Fighting fires with love
<p>Post Falls Super 1 Foods assistant bakery manager Teresa Corbin, left, shares a smile with Kiara Johnson-Sharp, 13, center, and Kiara’s stepdad, Harold Komm, as she pushes a cartload of boxed cookies for firefighters Sunday morning.</p>
<p>In an act of thankfulness, 13-year-old Kiara Johnson-Sharp pulled some community strings to deliver more than 400 cookies and several cases of water bottles and Powerade to firefighters battling blazes about 100 miles away in Fruitland, Wash., where her step-great-grandparents live.</p>
<p>Kiana Johnson-Sharp, center left, and her little brother Quinten Komm, center right, stand with firefighters and a representative of the Bureau of Land Management in a building of the Fruitland fire base camp Sunday after delivering hundreds of cookies, bottles of water and Powerade to the firefighters.</p>
With the clouds of smoke hanging thick in the air, it's hard not to be concerned about the Inland Northwest's flaming forests and those who are on the front lines battling the blazes.
Post Falls teenager Kiara Johnson-Sharp is one member of the community who wants to show her appreciation for all of their dangerous work. She pulled some strings to thank firefighters for their efforts with a sweet surprise.
"I'm really appreciative that they are risking their lives for everybody else's," said Kiara, 13. "I think it's really cool."
Kiara worked with Post Falls Papa Murphy's and Super 1 Foods and Stein's IGA in Rathdrum to deliver more than 400 cookies, 17 cases of water bottles and 20 cases of Powerade to firefighters who are battling the more than 35,000-acre fires around Fruitland, Wash., some 70 miles northwest of Spokane, where her step-great-grandparents live and are presently experiencing level 2 evacuation status.
Kiara baked several of the cookies herself with seven tubs of dough donated by Papa Murphy's, Stein's donated the Powerade and Super 1 donated 400 of their large cookies and the water for her to accomplish her mission.
"I just felt like they needed it because I don't think anybody is bringing them anything homemade," she said. "I thought it would be a good idea to make cookies for them."
Kiara's dad, Michael Sharp, said he is proud of his daughter and amazed that his little girl's idea to do something for the firefighters bloomed into something that really showcases the kindness of the community.
He said at first, she wanted to bake all the cookies from scratch on her own and write "thank you" in icing on all of them, but it's quite a daunting task for one person, no matter what age they are.
"She's always had a big heart," Sharp said. "I'm almost speechless, she just wants to help. This little thing turned into something big."
Kiara said she's really thankful to the businesses that donated for their willingness to help out.
"I think it's a really amazing thing that they did, and I really appreciate it," she said.
A cake decorator at Super 1 drew a firefighter on one of the cookie boxes, next to the words, "Thank you firefighters, with great appreciation, Kiara." Theresa Schoener, assistant to the grocery manager, said this sort of thing is what being a community is all about, and that Kiana's desire to give back to the firefighters is quite thoughtful.
"I think it's fantastic," Schoener said. "Anything that anybody wants to do to help is wonderful."
Kiara and her family drove on Sunday to deliver the care packages to a base camp near the Fruitland fires. Many of the firefighters were sleeping or working in the field, but Kiara was able to meet a few of them and put a little joy into their hot and tiresome day.
"They were really happy and surprised that we brought them cookies," she said. "I'm happy that I was helping other people out and making them happy, so that makes me happy.
"I hope they get the fire under control and that they can go home and be with their families."