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A4 THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2018 OPINION editor@dailyastorian.com KARI BORGEN Publisher JIM VAN NOSTRAND Editor Founded in 1873 JEREMY FELDMAN Circulation Manager DEBRA BLOOM Business Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN Production Manager CARL EARL Systems Manager SOUTHERN EXPOSURE ‘Everything just gone’ T he Camp Fire started Nov. 8, in Butte County near the northern California city of Paradise. Before its containment on Nov. 25, the confl a- gration had burned more than 153,000 acres, destroyed almost 14,000 resi- dences and 528 commercial buildings, and damaged thousands more. County strike teams from around Oregon headed south as part of the emergency management assistance com- pact, a national state-to-state mutual aid system. The Clatsop County strike team, led by Chief Jeff Golightly of Lewis and Clark, included 19 vol- unteers from Gearhart, Seaside, Olney Wal- luski, Knappa and Lewis and Clark. Two Clatsop County engines joined the Columbia County Strike Team. R.J. Seaside Division MARX Chief David Rankin’s fi rst impression was of “the wide scale of destruction,” he said. “The amount of buildings, trees, vehicles — everything just gone. You thought: ‘Wow, this could have been anybody you know trying to get out of this inferno.’” THE CAMP FIRE Butte County’s Camp Fire was the most destructive and deadly in California’s history. By the fi re’s containment on Nov. 25, Cal Fire reported 85 civilian fatalities and three fi refi ghter injuries. The cause remains under investigation. A total of 1,065 fi re personnel responded. On Nov. 29, just under 200 people were still declared missing, and search crews are combing the area looking for remains, slowing the ability of cleaning crews to enter. Heavy rains fl ooded roadways, stranded vehicles and creat- ed the need for further evacuations. Clatsop County’s strike team included: Gearhart: Jordan Chandler, James Hutchinson, Tanner Rich, Sean Kirby, Kayla Miller, Angels Vargas and Lindsey Wolfe. Knappa: Amy Lenz, Scott Whelden Lewis and Clark: Jeff Golightly, Flint Helisgo, Brett Saulsbury Olney Walluski: Troy Foster, Aaron Smith, Ron Tyson Seaside: Katie Bulletset, Matt Keefer, David Rankin and Jenson Segui. ‘All you saw was black’ Rankin’s assignment was outside of Paradise, along the road to Concow, a small community of 700 in the Sierra Foothills. Patrols looked for areas that might reignite and checked up on homes that hadn’t burned or suffered damage. “Later in the week we transitioned to structure assessment, going into areas that had been burned and looked for what was necessary to clean up or put out hot spots,” Rankin said. “We sup- ported big burn-out operations to help strengthen up the fi re line.” Air quality was terrible, Rankin said, smoky throughout the whole valley. “The only way to get around it was to go onto the mountaintops.” Firefi ghters Aaron Smith, 26, and Troy Foster, 21, both of the Olney Wal- luski Fire and Rescue District, were among the department’s younger mem- bers to head out. Smith traveled with the Clatsop County team, while Foster and his engine were detailed to the Columbia County team. Smith, an eight-year volunteer, has fought wildfi res within the state, but wanted to get experience on a bigger fi re, including technical experience on bulldozers and hand crews. He built hand lines, laid hose and extinguished hot spots within 100 feet of the road or any area that was unburnt. “The second to last day there, we were patrolling a community on Con- cow Road,” Smith said. “We reached the end of the road as far we could go, and it was basically bare land. All you saw was black. There were no trees standing, no grass. Most of the houses we came on were completely gone.” Foster has two years experience in Warrenton and about eight months with the Olney Walluski department, but this was his fi rst major confl agration. “I like fi refi ghting and I just wanted to help people,” he said. He worked with crews in the town of Paradise, a community of 27,000, where the fi re destroyed thousands of homes and killed dozens of people. They worked 24-hour shifts, constructing direct lines and holding control lines to mitigate the threat of fi re escaping. “Our job was to protect structures, but by the time we got there, there weren’t many structures left in Paradise,” Fos- ter said. Air quality was “poor when we got there, and it was poor when we left,” he added. Gearhart fi refi ghters The Gearhart Volunteer Fire Department sent seven fi refi ghters to California. James Hutchinson, an intern and stu- dent, along with Jordan Chandler, who works with the Oregon Department of Forestry, were joined by Tanner Rich, Sean Kirby, Angels Vargas, Kayla Miller and Lindsey Wolfe. When the state fi re marshal came through, it “started the motion of things,” Hutchinson said. Firefi ghters were performing a fi re prevention demonstration at Gearhart Elementary School when Chief Bill Eddy said two Gearhart engines were requested. Volunteers responded within the hour, meeting at the staging area in Seaside. Gratitude Seaside Fire Jenson Segui of Seaside patrols the perimeter of a large back burn used to strengthen the fi re line. Firefi ghters stayed at the Butte County Fairgrounds in Chico, alongside newly displaced residents who had set up “mini-refugee camps,” Rankin said. Tents and cars and tarps looked “like Third World countries popping up in the middle of town.” Nights were extremely cold, Miller said, with temperatures dipping to 22 degrees. Firefi ghters slept in tents or yurts at the fairgrounds, or when on the fi re sites — about 35 or 40 miles away — tak- ing breaks in the engine, back seat or the stairwell of the engine to get “power naps to keep you going,” Rich said. Foster said he and his team received a visit from California’s governor-elect Gavin Newsom. Kindergartners presented Oregon fi refi ghters with a thank-you card. “The people in Chico were amaz- ing,” Foster said. “There were signs everywhere. They were amazingly thankful.” Lessons learned Seaside Fire and Rescue Members of the Clatsop County strike team. Seaside Fire Seaside Fire Brent Saulsbury (Lewis and Clark) and Scott Wheldon take the time to rehab their chainsaws during a break. Lindsey Wolfe and James Hutchinson (Gearhart) on a dozer line keeping an eye on any fl are-ups. Like fi refi ghters from neighboring communities, they were divided into the Columbia County and Clatsop County strike teams. Chandler described the fi re scene in Paradise as “massive devastation — that’s all it was. That town will never be the same.” In an observation post, they could watch as fl ames threatened the city of Oroville, a nearby city of 16,000. Hutchinson and Wolfe worked along- side bulldozers before heading into neighborhoods in Paradise, where 90 percent of the structures were burned down. Chandler said his objective was to make sure that any residents left were evacuated, and to “do anything we could to save structures.” With live wires in the roadways, it was “like Russian roulette,” Rich said. “It was a ghost town when we rolled in.” “I think that was the worst fi re I’ve ever been on,” he added. “This fi re wiped out an entire town. It was like the open- ing scene from ‘Terminator,’ where they pan through and there was nothing left.” Vargas said “Lines of cars burnt in the middle of the road. Roofs were collapsed on houses. Everything was burnt.” Firefi ghters participated in structure preparedness, yard work removing pine needles and other debris, and preserving remaining structures. “I don’t think any training prepares you for this,” Vargas said. “It’s not what you’re trained to see.” Firefi ghters recounted fi refi ghting lessons learned. “Keep your head on a swivel,” Smith said. “Anything can happen, and what can happen, will happen.” Rich said he is a fi rm believer in Murphy’s Law. “Anything can go wrong — even walking around struc- tures, you can slip and fall. I never get the sense this is safe. Vargas said “one of the things I got taught was never going thinking every- thing is OK. Weather can change within seconds, and you don’t know when that’s going to happen. You have to be on your guard constantly.” The Camp Fire reminded Rankin to always anticipate what can happen when incidents get compounded. “The lessons don’t just necessarily pertain to wildfi res,” Rankin said. “If you had a gas line explosion at a house, what if that was a gas line explosion at a hotel? If you have a little wildfi re, what if you have a fast moving wildfi re mov- ing through town? Those are the kind of lessons I took. Don’t get complacent with your regular emergencies, but con- template what happens if they get big- ger, past what you’re normally used to.” Meanwhile, the 10 days away and long shifts gave way to a Thanksgiving weekend with families, and on Nov. 25, news that the Camp Fire had been fully contained. “A lot of us have seen fatalities and we’ve seen the devastation before,” Chandler said. “But none of us have seen what we saw down in Paradise. It’s on a much larger scale than anything we’ve dealt with here.” Rich’s family is getting accustomed to seeing him leave town every fi re sea- son — he volunteered at California’s Santa Rosa and Thomas fi res last year, he said. “Going to wildfi res has become the new norm,” he said. “My brother’s like: ‘Man, you’re gone again.’” R.J. Marx covers South County for The Daily Astorian and is editor of the Seaside Signal and Cannon Beach Gazette.
