WASHOUGAL — With a change in the winds, Wednesday was a calmer day for emergency evacuation sites in Washougal. But the people manning these sites are on standby in case wildfire conditions worsen.
About 150 evacuees from the Eagle Creek Fire that began in Oregon are staying at the American Red Cross evacuation site at the Skamania County Fairgrounds’ Hegewald Center.
“If the fire were to spread in that direction, then those people would be forced in this direction, so that’s why we’re on standby if they need to leave there,” said Samantha Wheeler, who heads The Salvation Army on I Street. “I’m praying that it will be contained and that there won’t be a need for us.”
People who were hunkering down at The Salvation Army and at Bethel Community Church in Washougal got notified late Tuesday that they could return home. Evacuation warnings were downgraded for some parts of western Skamania County as the forest fire burning on Archer Mountain moved north and east away from residences.
How to help
• Donate to the American Red Cross online at redcross.org and specify “Oregon wildfire,” which will go toward regional relief efforts, or call 1-800-RED-CROSS. Otherwise, visit the local Red Cross, which is located at 5109 N.E. 82nd Ave. in Vancouver.
• Another option for offering to volunteer or donate goods or services is to call Skamania County Emergency Management at 509-427-8076.
• Donate online to The Salvation Army at washougal.salvationarmy.org or call 1-800-SAL-ARMY.
• Friends of the Columbia River Gorge, a nonprofit grass-roots group, is collecting money for Hood River Fire & Rescue as a thank-you for rescuing hikers who were trapped at Eagle Creek. Visit gorgefriends.org/donate.
Since nobody ended up staying the night, The Salvation Army’s church was more like a day center with snacks, movies and an air-conditioned place to be out of the weather and away from the turmoil.
“Sometimes people in a disaster like this they just need to be around other people,” Wheeler said. “When our church people evacuated they just needed to talk it through.”
Wheeler first heard about the local evacuation notices from a church member and then put a notice on Facebook for volunteers to help set up an evacuation center.
“Within 15 minutes, we had 20 people here to volunteer,” Wheeler said. “We’ve got a list of about 40 people on standby to come in if need be for the shelter. We’ve got people on standby to go up with horse trailers and pull animals out.”
So far, there are plenty of supplies and volunteers. Like the Red Cross, Salvation Army members go through emergency disaster training to prepare for natural disasters wherever they might occur. The international nonprofit is currently stationed in Houston and has a five-year plan to help victims of Hurricane Harvey.
The Washougal Salvation Army is nearing its 20-year anniversary. In her tenure, Wheeler said the nonprofit has never had to respond to a disaster like this, though The Salvation Army has helped bag sand during local floods.
Bethel Community Church’s Pastor Rich Blum said the church hosted two families until they were told that they could go back home. Those people knew there might be a chance they would have to come back to the church, he said.
“We’re hoping the need doesn’t arrive for their sakes, but we’re open if it does,” Blum said.
The 300-member church helped take care of displaced animals and pets, and church members were willing to host people in their homes.
Flood of help
As Rose Jewell, Pat Clark and Michele Gregerson chatted in the Washougal Community Center, their phones were blowing up. They’ve been inundated with offers of help from people, businesses and organizations around Clark County.
“We don’t want to discourage help, but we have enough supplies and provisions right now,” said Jewell, the assistant to the mayor and city administrator. “We will let people know if we need something.”
Any surplus supplies will become part of an emergency resource center in Washougal that different organizations can pull from in case of an emergency.
After Mayor Sean Guard declared that the community center would be turned into an evacuation site, people started showing up with donations and offering to drive to Stevenson. A convoy carrying pet supplies drove from Washougal to the Skamania County Fairgrounds, the main evacuation site.
“There’s fire between here and there,” Jewell said.
The other evacuation site is in Gresham, Ore., which means those sites aren’t ideal options for residents west of the fire, Jewell said. “You can’t drive through the fire to get to the shelter, and the other location is across the river in Oregon. So, we had to have something here in Clark County.”
Wednesday was a chance to get organized and shift focus.
“We’re making hygiene packets. We’re going to start making food packets. We’ve also reached out to the police and the fire and Silver Star Search and Rescue saying that we can make bag lunches for them to take and go,” Jewell said. “Even if we don’t have evacuees here, we can support our first responders.”
Gregerson, who’s part of an outreach group at Radiant Church in Camas, said people were coordinating lodging displaced animals in their barns and pastures. People with horse trailers were parked at Safeway, ready to rescue animals in the Gorge at a moment’s notice. The Port of Camas-Washougal offered free RV camping for people in the area and ended up housing displaced travelers.
“It kind of takes your breath away and it also makes you want to go home and cry,” said Clark, who’s the volunteer coordinator for Refuel Washougal and helped gather volunteers Tuesday. “You don’t realize how many doors open when there’s a crisis.”
