Stephen Pearce: What we lost in the Old Trails fire

Stephen Pearce describes what the Old Trails fire meant for his longtime home and for his partner Catherine’s artwork. He received an alert from the Watch Duty app on Aug. 1 and said he lived about a mile north of where the fire started. After moving to Palouse four years earlier, Pearce contacted Catherine’s son Will, who had already evacuated; Will briefly allowed him into the evacuation zone to look for the family’s cats and sent a video of the damage. Pearce says fire crews saved the house, but a converted barn art studio, two travel trailers, and the contents—including most paintings, drawings, ceramics, and journals—were destroyed.