One fire approached Molalla, triggering a mandatory evacuation order for the community of about 9,000 people located 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Portland. Assessing the precise nature of those structures lost will fall to local teams in the days and weeks ahead. It also declined to address questions about the extent of its service territory. Marcus Kauffman with the Oregon Department of Forestry, walks through a burned out area of the Holiday Farm Fire along the southwest edge of the burn area above Deerhorn, Ore., Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020. In Ashland, they found one person dead near the head of the fire. As the fire approached Phoenix, Jonathan Weir defied evacuation orders, even as flames 30 feet (9 meters) high shot from trees. Meanwhile residents of the small Oregon town of Phoenix, near the California state line along Interstate 5, walked through a scene of devastation after one of the state’s many wildfires wiped out much of their community. The 2020 Oregon wildfire season has been one of the most destructive on record in the state of Oregon. “It’s very clear you got to understand what went wrong in order to have any possible chance of preventing it from happening again,” Merkley said. Oregon officials haven’t released an exact death count for the wildfires but at least four fatalities have been reported in the state. A mobile home park, houses and businesses were burned, leaving twisted remains on charred ground. If you sustained uninsured losses or damage due to wildfires beginning Sept. 7, 2020, you may be eligible for disaster aid. Entire mobile home parks with many units occupied by Mexican immigrants who worked in nearby vineyards or doing construction were reduced to ash in Phoenix and nearby Talent. Pacific Power was formed by a string of mergers that created a predominantly rural service territory spread throughout Oregon, but also in parts of Washington and Northern California. Pacific Power, which supplies power to those communities, said this week the area wasn’t an area designated to be in a public safety power shutoff area. The full amount of damage in the cities including Detroit and Lyons may take years to determine. All rights reserved (About Us). Their lawsuit claims that Pacific Power, which also serves that community, is responsible for the fire that destroyed their home. Here are all the currently active wildfires in the U.S. Click on a marker for more info. He was able to find a ceramic pot with a smiley face on it, some charred miniature houses from a Christmas-themed village and a cross that formed when two pieces of glass melted together. [17][18], Several small brush fires in Portland that were quickly put out were also the result of arson by a suspect who was apprehended, released, and then started several more.[19]. The results of forensic fire investigations can take months. Public Safety Power Shutoff events must be properly planned and coordinated so a loss of power does not have unintended consequences of increasing public safety risk. The Echo Mountain fire burned 29 of the 31 homes in the Salmon River Mobile Village on the north side of Oregon Highway 18. Artemio Guterrez stood helplessly next to his pick-up, surveying the rubble of his mobile home. The causes of most of Oregon’s catastrophic wildfires that ignited on Labor Day are still under investigation, with official determinations yet to come. Wildfires Cause Evacuation of 500,000 in Oregon 9.11.20 In a photo provided by Christian Gallagher, a street in West Linn, Ore., is shrouded by smoke from wildfires, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020. Caused by lightning; merged with the Beachie Creek Fire on September 8; the combined fires were briefly renamed Santiam Fire, 280 structures destroyed. Interactive real-time wildfire and forest fire map for Oregon. He raced home just in time to snatch his kids from the trailer park where they live alongside dozens of other Mexican families. Sheriff Sickler said that these numbers do not differentiate between homes, businesses, outbuildings, and other structures. It has been an honor to serve your wonderful community, and we wish each one of you a safe recovery", "Off duty firefighter dies on Archie Creek Fire in Oregon", "Real-time Assessment and Planning Tool for Oregon (RAPTOR)", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2020_Oregon_wildfires&oldid=984755107, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Caused by lightning; merged into the eastern portion of the combined.