they will require complete replacement. We’ll need to go post to post to inspect the plastic insulators that attach the wires to the posts to make sure they are still structurally sound. What saved the fence was the fact the the posts were set in an 18″ diameter hole filled with gravel. As the fire whipped through the enclosure, it largely burned around the fence posts. We also do a lot of string trimming along the fence line, so that kept the fire low.
Some of the structures burned, but thankfully not the more complex, multilevel structures, so as long as we remove the damaged material, we can wait to rebuild them. We are making some progress: volunteers Brian and John helped me build a drag for the tractor and we have gone over the majority of the area damaged by the fire, mixing the ash in with the dirt so that the chimps won’t get covered in black ash when they go out again. And I think we have removed all of the damaged logs.
But the main reason why we are going to wait to let the chimps out on the hill is that we are not completely out of the woods yet. Small hot spots dot the landscape around the sanctuary and any of them could flare up at any time (even now, a week after the fire, we are still battling little flare-ups). Crews of firefighters are walking through our area doing “mop up” (cooling down hot spots), so we want to make sure they have access to the area around Young’s Hill if needed. We feel that it’s safer to keep the chimps off the hill and near the building until we are confident that we are not at risk for another fire. It could be another week or more, but we have already learned that it’s hard to predict when this will all be over.
Thanks, JB. I hope it’s all over much sooner than later.
Goes to show just how much carefull thought,planning,research,consideration,expert consulting was done,researched, and OBVIOUSLY executed into the planning and creating and of course the safe and intense building style,precautions and measures taken by JB,Mr,LaChappelle, and all other professionals who designed and built the Chimps House and forever house and HOME,,,, this fire certainly was shown that CSNW is STRONG.. steadfast,, SOLID, able and everready for the CleElum regional natural disasters,,
The Chimpanzees,, of course were very AWARE of their surrounding which of course were most likely new to all of them,Although , they did not know what exactly was occuring, they DO have good sense , alone , to know they were in some sort of danger, However, I truly beleive that,all of them KNEW,, JB,Diana,Sarah,Jackie,Elizabth,Sarah,Debbie and any or all other caregivers ,staff would NOT,
nor will NOT ‘ e v e r ‘ permit ,,, ANY harm unto them ever again
I truly feel and beleive that the Chimps ,, certainly knew and they felt CONFIDENT and SAFE,, in knowing YOU ALL could handle it,,all,,, I too knew you all would make certain the Chimps would be SAFE,, and remain unharmed,, in other words,,they TRUST you with their lives and with the life and home they all have and love at CSNW.. they know their worth to you and to all of us who love and support them. they also know the difference between good people and those who mean them harm and whom are not to be trusted, thank you to all for all you do everyday and not just that day.B
Goes to show just how much carefull thought,planning,research,consideration,expert consulting was done,researched, and OBVIOUSLY executed into the planning and creating and of course the safe and intense building style,precautions and measures taken by JB,Mr,LaChappelle, and all other professionals who designed and built the Chimps House and forever house and HOME,,,, this fire certainly was shown that CSNW is STRONG.. steadfast,, SOLID, able and everready for the CleElum regional natural disasters,,
The Chimpanzees,, of course were very AWARE of their surrounding which of course were most likely new to all of them,Although , they did not know what exactly was occuring, they DO have good sense , alone , to know they were in some sort of danger, However, I truly beleive that,all of them KNEW,, JB,Diana,Sarah,Jackie,Elizabth,Sarah,Debbie and any or all other caregivers ,staff would NOT,
nor will NOT ‘ e v e r ‘ permit ,,, ANY harm unto them ever again
I truly feel and beleive that the Chimps ,, certainly knew and they felt CONFIDENT and SAFE,, in knowing YOU ALL could handle it,,all,,, I too knew you all would make certain the Chimps would be SAFE,, and remain unharmed,, in other words,,they TRUST you with their lives and with the life and home they all have and love at CSNW.. they know their worth to you and to all of us who love and support them. they also know the difference between good people and those who mean them harm and whom are not to be trusted, thank you to all for all you do everyday and not just that day.