Register-Guard
The Holiday Farm Fire has destroyed the town of Blue River and killed at least one person, a fire marshal spokesman confirmed Saturday morning.
Lt. Damon Simmons of the Office of the State Fire Marshal said the fire was burning in about 161,000 acres, an increase of about 5,100 acres from the day before. Some of that acreage is related to burning operations meant to reduce fuel for the still-raging wildfire.
Simmons said firefighters expect Saturday's weather to be much like the day before: smoky, cool and beneficial for suppression efforts. He said firefighters expect terrain-driven fire Saturday, meaning it should burn uphill where firefighters can create breaks.
"A lot of fire break creation today. A lot of line creation expected today," Simmons said. "We may not see the extent of the line that is created today reflected in our perimeter numbers, in our amount of containment, because they need that line to be tested."
Once fire lines able to hold back flames are established, evacuation orders may lift.
Simmons said helicopters will not be able to fly Saturday unless the smoke lifts. Simmons said the dam near Leaburg is being refilled as a future water-dipping site.
He said firefighters will be working with heavy machinery to clear roads. Cleanup work on McKenzie Highway is quickly being undone by new-fallen debris.
Firefighters on Saturday are beginning their structure assessment process and the search and recovery process. He said those processes will move east to west today.
"Firefighters were able to save a substantial portion of Vida. Blue River is pretty much a total loss," Simmons said. "We've got enough done on the fire that we're able to shift crews into that search-and-rescue mode."
Simmons said available manpower increased from about 209 a few days ago to about 530 Saturday. He said firefighting resources are stretched thin across the West Coast.
There is the possibility for rain in the forecast Monday, though meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Portland on Friday said models still are likely to change. Simmons said some rain would be helpful, but too much would become a problem.
"We don't want heavy rains. A lot of the vegetation on the soil has been removed. We don't want to have things like landslides," he said. "A light rain would be a positive."
The Lane County Sheriff's Office Friday said the name of the person killed by the fire will be released once the family is notified.
""We are saddened to report that on (Friday), fire personnel were in the area of Goodpasture Road in Vida when they located a deceased person in a residence within the perimeter of the Holiday Farm Fire," a sheriff's office news release said.
— Adam Duvernay
Watch: OSFM offers update on the Holiday Farm Fire
OSFM Spokesman Damon Simmons offers update on the Holiday Farm Fire.
More: Lane County Sheriff reports first known fatality in Holiday Farm Fire
500,000 are told to evacuation or prepare to do so
Hundreds of firefighters battled two large wildfires Friday that threatened to merge near the most populated part of Oregon, including the suburbs of Portland, and the governor said dozens of people are missing in other parts of the state.
The state’s emergency management director, Andrew Phelps, said thousands of structures have been destroyed.
Gov. Kate Brown said more than 40,000 Oregonians have been evacuated and about 500,000 are in different levels of evacuation zones, either having been told to leave or to prepare to do so. She was dialing back on a statement Thursday by the state Office of Emergency Management that said a half-million people had been ordered to evacuate statewide.
— USA TODAY
Holiday Farm Fires donation center moves Saturday to north Eugene
The donation center operating at Silke Field at Springfield High School will be relocating Saturday to a location for long-term drop-off and sorting in north Eugene.
St. Vincent de Paul, United Way of Lane County and the Lane County Emergency Operations Center are partnering with the grassroots organizers of the donation center to support the center. St. Vincent de Paul will begin managing the donation location and overall process.
The new location at 2699 Roosevelt Boulevard will open to receive donations on Saturday. It will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
No donations should be taken to Silke Field or Lane Events Center.
Any donations previously delivered to the Lane Events Center will be moved to the new donation location.
Oregon wildfire: 'I knew I'd never see anything in that house again.'
Lindsie and Brittany Cline from Leaburg at an evacuation center at Springfield High after their families fled the flames of the Holiday Farm Fire.
Hazardous air quality cancels several weekend events
From parks to outdoor events, here's a list of closures because of the unhealthy, smoky air quality: www.registerguard.com/story/news/2020/09/11/holiday-farm-fire-closures-cancellations-lane-county/3473074001/
Gov. Brown: Dozens reported missing during Oregon wildfires
Dozens of people have been reported missing in the Oregon wildfires, Gov. Kate Brown confirmed Friday.
Oregon State Police are reporting dozens of cases, specifically in Lane, Jackson and Marion counties.
Oregon's Office of Emergency Management Director Andrew Phelps said thousands of structures have been destroyed in the catastrophic fires and officials were preparing for a "mass fatality event."
Oregon's wildfires ballooned to more than 1 million acres Friday.
Officials with the Marion County Sheriff's Office said as of Friday, 10 people reported missing in connection to the wildfires have yet to be accounted for. The remains of four people have been found.
"At a time of great loss, the women and men of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office want to express their deepest condolences to those in our community who have lost loved ones and homes during these last few days,” Sheriff Joe Kast said in a statement.
Family members and officials confirmed that a 13-year-old boy and his 71-year-old grandmother died in the Beachie Creek Fire in Marion County.
Searchers also located two additional victims of the Beachie Creek Fire.
"Due to treacherous conditions, recovery efforts will be underway once a safe plan can be put into place," Griffith said. "Once the remains are identified, names will be released pending notification of next of kin."
One body was discovered in a residence in the Goodpasture Road area of Vida within the perimeter of the Holiday Farms Fire, according to the Lane County Sheriff's Office.
Two bodies were recovered in the Almeda Fire in southern Oregon. The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that 50 people remain unaccounted for in the aftermath of the fire.
Many have turned to Twitter and Facebook for help with finding their missing loved ones. A father's tweet to find his daughter and her boyfriend, who went missing while camping near McKenzie Bridge, collected more than 23,000 retweets.
The woman and her boyfriend were located Thursday and are now safe, according to the father's social media page.
Brown did not provide a hard number of how many people were reported missing and said the primary focus remained on saving lives.
Brown said she expects the initial number of reports to change.
"Right now, I know that Oregonians are very eager to seek information," Brown said. "As we get more information regarding missing persons and fatalities and structure damage, we will certainly provide that information, but it is going to take time."
— Whitney Woodworth, Salem Statesman Journal
Firefighting priorities focus on safety, clearing roads, setting fire lines
The Holiday Farm Fire Incident Command Update on Friday reported firefighters have been working to protect structures and establish control lines as well as prioritize clearing roads, such as Highway 126, for responder access to the area.
Crews on Thursday established defensible space around communities to keep the fire away from homes and businesses. There are currently 17,732 structures threatened by the fire.
Once fire conditions are safer, responders will work in tandem with the Lane County Sheriff's Office to check structures and conduct assessments of impacted residences.
"We understand there's a lot of community concern about structures, as soon as we are able to we will provide the information," Lane County Sheriff Clifton Harrold said at a Thursday press conference.
"We need the community to understand that this is an active fire, it’s still happening and we need to let the fire folks do their work first. Life saving is the priority," he said.
Public and firefighter safety remains the highest priority, responders emphasize.
Fire managers are asking the public to avoid the fire area. Roads are closed throughout the fire to give firefighters room to work and to keep the public safe.
"We really need you to pay attention to the evacuation zones and heed them," Harrold said. "It’s of upmost importance, not just for your safety but for the firefighters. We’ve had reports from firefighters that on the east side of that highway there are people on the road who just do not need to be there. It’s hindering operations and it’s causing a safety hazard."
Fire-weakened trees, ash pits, falling rocks and other debris are just some of the hazards.
"We know that the community wants to get back in there," Harrold said. "You may have heard from somebody that they used a back road to get in there, but five minutes later that information is old. So please don’t listen to that rumor mill information."
Other rumors Harrold dispelled Thursday concerned stories of people looting evacuated homes. "We have not seen any reports of widespread looting. That is something the community is feeling anxiety about for sure."
— Michelle Maxwell
Lane County, Eugene consolidate smoke, fire respite centers to one site
The city of Eugene along with Lane County opened three smoke and fire respite centers Wednesday in Eugene. Because of low usage of the sites and to conserve resources, the centers will be consolidated into one expanded shelter site at the Lane Events Center, 796 W. 13th Ave., city officials announced Friday. It will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. through the weekend.
The site is designed to provide a place for anyone who does not have access to indoor shelter or power to come indoors.
Additionally, Lane County is continuing to work with homeless service providers to provide N95 masks for distribution, so far supplying 300.
"Providing safe overnight shelter requires qualified service providers and the process to put that in place would likely be longer than the actual poor air quality event," the city said in its announcement.
Because of COVID-19, the county is not recommending congregate shelter at this time. City staff are actively working with partners to identify additional locations for non-congregate shelter sites and are asking the community for help in that effort.
Prior to the pandemic, the city said, the number of unhoused people relying on illegal camping in Eugene and Lane County was significant. Since the pandemic, capacity at local shelters and centers is even more limited to allow for physical distancing. "This has added considerable additional strain on a system that had already reached capacity," the announcement said.
Due to the hazardous air quality conditions the city will only enforce prohibited camping sites that are imminent health and safety hazards. The city said it has not been and will not be conducting “sweeps” of camps.
Although, because of "significant community concerns about activity in the park including fights, illegal burning and unsanitary conditions," the city said Eugene police did respond to a specific incident in Scobert Gardens Park. CAHOOTS assisted and helped transfer people from the park to the clean air shelters.
— Michelle Maxwell
Holiday Farm Fire evacuation zones as of Friday afternoon
The Holiday Farm Fire has nine evacuation notices for Lane County. A total of 17,632 Lane County residents have been evacuated, Oregon State Fire Marshal incident commander Ian Yocum said Thursday — 4,776 from Level 3 zones, 671 from Level 2 and 6,275 from Level 1. Officials expect the evacuation zones to remain the same.
"Now that we’ve established them, we are feeling really confident that they are what they need to be," said Lane County Sheriff Clifton G. Harrold at a Thursday press conference.
The updated evacuation point is Silke Field at 875 7th Street in Springfield.
Here is a roundup of all Land County evacuation notices as of Friday 2 p.m.:
Level 3 "Go Now"
- Everyone from Walterville Elementary east to the McKenzie Ranger Station, including all roads to the north and south of the highway.
- Upper Camp Creek Road and residents past Wendling Road on either side of Marcola Road.
- Mohawk Valley north of the McKenzie River and east of Marcola Road, including Upper Camp Creek and Camp Creek roads.
- Mohawk Valley north of Marcola Road and Hill Road.
- All residents from Walterville Elementary School (Highway 126 milepost 15.25) to the intersection of Thurston Road and Highway 126.
"Level 3 means leave immediately! Do NOT take time to gather things. Go now! DO NOT delay leaving your property to gather any belongings or make efforts to protect your home. If you choose to ignore this notice, public safety personnel may not be available to assist you further."
Level 2 "Be Set"
- The McKenzie Ranger Station to the junction of Highway 126 and Highway 20 (Santiam Junction).
- Residents on the west side of Marcola Road from the intersection with Old Mohawk Road and including Hill Road north to the community of Mohawk.
Level 2 means being prepared to leave at a moment's notice. It indicates there is significant danger to your area and residents should either voluntarily relocate to a shelter or with family/friends outside of the affected area.
Level 1 "Be Ready"
- Fall Creek, Winberry, and Lowell areas north from Hills Creek to Signal Point Boat Ramp.
- All residents from Highway 126 to Bob Straub to Jasper Road east to Thurston Road where it intersects with Highway 126 north to the McKenzie River.
Level 1 means be aware of the danger that exists in your area and prepare for possible evacuation.
How to find out if you're in an evacuation zone
With multiple evacuation notices in effect for the McKenzie River corridor area, Lane County created a Fire Zone Evacuation Address Search to quickly find out whether your address is in the evacuation zone.
Go to lcmaps.lanecounty.org/EvacuationSearch2020/index.html to enter in your address to find out.
Residents who are affected by the Holiday Farm Fire, also referred to as the McKenzie fire, who have inquiries may call Lane County’s non-emergency call center at 541-682-3977 between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. After-hours calls will be transferred to the Sheriff’s Office non-emergency phone line. People also can go to lanecounty.org/mckenziefire
If you are under an evacuation notice, please comply with requests made for Level 1 (Be Ready), Level 2 (Be Set) and Level 3 (Go Now).
Evacuation locations, call center
Lane County has a temporary evacuation point at Silke Field, 908 N. 10th Ave. in Springfield for those who were able to evacuate to the west. (The location was previously at Thurston High School and was moved for safety.)
Residents who are affected by the McKenzie Fire who have inquiries may call Lane County’s non-emergency call center at 541-682-3977 between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. After-hours calls will be transferred to the Sheriff’s Office non-emergency phone line.
Those who evacuated east are encouraged to head toward the Deschutes County Fairgrounds in Redmond, 3800 SE Airport Way.
Greenhill Humane Society providing emergency pet services
Greenhill Humane Society is working with local authorities to provide emergency services for Lane County pets. This includes emergency boarding for dogs, cats and other small animals in evacuation zones.
To coordinate emergency boarding, contact Greenhill 24 hours-a-day at 541-689-1503 or www.green-hill.org.
Pet food and supplies are also being distributed at the evacuation zone and are available for pickup from Greenhill Humane Society at 88530 Green Hill Road.
— Matthew Denis
Firefighters hopeful for containment progress
After days of rapid fire growth in the McKenzie Valley, with bad weather conditions and limited resources to fight it, Friday signaled a turn toward containment.
There were 425 people working to fight the Holiday Farm Fire on Friday morning, up from just 209 Thursday and fewer than 200 earlier in the week.
The fire still grew from 145,000 acres Thursday to 156,708 acres Friday. However, this jump was significantly smaller than days past, and firefighters were able to keep many structures safe.
In addition, members of the Oregon National Guard arrived and will be staffing checkpoints on the roads so that sheriff’s deputies are free to patrol neighborhoods.
“Our field operations people — the people who are on the ground — they said they had a good night last night and a good day yesterday,” said Damon Simmons, spokesperson for the Oregon State Fire Marshall. “We didn’t lose any structures overnight, so that was a very positive thing.”
The change in weather is also significant as they try to get a grip on this fire.
“We had winds in the 10 to 15 mph range yesterday, and today we’re looking at winds probably less than 6 mph, which is awesome for firefighting,” Simmons said.
The shift from Holiday Farm Fire being wind-driven to terrain-driven would allow firefighters to move from a defensive strategy to offensive for the first time since it started. This would mean creating fire lines and clearing out terrain that the fire’s fueled by.
Simmons said with all of this in mind, they are hopeful for some containment on the fire in the next couple of days.
— Jordyn Brown
Firefighters: Beachie Creek, Riverside fires may create their own weather
The biggest concern about the Riverside Fire and Beachie Creek Fire is that they could merge, Holly Krake, public information officer with the Riverside Fire, said Friday morning. The fires were about 1 air mile apart, but they could merge if fire growth continues.
The concern about those fires merging is rooted in smoke.
In general, if smoke plumes from two massive fires converge, it has the potential to create “plume dominated” fire behavior. This behavior is marked on the ground by down draft winds, erratic wind shifts and plunging humidity.
Essentially, the fire could have its own weather.
These conditions can limit the ability for firefighters to combat the blaze directly and puts any towns in the fire’s path at greater risk. Fuels in the Mt. Hood National Forest – where the fire is burning – are already at record dryness levels.
“You combine extremely dry fuels, erratic winds, a fire creating its own weather conditions, it can lead to some of those extreme fire behaviors that just aren’t safe,” Krake said.
On Thursday, the fire’s intensity led officials to pull back all firefighting and emergency personnel for about two hours.
Clackamas Fire called it a “tactical pause” to allow firefighters to reposition and evaluate conditions.
“We haven’t abandoned you & working hard to keep you safe,” they tweeted.
Krake said 178 personnel are currently battling the fire, with more expected to arrive over the weekend.
Air support is also available, but due to thick smoke few flights have been made since the fire started on Sept. 8.
— Connor Radnovich, Salem Statesman Journal
1,303 inmates evacuated from Coffee Creek prison due to wildfires
The entire inmate population of Coffee Creek Correctional Facility is being evacuated Thursday due to two nearby wildfires.
Prison officials said the decision to move the inmates from the Wilsonville prison to another prison was made "out of an abundance of caution."
The prison is located near the Riverside Fire in Clackamas County and the Santiam Fire east of Salem.
"This institution is in potential danger as these fires threaten to merge," said Oregon Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jen Black.
The facility is Oregon's only women's prison and also house an intake center.
A total of 1,020 female and 283 male inmates are being evacuated.
The move comes days after three Salem-area prisons were evacuated due to wildfire concerns.
Inmates at Mill Creek, Santiam and Oregon State correctional institutions were moved on Tuesday due to threats from the Beachie Creek/Santiam and Lionshead wildfires.
The inmates — about 1,400 men — were moved to the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem.
Black declined to specify where the inmates were relocated to.
"For the safety of our employees, the people we incarcerate, and the community, we will not confirm where the adults in custody are being evacuated," she said.
Corrections Director Colette Peters said the evacuation of Coffee Creek was in the best interest of safety and security.
“We are focused on the lives, health, and safety of our employees and the adults in our care and custody," she said. "In this unprecedented time, I have never been more proud to be part of the Oregon Department of Corrections. The planning, logistics, and effort needed to move thousands of people safely around the state have been heroic."
Officials stressed that the inmates were not being released.
"We will return to normal operations as soon as it is safe to do so," Peters said.
—Whitney Woodworth, Salem Statesman Journal
The Link LonkSeptember 13, 2020 at 12:37AM
https://ift.tt/3hpipSv
Updates: Holiday Farm Fires donation center moves to north Eugene - The Register-Guard
https://ift.tt/2QoXNjh
Holiday
No comments:
Post a Comment