Wildfire relief fund helps recovering Oregon communities
ODOT file
By Eric Tegethoff, Oregon News Service
PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) The 2020 wildfires devastated Oregon communities, burning more than a million acres and destroying many homes.
Grants from the AARP Foundation are helping some Oregonians get back on their feet.
Noreen Dunnells, president and CEO of the United Way of Lane County, which received one of the grants, said the September fires displaced 1,200 people in the community and the blazes were unpredictable, taking some houses and leaving others intact. There s a lot of people who are grieving and there s survivors guilt for those who didn t lose their property, or lost part of it but still are living upriver, Dunnells observed. It s had a profound effect on individuals and families living in that community.