Thu, 07/01/2021 - 10:21 | arran
Oregon’s legislature has become increasingly dramatic in recent years. The last several sessions have featured high-profile walkouts by the Republican super-minority, which has stalled consideration of important business like climate change legislation and, in the early 2020 short session, preparation for the COVID-19 pandemic. The drama in Salem reached its climax with violent protestors breaching the State Capitol in December of 2020 at the apparent invitation of Rep. Mike Nearman, who opened the door for them. This terrible event was a preview for the horrific attack on the US Capitol a few weeks later on January 6.
One of the victims of right-wing antics has been the passage of bills dealing with wildfire and community preparedness. Oregon’s default policy on fire and fire preparedness has long boiled down to “logging, logging, and more logging,” a status quo that was demonstrated to be wildly insufficient
Michael Elizabeth Sakas/CPR News
Schelly Olson, the assistant chief for Grand Fire, stands among all that remains of her Grand Lake home on Nov. 13, 2020 after it burned down in the East Troublesome fire last year. Nov. 13, 2020.
As Schelly Olson walked around the charred rubble of what was her Grand Lake home, she pointed to a pile of things that survived the second-largest wildfire in state history.
“You can see my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law piled all of my silver from my grandmother,” Olson said. “We just kind of did some digging, and all the silver was right around here. This is the dining room area.”