1:01
KLCC s Brian Bull reports on a sculpture that ll be made from donated scrap metal salvaged from Holiday Farm Fire sites.
Roughly two truckloads of scrap metal from locals in the fire-ravaged areas have been gathered, totaling about a ton of material. Jamee Savidge is with the McKenzie Community Development Corporation, which called for the donations. She describes the theme of the sculpture.
Ruins in Blue River, nearly six months after the Holiday Farm Fire.
Credit Brian Bull / KLCC
“It’s gonna look something like wings, so that people can stand in front of them and look like they’re being protected, y’know…phoenix or eagle, something along those lines. This is 100 percent about the resilience and the strength of this community.”
1:05
KLCC s Brian Bull reports on how financial support is still coming in for people affected by the 2020 wildfires in Oregon. This includes a $50,000 grant from the AARP Foundation to the United Way of Lane County.
Last year’s wildfires are considered the worst in state history. In Lane County, the McKenzie River Corridor saw hundreds of homes and businesses destroyed, as the Holiday Farm Fire scorched 173,000 acres.
Jared Pruch of United Way says five months later, attention has waned but financial support is still coming in. The AARP Foundation provided his organization with a $50,000 grant.
“We know it’s going to take years for a lot of these families and individuals to get back to where they were prior to the fire. We know there’s just tremendous need connected to the recovery: the community centers, the food pantries, the health clinic.”
1:01
KLCC s Brian Bull reports on a wait list registry that opened today which prioritizes regional wildfire victims for housing units in Eugene and Springfield.
By the time fire crews contained and mopped up the fire, more than 400 homes were destroyed. Many residents have since been put up in temporary homes and hotel rooms across the Eugene-Springfield area.
Now Matt McRae, Lane County’s long-term recovery manager for the Holiday Farm Fire, says there’s 65 units available at the Hayden Bridge Landing in Springfield, and Sarang in Eugene.
“Those who lost their primary dwelling during the wildfire will have priority access to this housing, McRae told KLCC. This is a huge opportunity to get some of the people who are in very temporary shelters into more permanent housing at least for a year or more.”
Photographer Herman Krieger s 1994 s Blue River Anthology a record of what was and what may be after Holiday Farm Fire
Photography accompanies and accounts for photographer Herman Krieger’s adventurous life journey. From photographing for the UAW-CIO in the Motor City in the 1940s to (illegally) cataloging Soviet Russia in the 1960s, through his viewfinder, Krieger captures an essential essence, a flicker of the immortal in a mortal world.
Using his lens to point the way, Krieger’s film arrests the subject in time, creating a visible testimonial to what once was. After September s catastrophic Holiday Farm Fire, Krieger’s work documenting the McKenzie River Corridor at the turn of the century became all the more indispensable.
1:09
KLCC s Brian Bull reports on the year-end damages of Oregon s worst wildfire season on record.
1.2 million acres and 4,026 residences were consumed by the 2020 wildfires in Oregon. Nine people are confirmed dead and one remains missing.
Damaged cars and demolished homes from the Holiday Farm Fire, Blue River, OR.
Credit Brian Bull / KLCC
LeighAnn Blodgett of Marcola said she’s glad the Holiday Farm Fire was contained short of her home along the Mohawk River. However…
“The upper part of it was burned extensively, Blodgett told KLCC. And they’re trying to get all the logs out of the area and stuff, but that could definitely cause landslides.”