Raging Fires and Heartbreaking Loss
COVID-19 and civil unrest were apparently not enough punishment for my home state. On Monday night and Tuesday of this week, dozens of fires began raging in Oregon, fueled by East winds, hot weather, and some of the driest conditions the normally-damp west side of the state has seen in recorded history. The fires have burned over a million acres so far, and are likely to burn much more before it’s all over. The East wind in my area stopped (finally!) Thursday night, but the smoke still hangs heavy, giving the air quality here a worst-possible Hazardous rating. Everyone is instructed to stay in their homes unless they are evacuating or have necessary travel.
I will not use this blog as a news reporting page. There is a good interactive fire situation map here if you want just the facts: https://linngis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=56668b1f57cf4bec9be88420a37e1183 . Instead, I want to talk about my own connections to each of the places/people impacted by these fires. My family and I are EXTREMELY blessed to not have been evacuated, and I want to make it clear we personally haven’t lost anything, unlike hundreds of thousands in Oregon alone. This post isn’t meant to be a pity party, but simply a reflection on how far-reaching fire impacts can be.
- Alameda Drive Fire (Medford/Ashland area): as part of my job I regularly meet with organizations and businesses in this area. I haven’t checked in yet with my contacts at these places, and probably am still unable to by phone, but looking at the map I’m sure many of these places are evacuated if not burned.
- Archie Creek Fire (Douglas County): this fire threatens the towns of Roseburg and Sutherlin among others, although the only evacuation orders I’ve seen are for Glide. Sutherlin was my mom’s hometown, and I still have dozens of family members in the area.
- Beachie Creek Fire (Marion County): at least one of my coworkers has had to evacuate and will probably lose their home. One of the properties I help manage is about to be burned over (no structures). My dad’s family farm, which we no longer own but visit occasionally, is under a Level 1 evacuation order. Silver Falls State Park, where I went hiking with my dad, sister and nephew just two weeks ago, is burning. Speaking of them, they are in Salem where the smoke is so thick it is dark at noon and has been all week.
- Riverside Fire (Clackamas County): I have countless coworkers and friends in various states of evacuation and loss from this fire. This fire is expected to merge with the Beachie, and that is predicted to make the combined fire more dangerous than just the two fires would be separately. (A large fire that size is capable of creating its own weather events, for example.) All of Clackamas County, a large area by western Oregon standards with a population into the hundreds of thousands, is under some level of evacuation order.
- Echo Mountain Fire (Lincoln City/Otis area): a few of my coworkers either have evacuated or are standing by to evacuate. The one employee I manage, who is much younger than me and fights wildland fire as a side gig, is assigned to a fire engine on this fire. This is on the Oregon Coast, a lush green place that historically only burns about every 200 years (although climate change nullifies that figure), and people here normally do not have to worry about wildfires. The devastation of homes in the Otis and Devil’s Lake areas is heart-wrenching to see. My employee, who has texted me a few photos, says it’s reminiscent of the war zones you see on TV news.
There are numerous other degrees and kinds of impact the fires have had and will have: favorite hiking and biking routes, local economies, etc. But for now, the main thing I’m thinking about is the thousands of people.
Bike Newbie 