PRINDEL CREEK FARMS EVENT ALERT - FIRE HAZARD WARNING - THERE IS AN EVENT PLANNED AT PRINDEL CREEK FARMS IN LANE COUNTY, OREGON THAT COULD BE A FIRE TRAP.       THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS PROVIDED IN ORDER TO WARN PARTICIPANTS.  EVENT BONFIRES AND FIREWORKS COULD START A FOREST FIRE AND POSSIBLY TRAP PARTICIPANTS AT THIS EVENT SITE WITHOUT ONSITE LANE COUNTY EMERGENCY SERVICES, NO CELL TELEPHONE ACCESS, AND THE HAZARDS OF ONLY TWO HAZARDOUS ONE-WAY EXIT ROADS FROM THE EVENT. 

Prindel Creek Farms Events - Please heed a situation that needs urgent attention and may dangerous for event participants due to extreme fire hazard danger throughout Oregon:  FIRE TRAP WARNING!

The Oregon Lane County Board of Commissioners is allowing a land owner (event location Prindel Creek Farms in Lane County), near its remote northwestern border with Lincoln County, to hold increasingly large, for-profit events during summer and fall months.   THE NEXT EVENT BEGINS SEPTEMBER 6, 2013:

The only paved access to the property is five miles of one-lane winding road that connects to ten miles of winding, two-lane Lincoln County road, leading to state Highway 34.  The only other access road is several miles of a winding, one-way dirt road owned, but not maintained by the U.S. Forest Service in Lane County. 

In the event of a forest fire started by an event Bonfire, Fireworks or improper disposal of cigarettes, this area many be a firetrap for participants especially at night.  The only escape routes out of this area are one-way, hazardous, rural winding roads that are not lighted, striped or well marked.

In an emergency such as a fire, the nearest emergency help is over an hour away and both one-way roads would be bottlenecks slowing or preventing escape and impeding incoming firefighting or other emergency equipment.  If one of these routes is blocked by fire, the other will be nearly impassable due to the number of vehicles leaving this area.   And at this time nearly all firefighting crews and equipment are now fighting fires elsewhere in the state.

Lane County's most recent land management ruling allows these events to bring up to 2500 people to our normally quiet, peaceful valley, most of them from distant urban areas seeking a venue free of restraints on their behavior: frequently drunk or stoned, they drive recklessly on our one-way, narrow winding forest roads, tossing beer cans, rubbish, and smoldering cigarettes out with abandon.

Significantly, when residents have called Lane County 911, dispatchers were told by Lane County sheriff not to respond to calls involving Prindel Creek, and calls to the Lane County sheriff met with a recording saying no one was available. (There is no cell telephone service reception at these events.

Lane County provides absolutely no law enforcement, fire protection or medical emergency resources for these events, knowing fully well that other counties do not have the resources to handle emergencies and fire protection services for these events. In the event of fires or other emergencies the Lane County Commissioners and Lane County should be held liable for all costs and resulting damages for not providing emergency or fire services during these events.

It takes Lincoln County's fire trucks, law enforcement or ambulance an hour or more to reach the area. Already this summer, during Prindel Creek Events we have had a roll-over accident involving spills of battery acid and vehicle fluids, intrusions on private property, as well as large, unpermitted fires, illegal use of accelerants, and illegal fireworks in well-documented fire violations which not a single state, federal or county authority has enforced or prevented.

In short, the residents of Five Rivers, surrounded by National Forestland, are effectively without fire, law enforcement or medical emergency services during Prindel Creek events, which will continue this year into September and October. The situation here is increasingly volatile as Bonfires are started using accelerants and illegal fireworks are used during these events. The State of Oregon has declared that fire dangers are at critical levels this summer and fall months but is not enforcing their own regulations…nor is any other state agency.

Amazingly enough, not one of the agencies responsible for issuing burn or fireworks permits (Department of Forestry, Lane County Air Protection Agency, U.S. Forest Service, Lane County fire departments, state fire marshal, etc.) has any record of either site inspections or contacts with Prindel Creek, despite numerous reports from neighbors etc., and the Lane County sheriff even issued instructions to 911 dispatchers not to respond to calls about or from Prindel Creek.  No explanation given.

IN ORDER TO FIND OUT IF THE OREGON LANE COUNTY SUPERVISORS ARE PLANNING ON HAVING EMERGENCY FIRE FIGHTING AND OTHER EMERGENCY PERSONNEL ON HAND DURING BONFIRE & FIREWORKS EVENTS AT PRINDEL CREEK PLEASE CONTACT:

Lane County, Oregon - Website:  http://www.lanecounty.org/Pages/Default.aspx

Lane County, Oregon Board of Commissioners - Contact Information:

http://www.lanecounty.org/Departments/BCC/Pages/Default.aspx

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