SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2021
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3B
REBUILDING AFTER WILDFIRE
‘IT’S SO OVERWHELMING’
Couple gets jump-start
on rebuilding Santiam
Canyon home
weeks, but it may take 6-8 weeks from
the time of permit application to installa-
tion.
“The county has three on-site waste-
water specialists working in the canyon,
as well as staff in our office that support
the fieldwork,” Brandon Reich, Marion
County Building and Planning Division
Manager, said in an email.
He said property owners can apply for
building and septic permits at the same
time, and the county will work on both at
the same time. As soon as the septic per-
mit is issued, the building permit can be
issued in many circumstances.
The Kirks hired someone to inspect
their well, too, and it was recommended
they replace it due to age and deterio-
ration, which they did.
Capi Lynn
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Editor’s note: This is part of an occa-
sional series on life after the Santiam
Canyon wildfires.
Brandon and Rechelle Kirk own river-
side property in the Santiam Canyon and
live in an idyllic neighborhood of about
30 residences, once surrounded by sce-
nic wilderness and emerald green for-
ests.
Most of their neighbors are retirees
who nicknamed them “The kids.”
They’re in their 30s, with two dogs
and two cats, but they fit right in after
buying their first house in 2017. They met
their neighbors’ children and grandchil-
dren. They attended Fourth of July bar-
becues and participated in Christmas
gift exchanges.
Not this Christmas, though.
Most of the homes in their neighbor-
hood were destroyed by the Beachie
Creek Fire, including the Kirks’ 900-
square-foot cabin nestled on top of a riv-
erbank along the Little North Santiam
River.
The Kirks called it a cabin, but it was
their primary residence. They also had a
large shop that served as headquarters
for Brandon’s safety consulting busi-
ness.
The couple has the means and moti-
vation to rebuild, but is disheartened to
know some of their neighbors ultimately
won’t. They’ve heard nearly half are
planning to sell and move on, and not
just because of the bureaucratic hurdles
in their way.
“I think it’s more that people are still
really grieving and sad, and they don’t
know what to do,” Brandon said. “It’s still
pretty fresh for a lot of people. They don’t
even want to face it yet, and I get that.”
Four months have passed since the
Labor Day fire wiped 700 homes from
the canyon landscape, and the task of re-
building is daunting, even for the Kirks.
Brandon and Rechelle are further
along than most, but they took a break
over the holidays from the cleanup and
the planning. They had to.
“Man, it’s so overwhelming and ex-
hausting,” Brandon said.
Starting to rebuild, with some help
Brandon and Rechelle are fortunate
they have a place nearby to stay and that
their insurance company has been quick
to respond and fair with coverage.
They’re renting a cabin that was of-
fered to them by a member of their
church and one of Brandon’s former co-
workers. It’s provided them and their
pets much-needed stability, especially
for Kora, their 4-year-old German shep-
herd.
Kora was so distressed by the fire and
being displaced that their veterinarian
prescribed “puppy Prozac.” She’s doing
much better now and no longer needs the
anxiety medication.
Both dogs — Alli also is a German
shepherd, rescued by the Kirks after be-
ing abandoned last February at North
Fork Park — love going to the property
while Brandon and Rechelle work at the
site. It’s still home to them, and they of-
ten whimper when they have to leave.
The feline members of the family, Lit-
tlefoot and Jax, have been less impacted
by the upheaval.
The stress on Brandon and Rechelle
has been lessened by having homeown-
er’s insurance with USAA, which serves
U.S. military members and their
spouses. Brandon was an EMT in the
U.S. Coast Guard Reserve from 2001 to
2005, stationed at Tillamook, where
they’re both from.
USAA called him three days after the
fire and assured him he was covered, de-
positing some money in the Kirks’ ac-
count within hours. About a week later,
the company wrote the couple a big
check.
Brandon gets emotional talking about
how blown away he’s been by the com-
pany’s compassion, expediency and
fairness, especially when he considers
he has neighbors whose insurance
claims have been denied.
“All of my neighbors are just getting
the run-around, and we’re pretty much
done,” he said. “It’s been a huge thing not
weighing on my shoulders.”
Brandon has his own consulting busi-
ness, Saws & Sprocket Safety. He does
hazard assessment and mitigation plans
for small to medium business owners
who are implementing safety programs
for their employees.
He lost an estimated $80,000 in safe-
ty equipment in the fire and is seeking
help from the Small Business Admini-
stration, through which he had business
insurance.
Rechelle works as an administrative
assistant for Oregon State Police. The
OSP family has been a great support to
her. Employees donated sick and vaca-
tion time, and an OSP sergeant started
an online fundraising account with a
‘We’ve been through fire and rain’
Brandon Kirk looks across the property where his home once stood near Lyons.
The cabin sat along the Little North Santiam River and burned down in the
Beachie Creek Fire. BRIAN HAYES/STATESMAN JOURNAL
Brandon and Rechelle Kirk lost their Santiam Canyon home during the Beachie
Creek Fire. SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL
goal of $5,000.
‘What are the chances’
The Kirks knew the potential fire dan-
ger when they bought the property from
a family friend, but the allure of a little
slice of heaven outweighed any possible
danger.
Their neighborhood is surrounded by
recreational destinations at every turn,
less than two miles past Salmon Falls
County Park and just south of the west-
ern edge of Opal Creek Wilderness.
But being remote does have tradeoffs.
They never had cell service. Brandon
would drive up the logging road behind
their property and conduct business on
his cell and laptop at 3,000 feet. They
used satellite service for internet and TV.
Everyone in the neighborhood was giddy
last summer to learn they were finally
getting DSL installed.
And then came the fires.
“Being a safety consultant, I knew the
only thing we had to worry about was
wildfire, because we’re in a box canyon
with one exit,” Brandon said. “But I
thought, ‘What are the chances of that
happening in Oregon?’ “
No one predicted the firestorm that
erupted on Labor Day, fueled by historic
winds that were especially brutal along
North Fork Road SE.
“Everyone who lives up here knows
Elkhorn becomes a funnel for wind once
it gets going,” Brandon said.
Rechelle and the cats evacuated in the
afternoon to a friend’s at the base of the
mountain on Highway 22, but not before
helping some of their elderly neighbors
pack up what they could. She packed
more for them than herself.
“I literally had to drag her from our
neighbors and say, ‘Hey, honey, we need
to pack your own stuff,’ “ her husband
said.
She eventually packed what was ba-
sically an overnight bag containing a few
days worth of clothing, some jewelry and
a Bible from college. She left wearing
flip-flops and it wasn’t until later that she
realized she hadn’t packed any shoes.
“We weren’t expecting to be gone very
long,” Rechelle said. “We thought it was
just temporary. They want us to get away
so they can get control of the fire, and
then we’ll be back in a few days.”
Brandon stayed behind with the dogs
to tend to the property, trying to hose
things down until the power went out at
about 7 p.m. He loaded the dogs and
headed down the mountain before being
stopped in his tracks near the Elkhorn
fire station, where there were several
downed trees.
“I had three chainsaws,” he said, “but I
can’t cut trees with fire chasing me.”
The flames were intense, and more
trees were sure to fall. He turned around
and left the back way. If he hadn’t been
familiar with the old logging service road
that cuts behind the woods and exits by
the Elkhorn Valley Golf Course, he would
have been trapped.
Brandon joined Rechelle at their evac-
uation site at about 9:30 p.m., but they
didn’t get much sleep. They were evacu-
ated again at 1 a.m. because the fire was
encroaching their friend’s house.
They wound up seeking shelter in Till-
amook, where they grew up and Re-
chelle’s family still lives.
New trees, and a new well
The Kirks feel fortunate their property
in the Elkhorn area was among the first
wave for hazmat cleanup. The Environ-
mental Protection Agency made sites on
the North Santiam and Little North San-
tiam rivers, where hazardous waste
could spill into waterways, a priority.
Brandon had already done some work
on his own. A week after the fire, he laid
hydroseed to help mitigate the erosion
and runoff.
He rented a tractor, and it didn’t take
long for them to fill two 40-yard contain-
ers with debris. They had heaping piles
of rusted metal from their shop. They cut
down blackened trees that couldn’t be
saved and split them for firewood.
They planted 10 cypress trees on the
riverbank side of their property and put
battery Christmas lights on some to
brighten the charred landscape. They’re
also getting snowberry and tall Oregon
grape plants in February from the North
Santiam Watershed Council in Stayton.
The watershed has more than 20,000
small, native bare-root trees and shrubs
available for landowners impacted by
the Beachie Creek or Lionshead fires.
The plants were ordered through the
Bonneville Environmental Foundation
and will be funded by an Arbor Day
Foundation grant. Trees and shrubs are
available on a first-come, first-served
basis.
The Kirks still need to remove soil
from the property, which will be dis-
posed of at Coffin Butte Landfill. Coffin
Butte requires fire debris, including soil,
to be accompanied by documentation
certifying it does not contain asbestos.
The Kirks have had their property sur-
veyed for asbestos, and none has been
found.
Unlike other neighbors, their septic
system and well survived the wildfires.
They paid for someone to inspect and
pump their septic system and are await-
ing Marion County’s approval. They’ve
been told by the county there’s a 6-8
week backlog on final septic inspections,
and a primary resident building permit
can’t be issued prior to septic approval by
the county.
Marion County building officials told
the Statesman Journal its review on
most septic permits takes less than two
“The kids” are further along in the re-
building process than many wildfire vic-
tims. They know of people who still need
help with cleanup and don’t know where
to start.
“People need advocates to help them
stand up for themselves and walk them
through the processes,” Brandon said.
They’re offering help when they can,
hooking people up with resources and
vendors and guiding them through piles
of paperwork.
“Whoever we can help or inspire, or
whoever can help us, we’re a communi-
ty,” Brandon said. “This is where we all
need to pull together. We learned that
during the ‘96 floods.”
They were in middle school at the
time, and their hometown was especially
hit hard. Rechelle’s family lost personal
property in outbuildings, and floodwa-
ters reached the doorstep of her child-
hood home before receding.
“We’ve been through fire and rain,”
Brandon said, quoting the James Taylor
song. “Honestly, after the first few days,
that song was on repeat for me because it
just rung so true, and it was such a hope-
ful and inspiring song for us to hear.”
On the flip side, it’s been demoralizing
in the weeks and months since the fire to
hear about incidents of theft in their
neighborhood.
Neighbors have had chainsaws,
wheelbarrows and other cleanup tools
stolen from their property. Loggers have
had batteries stolen from their heavy
equipment. In one case, someone dug
through a neighbor’s ashes and found a
safe, dragged it into the woods, and beat
it open with a sledgehammer. Luckily,
the safe was empty.
Marion County Sheriff ’s Office rec-
ords show five thefts and one burglary
reported in the five-mile area around the
Elkhorn community from Sept. 7
through Jan. 17. During that same period
the year before, one theft and one bur-
glary was reported.
“Something we’ve continued to try
and encourage residents in the area to do
is report thefts or issues to the Sheriff ’s
Office as they occur,” Sgt. Jeremy Land-
ers wrote in an email to the Statesman
Journal. “Since the fires, we’ve con-
tinued to add additional patrols to the
impacted areas to increase visible pres-
ence to help deter some of these very is-
sues.”
The Kirks installed cameras on their
property and just bought an RV for the
site — they’ll need a permit for that, too
— which they hope helps deter would-be
thieves. Having a place to stay on-site
will be convenient when they begin con-
struction.
They hope that’s soon, but it’s out of
their control.
The earliest they expect to get tem-
porary power to the site is by the end of
February. All they have now is a genera-
tor. Consumers Power Inc, an electric co-
op, has told them it will install under-
ground lines for the new system.
The Kirks will need two building per-
mits, one for the house and one for the
shop. Marion County is waiving building
permit fees for approximately 470 pri-
mary homes that were destroyed or
damaged in the Beachie Creek and Lion-
shead wildfires.
The county recommended they get a
permit to build the shop first since it
doesn’t require septic approval.
They’d like to finish the shop before
spring, but winter weather could slow
everything. They’ve only had a couple of
dustings of snow so far, but they know
what could happen. Last February, they
had 21 inches at their place.
The goal is to complete construction
of their house by next Christmas. They
plan to rebuild on the same footprint,
perhaps adding a second story.
They’ll do a lot of the work themselves
and rely on some connections they have
in the construction field. Rechelle’s
brother is a contractor in Tillamook, and
a retired OSP trooper who has a contrac-
tor business has offered to help.
“We have awesome people who’ve al-
ready reached out,” Brandon said. “It’ll
be a huge blessing to know you can trust
a contractor.”
Capi Lynn is the Statesman Journal’s
news columnist. Her column taps into
the heart of this community — its people,
history and issues. Contact her at
clynn@StatesmanJournal.com or 503-
399-6710, or follow her on Twitter @Cap-
iLynn and Facebook @CapiLynnSJ.