Myke G's Fire Story

 My Fire Story 

by Myke G

    On September 8, 2020 I had a medical appointment at 10:30 in the morning at La Clinica in Phoenix. I left my home at Holiday Gardens in Talent at 10:00am. When I got to the clinic, the first thing that was alarming was that the two sets of sliding doors leading into the lobby were opening and closing, not rapidly but nevertheless, repeatedly on their own. I was there for lab work, which happened, and to have a chat with the nurse practitioner, which didn’t happen because the computers were down. I was sent on my way, saying they would call me. No one said anything about a fire although everybody seemed rather jumpy, but I still didn’t think too much about it.  

    My plan was to get groceries at Winco and go back home so I headed out towards Medford. While I was shopping, the store started shutting down the checkout lanes. I asked one of the employees and he told me they were probably going to close down the store because there was a fire burning on the Bear Creek greenway and it was coming our way. There was never any announcement over the intercom, at least while I was there. I hurriedly went around and put back frozen goods and quickly checked out. Thinking ahead, I kept a few things to eat, should I need them, bananas and turkey lunch meat, and headed out to my car to think. What was I going to do? What did I need to do? 

    The first thing on my mind was I had to call my close friend and neighbor, Patti. We had previously discussed, and had an agreement, that I would help her evacuate should we ever need to do that because she did not have a car. She was of course scared, and pleaded with me to come back and get her, a plan that I felt was fraught with danger. Talent Avenue going past our homes was by this time packed with traffic making an escape. I asked her to please go up to the office and let them know that she was still there. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life to say I couldn’t come get her. As soon as we hung up, I called 911 and told them that there were several people still at the Holiday Gardens location, in their apartments. I heard later that that call resulted in them sending officers around to knock on the doors. Patti meanwhile rounded up my cat and put her in the carrier I had there for her, and then went up to the office and found a ride out of danger, thank goodness.

    The next thing I quickly realized was that I needed to go buy a charge cord to keep my phone going in the car, something I had always meant to buy and never did. I found my way to a very busy Freddie Meyers, especially the gas station, in a panic and found those items. 

    The other thing I was concerned about was, I did not have any of my diabetic medications with me. It was not my habit to carry them around when I went shopping. They were home in my refrigerator. Patti said she would grab a few and take them with her, which she did, because we had agreed to try to meet up at the Fred Meyers parking lot, if at all possible. That never happened because the people that she was being rescued by were on their way to Williams, and it was too confusing in the madness of evacuation to make that long detour. The rest of Patti’s story is told in the documentation of the fire under her name. She and Sassy, the cat, spent some quality time together in Williams.

    When I was in Fred Meyers, I asked at the pharmacy what one did when one needed emergency insulin. They had no answer and looked at me blankly. I think everybody was in a state of panic at the moment, worried about their own safety as they should.

    I called everybody, my sisters, my kids, the people at the museum, letting them all know that I was okay and out of danger, something I was actually not quite sure of yet, how far was the fire going to reach? Was my home still standing or had it burned down? Where would I sleep that night? I drove around a lot, all over, just continually wondering, where can I get insulin? Where should I go if Medford starts burning?

    I already knew that if I needed to, I could sleep in my car. Being a bit of an explorer/traveler in the past, it wouldn’t be the first time. Around dusk and still in search of insulin, I drove into the emergency area at Asante Hospital. There was nobody there, no one. I never figured that out. I parked in the hospital parking lot facing south, watched the fire progress and ate my simple supper of banana and turkey. Then I decided to see how far south I could go on 99. I was turned back at Garfield, but that did answer one question, it didn’t look like the fire was going to be advancing into Medford.

    Since the south facing parking lot was way too bright, I went up to the Black Oak parking lot, it was empty and much darker. I crawled in the back seat, locked the doors, covered up with a blanket I thankfully had there, and promptly went to sleep. I was exhausted.

    The next morning, I called 911 again about my insulin problem. I had heard from somebody already that our dwellings at Holiday Gardens were still standing so I knew I could go there and get my medications if I could get in through the police barricades. When I had called 911 the day before, I never got anybody who could help me figure out my problem. I think they were overwhelmed by calls of help and had younger people answering the phones. But that day when I called, I got a very efficient woman who immediately understood what I needed and gave me a password to get into Talent through the police barrier. Amusingly, it was “Captain White House.” I drove directly there and got my medications and packed a bag of clothes and toiletries.

     I had also gotten a welcome phone call from my museum friend and same-named sister-in-history, Myke R, inviting me to come and stay with her at her house in Ashland. Hallelujah, things were coming together. Thank you again my friend, I can’t say that enough. I stayed with Myke for 4 restful days. We residents at Holiday Gardens were allowed back in the apartments 5 days after the fire. There was no running water for a while, and we were told we shouldn’t drink it for quite a while after it came back on, but the buildings were undamaged, if a bit smoky smelling. However, just across from us on Talent Avenue, the neighborhoods were burned to the ground. You could see the traffic running on Hwy. 99 through the burned tree trunks. So sad.