STUDENT INTERVIEW: TALENT MIDDLE SCHOOL INTERVIEW- Luke, Griffen and Jordon Interview Eli Champaign

Interview: Eli Champaign 

Date: 11/25/2020 8:30 AM

Recorded by: Luke 

Description:  Eli Champaign is a Medford Firefighter who worked on the Almeda Fire in Talent, OR. This interview was conducted by SDI students and staff from Talent Middle School. This interview was held and recorded via Google Meets. 

Q: (Lucas) What is backdraft, and did you see it in the fire?

A: A deadly condition. You have to pay close attention. Pressure builds in a building, then air is suddenly introduced. Can create an explosion. 

(Picture) Eli talked about what and where the next stand should be to stop the fire but it kept jumping every time they had a plan.

(Picture) Eli showed a tree in a mobile home park that had flames around 100 feet high.

    Eli told us about Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (P.T.S.D) and which is common with people in very stressful situations like a war or fires like Almeda and how it can trigger thoughts, years later. He said he is affected by the hundreds of propane explosions and it’s a sound he will never forget.

(Picture) Eli showed us a picture of a house they had to make a decision on to burn, in order to save an entire subdivision. He said this was one success he got from the fight.

Q: (Griffin) On one picture you showed us, what was the white foam on the house?

A: Foam is on the fire engines so we can spray it on the fire and suffocate it. This helps to put it out quickly.

Q: (Jordan) Did you get a lot of wrong information about the Almeda fire?

A: We didn’t really get a lot of wrong information, but we got a lot of it. We had so many different sources between 911 dispatch, police, and other fire fighters, it made it hard to decide on what was the most important to work on first.