Page 13 - The Silver Fire

THE BLACK RANGE RAG - WWW.BLACKRANGE.ORG
A Community Reacts (Con’t)
which have been useful to displaced people.
The Forest Service personnel set up camp near Hillsboro and later moved closer to Kingston. They sometimes set up their mess at the Community Center to get out of the blowing dust and get some relief from the heat. The communities of this area tried their best to respond in kind to the kindness and thoughtfulness of the firefighters, knowing that we could not match their fortitude and willingness to step into hazardous situations but hoping we could make them as at ease as possible.
June 20, 2013
The Silver Fire - As It Happened - Part 5
A post and photographs by Susan D. Roebuck of Kingston, evacuated to Hillsboro.
More later.
The “Kingstonites” were evacuated (it was a week ago last night), but a 23,000 acre fire burns within miles of all of us—everyone is impacted. Many are still unable to carry on with normal daily routines—it can be difficult to focus. Others take the opportunity to go into high gear and
lead the volunteer work. Some manage a combination of the two. Volunteers strategized food, shelter, and places to stay, or take on familiar, comforting tasks in the Community Center kitchen. People gather on and off all day in the Hillsboro Community Center. The visiting has been enjoyable for me, and I’m sure many others. This is an event we will recall with each other years from now.
From the Incident Management Team’s ORGANIZATION Assignment List:
Incident Commander and staff: six people, nine Agency Representatives, 15 Planners, 14 in the Logistics Section, 12 in the Operations Section, and eight in the Finance Section. They showed up, they’re trained and experienced, and they know what to do. They take into consideration long- term results and outcome from this
I recognize that my pride in the community’s response may seem pollyannaish to some but with all of the warts I think it is accurate. I recognize that because we have a lot of experience helping ourselves (everything here is run by volunteers) that we may be better at it than many communities, I do not wish to diminish their efforts, only to celebrate ours.
And we thank, from the bottom of our hearts, the personnel of the US Forest Service and their sister Federal Agencies because they are doing what we could not.
IN MEMORY OF THE GRANITE MOUNTAIN HOTSHOTS
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