NACHES, Wash. – The Retreat Fire forced Camp Ghormley to evacuate leaving parents worried about their kids off at summer camp.
Tuesday afternoon around 4 p.m., Camp Executive Director Joel Whitehead noticed smoke nearby and drove to the fire. Whitehead says U.S. Forest Services didn’t tell him to evacuate camp until 7 p.m. last night.
About 125 campers and staff members safely left camp and made it to the Naches Elementary School around 11 p.m. According to Whitehead, every camper was picked up by midnight.
“I thought our staff did a really good job of responding and putting in place the training that they did have to help the campers through the process,” Whitehead said. “It seems like even in the midst of all this, the campers handled that pretty well and had smiles on their faces.”
Parents were notified of the evacuation through text messages, emails, and Facebook posts. One parent told NonStop Local how grateful she is for the response from camp staff members.
“I don’t think at the point where they left that there was like a ‘go now’ evacuation notice, but they just were like practicing extra precautions,” Jennifer Brown, parent of a camper said. “As a mom with a little girl up in the mountains, with no contact, I really felt like that kind of eased it just a little bit to where I knew she was safe.”
Camp Ghormley is not sure when they can return to normal activities, so they have begun reaching out to parents who signed up for future events.
U.S. Forest Service told NonStop Local that the fire has spread to about 2,200 acres. The Forest Service does not have an update on containment.
Camp Ghormley is not currently threatened by the fire.
