To read local coverage of the Sisters-area fires, go here.
The following transcript was generated using automated transcription software for the accessibility and convenience of our audience. While we strive for accuracy, the automated process may introduce errors, omissions, or misinterpretations. This transcript is intended as a helpful companion to the original audio and should not be considered a verbatim record. For the most accurate representation, please refer to the audio recording.
Michael Dunne: I'm Michael Dunne. We're living in a time when wildfires in Oregon are no longer just a threat to our beautiful wilderness areas. We're also living in a time when these wildfires are no longer just a threat to tiny rural communities. Recently, Sisters, Oregon, faced such a threat. No one is going to confuse Sisters with a metropolis, but make no mistake: The recent fires there posed a true and dangerous risk to thousands of people living in that area. Today on the show, you'll hear from someone who witnessed it all and chronicled the scene for his community: the editor-in-chief of the Nugget newspaper in Sisters. Then, at the end of the show, we'll check in with our reporter about a quirky event in Corvallis that's part race and part art exhibit.
Dunne: Jim Cornelius, editor-in-chief of the Nugget Newspaper in Sisters. Jim, thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with us.
Jim Cornelius: My pleasure.
Dunne: So, why don't you just give us a general overview of the situation in Sisters right now?
Cornelius: Right now, we're on a glide path to being done with the immediate impacts of the Akawa Butte fire. The situation is well in hand, and it's actually a bluebird day in Sisters. It's beautiful. There's no smoke, and conditions are much improved from where they were a week ago.
Dunne: How bad was it? How bad was the air quality and the level of smoke around Sisters just a few days ago?
Cornelius: We've seen worse air quality due to the prevailing winds. We were not as negatively impacted by smoke with this fire as we were with last year's Flat Fire, and as we have been with other fires, even ones that were not in the immediate area. The threat and the impact of this fire was less in terms of smoke impacts than it was a direct threat to the community.
Dunne: How close did the fire come to the central part of town?
Cornelius: The fire never got closer than about 5 miles from town, maybe a little less than that. But last Wednesday, the 22nd, in the afternoon, the fire was moving so fast, the intensity of the fire was so great, and it was so erratic that the possibility it would make it all the way to town was a very real one. This is the first time in my memory that we've had actual evacuation Level 1 notices in town, which was startling to a lot of the community. We felt vulnerable in Sisters proper in a way that we have not in past fires. Wednesday was, as the firefighters described it, fast and furious. It was really touch and go for a while, and the subdivisions to the north of us were under very acute threat.
Dunne: What kind of damage are we talking about in terms of acreage or any structures that were burned? Can you give us a sense of the damage this fire caused between Wednesday and now?
Cornelius: There are two confirmed losses of homes in the Stevens Canyon area to the north of us. The fire is a little over 27,000 acres. Our reporters who were out on the line Friday came back with footage that shows some areas were very severely burned and others less so, which is normal in wildfires. On Wednesday, the fire posed a significant threat to homes along Wilt Road and Indian Ford Road here in Sisters. I had friends out on Indian Ford Road who were not at all confident their houses would survive, but they did.
Dunne: That's great to hear. A lot of us who live on the west side of the Cascades are familiar with the central district of Sisters, but can you give us more context: How far-flung are residents, and which areas of town were really in the teeth of this fire?
Cornelius: The fire was coming from the north of us and the northeast. There are a number of rural residential subdivisions to the north of us. I couldn't give you a number on the residences, but there are thousands of them. Many of the houses are just out in the forest, but mainly these are rural subdivisions with acre, two-acre lots, some smaller than that. All the way out on Wilt Road, Whychus Canyon Estates is out there. They were under immediate threat from the Flat Fire last year.
Dunne: Wow.
Cornelius: So there are a lot of folks who live out there to the north, and they were under threat two years in a row, a very significant threat.
Dunne: Talk a little about the mood in town, both what it felt like when it was touch and go on Wednesday, and now, when things seem better.
Cornelius: On Wednesday, the 22nd, the word I kept hearing from everyone, and the word I would use to characterize the circumstances, was apocalyptic. It was extremely dark. There was a pyrocumulus cloud from the fire, so it was creating its own weather. You could see lightning in the smoke column. A thunderstorm was coming in, so there was that charged feeling in the air, and the fire was really on the march. There was no fighting that fire. They had to pull crews away from it for their own safety. From about 3:30 to probably about 6 or 6:30, it really felt apocalyptic, and that's the word many people used. The incident commander referred to it as Armageddon stuff, and that's the way it felt. The rain we got from that thunderstorm, and the winds out of the south, felt providential. We felt like we had really dodged a bullet, and it went from that feeling of doom to, I think we're going to make it. Then Thursday, we had two days of hot temperatures and pretty stiff winds, but it wasn't blowing the fire directly at Sisters anymore, and people started to feel like we were getting past the crisis point. By the weekend, we were all feeling pretty good and just a lot of relief, but there's a lot of fatigue too, because this keeps happening.
Dunne: Have you spoken with folks who had to leave their homes under evacuation orders? If so, what did they say? Hopefully they were able to return and see that their houses weren't destroyed. Have you had a chance to talk with folks like that?
Cornelius: Yes. On a professional basis, we've talked to evacuees. But as I mentioned earlier, I have friends who were evacuated, a number of them. For some of them, this is the second year in a row they've been evacuated, and they weren't sure they were going to come home to a standing house. They were brave about it. There was a level of resignation, especially on that Wednesday when it looked pretty bad, but also hopefulness. They certainly put a lot of trust in the firefighting effort, because last year in the Flat Fire, the structure protection units really did heroic work in saving homes. So there was a high level of confidence in the firefighters. It was a mixture of resignation and hopefulness, which is kind of odd, but that's the nature of it. They're all back now, and certainly feeling relieved. But like I said, there's a tremendous amount of fatigue from living like this.
Dunne: It's still July. Beyond fatigue, is there anxiousness about still having August and September to go through?
Cornelius: I think people are enjoying feeling a little sense of relief, and like I said, today is just a beautiful day. There seems to be a relaxation of the tension people were carrying for the better part of two weeks. But everyone is aware there's still a lot of fire out there. There are fires to the north of us at Warm Springs that bear paying attention to, and the fires off to the east of us. Yesterday, the plume from the Brewer Fire was clearly visible from Sisters. So we're all aware we could be back in the bucket again: another thunderstorm, or something going sideways with any of the multitude of fires to the north of us. It's a wary optimism, kind of a deep breath, but nobody's taking for granted that we're done with this.
Dunne: I want to ask you personally: You described having friends who had to evacuate. Talk about the challenge of being both a chronicler of what's going on as editor-in-chief of the newspaper, and also being concerned for your own safety, your house, and your reporters who are out there. Talk a little about having both feet in it: having a job to do to tell this story, but also having a town you're very concerned about.
Cornelius: I see my role, in terms of my own family, friends, and the staff at the newspaper, as being a calm leader and not stoking up any sort of panic. We've had a plan, as everyone who lives here should, for what we would do, where my family would evacuate to, where we would go if we had to evacuate the newspaper, and how we would put out a newspaper under those conditions. You just have to maintain an even keel and work the problem methodically. I've been doing this for so long that the roles kind of blend together. On a personal level, it's good to have a job to do. I'd rather have a job to do than just sit and wait and watch. I know it has value, keeping the community informed, and that's a partnership with a whole bunch of people. There's a lot of information available to people now. It's always chaotic in the first days of a fire, up to the crisis point, so making sure you're providing timely and accurate information is important for everyone. That's what we try to do, and it's gratifying that it helps people. It's better than just waiting and watching.
Dunne: That actually leads to my last question, which you've pretty much answered. But again, with the state of journalism, a lot of small papers are closing. Talk about the importance of having someone who lives in the community and has ownership of the paper to give people real-time, important local information.
Cornelius: There's a level of trust that's been built up over many years with the community, and that's not something we take lightly. It's changed over the years. Most of our fire coverage was on Facebook, frankly, just pushing out information as quickly as we got it, because that's where most people were looking for it. Our print edition this week is more of a chronicle of a community under threat, with a variety of feature articles that explain how things worked in the fire, which I think is of interest to people. But we're not breaking news with the weekly newspaper, by any stretch of the imagination. So you have to toggle between being a real-time information provider and a chronicler of the life of the community. I think we did a good job of both of those things.
Dunne: He is the editor-in-chief of the Nugget Newspaper in Sisters, Jim Cornelius. Jim, thank you so much for taking time to talk with us.
Cornelius: Thanks for reaching out. Appreciate it.
Dunne: Let's check in with Macy Moore about her story on a very quirky race in Corvallis. Macy, glad to see you. Thanks for coming in.
Macy Moore: Thanks for having me.
Dunne: Tell folks, I love this story, and you also captured some great photos, and we'll link to that in the show. But tell us about the Grand Kinetic Challenge.
Moore: The Grand Kinetic Challenge is a kinetic sculpture race that takes place in Corvallis every third weekend of July. A kinetic sculpture in the racing context, you might generally say, is just a sculpture that moves. In the racing context, they're more like bicycles, typically, and they're vehicles, but they also have art on them. The race director described them to me as hybrid bicycles with New Orleans-style floats on top, and I think that's a perfect way to encapsulate them, because they can be hard to describe.
Dunne: So it begs the question: Is it an art exhibit that also involves racing, or a race that also involves art?
Moore: It's a race that also involves art. I think the racing is key. It's what makes it stand out as something more than a typical weird art exhibit you would go see.
Dunne: Are there heats? Age groups? How is it put together as a race?
Moore: It's all time-based, kind of like other types of motorsports racing, where there are pilots or drivers and a pit crew. If you have to make repairs, or they go in the river for part of the race, they have to get the vehicle ready to go in the river. That's all part of your time. The people with the best time who meet all the other qualifiers win. It's a nonmotorized vehicle, typically pedaled. You have to pack everything with you. There are a bunch of different qualifiers, so it's time plus meeting those qualifiers that determines the winner.
Dunne: Roughly how long is the race?
Moore: It's two days. The exact length depends a lot on the size of your vehicle and whether you've done it before. It's split into four major challenges: There's a road race where they drive around Corvallis, then they go to the fairgrounds and go up a big sand dune, then on the second day they go to Crystal Lake Sports Park and go through a really deep bog of mud, then they float down the Willamette River.
Dunne: Describe, using your storytelling skills, what these things look like.
Moore: They look like all sorts of different things, but I'd start with a bicycle, because most of them are bike-based. Often, the people who build these have some sort of bicycle knowledge. One that comes from Philomath looks like a big bus with an inside that's all seats, with a bunch of bicycles and a bunch of people pedaling, and one person steering. There was another one that's like two bikes hooked together with a banana on top and bread loaves on the sides as sculpture. There's one that looks like a spaceship, with bikes inside, and they built a big spaceship around it with a rabbit in it.
Dunne: Is there a limit to how many people can power these vehicles? Are there different categories, like one person, 10 people?
Moore: Not really. It's competitive, but not that competitive. It's more about the community and having fun. There are so many different ways you can win awards. You can win for being the most visual or the most innovative. Sometimes there's an award that's basically the judges just really like you and think you're cool, so you get an award. There's also a best stuffed animal award: Every vehicle has a stuffed animal on it, and whichever one matches the vibe of the vehicle and the theme of the race for the year wins.
Dunne: Describe the crowd. How many people showed up? Was it a big deal?
Moore: It was a big deal, especially the first day, where the race started. But even at the mud bog, which was the second spot I went to watch, there was a ton of people lined up in their own chairs on the sides, cheering for teams. All the teams have trading cards they'll give you, and other little trinkets. There was a hot-dog-themed vehicle giving out hot dog whistles. I think people get really into it, going to get the little trinkets and root for their favorite team. There are several local teams you can root for, people you know.
Dunne: As you were watching, was there a particular vehicle that impressed you just because it could move and actually race? And, on the other hand, was there a vehicle you looked at in terms of its artistic value where you thought, wow, that is visually stunning?
Moore: The big vehicle from Philomath, the big bus, is very impressive because it's huge. It's piloted by about eight people, and if your vehicle is heavy enough, you can get extra time taken off your score. They had one girl sitting in the back who just pushed them over the weight limit, so they could get the time buffer, because they're really big, massive and slow. For artistic ability, I really liked a California team that had their vehicle as a big tiger. Every year it's a tiger, but a different themed tiger. This year it was a magical-themed tiger.
Dunne: That begs the question: You said it's from California, so this isn't just people from the surrounding area?
Moore: This is a major race circuit. The Grand Kinetic Challenge is part of the West Coast circuit. I think there are four to six races in the West Coast circuit. But you can race across the country. On the East Coast, there's a national race. It's a big community.
Dunne: Fun story, Macy. Thanks so much for coming in and talking with us.
Moore: Yeah, thank you.
Dunne: That's the show for today. All episodes of Oregon on the Record are available as a podcast at klcc.org. Monday on the show: The most prosperous and wealthy companies in Oregon also have the most employees needing to use Medicaid instead of employer-provided health care. We talked to a reporter who dug into the numbers to learn about this shocking disparity. I'm Michael Dunne, host of Oregon on the Record. Thanks for listening.
