‘Completely horrific’: Couple escapes Washington wildfire, but loses their 1-year-old son
LOS ANGELES - Widespread wildfires are bringing devastation and tragedy to the western United States.
Jake and Jamie Hyland are still recovering from serious injuries after the young couple were forced to race out of their Okanogan County property with their baby, due to wildfires that raged in Eastern Washington. Their baby did not survive.
Jake, Jamie and their 1-year-old son Uriel were on a short trip to their property in Okanogan, Wahington Sunday, when they were caught in the massive Cold Springs Fire — a blaze that has burned 187,698 acres and was 25% contained as of Friday.
Jim Mabry, Jake’s cousin, said the property has no cell service and the Hylands would have been unaware of the impending danger approaching.
When Mabry found out the couple was missing, he went searching and found their truck abandoned and burned.
Jake and Jamie Hyland are still recovering from serious injuries after the young couple were forced to race out of their Okanogan County property with their baby, due to wildfires that raged in Eastern Washington. Their baby did not survive.
“I had no confidence they could have survived after seeing the vehicle,” Mabry told Q13 FOX.
Okanogan County Search and Rescue was called to comb the area in an attempt to locate the missing family. Mabry said it was an overwhelming feeling when he found out that crews found the couple alive.
The family was found around 10 a.m. Wednesday by a Colville Tribal Department of Resources boat.
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The fire chased Jake, 31, and Jamie, 26, to a riverbank in the Columbia River where the couple was rescued and airlifted out on Wednesday. Their 1-year-old son was deceased when the family was located by search crews.
The couple suffered third-degree burns and was receiving medical care at Harborview Medical Center.
The Okanogan County Sheriff Office detectives and Colville Tribal Police detectives were investigating the baby’s death, and investigators are still working to determine the cause of the fire.
Mabry said the massive outpouring of support from thousands across the country is helping his family through, and a GoFundMe account has been set up to help the Hyland family.
“It is a true miracle of God that they were found and are alive. The whole experience they have been through is nothing short of completely horrific and traumatizing. They need your prayers,” The GoFundMe account read.
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As of Friday, more than $187,000 had been raised for the Hyland family.
The Cold Springs Fire started Sunday night near Omak and quickly spread due to high winds and low humidity.
There were approximately 290 firefighters from local agencies and from around the region that are engaged in firefighting operations. The fire was 187,689 acres and 25% contained on Friday. Several structures and outbuildings were damaged or lost, and crews were continuing structure assessments.
Crews were working to strengthen containment lines that were in place and create additional containment line. Power companies were also scheduled to work on replacing poles and to restore power in affected areas.
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Wildfires were also causing massive destruction in Oregon and California.
More than 4,800 square miles have burned so far this year in California — more land than Rhode Island, Delaware and Washington, D.C., combined. Nineteen people have been killed and at least 4,000 buildings have burned across the state.
In Oregon, a 12-year-old boy was found dead Wednesday along with his dog and grandmother, after wildfires raged across the West Coast, and a 16-year-old boy was among those killed in California when an inferno tore through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada this week.