Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Santiam Canyon residents search rubble, pray for relief

Santiam Canyon residents search rubble, pray for relief

Wednesday morning, 65-year-old Robert Pylant searched through the charred rubble that was once his home at the Oak Park Trailer Park in Gates as curls of smoke slowly rose from the skeletons of many other mobile homes also consumed by fire Monday evening.
Pylant found the fireproof safe he was searching for and although it was scarred by the flames, it was still intact.

“My wife and I were just getting into bed when we heard banging on the door. It was our son telling us to get out,” Pylant said. “Then, our landlady came over and was yelling for us to ‘get out now!’”

Every trailer in the park and a small motel on site were reduced to piles of ashes and twisted metal. The skeletons of cars and trucks - with no glass or tires remaining - stood where they were parked before the community was engulfed by flames Labor Day afternoon.

“I have no idea what to do now,” Pylant said. “I am a caregiver for my wife, who is disabled. We are staying at our daughter’s house in Salem. Only God knows what will happen now.”

Two people were confirmed on Wednesday to have died in the fire: 13-year-old Wyatt Tofte and his grandmother, Peggy Mosso, 71.

Angela Mosso, 45, Wyatt’s mother, was in critical care at Legacy Emanuel Hospital Burn Center in Portland.

The family was trying to escape the fire at their home on North Fork Road near Lyons.

Smoke was thick throughout the community on Wednesday and smoldering railroad ties emitted a stomach-wrenching stench. A half-dozen metal mailboxes were resting in a row on the ground; the wooden post that once held them was nowhere to be found.

Gates firefighter Jacob Rothrock, 21, moved into a rental home near the trailer park a month ago.

“All I have left is my work gear,” Rothrock said. “It destroyed everything except my uniform and my telephone.”

Rothrock said fire district staff quickly determined they would not try to save any homes that were already on fire and would put their resources into fire prevention.

“We figured those homes weren’t savable,” Rothrock said. “We also wanted to keep the fire station safe, because without that, we couldn’t do anything.”

Rothrock said it was “pure luck” that City Hall, which is within yards of the trailer park, was not damaged.

“We definitely didn’t see this coming,” Rothrock said. “This fire was supposed to maybe be 400 to 500 acres, and it’s more than 130,000 acres.”

Assistant Fire Chief Dan Benjamin said the 12-person, mostly volunteer staff have been working nearly around the clock.

“I’ve been a firefighter since 1987 and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Benjamin said. “Fortunately, no one (on the fire crew) has been injured.”

Three firefighters lost their homes, Benjamin said.

“They will be living at the station for a while,” Benjamin said as ash swirled around the fire district’s equipment staging area.

Benjamin said his crew is now assessing structures threatened by burning trees.

“We’re also brushing hillsides to try to prevent fire running up ridges,” Benjamin said.

Appreciating their efforts, the local 7-Eleven store brought the firefighters numerous bags of donuts and a dozen frozen pizzas.

Near the Gates School, Ernie Brosis and some friends were clearing tree limbs from his driveway.

His home was spared, but only yards away, the school was a pile of ash, brick and twisted metal.

“My shop is gone and so is my neighbor’s shop,” Brosis said. “I was sitting on my deck and the wind came up. I heard a popping sound and headed for my rig. By the time I got into it, the fire was already coming through the fence.”

Brosis was going to use a portable generator to charge his freezer.

“I just bought a quarter-beef,” Brosis said.

Nearby, in a parking lot, nine food trailers and two large dining tents were destroyed. They had been used in the staging area for firefighting teams battling the Beachie Creek Fire, now being called the Santiam Fire.

Hollie Golden grew up in the Mill City area and said her family’s home on Highway 22 was not damaged.

“Right now, we can see trees falling onto the highway and you can see the fire inside them,” Golden said. “Many homes are gone. There is a fire behind Frank’s lumber mill.”

Golden said the community’s historic Reid family house burned to the ground. The home was given to the city in 2016. The 3,000-square-foot home originally served as a hospital run by the community’s doctor, J.W. Reid.

Golden and her husband, Paul, are staying at their son’s home in Aumsville.

Wednesday afternoon, homes on the south side of Highway 228 southwest of Sweet Home were placed under a Level 3 "go now" evacuation order due to an aggressive fire on the Upper Calapooia River.

Linn County Sheriff Jim Yon said all homes on the south side of Highway 228 from Marcola Road to Holley were included.

“The wind has really been whipping up,” Yon said. “We are supposed to get some relief tomorrow.”

Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist said there are more than 350 people and many animals sheltered at the Linn County Fair & Expo Center.

“We have 50 motor homes, 150 cars and 25 trailers so far,” Nyquist said. “The generosity of community members is absolutely amazing.”

The shelter is also housing 190 horses, 11 miniature ponies, 38 goats, 19 llamas, 69 sheep, 35 cows, 7 donkeys, 12 dogs, 9 cats, 20 pigs, 19 chickens, 8 ducks, and 10 rabbits.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Santiam Fire had grown to 130,000 acres and the Holiday Farm Fire (formerly known as the McKenzie Fire) near Blue River has grown to more than 30,000 acres. The Lionshead Fire that started near the Warm Springs Reservation in Central Oregon and spread into the Willamette National Forest is more than 105,000 acres.

The Linn County Sheriff’s Office received at least three calls concerning possible looting in the Lyons area. One incident involved blank checks, jewelry and money taken from a home. In another incident, an iPod and a McChicken sandwich were taken from a home near Neal Park.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×