From an
interview on 5/13/2022
Claire, an author and somewhat
of a photojournalist, was on Wagner Creek Road taking pictures of a pear crew
just before noon on September 8, 2020. Turning around to go back to her car,
she was overwhelmed to see the sky in the distance filled with dark brown
smoke. Alarmed and realizing
the smoke from Ashland was blowing towards Talent, she quickly drove home.
Claire
stayed outdoors in her townhome driveway filming the smoke, the planes, and
helicopters overhead, and the traffic that began clogging Talent Avenue. She
and other neighbors were anxious for an evacuation notice for Talent but
unwilling to leave until they heard something. Checking news stations, everything was news of
fires in other towns or state fires and issues.
At
some point, a motorist yelled out “Arnos is on fire.” That was just six blocks south
from her. She checked her phone again. Still no evac mention. A minute later another
neighbor raced over to say the police were evacuating the Anjou Apartments. Those
were north of her!
“How
big is this thing?” she wondered.
She
made the decision to evacuate and told some others around her, “Let’s go.” Her
car already had an evacuation bag in it, but she loaded additional necessities
and a handful of framed photographs.
Before
leaving, Claire went room-to-room taking snapshots of her own belongings for
insurance. She locked all the windows and closed the door to every room. As she
finally backed her car out of her garage, Claire paused a moment to look up at
her home, realizing that it might not be there when she returned. She looked
around, said a prayer for her house, her townhome community, and neighbors
around them. Then drove out, only to sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic, grateful she’d
filled her gas tank the previous night.
Claire
had nowhere to go and just figured if she didn’t find a safe local place she’d head north to somewhere
along the coast. She called her sister in New Jersey, then an out-of-state
friend to let them know what was happening. She took photos of the halted
traffic and big rigs trying to navigate through downtown Talent. She called a
friend in Medford to see if she could stay with her. “Can’t do, Claire. There’s
evacuations planned for Medford.”
Claire
says that news stunned her. Medford? The fire was in Ashland! They’re not
evacuating Talent, but Medford to the north is receiving “Get Ready” alerts? She
called another friend in Medford. He, too, had received alerts. While talking
with him on her cell, she saw flames rising around the Fire Station 5 on 99 and
a firetruck that pulled in to fight that blaze.
She
turned left onto Colver toward Phoenix where traffic remained stalled. She took
the halted time to take more pictures.
Eventually, seeing total black sky facing her in the direction of Phoenix she turned
up Pioneer. She says it took her about two hours to get to a friend of a friend’s
house on Griffin Creek. The couple gave her a snack and water, informed her of
the Fire Relief station at the Expo in Central Point.
When
Claire arrived at the relief station, she joined a line of traffic snaking into
the Expo. She was met at the gate by a woman who took down her name and the
city she was coming from. Claire was very impressed at the organization that
had been done at the Expo in such a short few hours as more and more people
were pouring into the parking lot needing rest, food, shelter, answers, and,
well everything that people needed. She thought she’d rest there before
continuing on. Though there was no coffee available, she was provided pizza and
bottled water before fatigue finally hit. She asked where she could sleep and
was assigned a cot in one of the Expo’s halls where each individual’s sleeping
area was surrounded by netting-type screens for some semblance of privacy. Each
person’s area was about 10 ft x 10 ft which also provided some distancing
during this Covid-19 period. There was a sleeping bag, pillow, flashlight, and
an electric extension for phone charging at her bedside. She was amazed at how
this had been executed so quickly and felt very grateful.
Despite
being bone-tired, Claire couldn’t sleep and lay on her cot following videos on
social media and news reports about the fire on her phone. A neighbor who
hadn’t managed to navigate out of town and was staying in her car on the
hillside above Talent texted to say she was okay and “I’m hearing explosions
constantly. From here it looks like the whole town is on fire.”
Later
in the evening the Red Cross volunteers walked through, taking people’s blood
pressure, asking about any medications people might take, and noting what they
might need. Claire didn’t fall asleep until sometime after 2:30 in the morning,
only to waken at 5:30 and check her phone for more video reports. She was
shocked by another short text from the neighbor who’d been stuck on the hillside
the previous night.
“Drove
down to town. Our houses fine. Grabbed more clothes. Leaving now.”’
What?
Fine? Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable, yet Claire wondered what did “fine” really
mean.
Finally,
though, this next morning deliveries had arrived and there was an organized
“breakfast buffet” line and Claire’s much sought-after coffee. Volunteers with
clipboards approached people and Claire realized that all the names/locations
that had been jotted down as people drove in had been typed up overnight onto
lists being regularly updated so the people working the fire evac station could
check on and track who was still there and how people were doing.
People
needed news so county employees worked to install televisions in the meal gathering
hall that morning so that people could get information about the fire and their
towns. A few days later, computers would also be set up so people could access
emails, fill out online insurance or other forms, etc.
A
sound system was set up outside the dining hall and every few hours someone in
charge would give an update about what was happening regarding the fire
recovery, what was happening at the Expo, and try to answer people’s questions.
The
most asked questions Claire heard as people walked around was “When can I go
home?” and “Is my house still there?” It saddened her, because she’d heard that
power and water were out in most of the affected areas and she realized it
would take weeks for infrastructure to be functioning again but, too, so many
of these people would not have a home to return to.
The
Expo parking lot was still full the first early morning after the fire, but as time
passed, it began clearing as many people journeyed elsewhere. Later that first
day after the fire, in addition to meals provided by the Red Cross, some local food
trucks arrived to give out food for free. Other cars and trucks arrived to drop off piles of donated
clothes, toys, and towels. A station was set up where people could pick up
toiletries such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, and soaps. Volunteers walked the
grounds offering N95 masks as a Covid protocol. It would take a couple days,
but eventually the showers would be opened for use. Several days later service
dogs and their handlers were onsite to provide emotional support to people.
Claire
says that the Red Cross, Jackson County Expo employees, Parks Department
employees, and volunteers were all engaged in making the temporary housing and
care of the fire victims go smoothly, and, amazingly, given the conditions, it seemed
to.
Claire
explained, “You asked, and someone would be there for you, trying to make it
right as best they could.”
The
Jackson County Animal Shelter is one of the county agencies that regularly
participate in county emergency evacuation drills, and they also evacuated their
shelter animals to the arena and corrals at the Expo. Claire is a volunteer
with Friends of the Animal Shelter (FOTAS), so she visited their arena, filming
an interview with the new shelter manager, Kim Casey, for updates about the
shelter and providing advice about pets.
While evacuated at the Expo, Claire had
to keep a doctor appointment in Grants Pass, so she left, and while she was
gone everything at the Expo was moved because the fire came too close. Fire
crews worked it including helicopters pulling buckets of water from the Expo
Pond. It had been feared the fire might encroach on the evacuation area, so
those staffing the area had moved cots, bedding, etc.
When
Claire returned in the early evening, she found the entire hall where she’d slept completely bare of sleeping
bags and materials. Claire was unwilling to just grab any sleeping bag at
random from the clumps of bags heaped in piles due to Covid, so Claire ended
up pulling sleeping materials from her car and slept outside that night,
despite the chill and smokey air.
During
her third day at the Expo, Claire received a call from a friend from FOTAS, who
offered her a room in her southside Ashland home. Claire snuck into Talent
through backroads to get more clothes and remove some plants from her home. She
discovered the house really was fine. Her house, her townhome complex, everything
on the westerly side of Talent Avenue where she lived was spared, untouched.
Across Talent Avenue, though, nothing but ash, remnants of fire, and blackened
trees remained.
She’d
locked every window and closed every room’s door before leaving, so the smoke
hadn’t infiltrated her home. Outside her house, the call of the birds was
intense. She poured bottles of water into her two birdbaths before departing
for Ashland.
She
was welcomed into her friend’s home and stayed there for seven days. The two of
them work together daily by phone and computer with FOTAS staff and animal
shelter management to coordinate and disseminate information about evacuated animal
locations, update the website and post links to lost & found pet sites, and
other activities. The home was also filled with stray kittens from the shelter
that her friend and friend’s husband were fostering, so corralling all those
kittens provided moments of great amusement.
Those
were busy days, but, Claire says, “It kept me focused on doing something good
rather than just sitting around waiting for something to happen.”
Ten
days after the Almeda Fire, she
returned home. Water, gas, electricity were just on. As she walked through the
house, her WIFI came online. She followed directions that had been publicized about
running the water to help clear the pipes. She walked the town every so often,
still taking pictures.
Claire
remains deeply grateful for the work and provisions provided by the Red Cross
(She says she now makes regular donations to the organization) and all those
working at the county’s Expo Fire evac station. She may post another account in
the future of her personal feelings while staying at the evac station.
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