Chetco Bar Fire Stories: “Our Town Thanks You!”

 

 “Our Town Thanks You!” 

During the height of the fire, in early September, a colorful, hand-painted “Thank You Firefighters!” sign showed up on the edge of Kevin Roeckl’s property next to a road, and that, he says, is what started it all.

“After I saw that first sign, I started noticing them everywhere,” Kevin explained. He saw handmade signs in his own neighborhood on Cape Ferrelo Road. He spotted a sign done in glitter on the Chetco River bridge in town, and one next to Hwy 101 in Harbor surrounded by small lights powered by a battery taped on the back. He even noticed signs obviously done by kids and taped up in their bedroom windows on residential streets. Many local businesses had “thank you” signs in their windows or on their marquees. Kevin saw several cars with hearts and messages of appreciation painted on their windows and tailgates.

Kevin was so touched by the outpouring of gratitude toward those who were helping fight the fire, he spent an afternoon driving around and photographing every sign he could find. “Some were fancy, some were plain”, he says, “People got out their markers and their paints and stickers, little flags, ribbons, pipe cleaners. Drew pictures of firetrucks with stick figures spraying water on giant flames. The lettering was crooked and sometimes misspelled, but that just made them all the more beautiful.” Kevin thought, “I want all the firefighters to see these.”

Examples of handmade signs around the Brookings area posted by Kevin Roeckl on the “Our Town Thanks You!” Facebook Page:

A Facebook Page is Born

“People wanted everyone helping our town to know how much they were appreciated,” Kevin said. And what better way to do that than through Facebook. That’s how the Facebook page “Our Town Thanks You!” was born. Although he had never created a Facebook Group before, Kevin set up the Page, put the word out, and invited members of the community to post pictures of the signs they had made or saw in their neighborhoods. People loved it and “Our Town Thanks You!” quickly grew to hundreds of members.

Kevin did a lot of outreach to the firefighters to let them know that the page existed and to ask them to join and share with their families. He printed handouts that he gave to the National Guardsmen and asked them to pass out. He used the “Our Town Thanks You!” page to help spread the word about the “Firefighter Salute” on Highway 101, organized by Allison Thomas and held in the mornings and evenings (when fire crews came on and off duty) two weekends in a row. Many photos and videos of the cheering, sign-waving crowds lining the sidewalks during the Salute were posted on the page afterward.

The Lunch Bag Project

Kevin also used the “Our Town Thanks You!” page to help spread the word and share photos of the hundreds of hand-painted lunch bags that were handed out to the firefighters. Rene Moulton organized the lunch bag project. Bags were decorated by all three Brookings schools, at a “kids’ day” at Oxenfre restaurant, and by patrons of Chetco Brewing Co. “The goal was to make sure every single one of the 1,400 firefighters fighting the CBF got their lunch in a hand-painted bag telling them how much they were appreciated.”, Kevin said, “There were even some bags decorated in Spanish for the Hispanic firefighters.”

Sharing the Gratitude

Kevin said that he was happy to see residents posting on the page, but he was really thrilled when firefighters and their families started joining and commenting. “That was my main goal,” Kevin pointed out. “I wanted everyone fighting the fire, from the staff at the fire camps to the firefighters and incident commanders – AND their families – to see all the love and appreciation that ‘Our Town’ felt for them!”

The “Our Town Thanks You!” page is still up, and still gets visits from time to time. One of the Public Information Officers (PIO Mitch Ward) even used some of the pictures to create a video which showed the fire – and the community – from his perspective (see the video below).

Keven Roeckl was interviewed on June 25, 2018 by Kathleen Dickson. Thank you to Kevin for making this story possible.