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– Fuck you, here you have nothing to do if you are not from here, shouts the man squinted at the checkpoint in the city devastated by the fire of Estacada.
He has a gun in his jeans.
He is far from the only armed man in this area.
The landscape is shrouded in a haze of orange ash and the sun has not penetrated for several days.
At least 40,000 people have been evacuated from their homes and the wildfires are the worst in history.
“An emergency”
At least four people died from the fires in Oregon, adding to the fires in California and Washington, the death toll is closer to 30. In early August, there was an extreme heat wave in several places in The United States and California Governor Gavin Newsom declared earlier this week that climate change is over. Just come here and see. This is real “.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown also called the fires “the worst in a generation.”
Take the law into your own hands
In Oregon, electricity has been cut in many places and houses are completely abandoned. The owners have been forced to surrender. Instead, several people in the area have voluntarily taken on the task of patrolling and controlling vehicles.
They claim that the police have no time or that the county has simply left them in the lurch and they are now forced to take the law into their own hands.
On social media, the spread of rumors is extensive. The Oregon police and FBI have repeatedly come out and denied that Antifa was responsible for the wildfires, as well as that there would be extensive looting.
– The rumors about thieves are greatly exaggerated. “We have not had any confirmed cases of looting in the city,” Molalla Police Chief Frank Schoenfeld told Oregon Live.
“If they don’t know who you are, they will shoot”
One of the police officers circulating in the area warns us not to drive on small roads.
– There are many beggar lips in a hurry with many guns that will fire if strangers come, says local police officer Griffith.
You don’t worry when you go to work.
– They don’t shoot us. They are people who are already victims of the fires and who don’t want to be anymore. But if they don’t know who you are, they’ll shoot.
Near a fire station, men with trucks have gathered to be able to rescue animals, but also to conduct close liaison checks around suspicious people and vehicles they have seen.
They keep in touch through inflated text message chains.
Countyt has introduced a curfew to prevent unauthorized people from moving freely in the worst affected areas.
Rumors are spreading on social media.
Almost everyone we talk to has an image that those who are destroying are activists from #Black Lives Matter – “Antifa” – who are looting or behind the wildfires. Everyone knows someone who has seen someone do something suspicious. Someone says they heard someone throw Molotov cocktails into the forest. Few have first-hand tasks.
Images and rumors spread on local Facebook groups. People desperately ask if a bridge has really burned down; It turns out that the rumors are not true at all.
The bridge remains and is not even affected by forest fires.
Damien, in his 20s with a large white pickup truck and Trump flags, shows photos taken by family members – they show the tailgate of a pickup full of gas tanks.
– It’s just Antifa the whole group and they’re here lighting up when they can’t and demonstrating inside Portland more, says Damian.
“Those who loot must be hanged”
Erik Meedom is moving in and going through his things at his house.
He says he faced two men who asked him if he needed help.
– Then I saw them on the news and that they had been arrested for looting. Those who loot must be hanged, says Erik Meedom, 55.
In fact, only one person has been arrested in the town of Molalla for looting: a 55-year-old man from the area.
The locals have taken care of both the surveillance and firefighting into their own hands.
Will Hoigt is one of the volunteers who is putting out forest fires with the help of shovels and chainsaws. Besides a chainsaw in his hands and a knife, he also has a gun on his chest.
– Antifa can come anytime, anywhere. It is better to be prepared.
One of those who feels much safer with the guards on patrol is 58-year-old Janet Bernert.
It’s not the fires that scare her.
Do not trust the authorities
They are the looters, she says.
– I feel scared and scared by the situation, so I feel good when I talk to these guys and hear that they are out and control those who have nothing to do here.
She is supported by her husband.
– We do not trust that the authorities can protect us in this situation, says Ted Bernert, 60 years old.
Janet Bernert looks at her parents’ home and tears come to her eyes as she thinks of her home in the danger zone.
– It is only when you are in trouble yourself that you understand that the gun is your only protection. We fear that bad people have guns, but if you are a good person, how do you protect yourself?
The most important measure to prevent fires
New reality as fire spreads and the number of wildfires increases.
