Red Cross volunteers reflect on work at Warm Springs, Ore., fire

It was Tammy Sullivan’s first national-level deployment with the Red Cross when she arrived in Warm Springs, Ore., on Aug. 14 to help with the shelter set up ahead of a raging wildfire in the area.

Sullivan, from Vancouver and retired, set up cots, cleaned, unclogged toilets, cooked, helped out displaced people — whatever needed doing.

“That was the hardest thing I think I’ve ever done,” Sullivan said.

Among the handful of volunteers from the regional Red Cross chapter sent around Oregon in response to wildfires, three were from Vancouver. They said the work they did and the time they got to spend with the locals made their deployment to the Warm Springs Indian Reservation a deployment unlike any other.

The shelter the Red Cross set up in Warm Springs had to move twice that week.

The County Line 2 Fire burned close enough to where the shelter was in town the Red Cross employees had to evacuate, she said.

Many in town and at the shelter, which was in the local community center, stayed behind; Sullivan said the Red Cross’ rules required the volunteers to leave.

The shelter temporarily moved down to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Madras, Ore. It later returned to Warm Springs then, shortly after, closed down when the need subsided.

Since sparked Aug. 12, the fire has grown to almost 103 square miles, and was 72 percent contained as of Friday. More than 500 people were fighting the fire, which has destroyed a handful of homes.

The blaze started as a series of fires along U.S. Highway 26 and was likely human-caused. It remains under investigation.

Richard Wing also helped with relief efforts in Warm Springs that week. He’s a retired registered nurse, and he’s trained to help with clients’ medical issues through the Red Cross.

Wing has been on two national-level deployments since moving to Vancouver from California last spring, and was in New York City following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The trip to Warm Springs was a bit unusual, he said.

Normally, the Red Cross will provide supplies and food, he said. In this case, the tribe came together to provide a lot of emergency supplies, so Wing and the other volunteers cooked and worked around the shelter, and with community members in need.

“Everybody seemed to be related to everyone, so there was a lot of family support, extended family, and tribal support, as well,” he said. “They were so willing, no matter what the situation was, to share anything that they have.”

Wildfires are fairly common in the area.

“It was almost a matter-of-fact thing,” Sullivan said. “They didn’t like it, but they know how to deal with it.”

Jannette Huber, another one of the volunteers, said classes and other community center activities continued as normal.

The shelter housed a handful of people. Others who were displaced likely found a friend or family member to live with, she said, but the shelter served many more than just those who needed temporary housing.

Many others came to see and support each other at the shelter, she said.

Huber, who is also retired, worked as the shelter supervisor, and later the manager.

Huber had previously been deployed to Oso as a case worker for people who lost their homes. Before that, she did disaster assessments after Hurricane Isaac.

The days at the shelter were long, she said.

During peak times, the shelter volunteers were feeding hundreds of people per meal.

“It was four days. It felt like eight.”

Sullivan said she and the others helping in the shelter learned how to make some traditional Native American meals.

The shelter guests kept requesting one particular meal, Sullivan said.

“We had no idea what it was. … It was a secret recipe. They wouldn’t tell us what it was, but we had to make it,” Sullivan said. “Basically, it was salmon chowder.”

Another time, Sullivan worked with an older man to make frybread.

This man had been making frybread his whole life, Sullivan said, and there he was, sitting right next to her, chatting, helping her out and teaching her how it’s done.

“What an experience that was. And you’re helping the whole time, with the people,” Sullivan said. “You’re talking and getting to know them. It was wonderful.”

Huber said she enjoyed seeing the rural area’s slower pace of life and meeting new people. She even picked up how to do a little beading.

“Everybody would help each other. They’re really a tight community, and it shows,” she said. “I enjoyed the clients the most.”

Working with clients was the most important piece of the work, Sullivan said.

“Telling them how resilient they are and they can get through it. I think that’s the message the Red Cross wants to send, and it’s a very good message, I think,” she said.

The Red Cross closed the shelter Aug. 21.

“As we were leaving, they were doing some drumming over in the park,” Wing said. “They said they were drumming us out.”

Wing said he goes back on call for national deployments starting next week.

“I’ve already been told to be prepared to go somewhere,” he said.