The Almeda Fire: The Year After
By Debra Moon
There is no one in Talent who was not impacted by the Almeda Fire. Everyone had to evacuate and stay out of their homes for several days, and in some cases a week or more. Because the electricity was down, some people’s electric garage doors would not open to get their car out in order to leave. Two wonderful men in town, who work as realtors, Charles Bridges and Scott Chapell, took precious time when evacuation was eminent and muscled the garage doors open for many of their neighbors. Power lines were down. Water lines were contaminated and shut off. Food spoiled in refrigerators that weren’t running. The wind accompanying the fire did terrible damage as well. Tree branches littered the roads. A big tree blew over and landed on my house. Maybe other people in town had similar disasters. Although first responders from areas all around us joined our police and firemen to battle the fire, keep the roads safe, and evacuate people. They were stretched thin and faced many unprecedented challenges.
Many people had no home to come back to. The fire took 2,600 homes in total. Talent lost 356 single family homes and 460 apartments or mobile homes, and all the belongings inside. Memories of things lost resurface still and haunt the people who lost their homes. A woman who lost her home on Gangnes writes, “I long for sewing projects that have piled up over the years – dresses still pinned to the pattern that I never made, embroidery designs still in the hoop, pants that need to be hemmed…I want the sheets of the past to bed in… The handmade baskets that filled every corner of my house in Talent made perfect combustion. Though there is something poetic about journals and love letters going up in flames, their passion (and stupidity) will never be revealed – their memories burned at the stake.”
In Talent, 59 commercial buildings were burned, and many of them were from locally owned businesses. The effects of the fire were widespread. Phoenix, our neighboring town, suffered severely as well. As far away as the City of Rogue River, an acquaintance of mine took in a family from Talent who had nowhere to go since they had been burned out of their home. My friend and her husband are well to do and have a large home in the City of Rogue River. The night of the fire, a Hispanic family of seven people came to this home and were accommodated. Only one spoke English, a teen-aged boy, who had to do translating for everyone. Stories of rescue and neighborly help abounded in this hellish event.
The Talent Historical Society (THS) has begun collecting fire stories to document this historic event. THS has partnered with Talent Elementary School and Talent Middle School and received many stories from students, as well as from adults who volunteered their stories or responded to the announcement of story collection in the Talent News and Review. A second grader reports that they turned their sprinklers on when they left, but had to leave their chickens at their house, not knowing if they would be burned or not. Luckily, they were fine when the family came back. Rescuing or evacuating pets was a huge problem. People drove hundreds of miles to find shelter in hotels with a back seat full of dogs and/or cats. Those were the people that could fit their animals in their vehicle—not everyone could. One woman tells of the despair she felt because she had four large dogs and a mother in a wheelchair—and a very small compact car. She stayed. Luckily, she lived on the side of Talent Avenue that did not burn down.
Another second grader’s story tells that a young school-aged girl of a Spanish speaking family had to call 911(she could speak English, but her grandmother could not) to ask for help to get out because the children of the family were all staying with their grandma, and she could not drive. The police showed up with a police car and a police van to collect all family members. Police transported people out, and some people back in, to get things like their medication, when the environment was extremely dangerous due to downed powerlines, remaining embers, and debris. Some people chose to stay and fight the fire. I have spoken to several people who said the fire burned right up to their property. One couple, original Talentians, who have lived here all their lives, had recently moved into a home on Colver Road. The night of the fire, everyone had evacuated except the husband and his son-in-law. Those two stayed, riding a mower all over the property and using their hoses to protect the home from burning.
After the fire, an aide center sprung up, seemingly, overnight. The Fire Mutual Aide Center at Wagner Plaza was a collaborative effort. Talent Maker City, Rogue Climate and Rogue Action were instrumental in providing services for everyone post fire. Other community members pitched in with their outpouring of goods and services. Individuals brought bedding, clothing, food, furniture, appliances, toiletries, and tools. Restaurants delivered meals. Fifty-five beds were actually constructed in this center with student help. A home is being made out an old bus outside of the Grotto, who has been very integrally involved in these efforts, as was another private partner, Jack Latvala (as one of the owners of Wagner Plaza). The Wagner Plaza Fire Aide Center carried on for several months before it moved over to the Shoppes at Exit 24 in Phoenix where Rogue Climate and Rogue Action Center took up the work of providing much needed supplies to fire survivors until just last month.
Recently, PBS aired a special show, featuring within it “A Hurricane of Fire Up Close and Personal”, a film made by Bow DeBay of Ashland, who rode his bike through Talent, filming during the fire. It was raining fire, tires popping, things exploding, and the smell of burning plastic was prevalent throughout the town. The PBS show is titled, “The Almeda Fire: One Year Later”. It is narrated by Cesar Flores, and it emphasizes how the Hispanic members of our community were disproportionately affected by the fire, and disproportionately unserved by government benefits. In the show, Francisco Javier Torres Macias, a successful Hispanic businessman who, before the fire, helped Hispanic families refurbish and upgrade their mobile homes, is filmed saying, “We have less benefits than others in the community, yet we pick the grapes, clean houses and hotels, pick hemp, work in restaurants and do many jobs that provide essential services for the success of the economy.” And we all know this is true.
The film ends saying that now we have a clean slate. We can begin anew. We can’t run from climate change, but we can build to be safer in these changes. Charles Hanley, Fire Chief at Fire Station No. Five in Talent, explained that many issues we faced in the Almeda Fire have been addressed through state legislation. The new legislation provides guidelines and funding for mitigation efforts like reducing hazardous fuels, weed and brush abatement, hiring more fire fighters. Station Five here in Talent has 21 new fire fighters. The Talent Irrigation District (TID) is working with the state codes and funding to improve our water system. The state developed WUI, Wildland Urban Interface, to enforce a code that requires harder surfaces on any new buildings and homes in high-risk areas. There are stricter requirements for building to ensure that homes and commercial buildings will withstand fire better. Chief Hanley also said that the mutual aid system was following new procedures and regulations allowing the sharing of fire fighters and other resources for big fires sooner—even before the fire if possible. He mentioned that firemen at Station Five had experience with big fires by joining forces to fight fires in California in the past, and that did truly help them fight the Almeda Fire.
But the Almeda Fire broke the hearts of our firemen and police as it traveled and grew with the winds, which were incredibly strong that day with gusts up to 45 miles per hour. The wind direction seemed to be unpredictable. Upward gusts took fire embers to the treetops which caused crown fires that are exceedingly hot and dangerous. Our firefighters had to make split-second decisions, constantly, all day and night, trying to save whatever buildings and homes possible, while watching the fate of many that couldn’t be saved. Almeda was unbelievably fast and unbelievably hot. Our guys were extremely saddened to see so much destruction. They did save some structures, and they put the fire out. The Almeda Fire was stopped south of Medford when the crazy winds of that day shifted. According to an article in the Washington Post, it burned more than 3,200 acres and destroyed 3,000 structures, including one of Fire District Five's three firehouses.
Photo courtesy of Claire Krulikowski
Chief Hanley says, “The trauma of this fire will always be with us.” It takes time to get over this kind of event. Our new City Manager, Jordan Rooklyn, says the same, “The trauma of the fire will be here for years to come. Grief and healing are not linear.” Chief Hanley urges Talent families to be prepared: remove flammable brush around the home; clean the gutters; get rid of hazardous fuels; sign up for citizen alerts; have your “to go” box or bag ready; plan to be away from your home for 7 days; have a plan for your pets, elderly persons, children, and disabled persons; be ready for any type of disaster, earthquake, flood, or fire.
In the aftermath of the Almeda Fire, we have learned that we can count on our neighbors for help, that our community is cohesive, and that there is a love for Talent that is strong and resilient. We are cleaning up and rebuilding. Jordan Rooklyn reports that 42% of the single-family dwellings that were lost have received permits to rebuild and 4% are built and moved into. Rebuilding permits for apartments, manufactured homes, and commercial buildings range around 10%. of the buildings lost so far. The state has offered permission for various types of temporary housing. Rooklyn reports that 27 FEMA temporary trailers are going into Totem Pole Mobile Park on Highway 99. The Gateway temporary housing will have 53 R.V.s to house families. Partners in the private sector have offered hotel rooms or parking spaces for R.V.s. The city has also received state funding to disburse for rental assistance for displaced families. Chief Hanley emphasized that the number one goal of all agencies working on recovery from the fire is “to bring people back to the community.”
Since City Manager Jordan Rooklyn wants to “uplift community voices, listen to the needs of our people and help them, despite bureaucracy”, it is not surprising that she is proud to say that one on the after-effects of the fire is an increased capacity for the city’s bilingual communication. We now have an official interpreter, a Spanish social media platform, and a regularly published column in Caminos magazine. The city has reduced barriers for rebuilding by eliminating some fees and taxes, streamlining the procedures, and increasing staff to process permits. The city has applied for grants, $4 million dollars, to mitigate the most vulnerable areas, Bear Creek Greenway and Wagner Creek. Goals for the city’s future include: revision of policies to establish temporary homes, increase of capacity to avoid or respond to future disasters, and increase of communication, not only with the community as it is now, but with those who have been displaced from their homes.
Photo courtesy of Claire Krulikowski
This epic article does not tell the whole story. There are many other perspectives and experiences that have not been touched upon here. The Almeda fire was a cataclysmic event for Talent. Its shockwaves still reverberate, and its blessings are still with us too, including the love and connection we all felt as we rebuilt, helped fire victims, and cultivated relationships with the neighbors, whom we came to rely on during the crisis. We are Talent Stronger as we move forward with protective measures and more inclusion in our community.
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