Southern Oregon wildfires wipe out entire neighborhoods in Phoenix and Talent – Ontario Argus Observer

Jannie Ledard was home when police knocked at the door Tuesday morning.

Get out as quickly as possible, they told her.

Outside, dark clouds gathered in the distance. The sky was turning black.

Ledard, 82, rushed out, leaving everything behind.

It came like a huge wave, she said, sitting in front of the charred remains of her home of 10 years.

Within hours, everything Ledard owned was reduced to ash.

The ferocious Almeda fire, fueled by strong winds, sped north from Ashland and within hours decimated the small Jackson County communities of Talent and Phoenix, which lie just a few miles apart along Oregon 99 between Ashland and Medford.

The power remains out in both towns. Drinking water is shut off. They are effectively shut down.

Officials in Phoenix estimate the fire torched 1,000 residences, a mix of mobile or manufactured homes, apartments and homes. To the south in Talent, city leaders figure as many as 600 homes were lost.

In all, leaders say more than 2,000 residents, many of them elderly and low-income, lost their homes this week.

Rich Tyler of the Oregon State Fire Marshals Office confirmed Thursday evening two people had died from the Almeda fire one body was found Wednesday morning and one Wednesday evening. He said both deaths are under investigation.

We have no word on casualties, said Sandra Spelliscy, Talent city manager. We are just starting to get calls about I am worried about my mom, I havent heard from her. I suspect because of the severity of the fire and how quickly it moved that we are going to find that we lost some folks.

Swaths of the two towns, which combined have a population of about 11,000, were burned beyond recognition.

The fire started late Tuesday morning in Ashland and whipped north following Bear Creek. Manufactured home parks along or near the creek were hit particularly hard.

Where whole neighborhoods once stood, only gray ash remains.

It reminds me of the time I spent in Iraq, said Phoenix City Manager Eric Swanson, a U.S. Air Force veteran.

The fire left a haphazard trail of damage. Some streets and neighborhoods sit untouched. Others disintegrated to piles of ash.

Phoenix Mayor Chris Luz said his house remains standing.

The home next to mine is gone, he said. The 22 homes next to that are gone as well and when I say gone, I mean burned to the ground.

Swanson said the extent of the loss is incalculable.

People not only had possessions ... they had memories, life experiences, families, those kinds of things that were attached to these places, he said.

Dozens of businesses, many of them mom-and-pop places, like barber shops and taverns, were destroyed.

On a drive along Oregon 99, the artery that forms the commercial heart of both towns, Luz pulled over in front of Pucks Donuts. The shop was gone, its cheerful pastel-colored sign the only thing left.

This is the best donut shop in the county, Luz said. Its a place where people gather and have coffee and donuts.

Acres of land are now covered in charred remnants of entire neighborhoods. Cars were melted into the streets. Burned frames of stoves and washing machines marked the spots where kitchens and laundry rooms once stood. Lawn ornaments, like small stone Buddhas and frogs, were all that remained of front lawns and backyard gardens.

Peggy Raymond, 67, returned Thursday to Bear Lake Estates, the manufactured home park she called home for two decades.

Its totally leveled, she said, her hands still shaking from the sight.

She was at Harry & David, where she works as a fruit packer, when the fire broke out and couldnt get home in time to save her beloved dogs, Fritz and Cuddles.

She lost everything, she said. Her only possessions left: the clothes she had on when she left for work Tuesday and her car.

A week and a half ago, she canceled her home insurance because she could no longer afford it.

I have absolutely nothing, she said.

Acrid air still hung heavy across the region as wildfires continued to burn in Northern California and in southern Oregon.

Statewide, an unprecedented rash of wildfires has burned nearly 900,000 acres and prompted widespread evacuations.

About 3,000 firefighters are working the blazes, which stretch from southern Oregon to Clackamas County. Tens of thousands of Oregon residents have been forced to flee their homes. The five largest fires are each 5% contained or less.

An arson investigation is underway where human remains were found, the Ashland police chief said Thursday.

Ledard also returned Thursday to the spot where her home once stood. She sat down as her granddaughter, Eavy Barbieux, 23, carefully sifted through the fine ash for traces of her grandmothers belongings.

Her hands gloved, Barbieux reclaimed a single earring, a mug her brother made, two cast-iron skillets and a dish the color of daffodils ordinary household items that now seem like small treasures.

Thats all that was left.

We had five minutes to pack, her grandmother said, looking on, so we didnt pack anything.

Jayati Ramakrishnan of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.

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Southern Oregon wildfires wipe out entire neighborhoods in Phoenix and Talent - Ontario Argus Observer