The Retreat Fire forced Camp Ghormley to evacuate leaving parents worried about their kids off at summer camp.
Tuesday afternoon around 4 p.m., Camp Executive Director Joel Whitehead noticed smoke nearby and drove to the fire. Whitehead says U.S. Forest Services didn’t tell him to evacuate camp until 7 p.m. that night.
About 125 campers and staff members safely left camp and made it to the Naches Elementary School around 11 p.m. According to Whitehead, every camper was picked up by midnight.
“I thought our staff did a really good job of responding and putting in place the training that they did have to help the campers through the process,” Whitehead said. “It seems like even in the midst of all this, the campers handled that pretty well and had smiles on their faces.”