CHENEY, Wash. — For many of the people closest to the flames from the Badger Lake, they were just trying to enjoy a relaxing Sunday and get out on the lake to cool down.
What they saw next was something that felt like it came straight out of a movie.
“All of sudden you see this black plume of smoke just billowing and then you see a whole entire tree on fire,” explained Kendra Arellanes who was right in the middle of the Badger Lake Fire.
For nearly two hours, she and her boyfriend were observing the flames that rapidly picked up.
They knew it was only a matter of time before they had to leave when huge clouds of black smoke began to approach even closer.
“We just see all of the sun in the smoke coming up and we didn’t really know where it was coming from,” she said. “We’re like, 'OK, there’s a fire but no big deal, it’ll be fine and they’ll put it out.' Then it just started spreading, like within an hour it had spread to the road and everyone is trying to get out of their boats and onto the trailer and get out.”
Firefighters showed up to tell everyone they needed to get to a safe location. Boats were trying to get hooked up on their trailers so they could turn around.
By the time Kendra was able to get into the car and drive away, she could feel the heat from smoke and flames on her window.
“It’s not like you had multiple ways to get around," she said. "There’s just the one entrance and exit, we were completely blocked in.”
On top of the already hectic situation, getting a signal on your phone was nearly impossible. That made it difficult to communicate with others about what was going on.
Kendra is just grateful that everyone was able to remain calm and get out safely.
“I definitely feel so relieved that we’re safe, that no one was caught," she said. "I remember my boyfriend let his sister and her kids go first and it was just to get out, families go for it and I thought that was a cool way to see the community come together and be like we’re going to watch each other’s backs.”
Anyone impacted by the Badger Lake Fire can seek shelter at Cheney High School.