This story is part of KLCC's coverage of the five-year anniversary of Oregon's historic Labor Day wildfires.
Five years after the devastating Labor Day Fires, Oregon’s deputy emergency manager says the state is better equipped to handle disasters.
Patence Winningham was Lane County’s Emergency Manager when the Holiday Farm Fire tore through the McKenzie River corridor in September 2020, destroying hundreds of homes and much of the community of Blue River.
As a local to the area, she was on the phone with her friends that night telling them to evacuate. Now, she tells KLCC, there’s a system in place to alert people.
“The alert and warning tools that we use now, Everbridge, or OR-alert,” she said. “The state really stepped up and bought that and pushed it out for free to all counties to use. That built resilience and redundancy so that counties can support one another, that didn’t exist before.”
She said during the Labor Day Fires, everyone had different systems. Having a statewide system allows counties to help each other.
“That built relationships across county lines,” she said.
Winningham said there’s also a better mapping zone to inform the public about whether they’re in a Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3.
She said emergency responders are much better at determining those designations.
"That, I think, has really helped us. And will help us in the future,” she said.”I think it’s important that the general public know that the people that are charged with this advanced planning are your emergency managers, whether they’re at the county, city, or a utility. Those are the people that are really thinking through the what if.”
Winningham said it’s still up to individuals to sign up for those alerts and to prepare for disaster– whether it’s a wildfire, ice storm, tsunami or something else.
“Spending time as an individual to be prepared. To know where to get your information, who to trust, who you’re hearing from," she said. “And pack a bag. Just being informed will help you as a community member but it will also help emergency managers.”
