Almeda Fire 2 - Taking Stock
The day after and we’re taking stock of what’s here and what’s not. There are intermittent reports coming in as to business that have been burned down or not. There are friends now trapped on the coast from evacuating due to the Cave Junction/Slater fire and difficulty accessing further north. There are theories on how everything started: downed power lines, arson, Antifa (Antifa…really, *@&$*# really)! C'mon people. Our valley IS NOT THAT IMPORTANT). If your thoughts go to blaming some group before blaming a single individual or all the other natural regular things that start these fires – check yourself and your biases!)
EDITED LATER: more and more information is coming out that there is a small secondary Phoenix fire that is confirmed Arson, that is not the Almeda Fire. The Almeda Fire with it’s start point in Ashland and sweeping through Talent and Phoenix is still under investigation. There’s credible evidence that it’s man-made, but no evidence as to arson vs accident.
I remember one of the first thoughts from during evacuation. The fence! Really, there’s a fire and I just finally finished the stupid fence YESTERDAY! (obviously in black humor without seriousness around it, just noting the inequities of life at times).
We’re talking with the fire marshals who are patrolling Hartley at this point and have set up a new roadblock at the 99 end of Colver Rd as people were using it to try to get into Phoenix and Talent. They are very grateful we’re here. They said without dad and I here battling fires that we probably would have lost this area of four houses as well. Josh’s, ours, Kevin’s, Jose’s. As it was we weren’t able to help with anything but the main house on Jose’s property. I know intellectually that it was more than anyone expected. With how much Jose and his family have brought to the valley for >90 years it feels like too little.
The emotional ups and downs continue as simply typing that releases the flood gates and it takes a few moments to recompose things. My parents have spent 4 years putting their heart and soul into building this place. It’s unique, it’s them, it’s been helped along by myself, Andi, and friends along the way. There’s no way we would be able to rebuild it. The thought of them loosing it is what tends to send me over the edge. Andi’s and my house is a remodel, theirs is unique art built from the ground up.
Living-wise there’s no well water until the new generator comes in. Wells run off 220v circuits as a standard. Our backup had not been installed. We have TID water that we can bucket in to flush toilets. We are able to run a 200’ hose from the neighbors and fill up the travel trailer for fresh drinkable water and with propane short warm showers are possible, intermittently. All the cooking is done off propane in the trailer as there’s no natural gas with everything shut off in the area for safety. We have the travel generator which keeps the phones and rechargeable work lights going, and keeps us connected to the world. The largest concern are the animals and the garden once the TID water is turned off, which is the 15th. Andi’s and my place has water pressure again, but no electricity or gas. We’ll have electricity soon with the loan of a friend’s generator – enough for basics. Water is in a boil advisory for a week. We opted to simply pull out the backpacking gravity filter. With our backpacking gear we actually have filtered water, solar showers, cooking - basically everything but air filtration. I went by the other day to screw doors shut when we’re not there as it’s the prime time for looters. Our neighbor John is also keeping a direct eye on the place and he’s there 24/7. He’s been wandered over every time we’ve been there, so things feel secure.
With Phoenix cut off there’s no official access in. Since our farm is inside the evacuation zone we’re able to mosey down Hartley and then down 99 to Rose and up to our house, but we’re using it sparingly.
The Colver side is blockaded by the Sheriff and they have been wonderful in double checking everyone coming in, and checking with the residents to verify anyone trying to use someone’s name. We dropped off some home made zucchini bread yesterday as a thanks and had one of those fun conversations. “Do I have to share this?” “Nope, it is all yours. Thank you for everything you’re doing.” (it was a mini load, after all)
Of course to add to everything going on, as we’re talking, a damage assessor comes in and takes the turn too wide. He drops his left front tire in the ditch. He’s resting on the frame of his Jeep and, of all things, doesn’t have four wheel drive. I didn’t even know Jeeps came with a front wheel drive option – it seems…it just seems wrong. But he’s good-natured about it and after determining he’s not getting out without a tow truck, we headed off our way.
The fire marshals here have given us free reign as they see us as critical to the area standing, have good heads on our shoulders, and have been keeping things monitored since day 1. All the other officers don’t know things firsthand, so we’re cautious in being very clear with who we are, the farm we’re taking care of, and that we are locals helping to keep safety checks going.
That said, when we have been around Phoenix all the officers have been wonderful. We have a standard protocol: see a police cruiser, pre-emptively pull out my license with our address, tell him we’re patrolling the area and that we’ve been situated in the evac zone since day 1, chat about changes, assure them that yep, we’ll call 911 with the first sign of everything. They’ve been appreciative because with a few of us monitoring the area around Elm street they are able to focus resources elsewhere. It’s a win-win.
Fire destroys and creates. In nature it’s renewal: burning away the excess, enriching the earth. In our humanity it, mostly brings us together. In our little area it helps to renew ties and remind us how much we ultimately depend on one another.
Of course then there are those that just don’t get it. We were sitting in line at the south Ashland Arco, all 4 lines heading toward I5, and one lady comes in the wrong way to park head-in, right in front of us, and holds up the entire station with how she parks.
Two sides to every coin and every situation. The vast majority of what we see if our community coming together. There are small tiny pockets of division.
It’s an important thing, I believe, to remember that this is the majority of our life, this shared ability to come together to help out our fellow person. EDITED TO ADD: An example I’m pulling from talking with a friend last night that I feel demonstrates a very important point. I don’t care who you vote for or what you believe. Put on your Trump shirt, your Biden shirt, your Antifa, Black Lives Matter, Militia, whatever…then come down and *#!)($* help put our community back together. Help your neighbor, or the stranger, or the family member. If you have anything to say about your beliefs or anything political…before taking care of your community…then you don’t truly care about your fellow person and your community. You care more about getting your message across. In that case leave and let those of us who place our humanity above the rest get this job done. If you read this and your first thought is to defend a point of view – kindly stop and check your biases. Scratch that. There is no kindly about it. Stop. Just stop. If you cannot, then please get out of here and let us who really care, and who will reach across the aisle no matter what, put our community back together, because you’re more a part of the problem than the solution. Look out at the people coming together to help and please, for our and your sake, sit back and absorb an important life lesson.
We have so much divisiveness in our country and our community in this day and age. If nothing else let the renewing aspect of fire remind us of our basic humanity and the fact that it doesn’t matter what the other person believes if first and foremost they believe in the shared aspect of our humanity and taking care of each other.
3 Days In
We’ve finally been able to meet up with some of our friends directly affected by the fire. We have plans to meet up with others tonight, and to see our goddaughter for the first time. Last night we spent with a small group hosted by an awesome friend in Medford who was not affected. She is organizing getting food and meals to people among her many other hats of taking care of this valley. She defines the type of person we need right now and going forward.
Earlier today Andi and I took a bike ride around Phoenix to update pictures and information. The devastation continues to astound us and the idea of what it’s going to take to rebuild is staggering. The seeming randomness of fire stands out: the long house surrounded by burnt out shells, the neighborhood jumped over with burnt out areas on both sides. Patterns that when you analyze fire and wind make sense, but visually throw the mind into a spin.
Phoenix and Talent continue to be level 3 evacuation areas. Phoenix is actually locked down tighter than Talent though they’ve started to allow people in under escort. As of this evening we were able to drive into the back of Talent unhindered and Talent looks to be open to travel up to Talent Ave. Talent level 3/2 demarcation line at this point is Talent Ave.
Our life has continued to be a mix of helping to take care of the family’s farm on Hartley, traveling to our house to check on things there, and check in with our friend group (many of whom lost every thing they have). We have air filtration at the farm as I’ve got my hospital grade filter here and we have another one being delivered to my friend’s place in Ashland, by Thursday, to allow us around our house. 2.5ppm levels continue to hover around 400 or just under, where they have been for the past two days. We’re actually better off, ironically, air-wise, than areas such as Salem and Bend which are >1000 and >600, respectively. With the lack of wind the smoke from the fires around us and from the smoldering that’s still going on is simply settling in the valley. The fires north in Eagle Point area and surrounding continue to affect our area heavily as well, though I have to admit my focus has not been specifically on them these past few days, other than to note they are present and to check in with friends who live in the area. We’re certainly not alone. At this point the entire west coast is effectively on fire to the point of hazardous air everywhere.
Today we’ll keep focusing on cleanup and rebuilding, getting thoughts in order, taking care of friends and loved ones. We’ll focus on the necessities: red cross and FEMA registration, following-up on house insurance details (because even though we’re standing there was a lot of hazardous smoke coming directly through our neighborhood). At this time it’s identifying the less obvious damage done while continuing to deal with the direct damage. Day-by-day we’ll rebuild our community.
