MEDICAL LAKE, Wash. — ReImagine Medical Lake hosted a free event at Waterfront Park to honor the past and welcome the future.
Exactly one year ago, the Gray Fire burned over 10,000 acres and burned down 240 homes in Medical Lake and the surrounding areas.
Nearly 230 fire crews from across Washington state came to help put out the fire but not before it devastated the communities and killed one person.
The president of ReImagine Medical Lake, Gerri Johnson, says the region showed up for the Medical Lake community in a big way during the crisis.
"We saw people pour in, my phone started ringing and people came and they gave everything they could as far as their personal time..." said Johnson.
Medical Lake community member Daniel Hall lost his house in the fire but said the support he received was immeasurable.
"I don't know what I would have done without the help of the community. It makes me want to cry right now just thinking about it," said Hall.
The event aimed to celebrate the community's strength in the face of a crisis.
Wildfires like the Oregon Road and Gray Fires impact other kinds of communities too.
According to the Western Fire Chiefs Association (WFCA), nature undergoes a process of transformation in the aftermath of a wildfire called ecological succession.
In the case of the Oregon Road and Gray Fires, this transformation is considered a "secondary succession" since life already existed in these ecosystems before the fire.
The WFCA says the first animals to come back to the area after a large wildfire are ones able to quickly adapt to new surroundings, such as beetles and ants.
Additionally, the National Weather Service (NWS) says the land itself is at a higher risk for flooding and debris flow for several years after a large wildfire.
NWS says this is because the newly exposed soil is water-repellant and easily eroded which means that small amounts of rain can trigger fast-moving flows.
So, along with the Medical Lake communities, the local ecosystems are also on the road to recovery.