Letter: Fires, Phone Calls, and Disappointment

There was a fire by the train trestle and the levy, whether by accident or on purpose. A neighbor alerted me, and I literally ran to see the fire while she called 911. Luckily, it was small and low – a 15×15 foot ring, and there was no wind.

We knocked on doors and grabbed fire extinguishers and people. One friend brought experts with shovels and knowledge. The fire extinguishers are useless for this type of fire. Who knew?

Finally, the Oakridge Fire Department was reached, after being rerouted by dispatch in Eugene. A panicky neighbor repeating a story from one department to the next can be lethal.

Within an hour the fire was extinguished. We are exhausted.

We need a local 911 dispatcher 24/7. If our cop shop needs to hire additional help, we need to budget it.

Our town is isolated, so if a fire is larger than Oakridge can handle, we need resources quickly dispatched to the proper place. The dispatcher in Eugene needs help understanding where the train trestle is wasting more time.

Our Dry Hot Summers
In June, I repeatedly dialed our ‘non-emergency police desk’ because I was informed that was the proper procedure to complain about an overgrown field. The dry grass four feet tall measured it. I was terrified that a careless firework would burn down our town.

It is time to retire fireworks and teach our high school kids a new skill by creating drone shows since they are amazing.

I informed our police station had to send a letter to the owner. After 30 days, it was supposed to be cut. Nothing. I made calls once or twice a week and was rerouted to Eugene, but they had no authority to help.

When I finally reached our cop shop, they told me they needed to file a citation before the city could do anything. Nothing was done in July, August, and September. Last week, one-third of the field was mowed, not the whole field, so I suspect a neighbor cut it out of kindness.

Accountability
Our town is constantly experiencing a budget crisis, and it is full of vacant property, abandoned houses, and dead trees. If the city cited each of these problems and either fined the owner or took care of the problem properties, we would solve several problems.

It has been over a month since someone started a fire behind the Nazarene Church, whether by accident or on purpose; I do not know. That was scary. What is more frightening is the dead stand of trees in that lot that should be removed.

We have been very fortunate that our winds have been calmer this summer otherwise, a small flame like today can destroy Oakridge in hours.

Now that more people are aware, we need to let our city government to address these issues and if it means we need a town meeting then let’s meet.

Sincerely,

Screeching Violet