Shelton-Mason County Journal - Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886

Hecidora Temisqueño was washing dishes in the early afternoon of July 4 when she saw a boiling column of smoke out the window. It was rolling toward her home.

“It seemed like just seconds later, firefighters were at the door telling us to leave,” she said through her son, who interpreted for her. “I was scared.”

And it wasn’t much later on that Tuesday afternoon that residents around the county started seeing firefighting aircraft sucking water from area bodies of water, including Oakland Bay and Island Lake.

Temisqueño and her family live at the corner of East McEwan Prairie Ro...