Tragedy after intrepid grandma, 83, who once lived in North Pole refused to leave her stunning home during wildfire - after telling son that if flames killed her, she'd have zero regrets

By JAMES GORDON, US NEWS REPORTER Published: 00:18, 11 July 2026 | Updated: 00:18, 11 July 2026 A fearless grandmother who once carved out a life in the remote wilderness of Alaska was killed in a wildfire after she refused to evacuate her beloved home. Marilyn Haugen, 83, perished when the fast-moving Upriver Fire tore through her neighborhood in Spokane, Washington on June 16, reducing the house she had shared with her husband for decades to ashes.  Family members say she knowingly stayed behind, telling her pleading husband she would battle the flames with nothing more than a garden hose. Her son Scott was on the phone with his father as the desperate moments unfolded. 'He was watching it in real time, and I was on the phone with him,' Scott said to The Spokesman Review. 'He didn't want to hurt her. He wasn't going to force her. She said she wasn't going.' Instead, Marilyn resolved to stay and defend the home she loved. 'She told my dad she is going to fight the fire with the garden hose, and if she was able to save the house, that would be a win,' Scott said. 'But if it didn't work out, her faith and trust in the Lord, her beliefs in eternal life, she would be with her savior. And that was also a win.' Marilyn Haugen, 83, was the only reported fatality after the June 16 Upriver Fire swept through Spokane's Northwood neighborhood The Upriver Fire sent plumes of smoke into the air on June 16, 2026 near Spokane, Washington Marilyn refused to evacuate her beloved home, telling her husband she would try to fight the flames with a garden hose Her son Scott Haugen says critics who questioned why she chose to remain have completely misunderstood the remarkable woman behind the tragedy. 'They didn't know her,' Scott said to The Spokesman. 'Her home was her everything. She made a choice to stay, and that was her choice.' For Scott, the final hour of his mother's life is only a tiny part of an extraordinary story spanning more than eight decades – one defined by resilience, adventure and an unwavering devotion to family. Long before she settled in eastern Washington, Marilyn and her husband Dennis built a rugged life in Alaska after the Navy stationed them there in the early 1960s. The family lived roughly 100 miles from the Arctic Circle in an isolated region where trips to the store could be separated by months – sometimes even years. Survival depended on self-reliance. Marilyn hunted moose and deer alongside her husband to help feed the family while raising three children, even as Dennis spent long stretches away during military deployments. 'She was a moose hunter,' Scott recalled. 'She went on moose hunts - moose and deer. In a picture of her and my dad hunting, there's her, leaning across the hood of a pickup with a rifle in her hand. But she drew the line at bear. She wasn't in on that.' The couple's love story stretched back to a Colorado high school in the 1950s, when Dennis bought 16-year-old Marilyn a Coke at a carhop.  Marilyn's husband, Dennis Haugen, watched the wildfire advance toward their home and pleaded with his wife to leave, but she refused Fire retardant is dropped by air tanker onto the Upriver Fire last month, in Spokane According to Scott, she fell for his eyes, and the pair married in November 1960 during a snowstorm. Military life soon took Dennis overseas, including a deployment during the Vietnam War. He did not meet his son until more than a year after Scott was born.  The family later settled in Alaska, where Marilyn embraced the challenges of frontier life with the same determination she would carry throughout her life. Scott remembers a mother who turned ordinary days into adventures, constantly dreaming up woodworking projects, games and family activities. 'She made fun happen,' he said. 'She was creative, energetic and fun. Her telephone voice, you'd think you were talking to a 23-year-old. Her laugh was just very young and vibrant.' When the Haugens moved to Spokane in 1996, they believed they had found the place where they would spend the rest of their lives. Their $550,000 home overlooked peaceful scenery, and the back deck became their favorite refuge. Scott said his parents loved sitting outside together in the evenings, soaking in the quiet. Just two days before the fire, they were doing exactly that. 'The Sunday before, they were sitting out on the back deck as the stars were twinkling, talking about how blessed they were to have landed there and how much they loved being there,' Scott said. 'That was just 48 hours before she lost her life.' Spokane County Sheriff's deputies repeatedly returned to the Haugen home, knocking on the door and urging anyone inside to evacuate before the fire closed in The Upriver Fire destroyed 14 homes as it tore through parts of Beacon Hill and the Northwood neighborhood This photo provided by Spokane Fire District 9 shows smoke rising from the Upriver Fire burning northeast of Spokane, Washington, last month Inside, Marilyn filled every room with family photographs, handmade cards and painstakingly assembled scrapbooks chronicling generations of memories. Scott said one unfinished scrapbook telling the story of her own life was still lying on the dining room table when the fire destroyed the house. 'It's one of my biggest losses, all of those pictures,' he said. 'If you have to evacuate, get your pictures.' Authorities say deputies repeatedly returned to the Haugen home, knocking on the door and urging anyone inside to evacuate. According to the Spokane County Sheriff's Office, nobody answered, and deputies were eventually forced to leave before flames engulfed the street. The Upriver Fire destroyed 14 homes in the neighborhood. Marilyn was the only reported fatality. For her grieving family, however, the focus is not on the heartbreaking way her life ended but on the extraordinary way she lived. When Marilyn's great-grandchildren learned she had died, Scott said they gathered around the treasured cards she had lovingly made for them over the years. 'She was an amazing person. Her kids and grandkids loved her,' Scott said. 'Her vibrancy and youthfulness and joy of life and love for people, I'll miss her. I'll miss her laughter.'