Southern Oregon Business Journal - October 2020 Edition by Southern Oregon Business Journal

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October 2020

On September 8th, 2020 ďŹ res ravaged through the Rogue Valley, destroying the Towns of Talent and Phoenix. Current Aftermath Estimates:Â 42,000 people displaced 4,000 suddenly homeless with an immediate need for shelter and food At some local schools, nearly 70% of families have lost their homes. 2,300+ residential structures burned (homes, mobile homes, apartments) Hundreds of Businesses Destroyed. Now what?

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Contributors This is our largest issue ever. Thank you to everyone that contributed. Tina Bolling Christopher Briscoe Angie Chumley Brande Cowden Adam Danforth Bow Shaban DeBey Mark Decker FEMA Gretchen Fox Janet Fratella Helen Funk Scott Hansen Heidi Lee Harless Greg Henderson Kathy Kaufman Kalona Kierstede Gail Krumenauer Angelique Mcnaughton Steven Odom Krystal Perkins Doug Reynolds Jeff Rhoden Benjamin Swatez Jim Teece John Vial Melanie Zeller

A Few Words from Jim If you go look at the cover you will notice two things. 1.Burned out neighborhoods. The fires that swept through Southern Oregon destroyed over 2,300 homes and hundreds of businesses in their paths. Without much of a warning. Gone. 2. The state was on fire. There were fires burning all over the state. Some where very large and some where very deadly. For several days after the fire that destroyed Talent and Pheonix, we lived in a smoke filled Oregon. It was the most unhealthy air on the planet for days. Three of my employees lost their homes. Countless friends and acquaintances lost theirs as well. Hundreds of small businesses were burned to the ground. It was horrific and for all that were evacuated, it was terrifying. My heart broke over and over again as I found out about a friends lost home, but the community coming together after the fire to re-home, feed, clothe people has been awe-inspiring. This issue is mostly about the fire. Actually it’s about after the fire. What we’re doing next. What we’re working on. There are no answers yet. It’s going to take years. I have more respect and appreciation for our first responders and our community responders. All are amazing. Now we wait for FEMA and the Red Cross to show up and help us rebuild. #WeAreAllInThisTogether

Founder Greg Henderson ghenderson703@gmail.com Greg started the Southern Oregon Business Journal in 2015 and retired in 2020.

2 | Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020

Jim Teece Publisher of the Southern Oregon Business Journal Jim@SouthernOregonBusiness.com

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October 2020 - Table of Contents

Inside This Issue Oregon Wildfire Smoke “Boiling” across state p4 Infostructure offices burn down, but business was not impacted and now they want to rebuild + housing p5 People's Bank and Its Employees to Donate More Than $1.2 Million Toward Local Fire Relief p6 Fire Damage Assessment Dashboard Now Available Online p8 In the next 12 months, Rogue Food Unites plans to serve 1,281,000 meals to community members impacted by the fires p10 Jackson County EOC Fire Update - Sept. 25, 2020 p14 Jackson County EOC - Situational Report p16 FEMA - Private Property Debris Removal Fact Sheet p17 My Valley My Home/Mi Valle Mi Hogar Rebuilding after the Almeda Fire p20 FEMA - Oregonians Affected by Wildfires Fact Sheet p25 Wildfires in Oregon: Businesses and Jobs in Evacuation Zones p26 Social Media as the News Source p30-31 Photos by Chris Briscoe p32-33 Photos by Tina Bolling p34-35 Photography Volunteer - Kalona Kierstede p36 Creative Therapy by Benjamin Swatez p37 “Mommy, are we going to die today?” By Heidi Lee Harless p38-41 Project A launches SoHelps.org after fire to fill a need for person to person support p42

Cover photo by Jackson County Sheriff's Ofﬁce Still taken from A helicopter survey of damage from the Almeda ﬁre in Jackson County, Oregon Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Pi42MtEPC64

Project A launches DonationConnection.org to help donation center managers get the word out on what they need daily p43 In the wake of a natural disaster or crisis, it’s not uncommon for someone to turn to GoFundMe p44 “Talent and Phoenix are gone Jim” by Jim Teece p46-49 Hunter Communications Offers FREE Internet to Southern Oregon Business Customers Devastated by Wildﬁres in Phoenix and Talent p51 Hunter Heroes Restore Fiber Broadband to Local Communities Amid Southern Oregon Wildﬁres p52 The Final Word - Remembering Ron Fox, Learning from Paradise California, Inspired by Sid & Karen DeBoer p54

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OREGON FIRES

By Doug Reynolds DougOnLocation.Com instagram: @dougonlocation

At about 5:30 pm, on September 8, 2020, I had been working in the office and started to smell smoke. I walked out on the front deck and saw great plumes of smoke rising over the trees. With that much smoke, I thought the whole hill was on fire. I turned on the scanner app on my phone, jumped on the ATV, and headed up the hill to see how close it was. It turned out that 90% of this smoke was coming from all the fires burning East of Portland and Salem. I was told that it was 4 | Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020

Oregon Wildﬁre Smoke “Boiling” across state

boiling like this because it was being re-heated as it crossed over the Bald Peak Fire just 8 miles South of us. As soon as I was sure we were not in immediate danger, I went back to the house, grabbed the cameras, and started ﬁlming. As I ﬁlmed, the air was heavy with the smell of smoke, and there were no birds. Watch the rolling smoke video on YouTube at https://youtu.be/ itGtrRmq0c0

Bio: I have been a full-time Photographer, Location Scout, and Location Manager for the last 30 years. I have worked on projects for Western Star trucks, BMW, Ford as well as architecture photography for many architects and realtors. Most of my time as a photographer, I'm shooting photos to sell as stock photography, on my website, and several stock agencies worldwide. As of this writing, there are over 100 Thousand images on my website dougonlocation.com.

JACKSON COUNTY FIRES

By Jim Teece Southern Oregon Business Journal Publisher jim@SouthernOregonBusiness.com

Jeff Rhoden, coowner of Infostructure, a phone company based in Talent, Oregon ordered the evacuation of his office once he saw the plume of smoke in Ashland, where he lives, just to be safe. He wanted to make sure his tech team could get out safely, and he told everyone not to worry about grabbing stuff, they could return to work the next day. He received a text from a friend that “snuck back” to Talent to get guns from the home he was evacuated from hours earlier. The text was a photo of the office fully engulfed in flames. Jeff knew that the phone operations were fine and didn’t worry about disruptions in service, or the building, “It’s just stuff”. He was happy that all his employees were safe and he felt bad for everyone else effected by the fire. He had one employee who lost his home and Jeff spent the days after the fire, relocating his tech team into a church attic office space that his brother owns and taking care of

Infostructure oﬃces burn down, but business was not impacted and now they want to rebuild + housing.

rehoming his employee. When I asked Jeff about the future, he told me about plans to try and develop mixed use space to put some apartments and make the buildings they owned multiple stories. Co-owner Scott Hansen told me “Losing our two buildings and everything inside is certainly a great loss. However we are blessed with good insurance and now it’s just a matter of going through the process and learning how this world works. Luckily our great technical team had most everything “in the

cloud” so our critical services to our customers were not affected. InfoStructure will be ﬁne in the end. My heart goes out to the thousands that the lost their homes, one of our employees (Levi Doty) being one of them. And speciﬁcally the stories I’m hearing of those that didn’t have insurance - that’s where my heart breaks. The outpouring of generosity in our community and beyond has been amazing and uplifting! Rogue Valley strong!“

Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 5

JACKSON COUNTY FIRES

By Press Release peoplesbank.bank

eople’s Bank of Commerce and its board of directors have unanimously approved a donation of more than $1.2 million towards ﬁre relief efforts in Southern Oregon. Over $200 thousand of the contribution will come from a generous gift from the bank’s 100 employees, who are donating bonuses they have earned to help their community. Funds will be placed in The People’s Bank of Commerce Foundation and dispersed immediately for short-term housing needs, while a long-term plan is being developed with community partners to utilize the majority of the donation over the

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People's Bank and Its Employees to Donate More Than $1.2 Million Toward Local Fire Relief

next year to help rebuild the region. The announcement from the locally owned and managed community bank comes a week after the region experienced unprecedented loss and tragedy. “The devastating effects of the ﬁres are not over yet and we continue to be stunned by the damage, leaving many of our friends, family, neighbors and community members without homes, clothes, and ﬁnancial resources,” says People’s Bank CEO Ken Trautman. “Our community is providing temporary relief right now, but long-term solutions are necessary. Currently, the bank is working

with local partners to provide some of the long-term housing that will be essential to rebuild but additional support will be required in the interim.” Trautman noted that the bank is able to make this large donation because of the previous efforts made earlier this year by its staff during the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) application process. “The income from the PPP loans and a surge in residential mortgage income due to record- low interest rates has provided some of the revenue we are able to invest back into our communities,” commented Trautman.

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been here for you for over 20 years and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to continue to be

JACKSON COUNTY FIRES

By Mark Decker, Jackson County Technology Director

Fire Damage Assessment Dashboard Now Available Online

Screenshots of the Damage Assessment Dashboard www.jacksoncounty.org/damagedashboard

amage Assessment information from the Almeda and Obenchain ﬁres can now be explored via an online data dashboard, available via the Jackson County website at: www.jacksoncounty.org/ damagedashboard.

quickly locate and view the extent of damage to individual properties. Making this information available online will safeguard health by reducing the need for people to visit hazardous burn sites. It will also save time and fuel by avoiding travel to perform a physical site inspection.

This interactive mapping tool will allow anyone with internet access to

Relief providers, including FEMA and insurance companies, will be able to

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use the dashboard when processing claims. Loss claims typically can’t be approved until the damage is conﬁrmed visually. The dashboard provides a street-view photo of assessed properties. It also provides the damage-level rating assigned to the property by local building ofﬁcials. These damage ratings correspond to the FEMA damage categories, which rate properties on a

viewed on a large-screen computer monitor or tablet. “Our County GIS team has worked tirelessly since the ﬁres started to provide cutting-edge mapping and analysis tools to both ﬁrst responders and damage assessment crews,” said Mark Decker, Technology Director for the County. “We’re pleased to be able to make such tools available to the general public as well.”

5-level scale from Unaffected to Destroyed. These categories affect the amount of financial assistance a property owner can receive from FEMA. “We have a long road of recovery ahead and assessing the full extent of damage is a critical step. This tool will help the county, state, and FEMA have the information needed to move as quickly as we can toward recovery,” shared FEMA Deputy Field Coordinating Officer Toney Raines. In addition to information for individual properties, the dashboard also provides overall statistics for the region. Total counts of all properties assessed within the Almeda and Obenchain burn areas are broken out by damage level and property type. Such information is valuable to government officials to help target relief and plan recovery efforts. “We hope that this tool will help to speed up the recovery effort and to bring some answers to those

impacted by these ﬁres,” shares EOC Director John Vial. Built using dynamic GIS (Geographic Information System) software from ESRI, the dashboard can be viewed through most web browsers various

Data displayed on the dashboard is the latest available. Damage ratings and counts update automatically in real-time when data is added or corrected. As such, totals may change slightly over time. Great effort went into making the data as complete and accurate as possible, and we are continuing to improve data quality as new information becomes available. Dashboard users who discover errors or omissions in the data are encouraged to report them via a link in the online instructions.

devices. Even smartphone browsers will work, but the dashboard is best

Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 9

JACKSON COUNTY FIRES

By Adam Danforth roguefoodunites.org

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In the next 12 months, Rogue Food Unites plans to serve 1,281,000 meals to community members impacted by the ďŹ res

outhern Oregon is in the midst of a crisis bore from ﬁre. The Almeda/Glenview Fire burned over 2,400 homes leaving more than 4000 people suddenly homeless and 42,000 displaced. Rogue Food Unites and our community of restaurants and food growers is responding. Rogue Food Unites collaborates with food businesses, farms, and local aid organizations to meet the acute demand for regional support with a community-driven meal preparation and delivery program. Meals prepared with ingredients from local farms by local restaurants and delivered to Southern Oregon locations where residents displaced by the Almeda/Glendower ﬁre receive the food they need. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner.

When the local economy in the Rogue Valley is already struggling due to the pandemic, every dollar invested in Rogue Food Unites ensures that local restaurant workers keep working, local farmers keep farming, and displaced residents impacted by the ﬁres are supported nutritionally and emotionally through food. Rogue Food Unites pays locally-owned restaurants to prepare the food and coordinates participating farms to provide fresh, ﬂavorful, local ingredients. As a result, our vibrant regional food system stays healthy and intact. Restaurants remain in business and can pay their staff, rent, and do what they do best: feed hungry people.

With each new donation and investment into Rogue Food Unites, the number of people we can reach grows daily. With every new restaurant or farm that signs on, we ﬁnd a new well of untapped community strength and resiliency.

Nearly 65% of the revenue from local independent restaurants recirculates in the local economy compared to about 30% for chain restaurants. Restaurants generate middleclass jobs at a rate three times faster than the economy. Restaurants support bakers, ﬁshers, butchers, and, of course, Oregon’s 34,250 small farms.

Funding will propel the restaurant industry’s existing systems to administer support across the many concomitant businesses that rely upon them to stay aﬂoat. While meeting the fundamental need for food for those impacted by the Almeda Fire, we strengthen our local economy and foster collaboration, resilience, and food sovereignty in our valley.

Over half of all restaurant workers are women, and restaurants employ over one million single mothers.

Sixty percent of all chefs nationwide are minorities. Restaurants employ more minority employee-managers than any other industry.

Food and agricultural businesses are hubs of minority employment and advancement. Our local Latinx population, disproportionately impacted by the Almeda Fire, provides essential services as owners and employees in our agricultural and foodservice industries. Amidst the destruction and disruption of both the ﬁres and the pandemic, there is an economic incentive for the food community to work together across socioeconomic lines to keep our community aﬂoat. Restaurants and farms are perfectly poised to do this with their diverse staffs and shared goals of working hard to feed people and pay the bills.

In Talent and Phoenix, the restaurants lost were community hubs and loved eateries, like Daddy Ramen and La Tapatia. Rogue Food Unites is working to secure satellite kitchens for these staff to get back to work as soon as they are able, continue to be paid for their fantastic food, and contribute to the healing and rebuilding of their communities. Our growing list of participating restaurants represents the cultural diversity in our valley. It includes Arbor House, Bambu, Breadboard, Common Block, El

Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 11

Comal, El Tapatio, Falafel Republic, Loncheria Las Reyes Food Truck, Masala, Mezcal, Mix, Sammich, and many more. To see the entire list of collaborating restaurants or to join, please do go www.roguefoodunites.org.

The immensity of the efforts across all communities in responding to this crisis is nothing short of extraordinary. At a time when our human connections have been strained through pandemic isolation, it has been overwhelming and inspirational to be amidst the swirl of collaboration between so many invested local organizations. Our efforts would not be possible without the close alignment with the Ashland Bike Brigade, Ashland Emergency Food Bank, Rogue Action Center, Southern Oregon Coalition for Racial Equity, Talent Maker City,

and more. Again, please visit our website to read more about the collaborative organizations making this local response successful.

Straight Up

In the next 12 months, we plan to serve 1,281,000 meals to community members impacted by the Almeda Fire. Meeting this essential demand will inject $12.7m into our economy, enabling the recirculation of nearly $8.3m within our local economy through locally-owned businesses and community hubs.

Support our neighborhood restaurants and our friends and families who need food by DONATING NOW at www.roguefoodunites.org

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Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 13

JACKSON COUNTY FIRES

By John Vial, Director Jackson County Emergency Operations Center – Almeda / Obenchain Fires

Jackson County EOC Fire Update Sept. 25, 2020

Photo of the Shelter at the Jackson County Expo by Mac Holbert

Resource and Recovery MARC - The MARC, the Multi-Agency Resource Center, opened on Thursday and got off to a great start. We have served several hundred impacted citizens thus far. This onestop shop for resources includes FEMA representatives, Insurance Providers, Red Cross, Cities and others and is located at Central High School at 815 S. Oakdale in Medford. Visitors to the MARC should park in the lot on Kenyon Street near Spiegelberg Stadium. The MARC will be open seven days a week from 8AM 8PM until further notice. In addition to the MARC, FEMA representatives will be available at the Phoenix Civic Center (220 N. Main St.) and the Talent Elementary School (307 W. Wagner St.) during the same hours. Lastly, FEMA representatives will also be at White Mountain Middle School

in White City this Saturday between 10AM-1PM. Damage Assessment Dashboard We are excited to announce that the Jackson County EOC has completed a publicly accessible damage dashboard. This interactive mapping tool will allow anyone with internet access to quickly locate and view the extent of damage to individual properties. This dashboard is accessible at www.jacksoncounty.org/ damagedashboard. Damage Assessment Totals – The preliminary damage assessment (PDA) has been completed by the local multi-jurisdictional team.

3,590 Structures were reviewed 2,487 Residential properties were destroyed 102 Residential properties were damaged 164 Commercial properties were destroyed 24 Commercial properties were damaged IMPORTANT: For any who have suffered a loss from this event, key to getting the process started is registering for assistance from FEMA at: https:// www.disasterassistance.gov/. Fire Debris Cleanup

The following totals will still change as the data is perfected, but currently we are reporting the following:

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The following message was received today from the Oregon Debris Management Task Force which is

leading the cleanup effort for the state. Thank you to all the counties that we have talked with already, while we determine the next steps for cleaning up debris. If you haven’t heard from us yet, you will. We know your communities are looking to you for answers and we are working to keep you informed about the process as it evolves. As a reminder, Oregon has the Category B approval and we can begin Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) mitigation efforts. Oregon has not been approved for Category A – Debris Removal yet, that is anticipated in early October. The ﬁrst priority is HHW and the state has used Direct Federal Assistance to engage the US EPA to conduct this HHW assessment and clearance for all impacted. It will be 2-3 weeks before the US EPA has “boots on the ground” as they mobilize their crews and contractors – the actual HHW work is anticipated to take 30-60 days, dependent on access rights. We’d like to conﬁrm that for HHW, the state is committing to funding the 25% cost share with FEMA. After discussions with the Department of Justice (DOJ) we feel that it is in the best interest of the impacted people to request individual access agreements or commonly called Right of Entry (ROE). We are working to set up a platform and process for collecting the rights of entry (ROE). OEM’s contractor, AC Disaster Consulting, will be sending staff out to the counties early next week to support collection of access agreements in all impacted communities that are eligible for public assistance. Finally, we know this a very challenging time for everyone as we work on all that it takes to recover

from this unprecedented disaster in our State – and as we all learn what it takes to do this work right and recover the FEMA funding at the end. This is a good first step and we appreciate the state picking up the 25% cost share and the leadership they are providing. As noted previously, we are expecting the Governor to make a Category A request to FEMA shortly, but until that is approved, any work completed to clean fire debris may not be reimbursable. We hope to have more solid guidance on this issue of debris cleanup shortly. If property owners choose to take this issue on through their own efforts or via their insurance provider, which they are allowed to do, they will need to make sure they or their contractor is following all EPA and DEQ requirements. See the above attachment and the following link https://www.oregon.gov/deq/ wildfires/Pages/After-the-Fire.aspx for instructions regarding fire debris removal. Lastly, before any fire debris are taken off site, consultation with the local solid waste transfer station, landfill or recycling / scrap materials facility should be completed. Evacuation Center The evacuation center on the EXPO grounds, which was established on the day of the fire, continues to provide shelter, food, and showers for the approximately 200 citizens. Red Cross has assumed control and oversight of the center. Utilization of the center at night is still increasing.

Federal Support (FEMA) Status and Resources Individuals & Households Assistance • Program Status to Date (Subject to Change) 2,343 Individuals & Households have registered in Jackson County Public Infrastructure Damage Assessment Process The County is the lead on a multi-jurisdictional team to complete the public infrastructure damage assessment process using the approved FEMA process and that effort started 9/16 and is due to the County today (9/25) for submission to the State and FEMA. Please contact the Jackson County Emergency Manager if you have any questions: BeltSA@jacksoncounty.org. Shelter & Evacuation Center The Expo Location Responsibility: Shelter operated by Red Cross Location: Jackson County Expo Phone: 541-774-8270 Address: 1 Peninger Road Central Point, OR Citizens Utilizing: Approximately 237 Services: Shelter, food, shower, laundry Phoenix Location Responsibility: Red Cross Location: Phoenix Elementary School Address: 215 N. Rose St, Phoenix, OR Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 15

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Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 17

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Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 19

JACKSON COUNTY FIRES

by Gretchen Fox Communications Lead Rogue Valley Homes and Shelter Relief initiative

Rogue Valley Homes and Shelter Relief (RVHSR) initiative

Executive Summary Our goal Support the populations most devastated by the destruction of homes during the Almeda Fire, especially those for whom racial and socio-economic inequities were pre-existing - such as migrant, worker, indigenous and unhoused community members. Speciﬁcally: • Provide assistance with immediate and short-term temporary shelter and local housing, particularly to prevent permanent departure from our community. • Create sustainable longterm housing that includes a pathway for residents to own equity in the housing unit and/or land. • Core values and guiding principles

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My Valley My Home/Mi Valle Mi Hogar Rebuilding after the Almeda Fire • Collaboration, inclusivity, cultural sensitivity

• Disaster management specialists

• BIPOC leadership and social equity

• Sustainability experts

• Community ownership, stability and mutual selfhelp • Long-term and resilience thinking • Sustainability, safety, quality and appropriate technology

Partnerships and resources In a matter of days, this project has developed into a cross-sector, communitydriven initiative with ﬁnancial, volunteer and other support. Our collaborators include: • Grassroots and established nonproﬁt communitybased organizations • Local businesses and landowners • Skilled tradespeople providing pro-bono labor • Local, regional and state government representatives

• Legal advisors (nonproﬁt, land use and migrant attorneys) • Foundations and other philanthropic entities

Demonstration of a promising practice This project could become a model for other communities who, after a disaster, wish to take a more innovative approach to rebuilding with social equity, sustainability, and long-term resilience at the core. Project scope and cost The preliminary estimate for this project, including residents’ equity ownership of land and/or home unit, is approximately $100,000 per family unit, with a goal to support up to 500 families.

Get involved To discuss funding, land or material donations, or other

opportunities to collaborate, please email info@roguevalleyhsr.org. To get involved in this project, please ﬁll out this short survey. https:// tinyurl.com/yxtuedku

that the process itself reweaves our community into a fabric of greater stability and wholeness.

who had been impacted by the ﬁre, forming the My Valley My Home/Mi Valle Mi Hogar project.

Inspiration Born from Tragedy

Project Overview

On September 8, 2020, the Almeda ﬁre swept through Ashland, Talent, Phoenix and South Medford, destroying 2,357 homes, damaging 57 more, and displacing approximately 40,000 people. This tragedy has disproportionately affected seasonal workers and BIPOC communities; an estimated 500 low-income families who are without insurance, basic resources, or any backup plan, are also now without housing.

The project leaders were concerned that those affected by the Almeda fire might be forced to leave the Rogue Valley – being keenly aware of the tragedy in communities such as Paradise, CA, where displaced residents were forced to shelter far from home and never returned. The group quickly convened and expanded to incorporate indigenous leadership and other immediate diverse stakeholders, including community members, government officials, business owners, funders, and community-based organizations. Together, these groups began by mapping resources, identifying missing stakeholders, and establishing a plan to provide short-term housing followed by long-term, sustainable, safe, energy efficient, equitable family– and community–owned housing and land for those that have been hit the

Vision

In the face of crisis in the Rogue Valley, the community is mobilizing to help provide shelter in the near-term and rebuild permanent housing in the long-term for marginalized families who were rendered homeless by the Almeda ﬁre. In a collaborative, inclusive and culturallysensitive effort, building on our existing local capacity, skill and knowledge-base, we envision the regeneration of our displaced community with dwellings that are equitycentered, safe, sustainably built and family- and community-owned. We intend that what grows back from the ashes is more resilient and sustainable than what stood before, and

Just a few days after the ﬁre, a small group of community members - led by Donnie Maclurcan and Lebeau Potgieter, along with John Palombo and Atlas Newman (who had assembled 100+ builders through the grassroots Rogue Volunteer Initiative) - came together to harness their inspiration to help the most vulnerable members of our community

Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 21

My Valley My Home : Continued from Page 18

hardest. The project has a particular focus on those for whom racial and socioeconomic inequities were pre-existing, such as migrant, undocumented, indigenous and unhoused community members, with additional consideration for the elderly, multigenerational families and, people with disability.

planners, property owners, builders, workers, project managers, and ﬁnancial donors (please refer to the Appendix for an evolving list of project partners and committed resources).

This collective is working together – through an equity lens – with local non-proﬁt organizations and municipalities to address the

Other key activities already in progress include: • Establishment of a working group • Establishing the project fund under the gracious ﬁscal sponsorship of the MRG Foundation • Outreach to impacted families, including establishment listening circles for all members of the project to hear the stories of those most impacted •Establishing surveys for contributions of land/ vehicles, and developing a means of suitability assessment

Activity in Progress

Approaches to responding to this unprecedented crisis are emerging organically as stakeholders come together to unite their skills, knowledge and wisdom – including designers, 22 | Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020

housing need by exploring a range of options, such as: refurbishing RVs and buses; undertaking shipping container ﬁt outs; and building tiny houses. As outlined in the image below, options will need to factor in the difﬁculty and timeframes associated with each.

•Securing resources, including approximately 60 acres of land, a corps of skilled builders and equipment, and pledges of funding

Proposal for the Rebuild

While the rebuild proposal is currently under development, we broadly envision three overlapping phases:

Phase 1 The initial phase to help identify immediate shelter for families is already underway and will continue for the coming weeks. Outreach is happening to impacted communities to better understand their situation and needs.

Phase 1 involves RVs that are move-in ready. With the risk of the community dispersing rapidly, we hope to provide immediate land and RV hookups to ensure our community in need has a roof over their heads in the near term. (within the ﬁrst month).

Surveys are being established to map the RV and land inventory. We are working with city leaders to ﬁnd land that can have zoning restrictions removed in order to position these RVs on land immediately.

Phases 2 and 3 The Rogue Volunteer Initiative has amassed nearly 200 volunteers skilled in various trades – general contractors, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, heavy machinery operators, arborists, and laborers. From this group, a team of project leads has been distilled, capable of leading a crew and taking responsibility for all stages of construction. The intention is to organize construction projects in collaboration with their network of associated organizations, to staff initial

training with project leaders, and then assign pods of skilled volunteers to each lead that can then efﬁciently reproduce shelter designs.

An initial bus refurbishment project is underway to train the project leads, building on Julie Akin’s previous work with Vehicles for Changes. The aim for Phase 2 is to have community owned, temporary housing (containers, buses, RVs) positioned in micro-pods/ communities around our valley during months 2-18. These units will be easy to move and relocate back to Talent and Phoenix as soon as clean-up is complete. Phase 3 will be centered around land ownership and permanent housing for the community impacted by the ﬁres. Phase 3 has a 12month+ time horizon. Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 23

A comprehensive budget will be developed for phases 2 and 3.

Mobilizing Resources and Next Steps

Additional resources being pursued include: • Funding (donations and ﬁnancing) • Additional land • RVs, trailers and other short-term shelter

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• Building materials, including yurts, buses, and shipping containers

• Surveying potential land

• Subject matter experts, offering services pro-bono

• Reﬁning project goals and plan according to input from impacted families

• Surveying potential RV’s, trailers, tiny homes

Some next steps include: • Establishing the listening circles • Drawing on partners to formalize representation from the teams into a larger working group • Outlining and assigning key roles to willing volunteers

Organizational Structure and Approach

In its early stages, this project will be managed across several distinct and coordinated teams.

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EMPLOYMENT

By Gail Krumenauer State Employment Economist Oregon Employment Department

Wildﬁres in Oregon: Businesses and Jobs in Evacuation Zones

Impact by County

ver the past several days, we've watched in collective fear and sadness as more than 1 million acres of our beautiful state have gone up in flames. While in recent history most wildfires have been isolated to wilderness areas, the 16 fires burning across Oregon as of September 11, 2020 are destroying homes and businesses in several areas across the state. While the Research Division of the Employment Department cannot quantify or capture the

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immensity of these losses, we do have information about the businesses and jobs in current wildﬁre evacuation zones. To get to such detailed levels of geography, we have to use information from our Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, and that information has a time lag. So the estimates used here reﬂect business establishments and jobs covered by Unemployment Insurance taxes as of this time last year, the third quarter of 2019.

The number of business establishments in wildﬁ re evacuation zones near the height of evacuations, on September 11, 2020, totaled 21,350 across 13 different counties. These business establishments had 232,600 jobs. For context, that's nearly the same size as the entire private health care industry (262,400 jobs) in Oregon statewide during the third quarter of 2019. The majority of these business establishments (60%) and their jobs (61%) are under Level 1 (or "Be Ready") evacuation orders. Another 30 percent of the affected businesses (and 29% of their jobs) are in Level 2 (or "Be Set") evacuation status. One out of 10 business establishments and related employment in current wildﬁ re

evacuation zones are in Level 3 ("Go") status. Clackamas County has both the largest employment in Level 3 areas (10,000 jobs) and across all evacuation levels (166,000). Jackson County's employment in current evacuation zones totals 37,300 jobs, with 4,000 of those in Level 3 areas. While Marion County has the thirdhighest total of jobs in all evacuation areas (13,100), Lincoln County has the third-highest Level 3 jobs count (2,100). Effects Vary by Sector By industry sector, those with the largest job totals in all levels of evacuation zones – health care, retail trade, and leisure and hospitality – are among the state's largest overall industries. If we look just at the most-impacted, Level 3 areas, the largest numbers of jobs come from natural resources and mining (3,700), which makes sense given the geography of wildﬁres. The level of impact is notable though: while natural resources and mining made up 4 percent of all jobs in the third quarter of 2019, the industry accounts for one out of ﬁve (18%) of Level 3 evacuation area jobs. Construction is also

disproportionately affected, with 13 percent of Level 3 area jobs, compared with 8 percent of all jobs. Underestimated Impacts We know these estimates of business establishments and jobs disrupted by wildﬁres understate the overall impact on Oregon. Some displaced Oregonians living within the evacuation zones hold jobs elsewhere. Using the September 11, 2020 evacuation boundaries in the U.S. Census Bureau’s OnTheMap tool, we ﬁnd 250,200 primary jobs held by workers living in all evacuation zones. Unfortunately this too is an undercount, as the most recent

data in OnTheMap date back to 2017. In addition, many businesses and households outside of evacuation zones in Oregon are impacted by the ﬁres. Several consecutive days of hazardous air quality conditions have led to temporary business reductions or closures. Ventilation concerns due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic can be at odds with keeping unhealthy air outside, and some businesses utilizing more outdoor space to offset indoor capacity limitations now also face the inability to use outdoor areas. The personal and economic disruption caused by these disasters cannot be fully measured. Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 27

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never stop

learning

Visit sou.edu/al for application information. Visit sou.edu/academics for a complete list of degree programs offered at SOU.

Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 29

Melanie Zeller, 25, Talent OR

Bow Shaban DeBey

Social Media as Steven Odom

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Angie Chumley

Steven Odom

Alan DeVries

Angie Chumley

the News Source

Bow Shaban DeBey

Over the next few pages, you will see photos shared online (I got permission to re-share them here) from artists and photographers and just normal everyday people with iPhones. This account of the disaster from the beginning to weeks after, offers a raw insight into the tragedy. We are the embedded reporters of life.

Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 31

Kathy Kaufman

Angie Chumley

The Two mules made it to safety....the gate was open because of the wind, (the owner) went out to get them, came back, her house was on fire...she lost everything but the clothes on her back, saved her dog and 9 of 12 chickens. She lost some other pets in the house. Then she spent that day fighting fires and helping save her neighbors houses and save their horses.

Photos by Christopher Briscoe - chrisbriscoe.com

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Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 33

Photos her parents home before and after the ďŹ re by Tina Bolling - Tina Bolling Photography - www.tinabolling.com

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Tina Bolling - Tina Bolling Photography - www.tinabolling.com

Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 35 Tina Bolling - Tina Bolling Photography - www.tinabolling.com

Kalona Kierstede

Benjamin Swatez

My family (partner Marc and step-daughter) in one of our homes burned in the ďŹ re - Kalona Kierstede - RN at Change Healthcare, and work in physical therapy for Asante, SOU Grad, Phoenix Resident and owner of Lonaloo Photography

Benjamin Swatez

36 | Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 Benjamin Swatez

Benjamin Swatez

Between travels with my brushes, sharing the power of art and creative therapy in foreign lands, I jump in my VW bus and head up the West Coast visiting family and dear friends. On my drive north this time around, I receive a call. Fires are ripping through southern Oregon and Northern California. My siblings, my nephews and niece, my mom...? Nearly 2,500 homes were left in ashes. Thankfully my family is okay and their houses still stand. My heart goes out to those who lost all... and I decided to share what I do abroad in our own backyard. While painting this home on wheels yesterday morning, countless residents stopped... some in shock, tears, despair, searching for hope, light at the

end of the tunnel, something positive... and It was a deep honor to listen to some of their stories and share a painting from my heart. This sprinter van has its own remarkable, heartbreaking and alchemical story, burnt to its skeleton in the ﬁres of Phoenix, Oregon, where I’ve had my permanent address for years. The moment I saw it in the parking lot, I was blown away at the artistry left in the wake of the ﬂames upon its metal! The ash and oxidization and extreme heat, I was looking at a masterpiece and the call directed my brushes to accentuate the beauty and turn destruction into creation.

And as I was wrapping up the paint, the owner of the sprinter, Tamsin, came by with beautiful silver hair and she loved it! I made a new friend who also does everything she can to be a beautiful, caring and active human being in her community and in the world! The synchronicity would take hundreds of pages to lay out, but believe me, despite all the destruction, and no matter how dark moments can feel, there is some serious divine orchestration at work. Huge love to you all... we’re in it together! A huge shout out to all the ﬁreﬁghters out there on the front line!!!

Before starting I could not ﬁnd the owner and members of the community said, “just go for it.”

@ Phoenix, Oregon By Benjamin Swatez

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SOUTHERN OREGON FIRES

“Mommy, are we going to die today?”

By Heidi Lee Harless

Heidi Lee Harless

Heidi Lee Harless used to work for me many years ago. We are still friends and I’m proud of the work she does in our community. She wrote this post on FB on 9/14 and I cried when I read it. I got her permission to share it here and include some of the photos she took. — Jim 38 | Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020

WE ARE SAFE! I took this photo of the neighborhood across the street from my home in Talent. Thousands of homes and businesses were obliterated to ash in a few hours.

We had only minutes to evacuate Tuesday. I never thought I would answer a son’s question of

“Mommy, are we going to die today?” as we raced ahead of the ﬁrestorm. The answer, “Absolutely F*ING NOT!” as we prayed for safety and protection for my husband to reach us and for the survival of all. Thank goodness for those life-saving minutes of having an emergency kit packed and a knowledge of back-country roads to escape.

GRATITUDE We feel deep honor and gratitude for all the friends and family who have reached out to us, those who prayed for us and those who sheltered us. A hot shower and a hot meal provide lasting resilience. Nothing heals and feeds the soul like being surrounded by your loved ones and knowing that you aren’t alone. We feel bittersweet sadness mixed with heartbreak to still have a home while so many have lost everything.

Last night, was our ﬁrst night back. The power came on, but still no potable water or internet. We are exhausted and thankful to be in our own beds and to begin a path forward to help rebuild our community. To all those who want to help us at this point, we thank you but politely say please turn to those who lost everything....donate time, gift cards, basic needs and services, adopt a family, teacher or classroom. Help foster animals that were displaced. Help support rebuilding.

LISTEN AND RESPECT. Please don’t believe those who are spreading misinformation that ﬁres were set by Antifa. All law enforcement agencies have called this an outright lie. It is ludicrous and harmful to our ﬁrst responders and survivors as they

are still creating safety in our streets and recovering basic needs for our survival.

CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL. Please don’t believe those who would tell you climate change is a hoax. This fire was caused by a flicked cigarette near a bike path. In the past that may have caused a small area grass fire. This time it

HOUSING CRISIS. Building Tiny Home Villages costs a small amount compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars spent ﬁghting these ﬁres, evacuating thousands and rebuilding entire neighborhoods and towns. Our homeless population shouldn’t be living in our Greenway bike paths and parks. It is NOT safe. Cities like

Heidi Lee Harless

burned through 20 miles in several hours. It is NOT normal. 50mph winds and weeks of 100º degree temperatures created conditions never seen before in our Valley. It is the dire future of megastorms that our scientists have been warning us about.

Salt Lake City have shown building a Tiny House village reduces crime, life-threatening ﬁres and provides a transition out of homelessness while allowing community resources to be used more efﬁciently elsewhere.

DEEP LOVE AND HUGS TO YOU. BE KIND TO EACH OTHER. Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 39

Heidi Lee Harless

40 | Southern Oregon Business Journal September 2020 Heidi Lee Harless

Photos by Heidi Lee Harless

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SOUTHERN OREGON FIRES

By Jim Teece ProjectA.com

Project A launches SoHelps.org after ﬁre to ﬁll a need for person to person support.

One September 15th, Paul Steele from Project A quietly launched a new service he calls SOHelps.org.

Southern Oregon Helps is a direct person-to-person exchange website for those in the Rogue Valley, including Ashland, Talent, Phoenix and Medford Oregon during emergencies. No intermediary is involved. Create an Account, then post what you need or what you can provide for others, either in goods or services. Listings expire in 120 days. Create your own connections by using the form on each listing. Southern Oregon Helps does not manually match listings. Please take safety precautions, and exchange in public spaces. Your name and email is kept private until you decide to respond to a request. Phone numbers are optional, but will display on the website entered.

After successfully launching in the Rogue Valley, Paul was contacted by other communities and has also launched willamettevalleyhelps.org

Here is what Paul posted on FB to announce the launch.

Please check out my new site https://sohelps.org - a new site

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where you can list speciﬁc items you are in need of, or items you can provide. This is a direct, person-to-person exchange site for use during emergencies and beyond. I am aware there are other needsmatching sites somewhat similar to this out there (and I list some of them on the Resources page), but I felt a more direct approach, with no agency in the middle, could be helpful.

I would really appreciate it if you give it a try and let me know what you think, and help spread the word. I need help getting it populated. Thanks to Jim Teece and the team at Project A for help getting this launched quickly, and Tina Kneser Siegl for the inspiration and testing, and Susanne Steele for help with the Resources spreadsheet!

SOUTHERN OREGON FIRES

By Jim Teece ProjectA.com

Project A launches DonationConnection.org to help donation center managers get the word out on what they need daily.

After seeing posts from people that were looking to help by shopping for what was needed and asking for lists of what to buy and where to take it and seeing posts by donation centers that were setup around the valley and seeing emails from friends trying to help get the word out with pleas for help to manage the daily emails they wanted to send out to everyone, Project A saw another gap and stepped in to ﬁll it.

DonationConnection.org is for both the donation center manager and the helper that wants to know when ever the donation center posts a need.

As a list subscriber - you choose which lists you want to receive emails from when ever they update their needs list.

It’s very easy to use as a donation center and super easy to sign up for emails from the donation centers you want.

As the manager of a donation center, it’s easy to manage your list of needs by just tapping yes or no on the item and pressing send to send an email to everyone that subscribed to your list.

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SOUTHERN OREGON FIRES

Angelique Mcnaughton Regional Communications GoFundMe

In the wake of a natural disaster or crisis, it’s not uncommon for someone to turn to GoFundMe.

I sent an email to GoFundMe asking about donations after the ﬁre and this is their reply. — Jim

I’d like to start off by saying that our hearts go out to everyone impacted by the devastating wildﬁres in southern Oregon and across the state.

When the fires first broke out, the GoFundMe Trust & Safety Team briefed officials in Oregon on the steps the company takes to protect donors and recipients, including the GoFundMe Guarantee which ensures funds raised on GoFundMe go to the right place.

In the wake of a natural disaster or crisis, it’s not uncommon for someone to turn to GoFundMe. GoFundMe monitors the platform around the clock for all new fundraisers created to help victims, families, and communities.

I’d like to direct you to the centralized hub GoFundMe created in response to the wildfires which identifies the verified fundraisers that have been created to help those who have been impacted. The hub includes hundreds of fundraisers for those who were

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impacted by the Almeda fire in Ashland, Talent and Phoenix and makes it easier for people to find, share, and donate. gofundme.com/c/act/oregonfires

Additionally, we also launched a Wildﬁre Relief Fund, donations to which will be issued as grants to individuals, organizations, and communities that have either

been impacted themselves or are dedicated to helping those affected by wildﬁres.

More broadly, we’ve seen thousands of fundraisers created in response to the recent ﬁres across California, Oregon, and Washington. Hundreds of thousands of donors have generously raised over $25 million to support those affected.

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SOUTHERN OREGON FIRES

By Jim Teece Southern Oregon Business Journal Publisher jim@SouthernOregonBusiness.com I live in Ashland and was working when the fires broke out, from my home office as were all my employees at Project A, because of COVID and we are programmers and engineers, so working from home is easy. I first found out about the fire via a Facebook alert. Over the next several days, I got all my updates from FB and texts from friends and family. I know this is a business journal but these fires hit too close to home. 3 of my employees lost their homes. Countless friends and acquaintances lost their homes. Many small businesses that I support burned to the ground. So this section will be a reposting of sorts of news and updates from FB posts. I don’t even know how to format this. I’ll try to keep it in a timeline. It’s important to keep in mind as well that I own Ashland Home Net and Rogue Broadband and keeping the internet up was important so I had to balance that with caring for my employees and friends. Once the realization of how lucky we were in Ashland and unlucky they were in Talent in Phoenix the story changes. After I felt we had the network up and running I focused on the disaster. Not just for my employees and friends but the entire community.

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“Talent and Phoenix are gone Jim”

This is post-event story telling which might be hard to follow and if your friends on FB, it’s a recap of much you already saw. I’ll also include photographs from friends and people that posted photos (and gave me permission to include here). They were the eyes and boots on the ground for me while I did what I could from my home ofﬁce.

only needed a small fire to turn into a horrific one. My first alert came in from my friend Tony and his wife Robin Akpan. They started live streaming about a fire near their home.

We were told by the national weather service that high winds and low humidity were the perfect firestorm system and to be on alert. The winds were so strong that trees were blown over on roads. Here is a photo I took from the car while trying to drive to the office. This was the day before the fire.

Having 3 businesses in Ashland, I told my wife that we needed to be ready to evacuate employees to safety and also prepare for internet outages.

On September 8th, the conditions were the same. A hot day with high winds of 40 MPH were blowing and very low humidity created the mix that

I started keeping an eye on the Akpan posts because they were live streaming during the whole thing. I searched other sources for info and couldn’t ﬁnd anything, so Tony’s posts were my best news feed. He was the embedded reporter.

They were driving back to their house to make sure they could protect it in case the ﬁre started toward it.

Meanwhile, Brandon, my network engineer at Project A, lives and was working from him home in Talent.

By 2PM the ﬂames had made it to Tony's fence line. They were pulling water from the jacuzzi with buckets trying to douce the ﬂames.

He saw the writing on the wall and evacuated to a mutual friends farm guest house near Jacksonville. Then the power went out at the farm house and he was running on battery. Then other employees started evacuating, because they were being told to. Immediately. I was getting updates from each as they ﬂed as best they could but it was chaos on the roads. When they got to the house, Tony jumped on the roof to protect it with the hose. He was live streaming the whole time and his audience grew of fearful and concerned friends.

I downloaded a police scanner app and started listening to the chaos as the calm dispatchers were trying to get ﬁre departments to the ﬁre and police to the evacuation areas. I have never listened to the scanners before and it was amazing how calm everyone stayed and yet how frantic it was.

By this time, I knew it was too late and my heart sank for them and I just wanted them to get to safety. At 4pm we had power outages and internet service interruptions so I headed into the ofﬁce to coordinate. This is our standard operating procedure. What I didn’t know was that I5 had been closed and everyone was diverted into Ashland. The roads were clogged with people coming off the freeways and many had made it out to our ofﬁce, some 3 miles from the freeway offramp. My parking lot was full of trucks and cars when I got there.

Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 47

Not understanding the scope of the issue and seeing all the people that were prepared to sleep in their cars in our parking lot, my wife and I opened our home and fed the stranded travelers.

I saw some friends that are in the fair food business and they couldn’t get home, so they thought they could spend the night in our parking lot. I had to coordinate getting the internet stable and focused on that the best I could. We got very lucky that we had access to internet techs that were on the south side of the valley and deployed them to divert the internet traffic south away from the fire. This move saved us as the fire raged out of control all night and melted fiber lines along its path northbound. I received my first alert from the county that something was going on.

I was focused on barbecuing for a now very full house (my sister’s adult children and their cats evacuated to our house as well) of friends, family and strangers.

I serve on the Rogue Valley Manor board. All the residents had to be evacuated. I had a sense of helplessness and didn’t sleep well that night.

I didn’t have access to FB or news during this and I didn’t know how bad things were getting.

When I awoke and saw the aftermath of what happened I was stunned.

At some point in the night, my sister showed up. I offered her a drink and a hug and that’s when she told me “Talent and Phoenix are gone Jim”.

I spent the morning reaching out to employees, friends, clients and community leaders.

I didn’t understand. I texted Brandon and he said he was ok, but he believed his house was gone. I texted Madeline and she told me her house was gone. I texted Collin and didn’t get a reply. I serve on the Jackson County Fair Board and knew the Expo would become an evacuation center. It’s at the other end of the valley, so I couldn’t get there to help with I5 closed. I knew Helen and her amazing team would have it under control.

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Somehow, Steve, my sisters husband was able to get refugees that were at Ashland High School all day from Ashland to the Expo by taking backroads with ﬁres burning all around him.

I spent time on Facebook looking for anyone that was needing help to provide help and finding ways to get them the help they needed. The expo had over 2,000 refugees that first night, sleeping in cars and on cots. Animals where housed in emergency pens setup by the FFA and 4H families. The next few days are a blur. I didn’t sleep or eat well and did everything I could to find relief and support for anyone that needed it and we needed to keep the internet working. The fire wiped out internet for Phoenix, Talent and Ashland if you were on Charter/Spectrum. Our service on the Ashland Fiber

Network survived the fire storm. Rogue Broadband was still up but needed some repair. My team was on it and had us back to full service in a few hours. We got lucky. 3 employees lost their homes but they were ok. I focused on their needs. I didn’t hear from Collin but saw a post from him playing music in the ashes of his home, so I knew he was ok. The chaos of love and support that flowed toward all those in need was overwhelming. It felt like a firehose. Paul Steele created a system for person to person need exchange and we launched it as soon as we could. We stood up free hot spots for people so that they could sit in their car and check email, file claims, let people know they were ok, or just watch a movie on Netflix. The outpouring of support has been very heartwarming. There are groups focused on helping the massive number of undocumented living in Phoenix. I have never been in a disaster before and I am learning as we go. We focused on helping those in need with immediate shelter, food and clothing until the relief efforts came from the Red Cross

and FEMA. It took them over a week to get here. Once the immediate needs were being taken care of, I focused on short term housing. Brandon will stay in Andrews guest house for a while and we re-homed Madeline, her boyfriend and their 3 dogs into a rental Dena and I had available. Sadly Collin was overwhelmed by the loss of the ﬁre, quit his job and is moving out of the area. We are working hard to ﬁnd housing for everyone, so that they won’t leave the area. The valley needs every employee we have. I serve on the People’s Bank Board and we had voted to donate $1 Million to the relief efforts. The employees added $250,000 to that by forgoing their bonuses for the year. The employee fund was earmarked for hotel rooms and the bank has started working on immediate short term housing projects.

The Southern Oregon Entrepreneur to Entrepreneur group has come together to provide help from the small business community side. I’m ﬁnding people online that help other people and I offer my help to them. One of them, she doesn’t want to be named right now, manages lists of needs every day for different centers around the valley and email blasts the needs to others to get them taken care of. The process was hard and cumbersome for her so we wrote an app to help her. DonationConnection.org It’s the best I can do right now. It’s going to take years to rebuild and I don’t have all the answers, but I know we will rebuild and come out better and stronger on the other side. Current Aftermath Estimates: 42,000 people displaced

The Manor residents raised over $200,000 for the employees impacted by the ﬁre. The Rogue Credit Union raised over $1 million from other credit unions and members. I have been in meetings with the Red Cross and FEMA and learning as such as I can so that I can help in the long recovery process.

4,000 suddenly homeless with an immediate need for shelter and food At some local schools, nearly 70% of families have lost their homes. 2,300+ residential structures burned (homes, mobile homes, apartments) Hundreds of Businesses Destroyed.

Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 49

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SOUTHERN OREGON FIRES

via Press Release Hunterfiber.com

Hunter Communications Oﬀers FREE Internet to Southern Oregon Business Customers Devastated by Wildﬁres in Phoenix and Talent

Hunter will provide free ﬁber broadband internet connectivity to help businesses recover

restoring and replacing 2,000 strand miles of ﬁber to keep ﬁrst responders and the communities connected.”

September 30, 2020

What You Need To Know about FREE Business Internet in Talent and Phoenix, Oregon

MEDFORD, OR – Communications network connectivity is critical to first responders and utility crews on the frontlines battling the wildfires across Oregon and the western United States. The internet is also a vital function for those companies who suffered staggering losses as they endeavor to remain viable and start rebuilding. To help businesses in two southern Oregon towns where some of the state’s worst destruction due to the wildfires occurred, Hunter Communication s (Hunter), a provider of fiberoptic communications services in southern Oregon and northern California, is offering 3-months of FREE fiber broadband internet to businesses in Phoenix and Talent, Oregon. “Our customers and communities are part of our families. We support each other to get through these devastating times,” said Michael Wynschenk, CEO of Hunter Communications. “I also want to thank our Hunter Heroes – our selfless crews and employees who have worked practically nonstop on the front lines,

Hunter business customers – free business ﬁber internet for the remainder of 2020. Businesses in Talent and Phoenix who are not Hunter customers are eligible to receive 3 months of free business internet services if their services are installed by 12/15/20 Eligible zip codes: 97535 and 97540 Hunter’s high-speed ﬁber internet: Speeds up to 1Gb Download/ 1Gb Upload speeds: For additional information on Hunter’s business internet offering, please call 1-541-414-1111.

David M Lyman, Executive Director of Lyman Communications, providing remote communications services worldwide: “I just want to thank you again for the outstanding support and the rapid response Hunter Fiber has provided to us for the wildﬁre support in Oregon, not only this year, but for previous years as well.

Our company, Lyman Communications, has been providing communication services for the U.S. Forest Service for over 35 years, with emphasis on providing high speed internet. In those 35 years, I have never found a company that has been more helpful in every aspect of rapid response, providing information and high-speed internet, than Hunter. It is a very good feeling to know that I can call on Hunter every time we have a fire incident and to know that Hunter will respond immediately. Hunter is always most willing to either provide information on who I need to speak with, if it is out of Hunter territory, or advise me as to what locations have Hunter fiber so I can connect our microwave radio equipment to enable transmission from that fiber connection directly to fire camp. This has saved thousands of dollars for the U.S. Forest Service and has provided a valuable service to the fire fighters themselves. Because of the internet speeds that Hunter is able to provide, we not only deliver internet, but telephone lines and cellular service where previously none existed. I cannot thank you enough for what you do.”

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SOUTHERN OREGON FIRES

Hunter Heroes Restore Fiber Broadband to Local Communities  Amid Southern Oregon Wildﬁres

via Press Release Hunterfiber.com

Keeping first responders and communities connected; 71,298 feet of fiber restored within 13 days; Almeda Fire, South Obenchain Fire, Table Rock Fire September 30, 2020 MEDFORD, OR. -- Hunter Communications (Hunter) would like to recognize the extraordinary efforts of Hunter crews and employees, many of whom have worked virtually around-the-clock, in restoring critical fiber broadband connectivity to areas devastated by the Almeda, South Obenchain and Table Rock Fires in southern Oregon.

monitoring the ﬁres and getting assessments from our crews – where they were, making sure they were safe. We started calculating distances, preparing to get everything back up quickly. The next morning we headed back to Jackson County. We were in the truck that Wednesday morning when my co-worker (Brian) got the news that his house was gone. I wanted him to take time off, but he said he would

“Most of the time we worked until 11-12 at night. We just didn’t stop. “

Jim Lamp, Hunter Communications VP of Construction, was in Eureka, California on Tuesday, September 8th, when he started getting word that fires had started in Ashland and were spreading rapidly, heading south. “We were getting alerts. Customers were going down in the Talent, Oregon area. At the same time, we were monitoring another fire in the Eagle Point, Oregon area. And while we were looking at what we needed to replace, we were watching the news in amazement at how fast the fire was burning.” “A co-worker and I were up late that night in Eureka (CA)

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be back to work at 6 p.m. Wednesday night.” The Hunter Hero crews working the wildfires put up 71,298 feet of fiber over 14 days, from September 9 – 23. Normally to repair that amount of fiber would take 23 normal working days. “Most of the time we worked until 11-12 at night. We just didn’t stop. You drink water when you can, eat when you can. Maybe take a double lunch. Eat breakfast around 6 a.m., and try to wait as long as you can to eat lunch. Around 4 or 5 o’clock, sometimes

6, you eat your second lunch. Then you’d go until you couldn’t go any more or because it was a good stopping point. I tried to keep our crews at 15-16 hours a day to allow enough time to get at least 4 or 5 hours of sleep. However, one day was 22 hours.” When asked to compare these fires to others he has seen over his career, Jim said: “Typically the fires that we respond to are in a forest area. You’ll have to replace maybe one or two poles. I have never seen anything like the destruction on the Almeda Fire. You’d go into an area and the whole neighborhood is gone. It was surreal. The only thing standing is the barbeque pits. That burnt plastic chemical smell is everywhere; it gets into your clothes. I’ve never seen anything like that.” “I couldn’t be more proud of the way all of our Hunter teams performed in these wildfires. They were stellar. We had an employee who lost his home, and volunteered to go back in to rebuild that community where he no longer has a home, which I think is extraordinary.” Finally, “I hope you’re somewhere there’s fresh air!”

About Hunter

SouthernOregonBusiness.com

Hunter Communications provides ultra-high-speed fiber optic broadband internet, data and voice services to business and residential customers in communities throughout southern Oregon and northern California, including 2,500 fiber-lit commercial buildings. With Gig speeds, no data caps, and competitive pricing, Hunter’s 2,000+mile fiber network is nationally recognized for performance and reliability. Hunter was recognized by BroadbandNow with four 2020 Internet Service Provider Awards, including for fastest business internet speeds in Oregon and among the top 10 nationwide. Founded in 1992, Hunter is headquartered in Medford, Oregon where the company established a legacy of service excellence and commitment to local communities. Hunter Communications was acquired in 2020 by Grain Management LLC. Additional information is available at Hunterfiber.com.

Be sure to visit SouthernOregonBusiness.com and sign up for FREE emails. We don’t spam and we do not sell your email address. We will send you an email at least once a month to let you know that our newest print version is out and available online.

Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020 | 53

THE FINAL WORD

By Jim Teece Southern Oregon Business Journal Publisher jim@SouthernOregonBusiness.com

put out a post asking for photos of the fire with permission to reprint and I was blown away at the response. After watching how the Akpan’s live streamed as they fought a losing battle against the fire to an audience of 10, I realized that everything is different now. The number of people that like our posts, or read our stories, or share our content isn’t relevant. We are all influencers. After the fire the Akpan family has been written about and interviewed more than any other family I know, about the fire and how they fought it and eventually lost their home. They are global influencers. Hopefully, as the west is burning, people in Washington DC will see that we have serious problems here on the west coast that we need to find solutions for. I added this “final word” section, because there are so many stories I didn’t get to and will add as separate articles on the site. I hesitate to do this, because you have been trained to read the journal cover to cover when it’s published. I see the stats. I can tell. Last month I started trickling articles out on social and will try that again. I’m trying to reach a wider audience and feed content all month as opposed to just in the journal. This is going to take a while to migrate from a “print” publication that came out once a month, to a living website with

54 | Southern Oregon Business Journal October 2020

Remembering Ron Fox, Learning from Paradise California, Inspired by Sid & Karen DeBoer content that is published in a timely manner. This became very apparent as we went into COVID lockdown and now with the fire. ——— So what didn’t I get to tell you about yet? Ron Fox passed away this month. I met him many years ago when he ran SOREDI. He was a big man, with a quiet personality. He led by listening and working hard in the background. I interviewed his friend, Steve Vincent and will get a bio from SOREDI soon so that I can share his life and accomplishments. I also learned that the economic leaders in our communities tend to come from the utility companies. This fact fascinated me and the more I thought about it, the more I realized how true it is. Ron retired from SOREDI a few years ago and I had not seen him since, but I heard he enjoyed fishing as much as he could the last couple of years. Leaders do retire and communities do continue to thrive without them, but they are missed and never forgotten, because of their work, love and passion for the communities they served. ——— I interviewed the folks behind RebuildParadise.org. Charles lost his home in the Paradise fire two years ago and I wanted to learn from him what he has done to rebuild the community and if he had learned lessons he wished he

knew when he started. Paradise lost 18,000 homes and we lost 2,300+ so the scale seems off, but loss is loss. They have a two year head start on the rebuild and I’ll share what I learned from him and his team. It’s fascinating. ——— Sid and Karen Deboer, of Lithia Motors fame, started a foundation a couple of years ago and during the ﬁre they quietly offered cash grants to people. They spent through the money they set aside very rapidly and it got me thinking. How do you set up a personal foundation and how does it work? Do you have to be very wealthy or can anyone do it? So I started down the path of creating one for Dena and I and I’ll share with you the process as we go through it. ——— The Southern Oregon Business Journal is my side-hustle. It’s one of many. I hope to be able to retire someday and teach classes, provide tech support to seniors and publish the journal as I travel the state, the country and the world. Thanks to all for your outpouring of love and support to our neighbors after the ﬁre. You inspire me to be a better human everyday. Until next month, Jim

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Grandma’s Spoon - “No matter what my grandma cooked, she used this spoon. It didn’t matter if it was ham or spaghetti, she told us that this spoon was what make it taste so good - that it had nothing to do with her - as long as you had this spoon, you could cook anything. I thought I had lost it forever. It’s as though it has risen from the ashes.” — Robbie Dunlop, Talent Oregon. Robbie needs your help. http://gf.me/u/yy5tx5. - Photos by Christopher Briscoe - chrisbriscoe.com