One Year Later, Signs Of Life In Community Scarred By Echo Mountain Fire klcc.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from klcc.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Wildfire smoke was thick when Tye and Melynda Small went to bed on Labor Day, but they weren t too concerned. After all, they live in a part of Oregon where ferns grow from tree trunks and rainfall averages more than 6 feet a year.
GILLIAN FLACCUS and ZACH URNESS
Associated Press and Statesman Journal
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OTIS Wildfire smoke was thick when Tye and Melynda Small went to bed on Labor Day, but they weren t too concerned. After all, they live in a part of Oregon where ferns grow from tree trunks and rainfall averages more than 6 feet a year.
But just after midnight, a neighbor awakened them as towering flames, pushed by gusting winds, bore down. The Smalls and their four children fled, leaving behind 26 pet chickens, two goldfish and a duck named Gerard as the wind whipped the blaze into a fiery tornado and trees exploded around them.
OTIS, Ore.
Wildfire smoke was thick when Tye and Melynda Small went to bed on Labor Day, but they weren’t too concerned. After all, they live in a part of Oregon where ferns grow from tree trunks and rainfall averages more than six feet (1.8 meters) a year.
But just after midnight, a neighbor awakened them as towering flames, pushed by gusting winds, bore down. The Smalls and their four children fled, leaving behind 26 pet chickens, two goldfish and a duck named Gerard as wind whipped the blaze into a fiery tornado and trees exploded around them.
When it was over, they were left homeless by a peril they had never imagined. Only two houses on their street in Otis survived a fire they expected to be tamped out long before it reached their door less than six miles (9.6 kilometers) from the Pacific.
Otis couple helping others rebuild after losing their own home in wildfire
The Smalls have helped neighbors remove over a million pounds of debris since last year s Echo Mountain Fire. The work isn t done, but new homes are popping up. Author: Jon Goodwin Updated: 7:46 PM PDT April 19, 2021
OTIS, Oregon Standing where her dad’s house once stood in Otis, Teresa Ganong reflects on what the Echo Mountain Fire took from her family. It’s been seven months since the fire destroyed over 280 homes.
“At first when we came up here, it was a lot of despair. Now, there s hope. It s amazing to see how quickly everything has changed, and how the lots are coming from being piles of ash and rubble and metal to getting ready to have a home put on it,” Ganong said.