Remembering the 2015 Wolverine Fire: Part One - Spark and Evacuation

The summer theme for 2025 is Life Anew, recognizing all the ways fire is part of a healthy ecosystem and prepares for the future forest. June 29 was the tenth anniversary of the lightning strike that started the 2015 Wolverine Fire six miles east of the Village. Over the next eight weeks the fire would consume 65,323 acres in the Entiat, Lake Chelan and Railroad Creek watersheds. By the end of July 2015, the Village itself was under threat, and the Forest Service ordered an evacuation. 

Roughly 300 people fled the Village during the Wolverine fire. Thanks to determined hotshot crews and Holden's own preventative measures, the Village was spared. 

We sat down with former Holden Village directors Chuck Hoffman and Peg Carlson-Hoffman, Incident Commanders Nancy and Marc Rerucha Borges, and current Holden Village Fire Marshal Jeff Pierce to hear their memories of the 2015 Wolverine Fire.

Experience the story from the people who lived through it in part one of this three-part series.