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Posted on 09/13/2020 1:19:28 PM PDT by hiho hiho
Much to his surprise, Bob Oblack’s home on Dickey Prairie Road in Molalla was not destroyed by a raging wildfire Friday.
When he found it intact the following day, he wondered what had happened. He soon found out in a text from a neighbor: “A 100% redneck fire crew rolled through here yesterday. They stopped the fire a mile from my house.”
The “Redneck Fire Crew” may not be exactly how they would describe themselves, according to another resident, whose husband — a 20-year veteran of the fire service, including fighting wildland fires in California — helped lead the effort.
“I don’t know how P.C. that is,” she said with a laugh. “In general, this was just some damn, good-hearted men and women, who saw there was a job there that needed to get done and they did it.”
Most of the residents interviewed for this story asked not to be named, saying they do not want or need recognition for their heroic actions.
“They don’t want an award or their names in the newspaper,” a woman said. “They just did what they felt needed to be done. They did it to help the grandparents and the kids and the families — to protect everything we have out here.”
Another reason for the anonymity, perhaps, is so none of those involved — including some off-duty firefighters — would face repercussions for working outside of the official chain of command. And so they can speak freely about a government response that they feel more or less abandoned them to fate and the will of nature this week.
“I have not seen one paid crew in the last three days,” said an area resident, who has been helping the volunteers by delivering food and water. “On Thursday, they called off all resources and said the feds were going to come in, and we believed them. Then, my husband went out there early the next morning, and there was not a soul on the fire.”
The long tongues of the Riverside Fire — which has torched 130,000 acres in Clackamas County, including areas of Molalla, Estacada and Colton — were bearing down on them, and they felt they had no choice but to take matters into their own hands.
“It’s me and our community and our neighbors that are going to save each other,” was how one resident put it. “There’s nobody else.”
So, they came, the volunteers — or, if you prefer and can stand being less than P.C. — the “rednecks.”
Shortly after 11 a.m. Friday morning, a continuous line of over a hundred vehicles drove up the curvy, unlined country roads, converging on the area of Ramsby Road and Kuban in Molalla.
They came in trucks, water wagons and tenders, refill tanks. They came with excavators, dozers, skid-steers and other heavy equipment.
They came through word of mouth. They were siblings, parents, children, friends and neighbors.
As one resident eloquently put it: “These are the people that we share Hobart and Viking Stadiums with under the Friday night lights. These are the familiar faces in our 4th of July parades and at your kid’s baseball games. These are our family businesses, the people we see in the grocery store, the off duty first responders and even the neighbors you thought didn’t care.”
“They were not firefighters — not volunteer firefighters, even,” another resident said. “They were good old boys who care about the community and getting stuff done.
“They weren’t nothing fancy: Most rolled up in pickup trucks that were 12 different shades of put together. They loaded up 10 guys in the back and away they went.”
They circled up in a smoky, rolling hay field to plan their attack on the fire waiting in a forested canyon below. They followed a lead dozer, blazing a trail down the steep, dense hillside, to cut a wide firebreak and protect the people, livestock and property on Ramsby Road.
Throughout Friday, smaller crews peeled off to address hot spots, while a larger contingent was directed to help at a fire up Sawtell Road at Elk Prairie.
The fire came, following the line of a small canyon — within spitting distance of Ramsby and Dickey Prairie roads — but would ultimately advance no farther. The firebreak held.
The volunteers worked relentlessly until the threat of fire was gone.
“There were a lot of young kids,” said a female resident. “My husband joked that he was one of the old guys. He’s 35. But they worked hard. He said they worked harder than most of the crews he had worked with before.”
“Proud” was how one resident described it.
“I guess that’s kind of a hashtag now or whatever, but it’s true,” she said. “We are proud of this community, the people who are out there doing the grind for no pay. They get nothing — it’s just out of the goodness of their heart and to save people.”
Another said she wanted the story of the Ramsby Road volunteers to be told because of all the negativity — much of it political — that she sees on social media.
“Even though there’s been fire and destruction, there’s been so much good out here,” she said. “I didn’t want people to miss that.”
And the residents are indeed grateful.
“They saved this property as far as I’m concerned,” said Oblack. “I’m just so blessed and so humbled by the support of the neighbors around here.”
NewSCUM in CA has some explaining to do about his part in the destruction of CA.
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2020-09-13/150-million-dead-trees-wildfires-sierra-nevada
150 million dead trees could fuel unprecedented firestorms in the Sierra Nevada
Two years ago scientists warned that a massive tree die-off in the Sierra Nevada could set the stage for forest conflagrations akin to World War II fire bombings.
The Creek fire, which forced the dramatic helicopter evacuations of more than 200 campers over Labor Day weeken
Please share this link viral as it is imperative for NewSCUM to be recalled
“What are you going to do with the prize money?”
“Well....first thing will be to get the brakes fixed on that bus.”
Ruh Roh. Komrade Strelnikov Newsome has some counterrevolutionary reactionaries to send to the re-education Kamp.
No...this is Oregon where bisexual brown will soon put them down
The dozer operator will surly face zillions in fines for off road use, lack of tons of Califlower ‘permits’ studies and bribes....
Left on their own. sound like about every Dem run locale...
May God bless these people. Finest symbols of American community you’re likely to find.
Gee, compare/contrast
Redneck Firefighters and Cajun Navy
Vs blm and antifa
Gov Brown “paused the legal fire crews to regroup.” We were told they would resume but they DID NOT.
Why and who told them the Feds were going to come in?
It shouldnt take too long for them to insist they not be taxed for services not provided by government.
Police who do not protect citizens and businesses who pay them from mayhem.
Firefighters who abandon those who pay them to the flames.
Teachers who dont teach the children of communities who pay them.
Yes...” just following orders”.
No taxpayer should be forced to pay for equipment, salaries, pensions, perks of any vestige of government that doesnt do what they are paid to do.
Oregon....Washington....Californistan...same dystopian hellhole
If you would like more information about what’s happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me. Please send me your name by FReepmail if you want to be on this list.
Why do think people didn’t give their names?
Another reason for the anonymity, perhaps, is so none of those involved — including some off-duty firefighters — would face repercussions for working outside of the official chain of command. And so they can speak freely about a government response that they feel more or less abandoned them to fate and the will of nature this week.
Imdid see that.
They are right to be concerned.
It’s really not fair to compare a “redneck” wildland crew to a government fire fighting operation when a redneck crew is not burdened with all the excess tasks like having to name the fire first. That takes time you know. And then collect a bunch of data while the fire grows and grows. And of course the fire has to be computer modeled before you go messing with it or putting it out. How else will you know in advance how many homes will burn while they dilly dally around? Finally, they don’t have to set up a command and control center like the government does. They just go and put put the damn fire out. I don’t mean to disparage the wildland crews out there. They are awesome but the leadership really seems to be lacking in a lot of these fire lately. Volunteer crews rock!
Thank you for posting this uplifting story.
Molalla was one of the HS we played way back when here in Clackamas County. That was a logging town until the enviro crap hit. These are the kids of those hardy men. I saw a live report from the Molalla fire command center when a big white PU drove up with large US & Trump flags in back. You don’t have to go far outside the larger cities to be in conservative areas.
A fireman was on TV tonight saying they had been fighting fire for 50-hours straight. He said his job was to save structures and it hurt to see so many lost.
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