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Chimpanzee Sanctuary Just Barely Survives Kittitas Wildfire

CLE ELUM, Wash. - Firefighters on the scene of a destructive wildfire in central Washington are hoping to make major progress Wednesday toward containment of the blaze. The Kittitas County sheriff's office estimates more than 70 homes and cabins have been destroyed. The fire has chased hundreds of people from their homes.

Sarah Baeckler had very little notice a fast moving wildfire was bearing down on the non-profit she runs. Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest takes in chimps who've retired from biomedical research.

Baeckler says she had a plan for how to evacuate the seven chimpanzees currently in residence.

"But in a situation like this where the fire broke out less than a mile away, we had literally minutes to get ready for it," she says. "There's just no way to evacuate seven chimps in that amount of time."

Baeckler says the apes were herded into the chimp house instead ... all the doors and windows slammed shut. Then one sanctuary staff member and the chimps hunkered down.

Fire engulfed the grounds, but all inside survived unscathed.

A helicopter drops water on the chimpanzee sanctuary on Monday. Photo courtesy of CSNW
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A helicopter drops water on the chimpanzee sanctuary on Monday. Photo courtesy of CSNW

"It is really just beyond words to imagine how close it came to the building," Baeckler says. "It's just feet away over there. I consider it a complete miracle."

Baeckler says the chimps are getting lots of treats now and they seem to have weathered the crisis, perhaps better than the humans.

"They were really quiet yesterday, which is unusual. They're kind of noisy in general. They're kind of taking it all in still. A lot of them are staying by the windows and watching."

Sarah Baeckler says the sanctuary's story of survival is testament in part to "firewise" landscaping and construction. The fairly new chimpanzee house was purposely built out of cement blocks to resist wildfire. It's also mostly encircled by gravel driveways and irrigated landscaping, which acted as fire breaks.

On the Web:

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest:

http://chimpsanctuarynw.org/

Taylor Bridge fire:

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3152/

Chimpanzee Sanctuary NW exec. director Sarah Baeckler looks at the partially charred outdoor chimp enclosure. Photo by Tom Banse
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Chimpanzee Sanctuary NW exec. director Sarah Baeckler looks at the partially charred outdoor chimp enclosure. Photo by Tom Banse

Copyright 2012 Northwest News Network

Copyright 2012 Northwest News Network

Now semi-retired, Tom Banse covered national news, business, science, public policy, Olympic sports and human interest stories from across the Northwest. He reported from well known and out–of–the–way places in the region where important, amusing, touching, or outrageous events unfolded. Tom's stories can be found online and were heard on-air during "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" on NPR stations in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.