2020 Clackamas Wildland Fires

A series of large wildfires starting in mid-August 2020 and burning 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)." 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. This article is an After-Action Report for the deployment.

Scope

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.

Clackamas Fire District #1 completed a more comprehensive AAR of the Clackamas Fires, available at https://clackamasfire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01-21-AAR-Executive-Summary-Final.pdf.

Methodology

Assessments were requested by participants immediately after the deployment, but the AAR was not completed until June of 2021 (COVID response delayed completion) . This AAR includes the following inputs:

• Notes from an online debriefing meeting with NET responders on 09/16/2020 (recording posted HERE and embedded on this page);
• Emails shared from NET responders regarding the incident (many of which are attached as Appendix B);
• Feedback on the first draft of the AAR from NET responders, Clackamas County staff, and PBEM staff.

Background and Timeline

Assets and Capabilities

Clackamas Emergency Management

Clackamas County activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on September 8, in response to the complex wildfire conflagration. The Operations Section within the EOC-ICS Structure established a Shelter Branch, responsible for coordinating the immediate shelter needs of evacuees . During the Clackamas Town Center (CTC) operation, the Shelter Branch was staffed by two Branch Managers, and supported by the Operations Section Chief. Partner agencies supported the EOC by providing two additional staff to supplement and support sheltering. The EOC deployed Clackamas County CERT teams to the CTC evacuation site as well, with the mission to assist evacuees in receiving resources and information. The Milwaukie CERT Team provided approximately 200 hours of service to the CTC evacuation site, and were active at other sites as well.

Portland Neighborhood Emergency Teams (Portland NET)

Portland NET is the largest CERT program by membership in the Portland Metro Area, with 2,164 active volunteers and over 29,000 volunteer hours contributed in 2020 . Traditionally, Portland NET operates only inside City of Portland city limits; deploying outside of Portland into Clackamas County was an unusual event. The Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM) manages NET, with selected PBEM staff assigned to oversee NET deployments. PBEM and NET aim to serve the community with a trauma informed perspective and lead responses with equity and inclusion first.

The depth of Portland NET’s bench of volunteers is key to its operational capacity. Not only does having a large pool of volunteers to draw from mean that NET can fill hundreds of volunteer shifts in a deployment (including overnight shifts), but also provides the deployment with a diversity of relevant expertise. For example, volunteer knowledge of disaster psychology, public outreach, administration, and command center setup and management all played critical roles in this response.

Clackamas Town Center

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).

Brookfield Manager Dennis Curtis cooperated closely with the Clackamas County EOC to allow fire evacuees to camp at the CTC parking lot and connect evacuees to services.

At all hours, CTC security routinely patrolled the areas designated to evacuees and trespassed persons stealing supplies or presenting behavior that risked re-traumatizing evacuees. CTC Security Director Tim Harrold trains the security team in compassionate and trauma-informed approaches. This training proved important to the success of the deployment when security officers engaged with evacuees and with non- evacuees on site experiencing homelessness.

Salvation Army Cascade Division

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:

• Served Meals: 21,898
• Snacks: 13,969
• Drinks: 16,229
• Home Delivered Meals: 9,185
• Food Boxes: 1,811
• Emotional & Spiritual Care: 1,932

Background: Clackamas County Fires

On September 7, 2020, extreme heat and wind events caused major power outages and evacuation orders for areas of Clackamas County. With 15 wildland fires burning, Clackamas County declared a state of emergency on September 8. By that point, response professionals had already evacuated approximately 1,500 Clackamas County residents under Level 3 evacuation orders (“Go!”).

Clackamas County opened many evacuation sites for residents fleeing the conflagrations. By September 9, the Clackamas County EOC recognized Clackamas Town Center (as well as the Gladstone Seventh Day Adventist camp and several other sites) as an evacuation site for families in recreational vehicles (RVs) and fifth wheelers. Persons without RVs were directed to other evacuation locations. Clackamas County stood down the evacuee site ten days later at 1230 hours on September 18.

NETs were placed on standby to assist with shelter operations on September 10, at 15:38, at the request of Multnomah County (working to aid Clackamas County). NETs arrived at Clackamas Town Center at 13:45 on September 11.

The original intent was for NET volunteers to be on site twenty-four hours. However, overnight professional security hired by the State of Oregon began taking shifts the night of September 14, obviating the need for a NET presence at the evacuation site from 10 PM to 6 AM the next morning. NETs completed their last shift at CTC at 19:30 on September 17, and their last shift in Clackamas (at the Oak Grove evacuation center) at 0400 on September 19.

Volunteers took a count of CTC evacuee campsites each day they deployed (the September 12 census was later lost). A typical camp included two to five people and pets. Campsite numbers at CTC were:

TABLE TABLE TABLE

Overview of the Portland NET Response

Clackamas Town Center

• 24 operational periods (including two overnight) between 13:45 on 09/11 and 19:30 on 09/18.
• Total of 143 shifts, filled by 113 NET volunteers.
• Average shift duration was four hours and 45 minutes (except overnight shifts, which were about twelve hours long).
• NET volunteers logged a total of 668 volunteer hours responding at Clackamas Town Center.
• When deployed via Everbridge, NETs filled almost all shifts inside 30 minutes, and on average NETs filled all available shifts four minutes after the Everbridge message reached them.

• Clackamas County Emergency Management directed NET volunteers to complete the following mission objectives:
  • Set up Incident Command Center on site at Clackamas Town Center (CTC);
  • Act as lead coordinator on site at CTC, and the touchstone for the evacuees there;
  • Act as main point of contact for people at CTC to get information and be referred to available resources;
  • Refer immediate concerns back to the Joint Information Center (JIC);
  • Call into the Donations and Volunteer briefings;
  • Coordinate donations (i.e. turning away donations still being dropped off, coordinating pick up of donations on site with local food pantries);
  • Monitor sanitary conditions;
  • Monitor safety and security concerns;
  • Attend Just-In-Time training as needed;
  • Direct and distribute resources on site.

Oak Grove shelter (United Methodist) and the Oregon Convention Center Red Cross shelter

• 13 shifts (most of them night or overnight shifts).
• 87 volunteer hours
• Shelter operators assigned general shelter responsibilities to NET volunteers.

Overall, the response at the evacuation site went well and proved a valuable experience for participating NETs. That NETs succeeded in a scenario PBEM never specifically trained them for demonstrated the high value of preparing NETs to problem solve creatively inside accepted response frameworks and roles.

Card handed to evacuees at the Clackamas Town Center before the evacuation center closed.