Mountain View Estates lost nearly everything in the devastating 2020 blaze; today, 90 fire-hardened homes stand in its place
By Sydney Seymour, Ashland.news
Five years ago, just 21 of 165 homes in Talent’s Mountain View Estates were left standing in the aftermath of the Almeda Fire.
Since then, the manufactured home community has rebuilt 90 “firewise” units — with hardened materials, complete with concrete steps, vinyl fences, and cement siding that appears to be wood at first glance — creating “defensible space,” a 5-foot zone around homes, free of anything flammable.
“We feel comfortable enough, but we are still paranoid,” resident and Firewise co-coordinator Steve Thorpe said.
Steve Thorpe and his wife, Penny Thorpe, both 74, were among the Mountain View residents who lost a home in the devastating blaze.
The Labor Day fire leveled 144 of the 165 homes for people 55 and older.
In June 2024, the Talent home park was the first nationally recognized Firewise community within the Almeda footprint. The fire struck on Sept. 8, 2020, devastating 2,300 homes in Talent and Phoenix, including 1,500 manufactured homes across 18 or 19 parks, as reported earlier in Ashland.news.
Living at the park for two years before the fire, Steve and Penny Thorpe returned in 2021. They were among the first four families to move back. Steve Thorpe helped organize the community’s Firewise program to better prepare residents and homes for wildfire.
On Sept. 8, 2020
Around 4:30 a.m. the morning of the fire, residents could hear the wind blowing, banging objects against each other.
Around 11 a.m., Penny Thorpe heard a siren while in Ashland. She saw scattered flames heading home but thought the fire department had it under control. After seeing smoke and the fire line along Bear Creek, the Thorpes started to pack an overnight bag and a few important documents.
In Talent, a sheriff’s deputy told them to leave and check on their neighbors. Steve Thorpe said, “There wasn’t much, if any, of an alert system.”
Their 101-year-old neighbor drove himself out despite not driving for several years. Others, however, were less inclined to leave. When urged to evacuate, some neighbors asked, “Do I have to?”
With a few items in the car, the Thorpes “naively” thought they would be back in a few hours. They left their cat in the home, rather than upsetting him in a carrier. “And we never saw him again,” Penny Thorpe said.
Cars inched along, taking hours to get from Talent to Medford. People were worried the fire might catch up to them, Steve Thorpe said.
Fear set in for the Thorpes when they were standing in the hills of East Medford, spending the night with a friend, looking at the spanning “orange glow of fire along the valley” as Talent and Phoenix burned.
Office manager and resident in the community’s RV lot, Becky Standley, started working months before the fire. She described that day as “devastating and surreal. It was burning everywhere.”
After seeing a lady driving in her car yelling out her window to evacuate, Standley tried to gather her thoughts and belongings.
“It was just frightening, terrifying actually,” she said. “I just had to get out. I couldn’t wrap my head around it.”
She continued, “I had four bags of a life and 48 years of marriage. For my husband and I, it was probably the toughest thing we’ve ever had to go through. But we made it through.”
The next morning
“Returning the next morning to check the devastation was the full, take-your-breath-away impact,” Steve Thorpe said. Knowing it was a “bad hint” seeing Phoenix and Bear Lake Estates, his wife refused to go or look at the photos.
He experienced “crushing sadness” witnessing the “complete destruction” of their home, reduced to ashes and twisted metal frame. Only a few items survived: a turkey salt shaker, a figurine of a Chinese musician, and a mini ceramic pitcher.
“I saved a bunch of letters from 1979. It was a year’s worth of courtship while I was in Texas and Steve was in China,” Penny Thorpe said, tearing up. “You always say, ‘In case there’s a fire,’ but you never think there’s going to be one.”
As small fires — fueled by thick, wooden railroad cross ties used for garden beds — still burned around their home and throughout the park, Steve Thorpe couldn’t “dwell in sadness” that morning. Using the head of a shovel, he threw dirt on the flames, while others used bottled water and pool water to save the remaining units.
Of the 21 units that survived, the community still doesn’t know why, Steve Thorpe said.
Reconstructing a firewise community
Only 25 to 30% of residents returned after the fire, Steve Thorpe said. Because of how “psychologically devastating” the fire was, the Thorpes chose to go back to a place they’re comfortable with.
“There were so many changes,” Penny Thorpe said, “I couldn’t handle another change.”
While finances were a major factor, Standley said she and her husband decided to come back “because we were happy before.” She expressed her gratitude to the Hudson family that owns the park for deciding to rebuild and bring the community back.
“MVE is the premier manufactured community in Southern Oregon, if not all of Oregon,” Standley said.
The Hudson family was “instrumental” in rebuilding, Steve Thorpe said. The family — a couple with five sons — bought the property in 1986, decided to rebuild, and helped prepare the landscape to start rebuilding.
Residents who returned early worked on rebuilding their homes. They took advantage of home insurance, applied for state grants, and sought help from organizations like ACCESS, which helps provide food and shelter in Jackson County. The Thorpes advise people to ensure their home insurance is up to date if possible, because some people who didn’t couldn’t come back.
Standley pointed out the “phenomenal” support from the community: free pizza every day, clothing drives and discounts on furniture.
Five years after — an internal alert system, educational meetings, and red flag day precautions
The community is in the second year of a three-year firewise action plan.
Firewise co-coordinator and resident manager Mark Madruga, 66, and Steve Thorpe developed an internal alert system in conjunction with the Talent Police Department and Fire District 5. Talent Police Chief Jennifer Snook notifies Madruga of the emergency, who sends the message to the 111 occupied units.
“When people see the alert and hear us on the megaphones, it’s going to click,” Madruga said.
Residents also take extra precautions on red flag days, like watering flower beds and moving cushioned chairs and outdoor grills away from the home.
The Thorpes add more specific items — decorations, technology, and shoes — to their “go-area.” Instead of a “go-bag,” they keep a series of boxes and containers that live in a spare room to store out-of-season clothing, cookbooks, and some important documents all ready for an emergency.
“Having gone through this one time before, we know how to prioritize the most important things,” he said, encouraging others to create a “go-area” or at least a “go-box.”
MVE hosts educational meetings and provides residents with a preparedness handbook detailing evacuation zones, routes, checklists, and more. Out of the 111 full units, 57 have signed up to be a part of the community’s Firewise program. Madruga said the next step is to get everyone in the park involved.
“Your community is only as good as the weakest link,” Steve Thorpe added. “Every link in the community needs to be helping and participating in some way.” He encouraged other communities to apply to be Firewise and follow emergency preparedness, not only for their own safety but also for the larger community.
“The main thing I’ve learned is don’t think it can’t happen to you,” Penny Thorpe said.
Her husband added, “Wildfires can hit any of us. It can — and has — happened.”
The park continues to rebuild, with a swimming pool reopened this year and construction on a new clubhouse set to begin this fall.
“The clubhouse is going to be a real major excitement for us,” Standley said, “To have a place where people can meet and talk and enjoy gatherings is tough right now.”
For the fifth anniversary of the fire, MVE is distributing a handout of wildfire resources to residents. “Nobody is really holding a fifth anniversary recognition,” Steve Thorpe said. “It’s such a traumatic event that we don’t want to do that.”
Every once in a while, Penny Thorpe said, they remember something they lost in the fire. “We miss it, but we go on,” she said. “You can survive without those things.”
Email Ashland.news Snowden intern Sydney Seymour at [email protected].
