Volunteers Help Blue River Clean Up After Holiday Farm Fire
Source: RegisterGuard.com
Words and photos by Chris Pietsch
The residents of Blue River received a big boost over the weekend as dozens of volunteers gathered to help clean up a community still reeling from last year’s devastating Holiday Farm Fire.
A coalition from Reach Out Worldwide and Cascade Relief Team joined locals in clearing the sites of former homes and businesses in the unincorporated community east of Springfield in hopes that residents can begin to rebuild.
The Holiday Farm Fire began Labor Day 2020, eventually burning more than 173,000 acres in the McKenzie River Valley and destroying more than 400 homes in towns such as Vida, Rainbow and Blue River.
Friday, crews spread out on both sides of Blue River’s main street, falling and decking burned trees and stacking sheets of charred metal and other debris into piles to be removed later. Large decks of logs lined Dexter Street on the southwest side of town waiting to be transported to area mills.
Reach Out Worldwide volunteer Randal Smothers came from Southern California and was among the volunteers working Friday. Headquartered in Gold Beach, the nonprofit partners with Lowe’s Home Improvement to help communities get back on their feet after natural disasters. ROW supplies specialized teams including paramedics, firefighters, and logging crews. ROW expected to have 40-50 people on hand over the weekend.
“We respond to five to six disasters annually,” Smothers said. “We have been responding to these fires from Otis all the way down to Medford since early September.”
Members of the Drummond family from Vida also joined the crews helping out over the weekend.
“These are our neighbors,” Vicky Drummond said. She joined her husband, Bill, and one of three daughters on a crew tasked with dragging metal and debris from a homesite Friday morning.
The couple is grateful its home was spared when so many others were not, so when they heard about the work party on social media they jumped at the chance to help.
“Our kids go to school here,” Drummond said. “We love everyone up here.”
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