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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 2020)
SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 | 3B The sign for Ben and Kay Dorris Park was toppled by the Holiday Farm Fire and the park sustained substantial damage near Vida on Thursday. ANDY NELSON, THE REGISTER-GUARD Busted: Officials douse wildfire arson rumors Ali Swenson Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — Rag- ing wildfires in the Pacific Northwest have fueled a barrage of false informa- tion this week as unsub- stantiated social media posts blamed coordinat- ed groups of arsonists from both the far left and far right for setting the blazes. Officials turned to Facebook on Wednesday and Thursday to squash competing narratives — some posts blamed far- left antifa activists and others said the far-right group the Proud Boys were responsible for fires that have scorched wide swaths of Oregon and Washington state. "Remember when we said to follow official sources only," the Doug- las County Sheriff 's Of- fice in Oregon posted. "Remember when we said rumors make this al- ready difficult incident even harder? Rumors spread just like wildfire and now our 9-1-1 dis- patchers and profession- Damage to power lines from the Santiam Fire on Wednesday, Sept. 9 in Mill City, Ore. ABIGAIL DOLLINS / STATESMAN JOURNAL al staff are being overrun with requests for infor- mation and inquiries on an UNTRUE rumor that 6 Antifa members have been arrested for setting fires in DOUGLAS COUN- TY, OREGON." As fires heavily dam- aged the small Oregon towns of Phoenix and Talent, the Medford Po- lice Department posted on Facebook that officers had not arrested anyone affiliated with the Proud Boys or antifa, which is short for anti-fascists, a range of far-left militant groups that oppose white supremacists. Police also debunked a fake graphic spreading online that used the de- partment's logo and a photo from an unrelated 2018 arrest to falsely claim five Proud Boys had been arrested for arson. And Buzzfeed dis- pelled a Clackamas County woman's social media post that her hus- band saw two people try- ing to ignite a hay bale in a field near their house while evacuations were underway. A Portland videographer and his girl- friend, who grew up in Molalla, were getting im- ages of the wildfire. It's not yet clear how some of the fires began, but officials said high winds and dry conditions made them worse in a re- gion whose cool, wet cli- mate has historically pro- tected it from intense fire activity. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said the state could see the greatest loss of life and property from wildfires in its histo- ry. Far-left and far-right groups have been clash- ing during protests in the Northwest, particularly in Portland, Oregon, where a caravan of Presi- dent Donald Trump's supporters drove pickup trucks through the liberal city last month. An antifa supporter shot and killed a member of a right-wing group and was fatally shot by Washington state authorities a week later. False social media posts shared A social media post shared widely on Thurs- day featured a picture of a woman along with claims that she tried to start a fire near a high school in Springfield, Oregon. Springfield police told The Associated Press that they spoke to the woman Wednesday and that wasn't true. Another post claimed a landowner called police after arsonists threw Mo- lotov cocktails on his land in Clackamas County and they got into a shootout. The Clackamas County Sheriff 's Office told the AP that no such reports existed. Thousands of Twitter and Facebook users shared posts trying to link the fires to antifa ac- tivists, including from Paul Romero, a former Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Oregon. Reached by phone, Ro- mero blamed the surge in fires statewide on a coor- dinated "army of arson- ists" but offered no evi- dence to support that claim. Police are investigat- ing a fire that originated in Ashland, Oregon, as a potential arson after find- ing human remains, Jack- son County Sheriff Na- than Sickler told report- ers Wednesday. However, Ashland Deputy Police Chief Art LeCours confirmed to the AP that the case has "no connection whatsoever to antifa." The Jackson County Sheriff 's Office has launched an investiga- tion into the fires, but no arrests have been made and there is no evidence at this point of a coordi- nated effort, spokesman Mike Moran said. "These investigations take time," he said. "They're intense. They're fast-moving. And so peo- ple ought to consider: 'Does this even make sense?' They should question anything they see in a social media set- ting." White House approves Oregon’s emergency declaration Bill Poehler Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK For the past week, Marion County has fund- ed the disaster relief of wildfire evacuees at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem out of pocket. The county has been coordinating relief efforts with organizations like the American Red Cross and the United Way, but it has spent its own money to fund much of the oper- ations. And with a budget al- ready stressed by the CO- VID-19 pandemic, the county has been burning through its budget trying to help those displaced by the most significant nat- ural disaster to hit the county in decades. The county will now get help. The White House on Friday approved Oregon’s request for an emergency declaration in response to the state’s wildfires, al- lowing counties like Mar- ion County to receive re- imbursement from FEMA for the money it is spend- ing. “Right now, we’ve been spending thou- sands and thousands of dollars just keeping this place running,” Marion County Commissioner Colm Willis said. “We have 220 people in our hotel in Woodburn right now. “It costs us a quarter million to run. We just need the federal help to keep supporting this. We’re looking at in the not too near future, if we don’t get federal support, we’re going to run out of money.” Nearly 900,000 acres in Oregon have burned from over 35 wildfires in the state and tens of thousands of people have been displaced due to the wildfires. Gov. Kate Brown re- quested the emergency declaration Wednesday and the state’s senators and representatives pressed the White House in the days that followed for him to approve the aid. Brown confirmed that she spoke with President Donald Trump Thursday and informed him the sit- uation was “extremely dire.” “He promised us all of his support, and we are working to make sure that all the resources and people power that we need is provided,” Brown said. Approval of the FEMA funds means that direct federal assistance will be available at 75% for fund- ing in Oregon counties in- cluding Marion and Clackamas impacted by wildfires. “This isn’t our first ro- deo, unfortunately, with disasters,” U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader said. “The name of the game is make sure that you account for ab- solutely everything so that we can maximize the aid we can get you so you can truly get reimbursed for all of the up-front costs. “That will help us help them hopefully in short order.” With conditions in im- pacted Santiam Canyon communities like Gates and Mill City still too vol- atile to visit, Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Mer- kley and Rep. Schrader toured the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem Fri- day along with a host of local leaders. They saw some of the hundreds of people and animals staying at the fairgrounds because they can’t return to their homes. “I think the president’s emergency step is a good start,” Wyden said. “It makes it clear that people are going to get individual assistance associated with them being safe. “But there’s a long, long way to go, and that’s what I’m involved in. My last stop was to deter- mine that the senior citi- zens are going to be safe. So many families have said, what’s going to hap- pen to grandma? I was able to make sure that the Red Cross said they can stay here until they go home.” There are more than 1,000 animals housed at the State Fairgrounds from nearly 400 horses to cats and dogs to 700-lb. pigs that have tried to es- cape. Schrader, a former vet- erinarian, was among those who toured the livestock being housed at the fairgrounds. He said he was work- ing in his equine practice during the Mount St. Hel- ens eruption in 1980 and had seen the challenges animals can face during such natural disasters. He said rebuilding im- pacted communities like Detroit, Lyons and Idan- ha will be a priority. “The senators think there will be no trouble, but you want to make sure you really account for all the costs, the actu- al losses you have then we can aggregate them properly,” Schrader said. “Between insurance companies, FEMA, frank- ly donations to the citi- zens themselves and sweat labor, hopefully we can rebuild these com- munities.” FEMA announced Dolph Diemont will be the coordinating officer for federal response opera- tions for Oregon’s wild- fires Bill Poehler covers Marion County for the Statesman Journal. Con- tact him at bpoehler@ statesmanjournal.com or Twitter.com/bpoehler Support local journal- ism by subscribing to the Statesman Journal. 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