Brad Boyd has endured his share of Central Oregon fire seasons. This one’s different, he said.
“This is the largest evacuation of homes I’ve seen in 37 years. There are certainly more evacuations than during last year’s Flat Fire. And in 37 years, I’ve never seen even half of town on a Level 1,” said Boyd, 64, from behind the counter of Eurosports, his bike and ski shop that also has a beer garden, food trucks and an outdoor courtyard in which several patrons were hanging out Friday afternoon.
Boyd’s referring to the Level 1 “Get ready” alert issued for “half” of Sisters earlier this week. A block east of Eurosports is Cascade Avenue, or Highway 20, which is the main drag through Sisters. Within downtown Sisters, that’s the current dividing line between the potential for an evacuation and not. East of the highway, people are under a Level 1 alert while west of it, there are no alerts as of Friday afternoon. Boyd’s home sits within the Level 1 area, and he said he and his partner are “packed and ready to go. We’ve got all our stuff in the car.”
For now, he’s keeping his business open. Driving through the downtown core, most establishments are open, and although people are strolling the sidewalks, and children and dogs are playing in the park, there’s less hustle and bustle than usual on a summer Friday afternoon. The AQI was approximately 66, considered of “moderate” concern. It’s hard to believe that just a few miles northeast of town, 1,200 fire personnel are battling a 6-mile line of fire nonstop. The Akawa Butte Fire is only 5% contained, and more than 2,000 residents are under a “Go Now” Level 3 alert status as of Friday.
For Boyd, he’s staying the course with respect to business operations, although he’s made a few changes to Eurosports’ typical routine.
“Normally, we have trivia on Thursday and live music on Fridays, but we’ve canceled those events, and I don’t know if we’ll do them next week until we see what’s happening with the fire,” he said. “Whether it’s a fire near us or we have smoke coming in from a distance, whenever we have smoke, you’re obviously slower. Business is not zero, but it’s significantly down, as we expect, and that’s for the food carts and (the shop). Everything we do is based on the outdoors, so….Right now, it’s not smoky, and it’s pretty nice out, but if the wind switches in 15 minutes, we could have a very high AQI, and we might close. We don’t know, how’s it going to go. We’re going to be very flexible.”
Just a short time later, a block northwest of Eurosports, at the Sisters-Camp Sherman RFPD Fire Station 701, Gov. Tina Kotek held an afternoon press conference after spending the morning visiting the Akawa Butte Fire area and firefighters, as well as the Red Cross shelter at Sisters High School, which currently is an evacuation site for people and their pets.
Kotek said Central Oregon fire personnel are being aided by firefighters from near and far, including from California and Florida. Next week, crews will arrive from Australia and New Zealand.
“We’ve got a lot of hands on deck here in Oregon,” Kotek said, explaining the collaborative approach to fighting the deadly fire is what’s helping to make the difference for residents. However, she cautioned that Central Oregonians must remain vigilant.
“It’s very important for people to take the time and effort to also be responsible themselves,” she said. “Do what you can to prepare your home. Be prepared to evacuate if you have to. Please do everything you can to start new fires. We have a long summer yet ahead of us. It’s July, and we’re seeing (fire) conditions that we normally see in August.”
She said approximately 570,000 acres are on fire across the state with the 10-year average for a full fire season being about 600,000 acres total. More than 1,200 fire personnel are battling blazes across the state, and Kotek previously issued a state of emergency to ensure access and flexibility to more resources, she said. Additionally, Thursday night, President Donald Trump awarded F-MAG status to the Akawa Butte Fire. A Fire Management Assistance Grant covers 75% of costs while the state pays for the remaining 25%. Kotek said that while this year’s fire season is sure to be costly, the FMAG status will be very beneficial, but a bigger concern is helping to protect residents.
“My priority right now is to make sure we keep people safe and use every resource we have,” she said. “The legislature does have some emergency allocation for fire costs, so we’ll be taking that issue up with them. The other thing is, we learned from previous fire seasons that we need more flexibility during fire season so we will be able to stay on top of our bills for our contracts and our vendors because they need to be paid, and we have more ability to do that. But the cost of fire season will have to be taken up before the end of the year by the legislature, at least in some form or fashion. It’s going to be an expensive fire season.”
On Wednesday, state officials discussed possible having to close Highway 20 due to the Akawa Fire’s encroaching flames. However, winds shifted after the rain and thunder that moved through the area, pushing the fire lines away from Highway 20, according to Jonathan Harrell, public information office for the Oregon State Fire Marshall Red Team.
Harrell’s agency, as well as several others across the state are continuously monitoring fire and personnel status, said Shirley Blake, public information officer for the Oregon Department of Emergency Management. Contingency plans are constantly evolving for evacuations across the state, should they become necessary.
“We’re always leaning forward, planning ahead,” Blake said. “We’re always planning ahead and monitoring wildfire behavior.”
Blake said it’s vital that people sign up for alerts through www.Oralert.gov to get the latest alerts and instructions should emergencies or evacuations occur. Additionally, she said wildfire.oregon.gov provides updated information on fires throughout Oregon and that the OEM works closely with those behind the Watch Duty app to ensure information pushed through that app is correct and current.
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