Survivor of 2020 Echo Mountain fire rebuilds life five years after the Lincoln County inferno changed everything

By APRIL ERHLICH/Oregon Public Broadcasting

When Rachelle McMaster lived at the Salmon River Mobile Village in Otis, the traffic from a nearby highway wasn’t quite as loud.

“There were more trees,” McMaster recalled, looking out at what is now a barren field, with one large, dead tree looming at the park’s edge.

Trees and shrubs used to soften the highway noise. Then on Sept. 7, 2020, the Echo Mountain Fire burned them and all but two homes in this park. It was one of multiple wind-driven wildfires that burned across Oregon over that Labor Day weekend, killing 11 people and destroying thousands of homes.

McMaster’s home, where she lived with her teenage son and daughter, was among those destroyed.

“It’s really weird being back out here,” McMaster said, as she walked along the gravel road running through the park. “It’s unrecognizable to me. Even five years later, it’s still a little hard to come back out.”

After the fire, the park’s owners installed a line of new manufactured homes along the Salmon River’s edge. They’re identical rectangles, like storage containers with sloped roofs, each painted black, white or red.

It’s a stark contrast from what the park used to look like, when the homes here were all different ages, shapes and sizes. People decorated their porches with wind chimes, lawn ornaments and holiday decorations.

McMaster’s family had a small garden out front and a large covered deck with stringed lights. McMaster liked to sit there at dusk and watch deer saunter in the distance.

“This was our community,” McMaster said. “Now it’s all uniform. And I don’t like uniform.”

She considered coming back when the park reopened, but she couldn’t afford the new rent on her caretaker’s salary.

McMaster owned her previous home outright and paid about $400 to rent space in the park. Now the park’s owners are renting out their own units and charging about $1,800 a month for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom home. That’s on par with the area’s average rent.

None of the former residents who lost homes to the fire have returned.

“No one could afford it,” McMaster said. “A lot of people are in apartments, like we are.”

Making housing shortage worse

All of Oregon, including rural areas, is in the depths of a years-long housing crisis. Cities on the Oregon coast have their own unique challenges, as second homes and short-term rentals can skew the housing market, and low-wage workers compete for affordable rent during peak summer seasons.

Manufactured homes offer affordable housing to people with low incomes, who can buy older units for a few thousand dollars. Space rent in a manufactured home park can amount to just a few hundred dollars per month.

The 2020 Labor Day fires that swept through western Oregon destroyed more than 1,700 manufactured homes — about 42 percent of all homes destroyed across the state that weekend. Most were in Jackson County, where the Almeda Fire burned across the towns of Talent and Phoenix, tearing through neighborhoods lining the Interstate 5 freeway.

Manufactured homes are especially vulnerable to fire. They’re not as fire resistant as stick-built homes. And parks tend to be located along highways or on the outskirts of town, where fire is more common.

When manufactured home park are rebuilt after a wildfire, they often come with newer units and much steeper prices. Many residents struggle to return, and they can lose their old community.

McMaster started a Facebook group with former Salmon River Mobile Village residents, where they could share news articles and resources. It’s also a place where they can stay connected with people who are still working through the grief of losing everything they once owned.

“The majority of us are not home,” McMaster said. “Even though we might have a roof over our heads, it’s not home. We’re still struggling, we’re still trying to recoup from everything that happened to us.”

A new chapter

Since the Echo Mountain Fire, McMaster and her two children have bounced between hotels, apartments and friends’ houses.

But in November, they lucked out. That’s when McMaster learned she’d be getting a house through Habitat for Humanity of Lincoln County, which has a program that provides new homes to wildfire survivors.

All that’s left is pouring cement for the sidewalk outside.

“I’ve gotten to go in and it’s, it’s beautiful,” McMaster said. “I’m so excited that we get to move in here soon.”

McMaster walked around the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house, which is on a quiet residential corner in Lincoln City, and pointed to its front bay window.

“This is one of our favorite things,” McMaster said. “It’s a nook. My daughter is going to create a bench, and it’s going to be a reading nook.”

It was something her daughter had mentioned wanting when they first learned they’d be getting a house.

McMaster walks through the home, pointing out her daughter’s room, her son’s room, the dining room and kitchen. She explains how her daughter is going to paint a family tree on one of the walls, where they could hang portraits of their relatives.

“I’ve never lived in a place like that my entire life,” McMaster said. “It’s going to be nice having a home that no one else has lived in before, no one else has done things to, so everything will be brand new.”

After five years of bouncing around, not knowing exactly where she and her family would live, McMaster said she can’t wait to get back what the Labor Day fires took from her —  safety and stability.

“There’s no chaos. I’m looking forward to that so much,” McMaster said. “It’s going to be nice to finally have that peace and quiet.”

• Editor’s note: A series of OPB stores explored the lessons learned and journeys taken since Labor Day 2020, when fires swept across the state. Find all stories in the OPB series “Labor Day fires: Five years later”here. Find additional wildfire resources here.

• To read a Lincoln Chronicle story on how some Echo Mountain fire survivors are finally receiving state help, go here.