Student evacuations

Tessa Hensley | Reporter

In early September, the West Coast struck ablaze with wildfires. While rapidly spreading across the region, fires caused some WSU Vancouver students to evacuate, forcing them to pack up their belongings and leave their homes for good.

Megan Tuthill, a sophomore majoring in digital technology and culture, lost her childhood home of 19 years to the riverside fire in Estacada, Oregon.

“I was not necessarily shocked because we had been evacuated my freshman year of high school for a different fire, but we found out on Tuesday, and then shortly after that is when the whole city of Estacada was evacuated,” Tuthill explained. “I think Wednesday they officially got all [of the city] evacuated.” Tuthill had moved out of her parent’s house prior to the evacuations, but stated her parents were evacuated Tuesday, and by Tuesday night, the house was gone. Neither Tuthill nor her parents could collect many belongings before evacuating but still managed to make it out safely.

“My mom was the one evacuating. I was off on Tuesday, but I did not prioritize because I did not think [the house] would burn down because the last time we evacuated it did not burn down. By the time I realized it was burning, it was too late anyway,” Tuthill said. “My mom’s strategy was helping other people. She was prioritizing other people over our stuff because that is where her values were.”

When asked what was lost in the fire, Tuthill explained what she will miss most of all are items of

sentimental value. Tuthill stated after the house burned down, she realized just how special certain things were to her, but many items were not necessarily worth saving.

“Mainly a lot of memories. The stuff is not really important in the grand scheme of things. … I was looking through pictures and I saw things that I did not realize I loved. For instance, my dad made this stupid unicorn stained glass when he was in his 20s, and it was always hanging above the couch, [but] that is gone now,” Tuthill said. “Even if we did grab things that we needed, those would not have been things that we would have wasted time grabbing in the grand scheme of things.”

After being forced to experience evacuation, Tuthill wants others to pause before placing blame, and instead think of those who have been affected by the fires.

“I think people are really quick to place blame on the governor and organizations,” Tuthill said. “When we are losing our homes and stuff, I do not think, at least for me, it does not feel good to have people just jumping to blame. … We kind of want a moment of silence. … It may be different for other people, but that is at least my perspective on it.”

Another WSU Vancouver student affected by the wildfires is Daniel Chavarin, a junior psychology major. Also located in Estacada, Oregon, Chavarin and his family were forced to evacuate, but his house did not burn down. Chavarin explained that Estacada went from being on a level one alert, which prompts people to be ready for evacuation, to an alarming level three, which means to evacuate the area as quickly as possible.

“We thought we at least had another day to pack up, get things together. We did not expect the winds to pick up that bad,” Chavarin explained. “Then, the next day, we were at level two high alert. … Then an hour later it was like, okay, level three, go, and we just had to leave a lot of the stuff behind,” Chavarin said.

Chavarin’s advice to others would be to prepare to leave as soon as an evacuation notice is initiated in your area. Chavarin stated he did not have a plan before the evacuation, and instantly had to prioritize saving irreplaceable items like his marriage certificate, his daughter’s baby items, pictures and other important documents. “Definitely plan now, regardless if you do not think that it is going to happen to you. … Start planning, start an evacuation plan, start getting things together, set up an emergency kit, put it in your car [and] leave it in your car,” Chavarin said. “We did not expect this to happen and look where we are now. We are trying to get back to normal. We are still cleaning up the ash in our house, vacuuming and cleaning and trying to get things prepared and now we are thinking we need to plan ourselves.”

To help students plan for evacuations, the Office of Student Involvement created a video on how to assemble an evacuation kit. Cambri Shanahan, recreation coordinator of the OSI office, made it her mission to help others be ready by researching necessities to include in evacuation packs.

“I guess my biggest concern was, I wanted to be sensitive to the fact that I have never had to evacuate my house. I do not know what that feels like. So you know, when I was making it, I really wanted to be sensitive to that,” Shanahan said.

Shanahan is one to keep a survival pack in her car, but she had not thought of putting together an evacuation plan or kit herself. She hopes her videos allow students to be more prepared in the future.

“Just try to plan ahead and be prepared. I mean, the more prepared we are, the better chances we are to navigate any difficult situations. So you know, I hope that these little videos can get people thinking and even for myself,” Shanahan said.

Currently, wildfires in Estacada, Oregon, have containment of 25% and Oregon’s air quality is at a good to moderate state, according to reports from The Oregonian. For more information on how to plan for evacuation, visit The City of Oregon’s Emergency Management page or view Shanahan’s evacuation video located on WSU Vancouver’s OSI Instagram page.