Bandon Fire Remembered

Background: Originally published September 27, 2006. Today isn't the anniversary date of the Bandon fire. But I'm going ahead and posting this column now, lest I forget and don't post this column on the September anniversary date.

     September 26, 2006, marked the 70th anniversary of the Bandon fire. The deadliest forest fire in Oregon's history killed 13 people and destroyed the town of Bandon, leaving about 1,800 of the town's 2,000 residents homeless. The National Guard built a tent city for homeless people.
     My mother was an eyewitness to the Bandon fire, even though she lived miles away from Bandon at the time. My grandfather had a dairy farm at Fairview, east of Coquille. The Bandon fire swept across the hillside and arrived at the edge of my grandfather's farm. Fortunately, young CCC men were on the scene and kept the fire from reaching any buildings on the property.
     My grandfather sent my mother and her sister, Doris, to bring in two plow horses. Dan, a white gelding, and Vinnie, a black mare, were out in the pasture when the fire arrived at the farm. Thick smoke obviously made the animals uneasy. When the girls couldn't reach the horses, my grandfather had to go out and bring in the animals.
     For the most part, their Fairview farm was left untouched by the Bandon fire. The only remnants left behind on the landscape were a large number of bologna sandwiches wrapped in wax paper. Apparently, the CCC boys didn't like the rations that the government had provided them while they were fighting the fire.
     The Bandon museum hosted an open house on the Bandon fire this past Sunday afternoon, where survivors were on hand to recount their stories. Some of them recall the dry summer of 1936 and the hot winds that helped burn several fires in Coos County; Two of them were within five miles of Bandon.