SPOKANE, Wash. — While some fire victims have lost their homes entirely, others face a different challenge: returning to houses that appear intact but are unsafe to inhabit.
Jessie Miller purchased her home in a neighborhood she loved for its proximity to parks, the river and a close-knit community where she could safely walk her two dogs. Despite her house showing no visible structural damage, smoke infiltrated the home, making it unsafe for her and her dogs to live there. She has not returned since the fires struck more than a month ago.
“Just breathing that in is not great for me, it’s not great for the dogs, and we have to think about years from now — I need to make sure this house is livable,” Miller said…