2020 Clackamas Wildland Fires: Difference between revisions

A series of large wildfires starting in mid-August 2020 and burning [[wikipedia:2020_Oregon_wildfires|throughout Oregon]] coalesced into the state's largest deployment of wildfire response resources and one of the most destructive wildfire seasons in Oregon's history. Clackamas County was particularly impacted. "The two large fires that impacted Clackamas County were the Clackamas Fire Complex (11,210 acres) and the Riverside Incident (138,054 acres, 139 structures lost and 4 injuries)."<ref>Clackamas Fire District #1. (2021). ''[https://clackamasfire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01-21-AAR-Executive-Summary-Final.pdf 2020 Fire Siege: After-Action Review]''.</ref> <span style="background:#FFFF00; color:#FFFF00">.</span><span style="background:#FFFF00">'''On request from Clackamas County Emergency Management, NET volunteers operated an evacuation center from September 11 to September 18. This deployment was the first time NETs operated independently on a large incident, covering multiple response capabilities.'''</span><span style="background:#FFFF00; color:#FFFF00">.</span> This article is an After-Action Report for the deployment.  

This after action report (AAR) focuses on the response of Portland’s Neighborhood Emergency Team (NET) volunteers to 2020’s wildfire siege of Clackamas County . Wildfires raged in Clackamas County from August to December, but (as Clackamas County is outside NET’s service district) NET volunteers responded to support Clackamas response efforts only as needed, from September 11 to September 19, 2020 .

This AAR mostly recounts NET deployment to the Clackamas Town Center evacuation site . However, NET volunteers also served briefly at other evacuation sites: the Oregon Convention Center and United Methodist in Oak Grove . '''This AAR makes observations and recommendations relevant to NET volunteers, NET Team Leaders, and NET Coordinators for future deployments and exercises.'''

[[File:P2.New York Times.jpg|alt=The Clackamas Town Center evacuation area. Photo from the New York Times.|left|thumb|350x350px|''The Clackamas Town Center evacuation area. Photo from the New York Times.'']]

Clackamas Town Center (CTC) is a shopping center at 12000 SE 82nd Avenue in unincorporated Clackamas County, managed and co-owned by Brookfield Properties Retail Group. CTC includes 1,230,000 square feet of retail space and a parking lot with 6,800 spaces. Most evacuees occupied approximately 23 .5 acres in the northeast parking lot. Inside that area, evacuees and operations were concentrated inside an area of 11.3 acres (see site map).

Representatives of The Salvation Army’s Cascade Division did not report on their capabilities for this after-action report. However, they provided critical aid to evacuees at CTC. On September 21, their public Facebook page reported their Clackamas County response to the fires (at CTC and elsewhere) included:  

==== Clackamas Town Center ====

==== Oak Grove shelter and the Oregon Convention Center shelter ====

== Appendix A: Photos ==

A few more photos of the deployment that did not go into the AAR appear in the slideshow gallery below.<gallery mode="slideshow">