Student Starts Support Group for Those Impacted by Oregon Wildfires

Reported by: Natascha Lambing

Photographed by: Imogene Eagan

NEWBERG, Ore. – On Sept. 8, smoke descended onto Newberg as the sky took on a buised color. In the following hours and far into the night, Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue (TVF&R) issued Level Three fire warnings to Chehalem Mountain and Bald Peak residents, forcing them to evacuate as wildfires began to overtake hundreds of acres of forest.

The next day was business as usual for George Fox University (GFU), despite the fact that multiple students, faculty, and staff had evacuated their homes in the night, unsure if they’d be able to go back.

Chad Stillinger, associate professor of electrical engineering, recounted his experience.

“It started pretty normal . . . I went home . . . started seeing text messages from a couple different people,” Stillinger said, and eventually “started looking at maps.” Stillinger found little information on the status of the fires. However, Stillinger and his family packed a couple of bags just in case and “did some prayer and worship [to] start off the chaos connecting with the Lord.” By 9:30 p.m., the first police car arrived at their home, requesting that the family leave their residence immediately. Stillinger noted that this was “where we had to decide what we really wanted to keep” and they were met with the realization of “oh, it’s happening.”

Stillinger said that his church community opened its doors to them, asking the family to “let us be the body of Christ” giving them a place to stay for the week. He said “[I was] doing my normal job but then thinking I might not be going home tonight; I might not be going home ever.”

Fortunately for many families like Stillinger’s, they were able to return by that same weekend to smoke-filled but undamaged houses.

Following the evening of Sept. 8, TVF&R worked to contain the six-alarm fire for the next several days, working up to seventy percent containment by Sept. 11, only announcing full containment by the late afternoon of Sept. 14, just under a week after the fires started. TVF&R’s website notes that approximately 875 acres were impacted directly, and the cause was an improperly extinguished campfire. By Sept. 30 all Level 2 evacuation warnings were lifted.

In response to the fire threat to the GFU community, Ashley Martin, a junior studying social work, started a peer support group to connect students that have been impacted by wildfires. Martin is from Northern California, and she lost her childhood home in the 2018 Camp Fire.

“I left as a freshman for college and never got to go home because there wasn’t a home or hometown to return to,” Martin said. From her experience of tragedy and loss she felt that campus lacked connection or resources to support her: “I remembered how I felt when it happened to me… it’s really alienating and difficult.” However, she said her experiences provided her with the opportunity to “provide for people who might go through the same thing.”

“This area doesn’t necessarily have such large scale fires … people here aren’t desensitized, whereas when you’re from Northern California you have ‘fire season’ and you’re kind of used to that … but here there’s an extra layer of ‘this can’t be happening to me,’” Martin said. As a result, she feels that students should have space to connect with others who share similar experiences.

As such, Martin has worked to partner with Spiritual Life and the Social Work Program to create a student-based, student-focused support group in which survivors of wildfires both past and present can connect. She said, “I had a really difficult time talking about my experience because of the response … people felt uncomfortable and burdened.” She hopes to create space where students can feel heard and supported.

With a goal to begin meeting by mid-October, Martin intends to have small groups focus on “the people who were there” and help students process the trauma that might come from such an experience. Information about upcoming events and resources can be found on Instagram @fire_survivors_gfu.