By DOUG BATES/Editor/The Herald — Besides triple-digit temperatures, Wednesday also brought an influx of fresh firefighting resources to Oakridge-Westfir after Gov. Kate Brown declared the communities’ nearby wildfires to be a “conflagration.”
Additional firefighters, water-pumping trucks and other resources began pouring into Oakridge within hours of Brown invoking the Emergency Invocation Act, opening the way for the state to send resources to aid the federal response to the Middle Fork Complex of wildfires. The most threatening among them is the 800-acre Kwis Fire, reported having moved within three miles of Oakridge on Wednesday.
Almost the entire community of roughly 5,000 people was under Level 1 “BE READY” or Level 2 “BE SET” evacuation notice Wednesday. Level 3, yet to be declared, is “GO NOW.”
In preparation for that possibility, the Red Cross opened an emergency shelter for evacuees Tuesday at Pleasant Hill High School. On Wednesday, an evacuation shelter for livestock was opened at the Lane County Fairgrounds in Eugene, and a shelter for evacuated pets was opened at Greenhill Humane Society in Eugene.
Headed by the U.S. Forest Service, the interagency team responding to the Middle Fork fires said the best way for residents to keep abreast of the emergency is by going online to the response team’s Facebook page. On Wednesday, its morning update included the following:
“Task forces from Linn County, Marion County, Clackamas County and Lane County began surveying homes in the City of Oakridge and homes in the Level 2 evacuation area. Today, structure crews will begin hands-on prepping of homes using the defensible space model and continue surveying neighborhoods.
“Homeowners may find a green ‘Firefighter Risk Assessment Placard’ left at their home. The placards display critical information to responding first responders, such as: fire engine access, propane on the property and whether your home has been assessed by firefighters. Please leave all green placards in place.”
Community events canceled or rescheduled
In response to the encroaching Kwis Fire, plans for Oakridge-Westfir community events have been changing rapidly this week. Foremost among them is Oakridge’s annual Keg & Cask Festival, the town’s main fund-raiser for the local food pantry. Originally scheduled for this Saturday, Aug. 14, the festival has been tentatively rescheduled for Nov. 6.
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