Inslee names man "Washingtonian of the Day" for act of bravery in Gray Fire

MEDICAL LAKE, Wash. — Inside the Gray Fire evacuation center at Spokane Falls Community College, many are filled with uncertainty.

Families, including children and pets, are holding out hope, constantly checking for updates.

One family said they still aren't certain their home is still standing, as they received different bits of information each day.

And with schools starting for many kids in the coming weeks, families are searching for answers.

"This is going to be hard on people," Governor Jay Inslee said on Sunday at SFCC. "I don't want to sugar coat this. These families are going to have some hard days ahead."

Inslee visited the evacuation center on Sunday, meeting with families to get the very latest.

While he was there, he took a moment to commend an act of bravery.

Inslee mentioned Joe-David Veliz, a staff member with Lakeland Village, which takes care of people with disabilities.

When the Gray Fire started, he and his team relocated all of their residents to Pine Lodge, which is near Eastern State Hospital.

Then, the winds shifted.

"The building behind us went up in flames," Veliz said. "I went outside and asked the person in charge and said 'can you defend our building? I just need to know.' And he said no we can't, you might want to consider evacuating."

So Veliz got to work, orchestrating a plan to load as many people as they could on the four buses they had available.

They guided the rest and foot.

"The rest of us mobilized," Veliz said. "We walked down the sidewalk and across a field to a building at Eastern State Hospital."

Between staff and residents, they helped lead 200 people to safety, with his staff pushing across a field in wheelchairs by any means necessary to get them to safety.

It earned Veliz the Washingtonian of the Day Award from Inslee.

"I'll accept the award, but it should go to the rest of my staff and team for helping me," Veliz said.

It was an amazing story on Sunday, one of the many we've heard so far amid these fires.

Inslee said once it's safe, several teams will work to assess the damage of Medical Lake and request more federal funding.

One of the many questions that remain unanswered right now is when that assessment will be and how long it will take.

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