Oregon fire survivors capture 'unimaginable' damage on video

As wildfires spread across Oregon and thousands in the state were forced to evacuate their homes, few individuals have returned to witness what they described as the "unimaginable" destruction in the town of Talent firsthand.

The Almeda fire was sparked in Ashland, Oregon, on Sept. 8 and quickly became out of control, overtaking the towns of Talent and Phoenix.

"The combination of an early-season windstorm and hot weather led to a dangerous fire setup across Oregon," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist and western U.S. blogger Brian Thompson said. "Fires that started toward the Cascades were blown west toward more urban areas. In addition, fires that started in or near towns quickly spread, burning through towns like Phoenix and Talent."

Bow DeBey, a resident of Talent, Oregon, returned to his home after an evacuation and documented the destruction he saw on Facebook Live.

DeBey, 44, was at work in Ashland when the evacuation was announced, so he didn't have the opportunity to grab any belongings earlier. When he arrived around midnight on Sept. 9, his house was still okay, so he decided to grab his bike and travel around the still-burning town to document the damage.

"I wanted to know what was going on so badly... and I realized there is so many people that must be feeling that way that want to know what's going on," DeBey said. "So I decided to do a Facebook Live video and just show people what was going on."

He said people were overall "really thankful" that he was able to document so much of the destruction, and said he began receiving comments from people asking if he could go to their addresses as well to show them if there had been any damage to their properties.

"There was a lot of bad news I had to give that night which was actually pretty tough," DeBey said.

As he rode through, he narrated everything he witnessed on Facebook Live, which he later said he felt was the only thing keeping him from breaking down from the devastating scene.

Drew Cutler from Ashland, Oregon, lives about 3/4 of a mile from where the fire originated. His home was safe, as the wind blew the fires away from it. However, he had friends in Talent and was concerned about their properties. Unable to sleep, he also decided to drive down to Talent and see the damage himself.

Buildings are engulfed in flames as a wildfire ravages the central Oregon town of Talent near Medford late Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020. (Kevin Jantzer via AP)

In a video he made as he surveyed the town, an entire neighborhood can be seen demolished, aside from one home.

"I was just shocked," Cutler, 41, said. "I was shocked it had grown to such a big inferno with firefighters battling it almost from the beginning. But those winds were just horrible for trying to contain it."

The home of the friend he originally went to check on turned out to be OK, but a home of another friend was completely gone.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP

While DeBey rode his bike, he tried his best to avoid the thickest areas of smoke. He said every once in a while he would hear a "really loud, ground-shaking" explosion, which he believes may have been propane tanks or gas tanks in cars. The next day, he had a cough and a headache, which he said could have been from the smoke.

"The only real concern I had for myself was the air quality," DeBey said, explaining that he did not have on any protective equipment that would filter the air for him. At one point, he drove down a street with a crosswind, so there was fire on both sides of him and embers shooting out into the street as he rode. Despite that, he continued. "I was never in too much fear, there was a lot of adrenaline and I felt like I was really needing to document what was going on."

"The heat coming off these buildings was so intense," he said. "It was hot, it was unbelievably hot... I've been in a sauna at like 130 degrees and it was hotter than that."

Pink fire retardant covers a car at an area destroyed by the Almeda Fire, Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, in Talent, Ore. (AP Photo/John Locher)

DeBey, who has lived in Oregon for a large portion of his life, has never experienced a wildfire tearing through town like the one in Talent. He has experienced what he called "smoky summers" where ash would cover parked cars in the morning, but he has never seen the wildfires hit so close to home.

"It was unimaginable to see what I saw that night," he said. "It was about two or three blocks wide and about 10 blocks long of complete destruction."

Cutler has lived in Ashland for five years and shared the same shock. He said the town has witnessed fires in the mountains that required them to wear masks even before the pandemic due to a high smoke content in the air, but the fires were never close by.

"The scary part is there was nothing anyone could do," DeBey said. "It was the fire's desire and it was up to the wind."

While DeBey's neighborhood was still safe when he checked on it that night, he said if the winds had just shifted the entire neighborhood would be up in flames too.

Desiree Pierce, right, hugs her step daughter Leah Johnson as they visit their home destroyed by the Almeda Fire, Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, in Talent, Ore. (AP Photo/John Locher)

"Wind helps spread fires rapidly as the winds blow the flames around, helping to spread flames in areas of dense brush and forest quickly," Thompson said. "Wind can also blow hot embers a long distance, sometimes miles, which can allow new flareups away from a fire."

Cutler said the fires had altered life in the town. A section of Walmart was roped off for collecting donations. Farther down in the toiletries aisle, he witnessed a teenage girl helping two younger girls pick out shampoos and other essentials that they had to leave behind. All throughout the store, people could be seen buying all new clothes.

Once he got to checkout, he learned that his cashier's home was burnt down in the fire, and when her shift ended, she would have no home to return to.

"She's crying there while she's ringing me up, and I had to go outside and sit in my car and cry myself," Cutler said. "You don't expect stuff like this to happen, and I'm feeling so grateful it didn't happen to me, but it happened to so many people close to me."

He saw multiple mobile home parks entirely destroyed in the town, which struck a nerve with him, as he explained that many of them were rented, and the ones that were owned do not have the same type of homeowners insurance a standard home would.

"There's a lot of people who are lower income and really need help right now," DeBey said.

This photo taken by Talent, Ore., resident Kevin Jantzer shows the destruction of his hometown as wildfires ravaged the central Oregon town near Medford late Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020. (Kevin Jantzer via AP)

Cutler said he was contacted by a neighbor who asked him to help her find a family in need of a home the day after the fire ignited. She was planning to move in with her sister temporarily and allow a family in need to stay in her home rent-free until December.

"I was floored by that amount of generosity," Cutler said. "It wasn't just letting people sleep in her guest room, but allowing a family to have a furnished house rent free for several months."

DeBey said Talent is now in full recovery mode. To help with the efforts, he created a GoFundMe for those who lost property to the wildfires; 100% of the earnings from the GoFundMe will go toward individuals in the community who need to replace things that were destroyed, such as clothes. So far the GoFundMe has raised more than $7,000.

"Everything just feels a little on pause right now and probably will for another several days," DeBey said.

"It's just hard to describe quite honestly."

Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.