CWU student impacted by Grand Canyon fire seeks community’s help

A Central Washington University student impacted by the recent wildfire in the Grand Canyon has returned to Washington, and she isn’t sure if she will ever recover her belongings.

Before the Dragon Bravo Fire raged out of control earlier this month, Isabel Dowrey had left her internship at the North Rim Lodge to return home to Mount Vernon for a visit. She figured she would be returning to Arizona to complete her internship, but the area was evacuated while she was away, cutting Dowrey’s internship short.

Although the building Dowrey was staying in was spared — unlike the historic North Rim Lodge — she has not been allowed to retrieve her smoke-damaged belongings. As Dowrey navigates the aftermath of the fire, her aunt has started a GoFundMe to help her.

“Having the support of my family and knowing that they’ll be there for me even if I do end up losing all of my stuff to smoke damage or fire, it definitely helps me to feel like I’m not alone in this situation,” Dowrey said in a July 21 news story on AppleValleyNews.com.

Dowrey had been working at the lodge as a housing coordinator since April, overseeing housing arrangements and leading a team of fellow employees. She is going into her third year at CWU and said the internship had taught her valuable leadership skills.

The Dragon Bravo Fire started while Dowrey was en route to Washington. Her co-workers at the Grand Canyon were evacuated to Lake Powell, but there was no room left for Dowrey. She ended up staying in Utah for several days and spent far more money than she expected on her trip home.

“It was very overwhelming, very stressful,” Dowrey said in the news article. “And I burned through a lot of money trying to support myself while I was down there.”

Dowrey has learned that the situation was more severe than she initially thought, and it will be at least another two weeks before she can possibly return to gather her belongings. The fire has also impacted her academics since she was planning to earn 12 credits from the internship and graduate a year early.

“It’s definitely disappointing to not be able to have this full-time position on my resume, and I haven’t been able to get all of the experience that I would have gotten,” Dowrey said. “But it’s also been very humbling because I’ve never been in a situation where there’s been so much at risk.”

Dowrey said she plans to return to CWU for the fall quarter and is working with her professor to see if the credits can be recouped. As of July 22, $705 has been raised through GoFundMe, with a goal of $2,200.

“I’ve kind of just been going with the flow, just taking it not even day by day, but taking it hour by hour,” she said.

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Photo courtesy of Apple Valley News.