JOHN DAY, Ore.–Ken Olson, the CEO of Old West FCU, who is also a reserve patrol deputy with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, lives in one of the areas being ravaged by wildfires this summer. Below, Mr. Olson shares his experiences and those of his members as the fires raged around them. Editor’s Note: Portions of this recollection originally appeared as part of a listserv hosted by the National Credit Union Foundation.The photos below were shot by Mr. Olson.
By Ken Olson
“…Be watchful. Your adversary the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour: 1Ptr 5:8.
For whatever reason, that verse popped in my head Friday morning. It might not be perfectly apropos, but the fire that consumed most of Canyon Creek (Oregon) and now is at 60,000+ acres looked, sounded, and behaved like a live, insatiable beast.
I’m a bit of a private person and I don’t seek recognition but I also appreciate and am thankful for everyone’s concern and I owe you a story. I’m hoping this contributes to the fundraising efforts for the victims .
If some of this is dry it’s because I took it out of my report I will do for the Sheriff’s Office – also, I’m going off memory as I have not seen the dispatch tapes.
For those of you that don’t know, in addition to my CEO duties at the credit union I’m a reserve patrol deputy for the Grant County Sheriff’s office. I’m blessed and fortunate to be able to live in an area of the country with abundant outdoor recreation opportunities. Grant County sits in the heart of beautiful national forest, wilderness, and agriculture land.
A Day Off From CU, But...
Friday, August 14, I was taking a day off from the credit union. I was due to cover a shift on Saturday for one of the patrol guys who was off for medical reasons. My wife had just left for her 30-year class reunion in Washington. I had chosen to stay behind as there were two very small forest fires near our home (a common occurrence in the summer). I went on the deck Friday morning with a cup of coffee, and it was a typical beautiful, Eastern Oregon morning, but something just “felt wrong” in the air. Maybe a little more smoke than usual, I don’t know. I phoned in to the Sheriff’s office, but the Undersheriff was out on patrol and dispatch had no unusual information. I paced around most of the morning and decided at about 11 a.m. just to go on shift (I’m allowed to typically keep a patrol vehicle at my house to help cover the south end of the county).
After I went on duty I reached the Undersheriff by radio – he asked that I patrol south between the two fires and look for any significant activity. I had to run into the office and pick up a spare radio (two is one and one is none) and headed for town.
Evacuations are covered under three phases: 1. Get ready. 2. Get set 3. Go!
The terrain we are talking about is very steep and rugged, heavily timbered with no paved roads (save for the highway and county road) and many times vague addresses and rough roads (we drive four wheel drive Ford Expeditions).
Level 3 Evacuation
The first level 3 evacuation notice came from the Berry Creek fire, about eight miles south of Canyon City at about noon. About 15 minutes after that, a level 3 evacuation was called farther up the Canyon at mile post 10, as now both fires had blown up. I began to run code (lights and siren) from mile marker 2 toward the fires. I was instructed to start at about mile marker 5 and notify residents of a level 2 (Get ready) evacuation, while another deputy covered the level 3 farther up the canyon. About 15 minutes after I started contacting residents, a level 3 evacuation was called for the entire canyon to the outskirts of Canyon City – a length of about eight or 10 highway miles. As I continued to contact residents, the fires on both sides of the Canyon began to “spot” ahead of themselves for about one-half mile. The spot fires and main fires would come together and explode into a fireball that had to have reached several hundred feet in the air,
You can check out the video on YouTube, thanks to an editor at the Blue Mountain Eagle - I didn’t see this until after, as I was down in the canyon bottom – traveling down both sides of the canyon at an incredible rate. You could hear the often-mentioned “freight train” as it barreled down the canyon toward the dozens of residences located within the canyon.
At one point I tried to reach the last home located on a forest road and was turned back by the fire (only after the fact did I learn that the family I was trying to reach had traveled out of town earlier that day). I came back down to the main highway and continued moving up the forest roads in the canyon and evacuating residents. At some point a young lady drove up to my location, very upset, saying that there was a man refusing to leave his home farther up the canyon. I drove up his driveway and located him on his roof trying to start a sprinkler. I convinced him to come with me back down the canyon. As I was helping him off the roof, I heard what I thought was a heavy air tanker beginning its run to drop retardant around us. It turned out not to be the tanker but rather was the fire breaching the ridge above us – his house was consumed shortly after we left his driveway.
Going Back for the Children
After all the evacuations that could be done were completed, I drove up through the fire (that had now went by me on both sides of highway 395) to evacuate my teenage children. They were at my residence above the main fire but still in the level 2 zone. By this time 395 was impassable and closed. I owe a debt of gratitude to my blue brother Zach (the deputy and close friend who I was to cover for Saturday). I called dispatch and asked that they call Zach to go get my kids. He drove up through the fire to reach them and he brought them out the back way up over the mountain to Prairie City.
Over the next several days the fire advanced on almost all fronts threatening our little community on Canyon Creek Lane, heading north through the wilderness to threaten much of the south end of the John Day and Canyon City communities, and south towards Seneca. So far it has burned more than 60,000 acres of timber, residential, and grassland.
On Saturday, the fire burned up Canyon Creek Lane where a few dozen homes were located, mine included; thanks to the incredible efforts of the firefighters no homes were lost. While the fire burned and continues to burn many thousand of acres of timber and some structures, thanks to the incredible response of local, state and national fire teams, and with some cooperation from the weather, no more homes have been lost. The fire has burned through our neighborhood and continued on to the forest – It’s likely it will not be completely contained until the first snow fall.
I had the opportunity to get to know the structure protection specialists from Gladstone, Ore. along with many other wildland and structure specialists – these guys rock!! Hundreds of residential and wildland firefighters are here and working themselves to the ground fighting fire. It’s a debt we’ll never be able to repay.
How To Help
I would ask anyone with the means to please donate to the local Community Fire Relief Fund at Old West to benefit those who were not as lucky as me. (Information can be found here. While my family and home have been spared (so far!), many more members, friends and neighbors have not been so lucky. Power is out for all of us south of Canyon City and there is no timetable for restoration. Road crews and the local electric cooperative are working non-stop to restore services.
Residents who have lost everything are in need of money, visa gift cards, etc. Any help you all can send this way is so very much appreciated – either personally or through the foundation. Thank you all and God bless.
Ken Olson can be reached at kolson@oldwestfcu.org.