wfn.org | Lutheran Retreat Center In Washington Closed Due To Wildfire

[NEWS@ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 16, 2004

Lutheran Retreat Center In Washington Closed Due To Wildfire
04-148-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Holden Village, Chelan, Wash., and the Chelan
County Sheriff's Office announced that as a precautionary measure the
Village will be evacuated because of a nearby wildfire, known as the "Deep
Harbor Fire."  The Lutheran retreat center will remain closed at least
until Aug. 22, according to a Holden Village news release.
     The Deep Harbor fire, which started last month, is burning 12 miles
away from the isolated, year-round retreat center surrounded by the
Glacier Peak Wilderness. Despite the decision to evacuate the Village, its
staff and guests are not in imminent danger, the news release said.
     On Aug. 14, the sheriff's office issued a "Level Two" evacuation
advisement.  Normally such an order does not require evacuation, but it is
a notice to prepare for the possibility that fire may reach the area, the
release said. Because of Holden's remote location, staff and law
enforcement authorities decided to evacuate the Village now.
     The evacuation was ordered because of concern the fire could threaten
the Village's "only access to the outside world," an 11-mile gravel road
that links Holden with Lucerne on Lake Chelan, the release said.
     "For some time we have been well-prepared to evacuate at Level Two to
allow for safe and coordinated evacuation from the Village," said Dianne
Shiner, Holden Village co-director. "We are most grateful for the
outstanding inter-agency team of firefighters, Forest Service and
Sheriff's personnel, and the Red Cross, who have worked so hard to protect
and ensure the safety of our beloved community."
     About 270 people were in the Village this past weekend. Guests and
some staff were taken by bus Aug. 15 to Lucerne, picked up by regularly
scheduled commercial boat service and taken down the lake to Field's Point
and Chelan.  Most remaining staff are being evacuated Aug. 16.	Only 13
core staff members will remain, said Kristofer Gilje, operations manager,
in a report by the Seattle Times newspaper.
     A Forest Service structure protection crew arrived Aug. 15 to begin
setting sprinklers and taking other steps to protect the historic retreat
center, a former mining company town built largely in the 1930s.
     The Red Cross is establishing an emergency shelter in Chelan to
provide housing and food for evacuated staff and guests. Refunds will be
provided to guests with reservations who now are unable to come to the
Village, as well as to those whose stays have been cut short, the release
said.
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     Information about Holden Village and the impact of the Deep Harbor
Fire is at http://www.holdenvillage.org on the Web.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news