Interview with Eli Champaign, a Firefighter in Medford Who Fought the Almeda Fire
by Lucas, Griffen, Jordan, and other students
Interview date: 11/25/2020 8:30 AM
Recorded by: Max Nicholas/Transcript: 00 - 15:00 minutes
Note: Eli Champaign is a Medford firefighter who worked on the Alameda in talent OR fire. This interview was conducted by School of Discovery and Innovation students and staff at Talent Middle School. The interview was held and recorded by Google Meets.
Lucas: What is back draft, and did you see it in the fire?
Eli: It is a deadly condition you have to pay close attention to. Pressure builds in a building and air is suddenly introduced and explodes.
Lucas: How many straight hours did you have to work?
Eli: I got called in around 10:30. He had to work around 45 to 46 hours. After around 30 hours
we got a break.
Violet: Did you get to save any pets from the Alameda fire?
Eli: I saw a lot of pets flee the area. But we always save people first. And we try and save
property second. I saw a lot of pets rescued after the fire. There was a lot of pets that were rescued. Saving pets was not our initial concern.
Reshel: What were you feeling the day of the fire?
Eli: I woke up that morning, randomly on the morning of the 8th, around 1 am. I smelled smoke. And the instinct I have from my job, I thought maybe I left the oven on. I remember
going downstairs and opening the door to my back patio. It was like it was dense fog because the
smoke had blown in from fires we had from northern California. The wind was very, very strong
already at 1:30 in the morning, and usually winds die down at night and night is usually when we
fight fire. There was a lot of different emotions going on, but we don’t really express them because we are focused on our task. After the fire is when everything hits you.
Elijah: How often do you fight fires?
Eli: It depends. Each fire department is a little different. It is based around population, and I live
in Medford which is the biggest city we have in rogue valley. So, we stay a lot more business than other places like Phoenix, Talent, or Ashland. I would say on average I would go to about two or three fires a month. That´s just on average. Maybe I will have only one fire a month, or I could have five fires. It all depends on what happens.
Genesis: Do you get fire calls a lot?
Eli: Yeah, we do. With this fire was unlike any fire we have fought before. There were so many
buildings on fire it was very overwhelming we ran out of water as well. Looking back at it you think you didn’t do enough. And you try and realize that there was no way we could put out all the fires.
Derek: What made you want to be a firefighter?
Eli: Being a firefighter, I am also a paramedic, so the firefighter kind of just fell into place because I have always had a drive to be in the medical field. I worked with sports injuries at first, then I quickly found out being a paramedic and doing firefighting was a good combination and a passion of mine. I did not grow up wanting to be a firefighter, it just fell into place.
Griffen: What was the worst thing you saw during the fire?
Eli: The toughest thing to see that day was seeing house after house burn and just kind of
knowing we could not do anything about it
