Rising from the Ashes: Fires in Oregon - Facebook app - Community Voices

“I called my sister Melody at about 3:00 in the morning. It was clear that she was in shock. There was no doubt about that. She had driven through flames, literally.” In September 2020, the the Beachie Creek and Riverside fires burned through the town of Niagara, Oregon.

Lisa Barnhardt watched from Vermont as the town she grew up in, and where many family members still lived, burned. Feeling helpless from over 3,000 miles away, Lisa wasn’t sure what she could do to help.

 “It was like being run over by a steamroller until I started thinking about what I could do instead of what I could not do.” Lisa turned to Facebook and created a Facebook Event to share resources and information amongst neighbors and towns devastated by the Beachie Creek and Riverside fires.