One of the biggest wildfires in Stevens County was the Marble Valley fire but when firefighters called for backup, they were told it would not be coming.
The Marble Valley Fire broke out just south of Colville on August 14. It has burned more than 3,000 acres.
The smoke has finally cleared and the flames are gone. Many are still questioning exactly what happened on the night it broke out. Firefighters knew it was going to be bad so they called for help. Officials said there were no state resources to send. David Zink recalls the night he almost lost everything on his Arden property to the Marble Valley fire. It was a night he and a few colleagues saved his home with a construction crew's water truck from work. He said local firefighters were phenomenal in those critical first days of the fire, working around the clock to save lives and property. He knows they needed more manpower but it just was not there.
"Most of those resources came in from other states, went to other fires rather than the smaller ones, so we kind of had to fend for ourselves," said Zink.
"How were we, as a small fire district prepared and the state wasn't? Who, at the top, has dropped the ball," said Chief Bucy.