Our community members are truly what make Elgin the Jewel of the Blue Mountains! Mayor James Johnson called me Tuesday night as students from Weston were evacuated east to Elgin High School due to the Lower Dry Creek Fire. He spurred me to start evaluating which City resources could be used to assist other evacuees heading this direction, and I decided to open up the Hu-Na-Ha RV Park and keep amenities open for anyone who needed a place to stay. All the while, tons of community members came together in a group chat to see what the students from Weston needed and what Elginites could do to help. I was proud to share with KATU’s Jennifer Singh that our community stepped up immediately when our neighbors were in need:
Roughly 40 miles away in the town of Elgin, residents there are also stepping up to show their support for those impacted. The city has offered free overnight parking and bathroom access at Hu-Na-Ha RV Park for evacuees.
“It looks like a lot of the evacuees are being sent to Pendleton, but there are a lot of people who are much further to the east in the evacuation zone, so we’re letting people know if you’re heading east because you’re being given a ‘Go Now’ order and you don’t have a place to stay, you can at least come to the Hu-Na-Ha RV Park,” said Elgin City Administrator Alex McHaddad.
He said they are looking at keeping that offer going through at least Monday morning.
“We’ll be monitoring the fire over the weekend,” McHaddad said. “We keep in touch with Union County Emergency Management just to see how things are going, see if there’s any way we can help out. We’ll just keep watching and see what is needed.”
In Elgin, we step up for our neighbors because they need it, not because we want to look good. I am very proud to share the untold stories of how our community is stepping up during the start of a difficult wildfire season. Keep up the great work, Elgin!
Alex For Elgin 
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