Głos Polonii w USA | The Voice of Polonia in the USA | Październik 2020

6 PAŹDZIERNIK
2020
POLONIA W OREGONIE
Almeda Fire – Destruction in Southern Oregon
Karolina Wyszynska Lavagnino
I couldn’t sleep that night. Crazy wind
woke me up around 3am. I thought to myself,
this darn sequoia tree by our house is
going to end up falling on us tonight. Wind
was unusually strong for this part of Oregon
and especially that time of the year.
Early in the morning, I went to the Farmer’s
Market. It felt like just another Tuesday
in Ashland, Oregon, yet still very windy.
But then at 10:45am my coworker who is
stationed at our central office downtown
sent me that message with a photo – there’s
a fire in Ashland! Moments later I was with
her on Facetime watching as winds were
spreading fire and pushing it north. With
the very dry summer behind us, and abnormally
high September temperatures,
plus 30 mph winds, we were bound for a disaster
if that wind turned its course. Feeling
a sense of relief that it was not heading
towards residential parts of town I was so
hopeful that the fire fighters would get it
under control in no time. Oh, how wrong
was I. Almeda/Glendower Fire (as later
named) has become the most unpredictable
and destructive wildfire in the history
of our region.
As the winds pushed it through “the tunnel”
of forested area, mobile home parks
and farms between Hwy 99 and I-5 it was
destroying everything in its path. Evacuation
notices for the town of Talent (5
miles north of Ashland) were deployed
around 12pm and for some residents even
sooner. Firefighters had no way to get this
wild beast under control. It took over and
swallowed entire neighborhoods and continued
on its rampage along Hwy 99 and
the Bear Creek bike path to the next town.
In Phoenix it did the same. People were
trying to escape while both Hwy 99 and
I-5 got shut down. For so many residents
coming back home from work to grab any
documents, family heirlooms, animals was
impossible as the authorities could not risk
allowing anyone in. The inferno continued
into the night.
Here in Ashland we lost the internet and
some northern parts of town were without
power. Around 11pm I drove with my husband
and our 4-year-old up one of the highest
climbing roads in town. What we saw
from there is unimaginable. The inferno
in Talent and Phoenix was uncontrollable.
A gigantic sphere of orange was swallowing
everything north of us. I was sobbing
and trying to call my parents in Poland to
let them know that in case they hear about
a devastating fire in South Oregon, that we
were safe, at the moment. Back home we
had packed a huge plastic tub with all our
important documents, family photos and
memorabilia, my daughter’s handprints
from the time she was 1 day old, my grandma’s
cookbook, and collected some necessary
clothes and camping gear, just in case
we were forced to evacuate, if for
some crazy reason this fire chose
to go suddenly south. I couldn’t
sleep that night praying that no
lives were lost in this mega fire.
Next morning, I drove to the office
fearful to find out what had
happened in the past 24 hours.
Social media was my source of
all the information. The videos
and photos taken by brave residents
who drove into Talent to
see if their homes, neighborhoods
were still standing were gruesome.
What I saw was a post war
like destruction. After the initial
shock, I also learned that the fire
was now in southern parts of Medford,
the largest city in our region
and evacuations were in place for
many residential neighborhoods.
We have expected a catastrophic
tragedy on a humanitarian level,
but it really was beyond our worst
nightmares. Official number of
lost residences, including houses, townhomes,
duplexes, apartments and mobile
homes is 2,357. Because of the toxicity of
the post fire area, many more were displaced
and not allowed to go home for
a week. Those who stayed in Talent and
Phoenix during the fire as their homes
were far enough from the inferno, were
left with no power, water, gas or internet.
This meant we were facing close to 30,000
residents displaced or with no resources
to live and over 2,300 families that have
lost everything. Local and state authorities
together with this amazing community
have immediately developed temporary
shelters, donation centers, and found
ways to help so many. Rogue Food Unites
was created by local restaurant owners
and chefs ready to feed all the displaced.
Air quality, due to surrounding us fires became
hazardous and stayed that way in the
valley for 11 days. We had to act fast to get
people into temporary housing, from their
cars, open air shelters or tents. Many people
have offered housing in their homes,
Airbnbs, RVs, you name it. Myself, working
for a company that owns four hotels in
town, I have reached out to the Red Cross,
FEMA and other local organizations in order
to get as many as possible families into
safe hotel rooms. It was a wild race to feed,
house and protect thousands of families
and volunteers during the time of Covid.
The most wonderful thing in all of this
is how our community has united to help.
One of the local credit unions matched
donations up to $100,000. Many organizations,
both nonprofit and corporate have
stepped up to donate, fund and help every
way possible. Lots of focus went to helping
the most vulnerable, Latin community, the
backbone of our society. These Rogue Valley
residents work at our farms, vineyards,
in our restaurants and hotels, cleaning
hospitals and schools. Without them many
of our industries would not be able to function.
GoFundMe accounts were established
offering an easy way to support those in
need from near and far.
Just to put things into perspective, in
Phoenix Elementary School it is estimated
that 80% of kids are left homeless, and
50 % in Talent. Many people are united to
help Phoenix-Talent School district. Both
of my company’s restaurants, Larks-Home
Kitchen Cuisine and LUNA Café have committed
to making 400 free meals each
week to feed these families. Fire relief
drives, some of which I got to organize ended
up providing so many necessities from
hygiene products, and clothing to non-perishable
foods and things for kids. Oregon
based, Nike, sent a truck load of shoes.
A young man who grew up in Phoenix and
now has an LA based apparel company
delivered 20,000 hoodies of all sizes and
distributed among the most needy. Local
college, Southern Oregon University, has
opened their dorms for day use allowing
people to escape hazardous smoke, rest,
take a shower and use their WiFi. Local
bikers were going into Talent and Phoenix
with water supplies looking for older
people who had no way to get out during
towns’ weeklong shut down. There are
so many stories, and so much generosity.
Next steps are to continue getting funding,
not forget of anyone and rebuild as fast as
we can.
As I sit here right now, almost 3 weeks
after this catastrophic 24 hours, I have
so much hope for the humanity and joy
in my heart for how we come together to
help each other, no matter what our background,
political position or status.
If you would like to help, here are a few
local organizations that are doing a huge
lift in this community: United Way of Jackson
County, UNETE – Oregon Worker Relief
Fund, Phoenix-Talent School District Fire
Relief, Rogue Credit Union, People’s Bank
of Commerce, and so many more.
You can also visit our company’s website:
https://neumanhotelgroup.com/
team-community-fire-relief/ We have 11
employees and their families who have lost
everything.
With questions or comments please
reach me directly at Karolina@Neuman-
HotelGroup.com
Karolina Wyszynska Lavagnino
Master in English - Cognitive Linguistics, UMK, Torun and Master in
Management, Southern Oregon University. Director of Sales & Marketing
at Neuman Hotel Group. Ultrarunner, Mother of 4 year old Mia Isabel.
From Bydgoszcz. 20 years in Oregon.