How one man battled to save his neighborhood as the fires moved in

SPOKANE — When an ominous plume of smoke appeared over Spokane, neighbors in the Five Mile area didn’t wait for help. They grabbed their equipment and fought back against the advancing flames themselves.

Heather Weston and her family sprang into action the moment they realized the danger. “We looked outside and we were like, what can we do? And when we looked at where the plume was, we’re like, this field needs to come down,” Weston said.

Weston, her husband, and their 12-year-old stepson immediately began mowing down the overgrown field standing between the advancing fire and their home. “It’s our little corner, and it’s our home, and we will do everything we can to protect that,” Weston said.

They weren’t alone in their fight. Next door neighbor Vitale Matsyplyuk rushed home from work and jumped on his tractor to help. He began digging a trench around the properties to create a firebreak while others mowed the field.

“I was digging over here on this tractor. I was digging the line, and Jesse was mowing the field over there on my little Kubota. And then I will never forget, I was standing right here and a lady said, well, it’s coming your way,” Matsyplyuk said.

As a neighboring home and barn burned, firefighters continued urging the neighbors to evacuate. But Weston and her team stayed put, determined to protect what they had built.

“I mean, we saw ash and charcoal, but we were able to get this whole field mowed down, and then we probably put out about 5 or 6 spot fires to make sure that it didn’t pick up and continue,” Weston said.

What these neighbors accomplished in those critical hours was remarkable. Work that would have taken professional crews days to complete, they finished in just hours. Matsyplyuk pushed his equipment to the limit, operating at speeds he would never normally attempt.

“You never mow a field at high speed. You never, because it’s not good for the tractor. It’s not good for anything. But at that time it’s a risk over whatever. You know, it doesn’t matter. You don’t care. You just mow,” Matsyplyuk said.