United Methodists Cope with Western Wildfires, Aftermath

Recovery Poses Long-Term Challenges

by

Even as hurricanes ravaged the southern United States and Caribbean islands in recent days, United Methodists in nine Western states are responding to ongoing wildfires that, like the big blows, have devastating effects that last for years, if not decades.

Scientists postulate that the same climatic change conditions that have increased the intensity of hurricanes are also behind the upsurge in wildfires. Alternating long droughts with record snowfall at higher elevations over the past four years, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Colorado have become tinderboxes that burst into flame from the smallest spark. Furthermore, wildfires generate their own micro weather systems that heighten fire danger, as a study released in July attests.

Interactive maps offered online by the non-profit Fire, Weather and Avalanche Center and the Oregon Live website of The Oregonian newspaper show millions of acres of active wildfires as of Sept. 14. The Los Angeles Times reported Sept. 12 that in 2017, “more than 24,000 firefighters have been battling 137 blazes, some for as long as six months, leaving experts shocked at the scale and duration.”

Two examples from the current spate of wildfires in Montana give some idea of the scope of the disaster. As of Sept. 12, according to NBCMontana.com, the Rice Ridge Fire located two miles northeast of Seeley Lake covered 139,502 acres, threatened some 1,719 structures, and was 33 percent contained. The Lolo Peak Fire located 10 miles southwest of Lolo, Mont., covered 51,788 acres, threatened 835 structures and had destroyed 10 structures. The Lolo fire was 46 percent contained. The state was also under a wildfire weather warning, with wind gusts as high 35 mph possible, a condition that spread the fires farther.

Here’s how United Methodists in the western states are coping with the challenges of wildfires and their aftermath.

Yellowstone Annual Conference (Montana and part of Idaho)

The Rev. Gary Haddock, disaster response coordinator for the Mountain Sky Episcopal Area that includes Yellowstone, said there’s little that Montana United Methodists can do to respond immediately because most wildfires are burning in remote wilderness areas. The Yellowstone Conference has received a $10,000 grant from the United Methodist Committee on Relief for disaster response; some money has been used to buy supplies for depleted local fire-fighting units.

“Missoula (Montana) has gone 44 days without a drop of precipitation,” Rev. Haddock said by telephone. “There were 45 fires going over this past weekend, many of them started by lightning storms. In Missoula County, the conference has helped to restock fire-fighting materials and bought livestock and fencing supplies [for burned ranches].

“In Jordan [in eastern Montana], four fires combined into one and burned down six vacation cabins. The state and county fire crews don’t have enough resources to fight every wildfire, so they concentrate on the fires that are near towns or places where people are. The area is so vast, it takes hundreds of miles to get to one fire. It’s unbelievable.”

While direct aid may not be possible, churches are helping to mitigate the fires' effects, Rev. Haddock said. One Montana church, Corvallis UMC, decided to provide people with free face masks  to help them cope with constant smoke from what’s now estimated to be a million acres of burning wilderness.

Fortunately, no United Methodist churches or related structures have been burned, said Rev. Haddock. However, the impact on Montana’s economy and its ecology has yet to be fully realized in losses of business, acreage and wildlife. As with hurricanes victims, some people have lost their livelihoods because of wildfires.

“The problem, you see, is that these wildfires burn up the underbrush that anchors the land,” Rev. Haddock explained. “When rain finally comes, there’s no vegetation to keep the ground in place, and then you have floods and mudslides. It’s just a terrible cycle.”

As generous as Montana’s churches and people are in responding to the state’s flaming disaster, United Methodists in other parts of the Mountain Sky Area are equally responsive, Rev. Haddock added. He said that churches are contributing to Yellowstone Conference’s disaster fund, providing UMCOR-trained Early Response Teams as needed, and even allowing pastors like himself to devote hours to disaster coordination.

Rev. Haddock said his own congregation, Community United Methodist Church in Ogden, Utah, in the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference, sees disaster response as part of its ministry. “I’m very grateful that the church lets me take days to do this disaster coordination work,” the pastor said.

Pacific Northwest Annual Conference (Washington)

As wildfires sill burn around the state, the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference is working to help those who’ve fallen through the cracks to recover from Washington’s worst-ever wildfire seasons in 2014 and 2015. Acute recovery needs in Okanogan County inspired the conference to set up a long-term project, “Rebuild: Up From the Ashes,” that aims to raise funds and contribute labor. The Pacific Northwest Conference website features stories on the project:

Here’s how Conconully UMC raised $4000 for Rebuild Up from the Ashes

Okanogan County: Fencing in the Rebuild

Regarding “Rebuild: Up From the Ashes,” conference communicator Patrick Scriven told United Methodist Insight via email: “Because of the lack of population density, federal and state dollars are often unavailable for folks who lose their homes, so there is more than enough opportunity [for fire disaster recovery efforts by United Methodists]. Unfortunately, this has become a regular pattern.”

Jim Truitt, a United Methodist layman, serves as disaster response coordinator for Pacific Northwest Conference. His response to the current state of Washington wildfires gives a picture that’s serious in its scope, but a relief to churches.

“There are currently 13 active fires in Washington, none of which are receiving UM disaster support yet (none has been requested),” Mr. Truitt said in an email. “None of our United Methodist churches were/are threatened. The Jolly Mountain fire, 29,432 acres, and the Norse Peak, 49,997 acres, are the biggest threat to populated areas. Level 3 evacuations have been order in both cases but no primary residences have been lost so far.”

Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference

Conference disaster response coordinator Dan Moseler told United Methodist Insight that many of the 19 active wildfires in Oregon and Idaho affect areas popular with campers, hikers and tourists.

“There is potentially severe economic impact that no one I am aware of has tried to quantify,” Mr. Moseler said in an email. “[The] Eagle Creek [wildfire] closed down any tourist, camper, or hiker activity in the Columbia River Gorge over the Labor Day holiday, with no near-term end in sight. Labor Day is a make-or-break holiday for many small businesses serving this population.

“Oregon presently has 19 active wildfires, consuming 482,043 acres, which are being regularly reported. Chetco Bar (184,292 acres), threatening the communities of Brookings and Harbor, and Eagle Creek (35,588 acres) are of greatest concern to populated areas.

In his report on the conference website, Mr. Moseler said he’s in contact with Oregon state and VOAD partners [Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster] monitoring large wildfires in the area. “There are no current requests for volunteers or material donations. The best response at this time is to donate funds to UMCOR Advance #901670 or through your church.”

Mr. Moseler said he and Jim Truitt of Pacific Northwest Conference keep in touch to see if either needs assistance across the Columbia River that separates Washington and Oregon. In some instances, it’s more efficient for emergency response to come from southern Washington churches to northern Oregon areas, and vice versa. Both conferences are part of the Greater Northwest Episcopal Area of The United Methodist Church.

California-Nevada Annual Conference

Like Pacific Northwest, the California-Nevada Conference has long-term recovery efforts going on from fires that occurred in 2016 and 2015, said Dr. Larry Ray Hygh Jr., conference director of communications.

Most recently, Mariposa United Methodist Church served as the local contact for an independent ministry, Bless You Inc., from Milford, Iowa, to help people made homeless by the Detwiler Fire near Yosemite National Park. The nondenominational ministry provides travel trailers as transitional housing for people whose homes are destroyed by disasters. Local churches and civic groups pledge to supply the trailers and support those living in them until they find permanent housing.

According to Sierra News Online, a retired firefighter living north of Los Angeles and affiliated with Bless You Inc., saw the Detwiler devastation on local news. He called Mariposa UMC to offer the organization’s service. “A few emails back and forth with Pastor Allison Byerley and a couple of phone calls later, Bless You, Inc. was on the road to Mariposa,” wrote Sierra News reporter Gina Clugson.

While this story has a happy ending for some, the Detwiler Fire proved to be another example of wildfire devastation being wrought across the western United States. According to Cal Fire (the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) on the CA.gov website, the Detwiler Fire was located two miles east of Lake McClure. Started on July 16 and not fully contained until Aug. 24, the fire burned 81,826 acres and destroyed 63 residences, 67 minor structures and a commercial structure. Another 13 residences and eight minor structures suffered fire damage.

In addition to the Detwiler Fire, California-Nevada has provided emergency response and long-term recovery support for wildfire victims since Summer 2014, said the Rev. Linda D. Caldwell, conference superintendent for mission collaboration, via email. These projects have included:

Summer 2014

  • Weed Boles Fire in Weed, California: Provided Emergency Response and Case Management for the long-term recovery. Case Management closed Sept 2017.

Summer 2015

  • Valley Fire: Provided Emergency Response; Case Management for long-term recovery is being provided currently via conference and UMCOR Grants.
  • Calaveras Fire: Provided Emergency Response and Case Management for long-term recovery. Rebuilds are complete and Case Management closed Fall 2017 (Conference and UMCOR Grants)

Summer 2016

  • Erskine Fire: Provided Emergency Response. Construction Coordinator and Case Management for long-term recovery is being provided currently. (Conference and UMCOR Grants)

California-Pacific Annual Conference

United Methodist laywoman Judy Lewis, disaster response coordinator for the California-Pacific Annual Conference, said she wasn’t sure how many active fires remain in the region. However, she noted that from Jan. 1 to Sept 10, the state forestry and fire agency known as Cal Fire recorded 6,744 wildfires with 731,244 acres burned.

“As coordinator, I have been in constant contact with the other conference DRCs in the Western Jurisdiction,” Ms. Lewis said in an email. “Many wildfires may attract media attention, but often have local, state and mutual aid resources in sufficient numbers that the church's assistance isn’t needed. As far as we are aware, no UMC churches in our conference have been damaged by wildfire this year.”

Ms. Lewis said this summer’s Detwiler fire generated a request for Children's Disaster Services (a specialty of the Church of the Brethren) to work in Red Cross shelters during the event.

“Several UMCs are cross-trained in various areas and one worked the Lake Isabella fire (2016) and two worked the Detwiler Fire this summer,” she noted. “We are working through the Mennonites to try and assist with long-term recovery at Lake Isabella, but funding is very low so this effort so far has not been viable.”

Ms. Lewis continued: “Through UMCOR, we are partners with National VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster); a very large number of member organizations are faith-based. Coordination through VOAD avoids duplication and maximizes services offered to vulnerable people, many of whom are wary of government. We have sent several teams to Weed in northern California, again for long-term recovery, working in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, local groups and with an UMCOR grant.”

When the need arises, Ms. Lewis said, Western United Methodists join up to provide assistance as efficiently as possible.

“We have a reciprocal ‘memo of understanding’ between the Western Jurisdiction conferences to encourage and allow teams of trained Early Response from different conferences to form ‘mixed’ teams such as those who worked at Zion UMC,” she said. "We only go after we receive a request from a resident bishop."

California-Pacific disaster response was called out to help a Nevada church this summer, according to the conference website. Zion UMC in Las Vegas, an African American congregation, was gutted by a fire that’s still under investigation by several agencies. Early Response Teams and United Methodist Volunteer in Mission teams from both California-Pacific and Desert Southwest conferences worked in the scorching heat of June and July to remove debris from the ruins of the 100-year-old congregation.

“Saturday, June 24, the cadre started work at 4:30 AM, had breakfast on site at 6 AM, and volunteers arrived about 7 AM,” reported the conference website. “The team worked 30 minutes on, 30 minutes off. Work stopped when the temperature reached 110 degrees – usually 1 PM.”

While they keep wary eyes on Western wildfires, response teams are flocking to help the victims of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, Ms. Lewis said.

“We have just returned from a two-week deployment in Texas for Hurricane Harvey and we have developed shared teams between Desert Southwest, California-Pacific, and Pacific Northwest going for the next few months,” she said. “We are ramping up training opportunities for people who express a desire to be in mission.”

Desert-Southwest Annual Conference (Arizona and Las Vegas, Nev., area)

Desert Southwest Conference’s disaster response coordinator, the Rev. Fred Heggestad, said the wildfire season in Arizona has been less drastic than in other states.

“Arizona currently has one active wildfire which has burned over 48,000 acres so far, but it’s in a remote area and no structures are threatened,” said Rev. Heggestad in an email. “There are numerous large forest fires every year in the Desert Southwest Conference, but rarely are Early Response Teams called to service. All Early Response Team members are trained to safely recover personal items and clean homes that are burned in forest fires, but luckily, we don’t get those calls very often. There have been no such calls since I was appointed chairperson of the Disaster Relief Committee in 2016.”

Rev. Heggestad, who serves as pastor of First United Methodist Church in Henderson, Nev., about 16 miles southeast of Las Vegas, also cited the Zion UMC fire as an example of how United Methodists cooperate in disaster response.

“The Disaster Relief Team from the area assisted with an organizational structure, providing logistical and financial coordination to allow volunteers to remove all the debris, saving close to $100,000 in cleanup costs,” he said.

Like conferences elsewhere in the United States, Desert Southwest Conference’s disaster response volunteers now are helping with hurricane relief and recovery.

“Currently, our response trailer and at least eight teams are being deployed to Texas, for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts,” he said. “Our trailer is expected to be in Texas for at least six months. We are coordinating replacement equipment and possibly a second trailer to allow for additional Early Response Team members to serve.

“The disaster relief committee is in talks with the conference UMVIM coordinator and will help coordinate rebuilding efforts, when appropriate. This may take years in the Texas area.”

Western United Methodists frequently have fire at their backs, but their reports demonstrate they also have hearts aflame for helping others. 

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.