Some houseless campers remained in Forest Park despite thick smoke and fire risk this past week
Under a blanket of sickly-colored smoke billowing overhead, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler on Sept. 10 ordered the closure of all city parks, citing the risk of fires starting and unhealthy air quality.
For most Portlanders, this order was easy to follow, as spending almost any amount of time outdoors for the last week has come at the cost of irritated lungs, a headache and burning eyes. City agencies and nonprofits that work with houseless communities, however, understood the risk of a wildfire in the city’s largest park posed an immediate existential threat to the dozens of houseless residents who camp there.
On Sept. 11, Street Roots ambassadors (newspaper vendors paid to perform crisis outreach to houseless communities) partnered with Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare Services, Portland Parks & Recreation, and Portland Fire & Rescue to conduct direct outreach to houseless Portlanders living in one of the nation’s largest urban forests, Northwest Portland’s Forest Park.
While ambassadors kept some distance from the parks rangers to avoid being associated with people in uniforms, the mission was essentially the same. The purpose of this outreach, which was one of several visits to the park, was not to “sweep” encampments or force people to move somewhere else, but to let them know the park is officially closed due a declared emergency and provide them with guidance and information, including a list of the options available should they seek shelter from the smoke. One of those options is the Charles Jordan Community Center, which Portland Park’s operates and currently hosts about 100 beds.
The outreach partners also informed campers about the burn ban in effect and the health hazards the smoky air can cause. Additionally, Portland Parks & Recreation has handed out water, protective masks and hand sanitizer to park users since the pandemic began. The Street Roots team also brought bottled water and N95 masks, which can provide some protection from smoke inhalation.
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This is not the first time this partnership has worked together to conduct outreach to campers living in Forest Park. Park Ranger Vicente Harrison and the parks bureau routinely makes contact with those living in the park and has weekly meetings with groups advocating on behalf of members of the houseless community, including the Street Roots ambassadors and Cascadia. Building off of that experience and those relationships, Harrison said he ensures the agency’s outreach is trauma informed and that those living in the park are given information that will “help them be safe in the long term.”
Street Roots Ambassador Mike D. has been doing this sort of outreach since the pandemic began. He said his approach to sharing information with campers is similar to that of the park rangers.
“I go up, I introduce myself first, so that way they find me less threatening,” he said. “I tell them, ‘Hey, I’m Mike D. I’m from Street Roots. I’m not here to push you out of the park; I’m here to inform you that there are places you can go during this fire season that are safer. Because if this place catches fire, we are all in trouble.’”
While Portland Parks & Recreation does not have an estimate of how many people live in Forest Park, Mike D. said he’s counted about 60 people.
Harrison said the outreach partners were able to “transition about eight people out of the park into emergency shelters” in addition to five animals, and about 15 other people who did not go to shelters also exited the park safely.
After the air quality dropped to hazardous levels, the agency reduced the number of rangers conducting this outreach from about eight to three.
Rain has arrived and the extreme fire risk that was threatening Portland has subsided, but many campers remained in the park, enduring poor and at times hazardous air quality. And, it is likely there will people living in the park when the next fire season begins.
As wildfires consume massive swathes of the Pacific Northwest, torching areas that closely resemble Forest Park, there are reasons to worry about the safety of those living in and nearby the 5,200-acre urban forests.
But, there is some good news. Conservation Director Alejandro Orizola, of the Forest Park Conservancy, said approximately half of the forest is in “great ecological health.” That means that the forest, from shrubs to the canopies, is more resistant to the types of fire Oregon typically experiences.
However the other half of the forest, which is not concentrated in one area but spread across the park, is ecologically threatened by invasive species such as English and Atlantic ivy, and clematis vitalba. According to Renew Forest Park, a 20-year initiative created by Portland Parks & Recreation, these species threaten the forest by choking out native species, displacing the root systems that reduce landslides, and by providing wildfires with a source of fuel that connects the forest floor with the canopy.
There are other risks as well. Orizola said hotter, drier and longer summers, increased use of the park, transportation routes that run through and around the park, and nearby residential and commercial business developments all contribute to a greater risk of a large wildfire.
Fire is a natural part of a forest’s lifecycle, and one will occur in the park. When it does, Portland Fire & Rescue, which was not available for comment, will have a unique challenge.
Located on the Tualatin Mountain range, the north side of Forest Park is defined by narrow ridges and deep ravines. Slopes above 60% are common here, which makes accessing different parts of the park difficult. Many of these slopes form wind tunnels that would work as a bellows, feeding any fire with fresh oxygen, Orizola explained.
While there are 11 fire lanes providing firefighters access to different parts of the park, many of the neighborhood roads adjacent to or cutting through the park are windy and narrow, making it difficult for fire engines to maneuver through them quickly.
There are countermeasures to these challenges in place. Portland Parks & Recreation works closely with Fire & Rescue, and Harrison said, “A lot of people think of fire engines only” when it comes to wildfire response, but Fire & Rescue has other tools at its disposal, including “ATV-type vehicles” that can quickly deliver water over difficult terrain should a fire occur in one of the difficult-to-reach areas of the park.
When it comes to mitigation, both agencies have carried out patrols twice a week in Forest Park since wildfire danger became critical in recent weeks. These patrols rely on rangers’ knowledge of the park’s geography and ecology to identify potential fire hazard areas. On top of these patrols, Harrison said the park bureau coordinates with city nature staff and the fire bureau on annual brush patrols.
And, Forest Park Conservancy helps manage invasive species in the park, including the ivy growing up the trunks of trees, serving as a fuel ladder.
Orizola said that while it is difficult to state the exact risk of a wildfire on the scale of what communities elsewhere in Oregon have experienced this year, the conditions for such fire are there. For that reason, the conservancy encourages people living near or in the park to take action themselves, including creating a “defensible space” around their homes by removing trash or debris that could fuel a wildfire.
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