Sisters community rallies in face of fire

The Black Crater Fire rallied the community spirit of Sisters - and the rest of Central Oregon.

As the flames and smoke rolled closer and closer to Sisters, more and more people began to prepare for the eventual evacuation of their homes. At the same time, residents safe from the advancing fire and those who felt they could help were also gearing up.

The first to open its doors was the Sisters School District. Without delay, school officials put out the welcome mats at the middle and high schools and cooperated with the agencies that needed a place to set up headquarters.

The Northwest Interagency Incident Management Team set up fire camp at Sisters Middle School, while the Red Cross established an evacuation center at Sisters High School.

The Best Buy store in Bend stepped in and donated computer hardware to link all the Red Cross computers together. And the list goes on:

• Clearwire rolled onto the scene with telephones for people to call anywhere and let loved ones and friends know they were safe and well.

Clearwire also set up more than 30 "hot spots" in Sisters businesses to provide free internet service.

• J.T. Milroy, owner of Lutton's Ace Hardware was prepared to bring in 30,000 bottles of water if needed.

• Patterson Ranch opened their pastures for horses belonging to the evacuated residents of Crossroads and Edgington Road.

• Wal-Mart donated pallets of bottled water.

• Sisters Figaro's Pizza donated pizza dinners for the evacuated people of Crossroads and Edgington Road.

• There were 21 officially noted offers of free housing - and dozens more offered quietly to friends.

Donald Cassetty, Red Cross Shelter Manager and his wife, Carol (who manages the "Mass Care Feeding" arm of the Red Cross), couldn't give enough thanks for all the cooperation and assistance they have received from the Sisters community from the moment they arrived on the scene at Sisters High School.

They praised Sno-Cap Mini Storage for their offer of one month free storage for the evacuees of the Black Crater Fire. They also spoke kindly of McDonald's and the 1,500 free tickets given out for meals from restaurants in Sisters and Bend.

The list goes on and on of people who, in the words of Red Cross volunteer Terri Cichosz, "Gave of themselves, not out of their pocket book."

Cichosz practices what she preaches. She volunteers with the Red Cross in Sisters for just about anything that needs doing: hauling trash, helping in the kitchen, keeping the ice water bottle tank full, giving out information, copying maps. And her two daughters are right there alongside her, learning what it is to be a volunteer and help people in times of need.

Lois and David Rice, evacuees from Crossroads who were camping out in the gymnasium of the high school, were in a terrible dilemma when word came that they had to leave their home of only two years. They live right next door to their son who was off on a trip in Canada - with his cell phone turned off.

The Rices had no place to go and couldn't contact their son, so the Red Cross stepped in to help. (The couple finally reached their son and he's on his way back to Oregon).

The American Red Cross learned a valuable lesson attempting to deal with lost people and families last year when Hurricane Katrina smashed its way into New Orleans.

In an attempt to keep better track of people and their status, the Red Cross developed a Web site: https://disastersafe.redcross.org/ (Safe and Well home page) which is being used locally for the first time to keep track of the Black Crater Fire evacuees.

Another volunteer that has been of great assistance in the Red Cross evacuation headquarters in Sisters High School is Art McEldowney of Bend. He not only has "Safe and Well" up and running in Sisters, but has also put the equipment donated by Best Buy to good use linking all the Red Cross computers.

To date, according to volunteer Bud Cunnigham, of the 560 Black Crater evacuees registered with the American Red Cross, 191 of them are in the "Safe and Well" system.

Through the Black Crater Fire, the Sisters community has demonstrated its ability to plan for the worst, hope for the best - and lend a helping hand.